Preparing for the holidays.

 I'm a bit behind in my posting because we've been having SO MUCH FUN!

It started with decorating for the holiday, and getting ready for Christmas card photos. 

It's torture a fun afternoon of getting toddlers dressed up and using a variety of bribes and threats keeping them smiling and interested while I desperately try to get a few decent photos for a card.

It's so hard to get all three looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.

We were so close with this one, but Tommy...

This one made the card.

 So did this one.

 We couldn't manage a hugging photograph that worked.

 Not sure what they were looking at, but it wasn't the camera.

 Crazy eyes.

 Duck face.

 A little clowing around.

 And we're still trying.

We managed to get some decent pics, and I found a deal on overnight shipping from Snapfish, so we had them in time to actually mail so people would receive them by Christmas....except I didn't order enough, so not everyone did....and I got to pay for rush shipping a second time, for the second wave of cards.  But they got done, and we were ready to celebrate!

 

And in crazy child utterances this month:

Dani informed me at bedtime yesterday that she wishes she was a boy "because it's more fun to be a boy because they have wee wees and get to have the boy toys at McDonalds".

Tori's favorite thing is to replace words with "poop", and she walks around singing "Frosty the Snowpoop" and all manner of silly poop related things.  Tommy then mimics her.  Yikes.

Driving in a car with Tommy results in yells of RED LIGHT STOOOOOOOOOOOP at the top of his lungs every time we see a light.

Worst craft project ever.

Did I mention I like to do crafty stuff from time to time? I get tons of magazines and many have neat ideas for things to try.

I saw one, which was approved for kids, which I thought would be great for the bedroom revitalization project. And heck, if it is designed for KIDS, how much trouble should I have?

They are supposed to be some kind of art, you dip yarn or ribbon in glue, drape over a balloon, let it dry and then you have a yarn bowl. I even bought some spray clear sealant so they would last.

I did one, two weeks ago. Dipping yarn in glue makes a big mess. And the little yarn hairs want to stay in the glue. I still have the bowls of ribbon and embroidery thread I was going to use, as I was going to do FOUR! FOUR! A little bit ambitious, I suppose. Now that a few weeks have passed, I'm considering trying again and making a new one. But, it really was designed to go with the new colors in my bedroom that I haven't painted yet, but have bought the bedding for. Maybe if I finish the crafty bowls, I will be inspired to paint.

Here's my masterpiece (taken with my $4.99 digital camera--love it!):

Our plan to stimulate the economy.

We've decided to use the stimulus check to buy a new laptop and digital camera. We're really in the dark ages now, so in June, we will begin shopping. Just doing our part to end the recession.

Until then, I made an ebay purchase--a digital camera. A cheap one. A really cheap one. It was $4.99, plus $5 shipping, has a very small memory, bad resolution but connects to my computer via USB cable. Since my expectations are zero, I won't be disappointed. Seriously, this thing has no flash, no zoom, and exactly two buttons--one to set the resolution mode from crappy to craptastic, and one to snap the photo. Love it!

Because I stubbornly failed to read the 3 page manual, I am unable to upload the photos I took. However, hubby played around with it in my absence and managed to snap a few. Looks like a cell phone photo, but hey, for ten bucks, I think it rocks! Behold the photo quality: