hApPy NeW yEaR!

New Years Eve 2011... The kiddos and I spent the day relaxing, watching movies all day! William had to work this evening, so Kaylie, Makenzie, Dannen and I decided on making the night full of fun:P All three helped make their own "colorful" pancakes with food coloring (BTW, I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!!). We quickly found out that plastic cookie cutters weren't the best of ideas to use on the griddle, so free-handing shapes and numbers was the way to go.

Cuddling up, watching Wall-e with popcorn ended our night of fun. I totally forgot to cut up our confetti cards to ring in the new year like usual...

Here's to a year full of love & laughter!

Finger Licking Good

Anyone see what's wrong with this picture? LOL A few of "my" thirty little fingers made it to the cookie cooling rack!

Thirty-One Outlet Sale

Thirty-One is having an end of year Outlet Sale beginning today for the public! I LOVE working with this company, selling and promoting all their great items. Most items can be personalized throughout the entire year, MINUS during outlet sales.

Check out my personal website to click the link and begin viewing/shopping for yourself. Hurry... all items are first come first serve:)

www.mythirtyone.com/KristyLaVella

Changes Ahead

Okay... 2012 is almost here and I'm already on a mission to change a lot!

First up, my blogger website. I love to write and share our "adventures" through pictures. My site has been public to anyone and everyone, including those whom seem only interested in spying on me and my family instead of actually caring enough to acknowledge us in "real life". So, wiping my hands, I'm renaming and starting new. Of course, anyone will be able to view this once the site gets shared, but for now, let's just see how far we can go just enjoying life without the dRaMa! :)

With my list growing as I sit here and type, all of us are going to be in for a big awakening when this Mama gets her butt into gear! More family time, crafts, outdoor adventures (oh, yeah, the weather... well, live and learn!), correspondences both with and without the use of handy electronic devices, interacting with extended family, sharing God's love, etc... Oh here I go, making this list longer!

Thanks for joining me as I share more pictures and stories of our lives... with a busy hubby, three VERY active kids, and two curious kittens, I KNOW there's a lot of good stuff ahead:)

Cars Anyone?

 To say my son LOVES Cars & Cars 2 is an ABSOLUTE understatement! It's safe to say he can repeat the entire Cars movie. With getting Cars 2 from Santa, I'm sure he'll have that one mastered very soon:p Kaylie and Makenzie spent the night at their friends' house, so Dannen and I had a Car party!

He brought out all of his Cars vehicles and as many of his other cars and trucks he could find. He had fun running around making noises and telling me about every single one. He found it quite hilarious, trying to shoot me with his car launcher. Oh boy does he have good aim!!!!

Can you guess what he'll be having as a theme for his February birthday party? lol I love watching him interact and have fun with all of his little toys:)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

Love~

William, Kristy, Kaylie, Makenzie & Dannen

Advent Project

This year, I wanted to try something new, teaching our kids about how important Advent is to our faith. One night, I was on Facebook and saw my cousin Rachel post about Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands. All I can say is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to her for sharing and them for creating what turned out to be a great Christian learning project for our family. Each day, there was a Bible verse to read, a project to help the kids understand, and a "talk about it" section to help expand their understanding of why each person, place, or thing was so important. Our kids LOVED it! Not sure what made my heart glow more, hearing both Kaylie and Makenzie read from the Bible or seeing even Dannen enjoy the fun while talking about Jesus=)

Day 1: Light

 Day 2: Kingdom

DAYS 3 4 5: Zechariah, Gabriel, Mary

Day 6: Mary & Elizabeth

Day 7: Mary's Song

Days 8 9 10: Sun, Joseph, Dream

Day 11: Jesus' Name

Day 12: Census

Day 13: Bethlehem

Day 14: Stable

Day 16: Cloths

Day 17: Sheep

Day 19: Shepherds

Day 18 20 21: Angels, Temple, Star

Days 22 & 23: Wise Men, Gifts

Days 15, 24: Manger, Cross

Forgive the few picture and order goofs... we did a few out of order and I forgot to change up the picture taking! With the exception of a few changes in project items laid out in the awesome download, everything pretty much went right along with the ideas. The only major difference was Day 23: the gifts... we tried our hardest to make the cinnamon and apple sauce ornaments, but cutting the recipe smaller turned into a very yucky mess lol So, everyone opted for the pretty stars. My favorite is probably the sheep... they turned out so cute! All three kids LOVED making the Day 12: census... shaking and hiding the contents was hilarious to watch=)

I'm so thankful for a great learning experience to share this year. With so much going on in the world, it's nice to sit down and remember where it all started and to be thankful for our gift=)

No Cards=(

I'm a total slacker this year when it comes to Christmas cards... (the second year in a row mind you- though last year was mainly due to the lack of $) I meant to begin way back at Thanksgiving, but honestly kept putting it off, hoping they'd do themselves. I get so wrapped up in Facebook and sharing on this blogger site, that the idea of writing a letter or getting professional pics hid in the back of my to do list.

So, with Christmas three days away, I'm letting everyone know that no one is getting cards:( SUPER SORRY!!! Please understand it's not that we're not thankful for the relationships and friendships. I just goofed:( Maybe we'll send out Valentine's day pics for a change this year? I do plan on calling/texting as many people as possible, so keep those phones handy!

Enjoy this goofy picture of our wild and energetic kiddos... each has such a different personality... they bring joy in our lives:) Kaylie is rocking 3rd grade, excelling in her Advanced Reading and Math classes along with Acro Dance, and has gorgeous cursive handwriting... Makenzie loves her new 1st grade teacher, reading, singing, her Musical Theatre class, and has beautiful handwriting... Dannen is a growing machine, expanding his vocabulary, becoming quite the creative 2 year old at school, and loves anything that has to do with cars and trucks:)

Abby & Boots Gift

 Abby & Boots are two very lucky kittens! Our good friends made them a BEAUTIFUL spiral staircase to climb. This thing is so awesome:)

You can see in this photo how much they have attacked our tree LOL Every morning I try to put branches and ornaments back on... Hopefully now they'll opt for lounging on the stairs, instead of the tree branches!

 It took an hour or so before they wanted anything to do with it. Once they realized it was theirs and they could "hide" up high from our kids, it was the place to be!

 I love that they have little carpet spots to relax upon.

 They're so cute!!!

 Thought this was kinda neat... taken looking up:)

I'm so thankful for good friends! Abby & Boots are such great additions to our family, so it's fitting to see them get an amazing gift to use as their own:)

It's COFFEE time!

 I got a GREAT surprise the other day... my husband bought me a KEURIG B70 Platinum Brewing System for Christmas!!! With the help of a friend who works at Green Mountain Coffee, he scored this awesome machine for HALF OFF!!! (Now that's an amazing deal=))

I was hesitant to actually use it, since it looked so pretty lol

 Our first attempt was with Millstone Hazelnut Cream... yummmmm:) 

Oooooohhhhh looks how delicious!

I predict a lot of good coffee moments in our home:) Thanks, William!!!!

Chorus Program

We were blessed to hear Kaylie sing in her school's Christmas Chorus program. She had been practicing since September, once a week, with all her friends.

 She looked so grown up:)

 Her entire school was decorated as "Christmas Around the World"... She sang different songs from each of the seven showcased countries. Her favorite was singing "Silent Night" in Japanese.

We're so proud of you, Kaylie:)

Little Cheerleader

We have a very happy little girl... Makenzie began practing with the MVP Cheerleading squad at the local church. (Kaylie played soccer with the same program.) She will be cheering at the basketball games, beginning in January! Daddy gets to coach basketball, so she can't wait to cheer for his team!

She's soooo excited to get to cheer and have fun:) When we lived in Florida, she joined the WM Cheerleaders. Though she was there for only two practices, she learned A LOT at Kaylie's practices and games, therefore totally rockin' her cheer!!! She really is good and we hope to get her into a more advanced sceen of cheerleading groups. The one with MVP is focused around God (which is a big plus:)) and more "fun" than challenging. Happy little girl = happy Mommy! :)

Smuckers Gift Basket

Woohoo!!! I entered to win a Smuckers Gift basket from The Happy Housewife website... AND I WON!!!

I enter A LOT of giveaways, share posts online, and give input where I might have some info. When the e-mail came saying I won, I just about had a heart attack lol This basket is LOADED with goodies!

 Check out what we get to enjoy...

Crisco Baking Sticks- Butter

Crisco Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Dunkin’ Seasonal- Mocha Mint

Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk- New Pop-top lid

Folgers Small Red Can

Folgers Stick Pack

Hungry Jack Easy Pack Pancake Mix- Funfetti

Hungry Jack Easy Pack Pancake Mix- Wildberry

Jif Natural Peanut Butter- 18 oz.

Jif-To-Go Creamy- 3/pk

Martha White Blueberry Muffin Mix

Millstone K-Cup- Hazlenut

Natural Peanut Butter Stirrer

Pillsbury Easy Frost- Cream Cheese

Pillsbury Pumpkin Cookie Mix

Smucker’s Hot Caramel Topping

Smucker’s Natural Creamy Peanut Butter

Smucker’s Orange Marmalade

Smucker’s Orchard’s Finest- Strawberry

Uncrustables Sandwich Keeper

Uncrustables VIP Coupons (2)

White Lily All-Purpose Flour

We've already tapped into the Mocha Mint Coffee, which by the way is AMAZING, and the Strawberry Jam is soooo yummy:) We had three little girls over last night, whom woke to the two pancake mixes for breakfast- they were a hit!

Thank you so much to The Happy Housewife for picking me!!! Keep up the great work sharing and informing everyone:)

Christmas Parade & Dance Party

Kaylie, Makenzie & Dannen all got to enjoy being in the Seymour Christmas Parade this year. Though it was a bit cold, they all had a great time:)
Kaylie & Makenzie were on the float for their Premier Dance Studio...

Dannen rode the float with his Seymour United Methodist Church preschoolers... William loved walking alongside!

After the parade, we went to the Premier Dance Studio for a Christmas dinner and gift exchange. They love their instructor Mrs. Kim:)

Her husband read everyone the Christmas story, emphasizing the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Then they had a gift exchange!

Great night with great friends!!! Very thankful to be a part of the dance family:)