Merry Christmas to all!

Everyone is doing well here. Santa stopped by and left some goodies so we are hangin out and having a good time.

Here are a few pics I captured this morning. My kids were so happy. They had no interest in pictures for the old Mom.
                                                           Waiting to see if Santa came.            

Ready for T-ball!

Punch bug Grey!                     

Spy guys.

You can't see me!!!!!!!! They love John Cena. (Me too!) heehee:)    

Courtesy of Google.com.

I will use this against him one day. :)  A dangerous spy guy with his hand on his hip and moon shoes. I'm scared, what about you? 

 Abby loves pillows and blankets. She finally got her e-reader. I will never see her.

One of his favorite.

 I am going to eat them up.

 Jealous boys?

 Here is just one of the three with her head in the DS. I am now the DS and DSi librarian. We loose these games like crazy. We end up finding them in the car and in the couch, but it is a pain. Now, they must check them out with me. We will see how this works.

 Disney Monopoly anyone? Hal and I fought over Dumbo. He won.

Quote of the day: Grant (4 yrs old) was playing monopoly and landed on Mimi's property. He looked at Mimi and said " I'd like to not pay that, please?" Got to love him!

 I hope you all are having a great Christmas.
Love, The Dugan's

Enjoying friends during the holidays.

We joined my friend Michelle and her family the other night for a horse and buggy ride. It sounds so sweet doesn't it? After waiting for over an hour for our turn, it was time for the horse and bugy to go home. Our kids did get to ride and they had a wonderful time. Everyone except Abby, that is. You could tell she did not feel well, but she didn't say a thing. She is such a trooper. Just like her dad. Not me, if I don't feel well, I gotta go! When the boys and I got back to the truck, Abby "had not felt good" all in my truck. Not once, but 4 times. Poor baby, she didn't say anything because she wanted the boys to get to ride. How sweet! I hope to take her back before they leave.
Any who, here are some pictures. What a cute bunch of kids. Oh yeah, Santa too. :)

 Look at this big rocking chair. They needed a bench just to get up in it. FUN!!!!

 And the boys.

 Hopscotch anyone?

 Can you tell they were bored out of their minds? 1 1/2 hrs. of waiting  + 5 spazy kids = 4 crazy parents.

 She is my hero. She felt horrible here and still smiled for my camera. Gotta love her!
 I bet this poor horse made 329878273587327 trips around the parking lot. This Horse needs a new pair of shoes for Christmas. hehe :)                                      
 Only my boys would decide to climp the statues (commercial property). What can I say??? The other kids were doing it........:)

We really did enjoy our night. Thanks for the great company guys.
See ya later with some more Christmas fun.

The Casey's Christmas Party

Our friends, the Casey's, have a Christmas Party every year. Each year they choose a non-profit organization to give to. This is all in memory of a family friend that died of cancer. Mr. and Mrs. Casey give this party to each other as a Christmas present. How wonderful huh?  This year the recipient was Hospice. Hospice helped their friend during the last weeks of his life. I can not say enough about hospice. They also helped my father during the last week of his life as well. They are an amazing group of people. The help doesn't stop after your loved one is gone. They have grief counseling. They call to check on you and make sure you are doing well. I could go on and on. Let's just say, they are wonderful.
This year Kerri began with a wonderful Christmas story, Yes Virginia.  As you can see the kids were loving it.

 One of the ladies from Hospice came to accept all of the donations from the kids and families.

 We were told there would be a special visitor. So we waited.

 Here he is. Santa in a stretched limo. Woohoo!!!!!!!!

 He hoped out of the car and Blake got the first shake. Grant just looked at him. Not too sure I guess.

 It didn't take him long to warm up to Santa and tell him all of his secrets. Little stinker!

 Even the big kids got in on the fun. This is Abby's 5th grade class.

 And even bigger kids got in on the fun as well. This is Mrs. Casey and her daughter Kerri.

There was a go fish game. Blake was in charge of giving the prizes.

 Abby and I painted faces. This was so much fun.

Not so bad for my first try huh? Hidden potential?  

    We had a wonderful time. I really look forward to this party every year. This goes to show you that there a lot of great people out there. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Casey for a great time. This was a special addition to our holiday memories.

What a beautiful day!

I had lunch with my buddy. Mommy's boy. Shhhh.. don't tell anyone, I don't want to ruin his reputation. Man, I love this boy. 

 This picture is not today, but I had to share. Abby made me an ice cream after dinner. When she brought this to me I laughed so hard. What in the heck????  There was a lady beside us laughing too. Have you ever seen an ice cream like this before? I may or may not have told her it looked like a turd. Did I just say that? :0  She said that I got the first ice cream and she was just getting the hang of it. I sure hope her first job isn't the Dairy Queen. :)

 Running errands at one of my favorite stores.

 And another one.

 Picking up my kiddos.

 I was admiring the sky. It was amazing all day.

 Blake told me that this hole was so that Poppy could come see us and get back to heaven. See, I told you this boy is awesome.  I wanted to cry! I had to stay strong though.

 Blake and I had a special lunch today. He reached his AR points for school. His teacher told me he has been working hard and to pay special attention to him. Not a problem!!!

 We pass this temple on our way pretty much everywhere. Today was no exception. The sun was shinning right on it. So beautiful!  We can see this from our back yard. At night its lit up and it is so beautiful. 

Blake and I thought there was a little bird on top, but my husband saw it blinking last night. It is not very tall, but we are close to the airport. Don't know why I didn't think of that. I won't tell Blake. He loved the thought of it being a bird.   

This is not our church, but I think this building is for praying. Awesome huh???!!!! 

I hope everyone is doing well this holiday season.

Merry Christmas! 

I AM READY TO GO!

 Can you tell. :)

Grant is my only child that has had any interest in Nutcrackers, so we have been collecting these:

 Mini Nutcrackers

 Santa and the baker.

Of course we couldn't go without a drumer boy.

I've been working on my art journal. A Jessica Sprague class. LOVE IT!!!!!!

I am working in the Secret Santa shop for the school all week. Said I wasn't, but ......... it's a PTA function so I am obligated. It is hard work. I wrapped presents from 9:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m.  STRAIGHT!!!!! My back is killing me. I really do enjoy it. I love to see what the kids buy and here all their stories.
I am going to get in the bed early and snoooooooooooze.

DECEMBER IS HERE!!!

Ok, so I am a day late? We were decorating the tree last night and it took forever. Man it takes up so much time. I am so glad the kids are not in sports right now. We are actually able to have family time now without the hustle and bustle of practice and games. Thank goodness! The boys didn't really care to much for the decorating part. Hal sat on the couch to make sure the ornaments were spaced out correctly. ;)  He did come in handy when we could not reach the top. Thanks hunny! Abby and I worked and worked until we were happy with it. Then I told Hal to plug it in and guess what? YEP, he had not connected the plugs of our prelit tree yet. At no particular time during our decorating did he nor I think of this. OMG! Completely decorated with no lights. I remember last year having to lay under the tree to connect some of the plugs while Hal leaned it to the side. So it sits, still with no lights. Gotta getter done! Some way, some how. Hopefully in one piece and all the ornaments in tack. Pray for me.
So here is our tree. (Grant has already told me there is no star)  80% of ornaments are from Walmart. I passed by the ornament isle and I saw all these beautiful glittery ornaments. They were $1. Gorgeous and $1? I forgot my old ones and real quick. 

 We had a very special friend come and stay with us today. She is sooooooo sweet. So quiet. I could just eat her up. Abby loves to hold her. Abby will make a great mom someday. She is so patient with children, just not her siblings. It's supposed to be that way, right? That is what I keep hearing. I also hear, it gets better with time. I hope some things I hear are true.  ;) 

 Here is a picture of my boys putting the two ornaments they contributed before running back to their room to play the DSi. Just keeping it real.:):) I wish I could say we were all gathered in the living room singing Christmas carols and drinking hot chocolate while decorating the Christmas tree. But no, I had to call for the boys to come in and pose for my December daily album.              And to top it off , I couldn't even surprise them with the lights.:(  Oh well.                                                                  
    
I tried my hand in the flower necklaces. I couldn't sleep one night and for some reason I couldn't get this necklace off my mind. So I stayed up late and had to try.

Like it?

 Then the next day I just had to make one with Christmas colors. Love it! I am hooked. Mine are smaller than some I have seen. I like it that way. I don't think I could get away with the bib looking ones. Too big. I like them, they are just too young for me. Not that I am an old fart, you just have to have that look for the big ones. I would love to make them for Christmas gifts for the teachers, but I am afraid they might not be familiar with them. But then again, they may. We'll see. 

I need more fabric so I can experiment with all colors. It's not good, cause I'm hooked. Did I say that already? I told you!!!

Trying to keep up with  my December daily and the Inspiration Everywhere class by Jessica Sprague. I love it. And it's Free!!!! I will definitely be taking more of her classes. Free or not. She has you think outside the box. And best of all, Abby is doing it with me. It is so neat to see my 10 yr old really THINKING of her fav. inspirational songs and what her hand print means. She amazes me. She is growing up so fast and I am so glad we are able to stop and enjoy each other outside the daily grind.  I will get some pics up soon.

Kellie