Well wadya know.....

we're right on schedule with things around here that I actually have time to update my blog. It's been a long time and it feels good to get back on the "bloggin" world.

I can really say that being overly organized has kept me sane this Holiday season. With the crazy hours at work (I usually don't get home till after midnight) I really thought that I won't have time to do anything but sleep but there's angels around me that are helping me. Sometimes I wonder where I get my energy to go through a 7 am- 2 am days. But then I think that there's dear people that are praying for me and that's why I'm getting through those days. Gotta love the power of prayer.

Anyways, I wanted to share two things with you today....
First is our family's baking tradition. Although I would rather give See's candies to family, friends and neighbors, gone are the days we can afford that so this year we're doing homemade gifts. Two Sundays ago, the kids and I made a bunch of cookies to take to our neighbors and Mitch's home teaching families. We we're making lots of messes but the Chocolate chip cookies with White chocolate, Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies and Chocolate Crinkle cookies we're all worth it. Each and everyone of them was M M M good!!!


One of my goals this coming year is to be in front of the camera more often. So with this activity, I handed the camera to Mitch and asked him to be our "photographer". He did a great job and took shots of things that I wouldn't been able to, like this one of me putting cookies inside the oven to bake.



I didn't do anything fancy to wrap them up, I just stacked them, covered them up with wax paper and wrapped that in red tissue paper. Finished it all up with some ribbon and viola, our homemade gifts are done.

On Sunday, we handed our last batch of cookies (I froze them so they'd be good for a few weeks). We gave them out with our Christmas cards. Our cards was another thing I started to rethink about. I didn't realize how much stamps would cost for 60 cards. In the past years, we didn't have to eat that cost. So to cut down on this expense, I personally handed the cards to friends and family that was close by.

Another new baking experience this year was making candies. We usually decorate a gingerbread house but when I went to Michael's last week they were all out. Costco was out too. Bummer!!! Then Maddie saw this Wilton's candy decorating kit so we grabbed that instead. The kids took a little while to understand the concept of the candy making but after a few hiccups they were able to do em without sticking their fingers in the chocolate or getting all the chocolate on the floor and on their clothes.



We didn't do bad for our first time, don't you think?


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The second think I wanted to "toot" about was this two issues arriving at my doorstep recently....

A special issue from Memory Maker's magazine. This issue was really good and timely since most of us think about organization in the closing and beginning of the year. They even have a "cosmo mag" type of quiz. It was fun to do and the result surprised me a little. And the best part of this issue for ME.....

is seeing this inside....

Yup my first ever pub with Memory Makers. Still gets me excited thinking about it. Oh and my dear friend Heidi's page was just on the opposite page from mine. How cool is that!!!

And then last night I got another package and this issue from Simple Scrapbooks was in it. It's the Jan/Feb 09 issue.

And on page 90 you will find this page.....

Christmas definitely came early this year for me.

Merry Christmas everyone,
Grace

***sorry the pictures are not even in sizes. I'm having problem uploading pics through blogger so some are from blogger and some are from photobucket.