A Wonderful Christmas

We had a wonderful little Christmas around here. The kids got all they wanted, plus more. We enjoyed spending time with family the weekend before Christmas, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Olivia's favorite gift was her Barbie Cruise Ship. Daniel would say his bicycle and his Thomas trains. Jeff and I enjoyed watching them experience everything Christmas.

The best parts as parents - seeing the look on Olivia's face when Santa knew what she wanted, where she was from and who her teacher was! AND the look on her face when she and Daniel got a little coal in the toe of her stocking.

WINNER!

The winner of my Internet Cafe Giveaway is Super B's Mom. She is making homemade stocking stuffers for Christmas. Contact me with your address so I can send your gift!

Congratulations to the Hancocks!

My kids were in Cousin Aimee's wedding this weekend. Let's just say it was HUGE! See for yourself...

Daniel wasn't too interested in the wedding, didn't really like the tuxedo. Didn't want his picture made with the wedding party. Even fell asleep when it was his time to walk down the aisle...guess who carried him in?

Olivia did beautifully! She was the perfect little flower girl.

Best wishes to the Hancocks!

Internet Cafe Holiday Expo

The ladies over at Internet Cafe Devotions are hosting a FREE giveaway. Those participating are listing free gifts for the Christmas season. I decided to get involved with a "JOY" necklace and a little Arbonne Body Lotion. If you would like to enter, just leave a comment and tell me a new tradition your family is trying this year.

If you have never been to the Cafe, go over and take a peek. I try to read the devotions every morning - if it's not too hectic around the house. All of the ladies have wonderful devotionals to share.

Also, there are tons of other giveaways here. Winners are announced on December 12.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for at our house. A warm house, food to eat, clothes to wear, good friends, wonderful family and jobs for mommy and daddy. Most of all we are thankful for our heavenly Father and all that He provides for us.

Olivia's class performed the First Thanksgiving Feast on Tuesday. She and the other kids did a wonderful job. She was a pilgrim and had 2 sentences to say - which she said kind of fast. After the play, we went to her classroom where the class had a feast of all of their favorite foods. I served 21 little turkey cupcakes to 21 adorable kindergarteners.

God Bless you and Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble, Gobble

Olivia has a Thanksgiving play and feast tomorrow. She is to bring her favorite food. The whole family made turkey cupcakes this afternoon. While Daniel and I mixed the cupcake batter, Jeff and Olivia were creating the faces on these cute little turkeys. We'll share pictures of her play later.

A Teeny Tutu

My daughter came up with an idea to go along with the darling tutus. Every little girl would love for her favorite doll/animal to have a matching tutu. So while you have out the materials, make a teeny one!

A Nativity Project

Chris over at Just a Girl is hosting a "I can make that" Party. This Nativity Scene was given to my mom last Christmas by her friend, Myra. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make some for this Christmas. The kids and I have been (slowly) working on these since Christmas. I'll show you our progress. How I HOPE mine turn out!

We've painted the pots and heads. Then hot glued the

heads to the bottom of the pots.

Joseph - 2" pot and 1 1/2" wooden ball head
Baby Jesus - 1 1/2" pot and 1/2" wooden ball head

Mary - 2" pot and 1 1/2" wooden ball head

We've still got lots to do to our precious Nativity Scenes. I've got to give my mom's back soon - we'll have to get a move on to get ours done for display and to give to wonderful friends.

Once Upon a Dream

My FBLA kids held their 2nd annual Princess Party fundraiser today. We had 5 "princesses", 2 "princes", Alice in Wonderland, and Fairy Godmother all available to visit with the kids and take pictures. The little Princesses could dance with the princes in the ballroom, visit a make-up station, create a princess bracelet, attend a tea party and take home a picture with their favorite princess. We had raffles (priness bicycle and princess basket stuffed to the brim) to raise money for Christmas for Kids. We also sold 74 Disney Princess t-shirts and SOLD OUT!

We had about 50 FBLA students give up their Saturday morning to make lots of little girls dreams come true. This truly was a magical day for about 130 little girls, and even a few little boys.

Olivia was there with me from 8:00 til 1:00. She's learning the ins and outs and I've told her when she is in high school, she'll be in charge of putting on this fundraiser!

Thanks kids - you all did a BEAUTIFUL job!

Happy Halloween

The Ramage Household has been labeled the Center for Uncontrolled Diseases....Olivia started vomiting this morning and just stopped this evening. Daniel has a fever, which is controllable with Motrin. Jeff (now we both) have conjunctivitis...

So, we did not make the Halloween rounds tonight. We're going to dress up the kids when they feel better and visit the relatives.

Happy Halloween! Enjoy Jeff's pumpkin carving.

Almost THAT time to Shop

It is getting close to the Christmas shopping season. I've been making a list of things the kids are asking for...it is starting to get long. Several blogs are encouraging us to purchase homemade gifts for our loved ones. These include http://www.nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/ and http://tipjunkie.blogspot.com/. Check out these moms who are making neat things at home, maybe you will find a gift instead of buying something at the mall.

I dabble a little in homemade gifts - definately not qualified to sell any! It does feel neat when you know someone has taken the time to make something homemade.

**If anyone can tell me how to get the name of the blog to show up instead of the web address, please help!

Another Reason to Love October

We made our annual trip to the local pumpkin patch recently. We rode the wagon out to the patch and the kids picked their pumpkins. Daniel rolled his out while Olivia checked out tons of options before deciding on the right one. This place has lots of fun stuff for the kids, neat stuff to buy and beautiful backdrops for pictures. This one with the measuring stick will be fun to do year after year. I think they have both grown AT LEAST 6 inches since their birthdays.

A Wonderful Fall Break

Olivia and I have been out of school most of this past week - for fall break. We took advantage of our time off. Wednesday, we went to the new kid's play place (YaYa's Island) with Kimmie, Carlee, Michelle, Madeline, and Mason. It was fun, the kids ran, climbed and played their hearts out. The next day the kids went to Babysitter Janet's to play so mommy could get some blood work done (ask me about that sometime) and have a little me Birthday shopping time. Friday we hung out around the house - the kids ended up riding their tricycle off of a dirt pile. Jeff and I wondered if that made us bad parents...

Today we helped mom (aka Nanny) give a wedding shower for Cousin Aimee. The kids are going to be in her wedding in December and it is going to be fabulous. I'll tell you right now our Christmas Cards will be late as I'm getting the picture that day! Anyway, the shower was fun. All Four of the hilarious, fun Grief Cousins were there plus Kim and baby Ava and Francie had little Daniel, and of course Cousin Phyllis, Sam's wife Liz, Aunt Paige, Nanny, me and Olivia. We had fun snacking, visiting, and watching Aimee open her beautiful gifts. Olivia and I were relieved that Aimee liked the gift we made for her - you can see it below. Olivia got the sweetest little Flower Girl book. Phyllis made mom and I gorgeous pearl necklaces - thanks Phyllis, I'll be wearing mine often.

Fall Decorating

How do you make a cute fall porch even cuter....

Add two adorable kids...who won't stand still!

We love October...

We love October because there is always something to do, the weather is nice and hunting season is on its way. Okay, I added that last one for Jeff. This weekend we attended Oktoberfest. The town has a little parade and booths set up with games for the kids, crafts and good food. Olivia and Daniel wanted to play the duck game. We went home with a blow up dolphin and guitar. We also rode on the church parade float and had lots of fun throwing candy.

After a little rest at home, it was off to Sydney's Pumpkin Decorating Party and Weenie Roast. All the kids had fun decorating the pumpkins Sydney's grandpa had grown. We took home 4 very interesting pumpkins for our front porch.

This Saturday was also my birthday. Except for Jeff being at work, I can't think of any other way to spend #38.

A Family Cookout

Jeff's brother invited us over for a weenie roast. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, chip & dip, TONS of desserts. Now, Doug has a big backyard - but these pictures show where the kids wanted to play. And they didn't really like waiting for the "big kids" to play pool. Check out Daniel's 80s rolled jeans. He had an "accident" and all we had were these! He, Olivia and Aiden had fun after they got warmed up.

Jena and Will

Class Reunion Part 2

So here's the night we all got to dress up "fancy" (which I rarely do anymore) and visit without the kids! We enjoyed catching up even more and seeing friends who didn't make it to the picnic. We missed you - Tina, Michelle & Terri! Everyone asked where you were. We had a slide show rolling with old pictures from the 80s - what a hoot! We enjoyed a light, snack dinner and even had purple flash cookies and LO cake!
For those of you who ask, how do you find the time to blog....multitasking. While these pictures were uploading, I was washing clothes, making chili, then folding clothes. It really isn't hard and hope you enjoy reading! Be sure and leave a comment.

Karen, Heather, Deanna, me, Linda and Holly

Mark, Rusty, Matt, Renee, Kelly, Jared
Keith, Jennifer, Barry, Shana
Rusty, Jonathan

Linda, Deanna, Michelle
me and Holly - may have to post the one of us from prom to compare!

Class Reunion Part 1, the picnic

Over Labor Day Weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend my 20th class reunion. I had a wonderful time catching up with old friends, meeting spouses and seeing the adorable little ones. We met at the local park where Deanna & Jenny had the picnic all set with purple and gold table cloths, LO bracelets and watermelon! The kids all played while the adults visited.

It is strange how some people change tremendously and others are just the same, just a little more grown-up! Here's some of the pictures from the picnic. I wish I could have gotten more of everyone's kids, but they were too busy!

Karen, Deanna, Linda & me

Stephanie, Craig and girls

Heather & girls
Rusty, Bill & Mark

Matt & wife, Mark, Bart & daughter, David & son

Joy, Craig, & Stacey