Closet turned Masterpiece!

One of the remodeling projects we did at our house was turn a closet (which was once across from our laundry room) into a mud room! Let me tell you, this is one of the favorite spots in my house! It's a small walkway from my kitchen to my garage and the laundry room is on the left, but on the right is this...

It's got it all...

• A place for all the coats (I think I may have a fear of us all getting cold, because we each have about 14 coats!)
• A place for the sports stuff
• A place to post the family rules
• A place for the backpacks
• A place for the school work
• A place for reminder notes
• A PERFECT PLACE FOR US!
  
  

Sleeping Beauty Day

I had the day off today and Lily told me we were having Sleeping Beauty day. I wasn't sure what that meant.....but just so you know this is what it includes:

One gingerbread snowman cookie set. (Bakers reference: this thing is total crap!! Tastes terrible. I guess for $3.87 what did I expect??)

It does makes kids smile like this!

Addy squeezing icing everywhere....I'm not so bright! But again she was happy, and I guess that is all that matters.

Then we watched Sleeping Beauty, and ALL three of us beauty's.......

Went to sleep!!! I highly recommend Sleeping Beauty Day!

I know, I know...you wanted to see more pictures from Christmas....

Wonderful Day!

We had a wonderful Christmas, and got to spend time with our families. The girls got their presents from Santa, us, and the grandparents. They cleaned up! I liked these family pictures of us.

And now for what you've been waiting on......the most amazing playhouse on earth. (I named it that!) Santa left them a note and said he couldn't fit the playhouse on his sleigh, and our sweet Lily said "It's okay Santa, we still love you!" Then after we opened gifts we went outside to see if they could find reindeer tracks.

When we walked out on the back porch....they....walked right PAST THE PLAYHOUSE!!! They were too busy looking for the tracks. We were cracking up. Then Damon told them to look back towards the house and that is when they saw it! They LOVED IT!!!!

Daddy gave his sweet Lily a silver heart necklace. She loved it! She said "I will know you always love me when I wear it!" I don't think Christmas can get much better than that!

3:45 AM

I may have purchased the playhouse from hell. Well maybe that's a little strong, but it was made in Canada!

I told him a week ago, "you better look at those directions". His response was always the same, "I'll get it done". He started it last night and has to work on it after they are in bed, so from 9:30-1:45 AM he worked on it. Then tonight from 9:30 till 3:45 AM! There's still more to do! (Granted he has stupid cartoons on while he's doing it, that could be slowing him down!)

What scares me are the "non-crafty" fathers in the world who have to put this thing together! I mean, not to brag...okay...well yes to brag, DJ's good at stuff like this and it's taking this long. What do the dads do who can't do that stuff? I guess they hire guys like him to do it! Hmmmmm...."DJ's Custom Playhouses", I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.

He did say, "All I know is, this thing is from US! Santa's not getting the credit for all this work!!!" ; )

A little of this, and a little of that....

Lily had a gingerbread party at school on Friday. This is her gingerbread house. (You know in public school they can't have a Christmas party anymore, so it's a winter party...don't get me started on that!)

My favorite quote from Lily about the house was, "Mom, we can eat anything we want EXCEPT the graham crackers....they were hot glued together!" (Her teacher has done this long enough to know that when you give 22 kindergartner's a gingerbread house, it's easier if the thing is sturdy!) Nothing says yummy holiday treat like hot glue does!

What do you do when you have a house under construction at Christmas? You go to the Delta Cafe for lunch and act like their Christmas tree is yours! Nothing says white trash like taking your kids to a diner and having their picture taken by the tree in the lobby!

We had the "Utley" Christmas this weekend. My cousins both have 3 kids each, so when we are together there are 8 of them (six of them are girls!) We have done the math and in a few years we'll have two 16 year old girls, one 15 year old girl, two 14 years old girls and one 13 year old girl! Nothing says hormonal, emotional, miserable Christmas like that does!!!

Frosty

The Sisterhood of the Traveling...

POOP!!!!!!

Addy: "I need to poo-poo soooo bad"
Lily: "I'll help you Addy"
Addy: "Tae"
Me: "Lily, I can help her."
Lily: "No mom....I'll do it!"

[Five minutes later]

Lily: Whewwww
Me: Was everything okay?
Addy: I poo-poo so big
DJ: Was she having trouble?
Lily: No, the poop came out, it just wouldn't drop!
Me: [Eyes closed, hand over mouth, deep breath] "Did you help it drop?"
Lily: Yeah, I knocked it off with toilet paper!
Me: DID YOU WASH YOUR HANDS???

Santa Baby

Mickey Banister is one of the elders at our church, he graciously plays Santa at our Christmas party each year. Last year Lily saw him praying at communion and leaned over to me and said "that guy looks just like Santa!!" Ha ha

This year they both did great, and when he asked her what she wanted Lily said, " A playhouse!" Holy smokes....she said it! She verbalized that she wants a play house!! And that's good considering that is what she is getting!!!!!

He amazes me!

He can take THIS........

And turn it into this.......

Just had to share, I was really proud of this one! It's not mine of course, I still have 1980's 4 inch blue tile!! ha ha

Christmas at the Johnson's

Who remodels at the busiest time of the year? The Johnson's!!! (Remember we're the people who bought & sold a house and moved 1 day before going to the hospital to have Lily!! We're crazy!!!)



Do we have a Christmas tree? No!

But we do have 81 boxes of a former tree that's been turned into flooring....

Do we have tree trimmings? No! But we do have dust...everywhere!
Do we have lights? No! But we do have an unfinished ceiling with a light!!

Do we have hope? YES! (All kidding aside, I am trying to see the bigger picture and know that there are more important things than having a perfect house at the holidays! So, Merry freakin Christmas! I said I was TRYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Happy Anniversary

Things were busy this week and I failed to give a shout out to my Nana & Papa, Jack and Hazel Utley. On Monday, December 8th they celebrated 63 years of marriage!!

63 years! Three kids, 6 grand kids, and 11 great grand kids!

Happy for them.....but 63 years, really?!!?!?! Damon said "Oh geeze... put me out of my misery now!!!" How sweet dear! Wow...he should write for Hallmark!

Love you Nana & Papa and congratulations!

Perfect Tribute

My grandmother's funeral yesterday was a perfect tribute to her life, and the kind of woman she was. She was generous, faithful, understanding, loving, and wise. She led my granddad to Christ 6 weeks after they were married and thanks to her sharing the word with him, he has been an elder in 4 churches they have attended (they moved a lot due to his job).

My mom and aunt both read very sweet poems at her service. My aunts was titled "The Dash." The poem was about the dash between the dates of your birth and death. What happened during that dash? Were you who you needed to be? Were you the kind of person that others admired? Did you make the dash mean something?

My grandmother's funeral had to be one of the easiest funerals for the preacher to prepare. There was not a question of the kind of woman she was. What she stood for, or whom she served. She was a blessing to all of us. I want my dash to mean something too!

What will your dash mean?

Grandma

My mother called me about 45 minutes ago and told me my grandma, Anna Smith, had passed away. She said, "Well, she won the victory." She did win! She devoted her life to Christ and now she is in Heaven with Him.

When I hung up I was crying pretty hard and DJ wasn't here. We went through this with his grandmother about 5 months ago, so unfortunately this is all too familiar. Lily walked in and said, "Did Grandma Smith die?" I was still crying and said, "Yes Lily she did." She climbed in my lap and hugged me and said, "It's okay mom, don't cry we will see her again in Heaven. You have memories in your heart, that will always be with you!" How did my 5 year old get so smart? All I know is, she was right, and it's exactly what I needed to hear.

God is good all the time!

Genetic Sarcasm

Is sarcasm genetic?

In college I would get a bad grade on a test and my parents would lecture me on what I needed to be doing and how I wasn't going to finish college with grades like that, etc. I would say "Are grades really going to matter when I get to Heaven?" They really couldn't argue with me so they would just glare at me in disgust.

Tonight while picking up the house, I asked Lily to help straighten the living room. She turned and looked at me and said "Mom do you want me to clean, or go to Heaven? Which is more important?"

My mom always used to say "I hope you get one just like you!" I think I know what she meant now!!!!