'Oh you better watch out. You better not cry...'

Because you never know when Santa is REALLY watching.

Princess M got the mail yesterday and came screaming to the house that we had a package. Princess E looked at it and she said, "Mom, it says it is for us, AND it says it is from S.A.N.T.A! Oh my gosh Princess M, Santa sent us a package! I bet it has toys inside!" We took it inside and opened it up. I wish I could have videoed their faces as I read the letter that was all rolled up inside with this little elf. Especially the part about Spotty and Boots.

'Princess E and Princess M

This is Felix. He is one of my favorite elves. I have noticed that you have been pretty good this year and thought that you might enjoy having an elf come to stay with you. I will pick him up on Christmas Eve but will consider sending him back to your family next year if you are good again.

Please do not play with him. he is not a toy. he likes to eat fruit snacks and crackers and only likes milk to drink. He doesn't need as much sleep as you do. But he will pretend to be asleep while he is watching you. I'll bet he would love to snuggle up with Boots and Spotty. I have packed some of his magic glitter with him. use a tiny bit each day to sprinkle on him. This will keep him healthy.

One word of caution: Felix is a prankster. he likes to play tricks on people. I am sorry to say that you may wake to find that crazy things have happened in the night. But he is watching you and will let me know if you need to be put on the naughty list. You need to be better at listening to your mom and dad and not being so grumpy. But other than that, I think you will be just fine!

Keep being good and I'll come by your house on Christmas Eve!

Love, Santa Claus'



A little while later I overheard the girls in the front room. I heard Princess E talking to him. She said, "Hi Felix. I am Princess E and this is Princess M. I don't know how far you can see, but if you can, will you look far at my grandma's house where we are going with our cousins to see if they are being good or bad too? And I don't know if you can help us all not get sick like we did last year for Christmas. It wasn't fun at all and I know you are magical so please help us to all not be sick. I am SO excited, but a little bit nervous that you are a prankster. Please don't mess up our house tonight." Then I heard her hug and kiss him.


They are eating this up! They were pretty worried last night as they went to bed that Felix was going to come alive and trash the place. But were pretty giggly this morning when we woke up to this,

I had left the laundry on the couch to fold in the morning and Felix decided to hang some on the tree. Then I guess he was missing Santa so he curled up in the Santa helper hat for a snooze. But that was after he had a fruit snack. Needless to say, I don't think the girls are very afraid of what kinds of pranks he will pull anymore.

So look each day until Christmas to see the trouble Felix has caused.

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

We are very big on family traditions at our house. Especially at Christmas time. My mom and dad did a wonderful job at creating such wonderful memories for us as kids and it made Christmas time that much more magical.
There are a few things that we have carried over from my family and King J's. But we also have created some of our own.

One of the traditions the girls and I do each year is make cinnamon applesauce ornaments for the tree. It started because we were too poor to buy ornaments so I had t0 come up with some great home made things.

The recipe is simple.

Equal parts cinnamon and apple sauce. I find the dollar store carries the medium size containers of cinnamon and then I just use whatever apple sauce I have on hand. (Sometimes I have to add a little more cinnamon if it is too wet.)

Mix it together until it is dough like. (usually have to kneed it by hand as it is really thick.)

Roll out like you would a cookie dough and go to town with the cookie cutters. Remember to use a straw to poke a hole near the top for a ribbon.

Place on a foil lined cookie sheet and either leave alone for a few days or bake in a 200 degree oven for 3 hours. Flipping half way through.



Hands will be ultra messy. Your nose will be on over load. But you will have a ball.

Once they are completely dry, string a ribbon through and hang on your tree, or wreath, or give to friends.

The heat from your tree lights will warm up the cinnamon and your house will smell great. (but not overpowering)

You can keep them for a few years. But we just toss them at the end of the season since they are very brittle and we enjoy making them each year.

Food?

To read a hilarious post about a gift exchange we did with some great friends and the princess' reaction to their gifts look here at my friend Yvettes blog. They don't appreciate it yet, but come Christmas morning they are gonna LOVE it! Thanks for the thoughtful gifts guys!

Last of the Thanksgiving pics

Figured I should get these posted. Since it is almost Christmas. In my defense though, I have been running around like a chicken w/o a head and haven't had much time to blog. :)

Sixth Sense?

We were driving home from the ward party last night and Princess M shouts, "I see dead people!" King J and I look at each other, "What?"
Princess M, "right there, where they are in the ground."
Me, "Oh, the cemetery."

Crazy Cooley's

For part of our trip back to Utah we spent some time in Idaho with King J's brother and his family. We just hung out and enjoyed each others company for most of the time. The girls sure loved the new dog, Sam and of course the friendly cats. Can't wait to see you guys again next week!

These are a few of my favorite things...

There are a few things in this world that bring my dad much joy. Two of them are his grand kids and his John Deer. Here is just a short video showing him in his element. They went on a tour of the neighborhood and checked out the cows, ducks, sheep and whatever other animals they could find along the way. The grand kids look forward to their rides in the "tractor" as much as he does.

More of Uncle Nate

While we were visiting Utah for Thanksgiving we had the opportunity to see Uncle Nate perform in the lip sync competition. He was great! The other video is of another of the acts. He was a guest performer, and the Pepsi delivery guy for their school. He was amazing.

My talented little bro!

The one on the right with the "fro" is my big little brother. Pretty talented if you ask me!

Fresh off the Plane

Well we made it. We are so excited to be here. The girls FREAKED out a few days ago when we told them there was going to be snow when we arrived. So when we pulled up to grandma and grandpa's house it wasn't a surprise that they wanted to jump right in. It was great! Princess M made the snowman all by herself.

Bug Free

Today I am SO thankful for the means to have a bug guy. Living in the woods has it's perks. But it also brings a lot of creepy crawly friends along. One of our first nights here we were welcomed to our new home by a scorpion in the kitchen sink. He was just the first of many.

Of course we still see the occasional spider or millipede. But the majority of the creepy crawlies stay outside where they belong.

Thank you bug guy for the peace of mind you bring.

Food Glorious Food!

Today's lesson in Sunbeams was "I am thankful for Food and Clothes". We talked about all the different plants and animals that give us food. How seeds turn into fruits and vegetables and how great Heavenly Father is to give us so many yummy things. We then talked about how all of our clothes come from plants and animals as well.

It really got me thinking about how thankful I really am for plants and all they do for us. Heavenly Father sure is smart!

Outgoing kids

Like I stated in a previous post, we have now lived here for a year. We know our neighbors across the street, they have a girl just older than Princess E. Vacant house to the left and a waving and head nodding relationship with the neighbors on the right. I have never been one who felt comfortable just going up to anyone and getting to know them. I am quite content to just stay in my own bubble and make do.

King J and I both grew up in area's that had lots of kids and we would never be bored, we would just go find someone to play with because there was always someone in the neighborhood to play with.

So when we moved, we were hoping for the same kind of childhood for our kids. But it hasn't been the case. At least we didn't think so. The girls play with the friend across the street on occasion, but she is VERY scheduled down to the minute and it is usually planned out a week or so in advance. But other than her, we just didn't think there was anyone on the street.

Well Princess E rides the bus and she has been talking for weeks about different kids that want her to come play. Well being the protective parent that I am, and really just not wanting to leave my bubble I have said NO repeatedly. Or "No, I don't know their parents etc." Well today she wore me down and I caved. I sucked it up and decided to go meet some of the parents on the street so there aren't any more excuses and they aren't so "bored". We have some really nice neighbors and there are more kids on the street that are closer to the girls ages than we thought. Princess E knew that. She rides the bus with them every day.

So today I am thankful for outgoing kids. Kids who aren't like me and who aren't afraid to get out there and meet new people.

Fun Run 2009

Fun Run 2009

A HUGE Thank You to everyone who pledged money for Princess E to run in the Fun Run.

Princess E ran her little heart out and surprised us all when she ran a total of 17 laps. We thought she would do 2 maybe 3.
But she was like the little engine that could and she just kept plugging along. She was able to raise $150 for her school. Way to go!

:)

Today I am thankful for my sewing machine. It isn't anything real great. Just a simple brother from Walmart. But it does the job. I don't have any amazing seamstress skills. But simple patterns that require straight stitches are right up my ally.

Today I decided that my kitchen is way to cluttered. So I pulled out some scrap fabric and made a skirt for my bakers rack to hide all the little appliances and #10 cans.(Please disregard the mess still on top. It is a work in progress :) I am thankful for my basic skills that made it possible for me to sit down and just whip it out.

Still thankful

We knew moving across the country a year ago was the right thing for our family. But it wasn't easy leaving everyone we knew and loved and going to a place where we didn't know anyone. We LOVE being closer to King J's family and that was enough to get us through the first few lonely months. But over time we have been able to make some really great friends. Both as a couple and individually.

I am SO thankful for the friendships I have made over the last year. You ladies all know who you are and you truly have blessed my life. I have learned some really great skills from you. I am on my way to becoming a coupon master because of you. I am learning to like exercising because of you. Friday nights are no longer just date nights, but volleyball nights. (we need to get back on a schedule;) I am grateful for the monthly girl time we get to share together. And most of all I am grateful that we all get along so well. It isn't often that you can have 8-10 women who are good friends, who all feel included and not have the occasional cat fight, gossip or hurt feelings among them. Heavenly Father truly has blessed me with your friendships.

More to be Thankful for

I have spent a good portion of this week cooking with my beautiful kids. We have made cookies twice and today we made pineapple peach fruit leather, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and pumpkin pancakes (thanks for the idea Steph). Not to mention the yummy dinners, breakfast's and cups of hot coco. It seems like the girls are in the kitchen with me whenever I open the fridge or turn on the oven.

I am SO thankful for my talents in the kitchen and that I am able to share them with my family. I have wonderful children who are soaking up everything, and hopefully they will be even
better than I am as they eagerly learn by my side.

A Season of Thanks

I have SO many things to be thankful for. November is naturally the time that we start to reflect on all of our many blessings. I am a few days late in starting this but I want to post something every day that I am thankful for.

Today I am thankful for uninterrupted sleep. Nothing makes you more thankful than when you have a night that is full of interruptions. It sounds very trivial, and really it is. For some reason my body requires lots of sleep to function at full speed. When it is deprived it makes for a rough day. So yes, I am thankful that most nights I can sleep all night long and give my body the rest that it needs, and requires.

Prayer over heard

While in the bathroom getting ready to brush her teeth I overhear Princess E say to Princess M, "I need to say a prayer to Heavenly Father for making bad choices and lying to mom at dinner."
Then with a hurried, innocent voice,

"Heavenly Father, please forgive me for doing bad things with my squash and making mommy mad. I am trying to choose the right. It's just hard. Help me make better right choices. And please help me not to cry tonight when I think about it. Amen"

Free $10 gift card

I have added a new button to the side of my blog for the Preparedness Pantry blog. It is an awesome resource for food storage and general family preparedness! Right now, they are offering a free $10 Emergency Essentials gift card to anyone who adds the button to their blog. Just click the button to check it out and get your own gift card! Or click here to go directly to the offer.

Thanks for sharing this Yvette! :)

Also on the Preparedness Pantry they have an amazing food storage tool called the Food Storage Analyzer. You input what you currently have in your food storage and it calculates what you need nutrition wise and helps give you suggestions on what will fulfill those needs with items from the grocery store and from their website. What an awesome tool to help you build up your food storage.

Ahhh there it is

I have a confession to make. I have been missing my energy and my will to do anything for about 2 months. This wasn't just a funk. I seriously was exhausted and wanting to take a nap just about every second of the day. I would crash about every night about 8 after the kids went to bed. I know it has something to do with my surgery as it has only been about 3 months. But for some reason I just couldn't kick it. I would try do be active during the day. But I found myself just doing the bare minimum because I just was too tired to do anything else. Which in turn made me feel lousy and put my self esteem in the toilet.

It is amazing what only a few days on B12 and Vit. D (and a low dose of citalipram, but I was already on that one) will do for a girl! I am back! Now if I can only heal this plantar fasciitis thing going on with my feet I would be good as gold

Finding Nemo Show

Lion King Show

Light Parade

The stuff dreams are made from!

A HUGE thank you to Jared and Kathy for opening their home and their free passes to help us create some wonderful memories as a family.

We had been planning our trip down to Disney World ever since we moved to GA. Even though we were lucky enough to have connections for free passes, we still had to figure in all the other expenses, and the crowds and the heat. :) So the date was set and we began saving. We waited to tell the kids until we were only a few months out. The count down calendar was made. The pennies were saved and the prayers for us to go to Disneyland began.

The week began a little crazy. 1/4 of Georgia was under water. I was sick with the flu and there was more rain in the forecast. But prayers were answered, bags were packed and pennies taken to the bank and turned into 10 dollars (way to go girls!). We were finally on our way. A few potty breaks and gas stations in, the girls fall in love with some animals in purses. I told them it was up to them how they spent their $10. But there would be lots and lots of other things that they may want to buy. So maybe we should wait and if there wasn't, then they can buy it on the way home. Best plan ever! They didn't ask for a thing while in the parks because all the time they had their little kitties and doggies in the back of their minds when looking at all the fun stuff. But then King J and I had to remember which exit that po-dunk gas station was on, on the way home. Made for a fun time.

The first day I learned just how out of whack my hormones still are. When it wasn't even 9 am and I was DYING from the heat. I literally was sweating my butt off. Good thing I remembered to take a beach towel in with me. (Thanks Dad)

The girls dressed up in their new princess dresses and made sure they had their autograph books ready. The highlight of their day was meeting the princesses. We lucked out and the line was short. This mom felt like a huge dork when she teared up as she heard her little girl tell Cinderella that she is her favorite and has always been. To which Cinderella replied with a spin and a hug. King J looked at me and asked what was wrong and I just told him it was awesome to see her meeting her hero. It's those sweet moments that make everything else as a parent worth it.

We went on rides, met lots and lots of other great Disney characters and saw some AMAZING shows. I got to ride in a wheelchair the second day because of the gigantic blister on my foot. King J's armor never shined as bright, as when when he came around the corner pushing my silver carriage. I didn't know how I was going to make it though the day. He was in tune enough to know I was struggling, but not wanting to let it slow us down. Never was a man more handsome!

To end it all, we watched the fireworks at Cinderella's castle in torrential rain. (the only time we left the poncho's at home) Seriously, my shoes just finished drying out yesterday, a week later. But it is what made the final memory.

So enjoy the pictures and look forward to a few fun video's in the day's to come.

Sorry for the hiatus. It has been a busy month in the Cooley house. But while I am watching conference this weekend I am planning on getting lots of blogs done and pictures ordered. So sit tight. Lots of exciting stuff to come.

Conversations with Princess E

Her: "How come we all can't come to the airport to pick up Aunt Chelle and baby Jayne?"

Me: "Because we won't all fit and daddy will be sad if he has to stay home all by himself."

Her:: "I wish we had a van, then we would all fit. Don't you wish we had a van mom?"

Me "Yep I do, but our other cars fit our family, still work and are paid for."

Her: "Well, we don't have enough money either mom. Vans cost a lot of money. I wish we had all the money in the world. Don't you mom? Oh, but then other people would be poor, like Sister Elder. That would be sad. Well I wish that we just had all the money in America. Then there would still be money for other people too."


She is so considerate. Always thinking of others. :)

Conversations with Princess M

"Mom, when we go to the beach next week I bet we will see a coconut tree, we need to bring our ladder so we can reach up and pick one, I like picking coconuts all the time, they are SO delicious!"

I just love the way her little mind works. That was all said out of the blue and in one big long sentence.

Great Grandma Seay

Since we didn't get to spend much time with her when we went for the funeral, we decided to take the opportunity to use the extra long weekend to to visit great grandma Seay. It was such a great relaxing visit. The girls especially enjoyed playing with cousin Lauren and Coco, grandma's little chihuahua. Sunday evening some of the extended family came over for dinner and Uncle Butch entertained the kids with a few stories. They were totally mesmerized. Thank you grandma for letting us come visit. We had a wonderful weekend.

Shrooms

Apparently it is mushroom season here in Georgia. That or we have just had a ton of rain. Either way, we have some very impressive mushrooms in our yard. Such great colors and even ginormous ones. Here are just a few pictures of some of the great ones we have found.

Whenever we have hot dogs at our house, the girls like to have me cut them like little men, or octopus' before boiling and they turn out really fun. So the other night when I went to help the girls with something and came back to the kitchen I had a great laugh when I saw one of the octopus' trying to climb out of the pan. Guess it was a little to hot for the little guy. :)

Practicing our letters

We got a little creative when practicing our M's last week.

Vanilla pudding with a little food coloring works really well for finger paints.

And is yummy while you are working hard getting those letters right.

First day of School 2009

We are 2 weeks into the 09-10 school year. Sorry I am a little bit slow posting these pics. And to tell the truth, I forgot to even take a picture in the morning before the bus came. It wasn't until we were down waiting for the bus and I saw the neighbor with her camera and I felt bad. So this picture is from after school on the first day. :)

Princess E likes her new teacher. But she is quite disappointed that 1st grade has more homework and no naps. I think it's going to be a long year.

Princess M and I started doing preschool here at home the same day. It has been great! This little girl is just eating it up. I found a great resourse here that has a 26 week outline all planned out. What I have found over the last 2 weeks though, is that it is a wonderful start, but not enough for this little one. I don't know if it is the 2nd child or what but she is a smartie.
I have found I am adding things that Princess E learned in K last year just so she has a little challenge and is learning something new.

More cuteness from Princess M

So we had beef stroganoff for dinner tonight. Princess M first smells it and refuses to eat it.
We convince her to take just one bite of the noodles. She sits there for a minute
and decides that it will be ok. Then her exact words were,
"Hmm, we need to eat this again tomorrow mom. This tastes delightful!"

Could she be any cuter? She has always used such big words in the right context.
I can't get enough of this girl.

Deep thoughts by Princess M

"Mom, is there no such thing as Prairie Cats?"

A new do for the new me

Fun with the Dehydrator

So it seems that being limited on my activity these last few weeks has turned me into Martha Stewert. :) Here are a few more things that I did last week.

Berry fruit leather
SOOO yummy and low on the sugar.

9 large (free) sweet onions, 2 batches, smelly house and loads of tears later.
(I have no idea how big factories cut up so many onions. I am investing in goggles for next time)