We have had a crazy couple weeks with Christmas. I knew the Holiday's would be a little more hectic being closer to family and friends, but I had no clue it would be like this! Our days are so jam packed that Shawn and I are literally 20 minutes into a movie at the end of the night and one of us is sleeping! You know when it takes you up to 3 nights to finish an hour and half movie something just isn't right!!! Maybe it was our decision to have 3 babes in less than 3 years or maybe it is us not being able to ever say NO, whatever it is, it is EXHAUSTING to say the least! :) I must say though, we are having a great time and love all of the fun Christmas activities! We have done Holiday shopping till we literally dropped, we have baked so much that I think I've gained 5 lbs of pure cookie dough in my rear end, cleaned the house head to toe to entertain every other day it seems, went to Children's Wonderland (those of you not from Toledo ,OH...large Holiday display for kids), went to a "cookie decorating" party, viewed the LBC (lights before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo), had 3 different Christmas gift exchanges and of course a visit from the man himself Santa! We are pooped!!!!

Holiday baking for all of our festivities!

My sister Rachel and I (she's the "baker" of the fam.)


Claudia helping out making "sweet potato cookies" a recipe we got from her "Kids in the Kitchen" class at the local YMCA...

Claudia helping Aunt Rose with Chocolate covered pretzels...we gave these to all of our guests at our big party! :)


The girls had a blast decorating cookies, oh and eating the frosting! :)





Children's Wonderland (Clara's first ride on a big kid train by herself!)




Christmas Eve at Grandma's house...
Clara loved her new baby dolls, Chloe LOVES anything girly...so when she seen this "bracelet lip gloss" contraption, nothing else mattered! And Claudia loved her new baby doll :)





CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!!!!!!!



These girls are crazy about their blankets and thumbs, it's like they're twins sometimes!!!


Look what Grandma and Grandpa got for Christmas! :)


With Uncle Jimmy...

These sleeping bags are so cute!


Lights before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo...a tradition of ours...(this ended up being Lighst AFTER Christmas for us, we finally got a break in the weather and it was a record high of 63 degrees...I know, I know, talking about the weather is boring, but it was pretty exciting to us!) :)



Our GIANT stroller, it is called the Big Caboose! :)




I told you about our fun adult Christmas party, well I couldn't leave my baby girls hanging...so I set up with 10 of their friends/cousins a little gift exchange among themselves. We set a $5.00 limit and the kids got to help their mommy's pick out a fab. gift for their BF! :) We had a fancy Christmas party for them to go along with it. Everyone got dressed up, I made Christmas tree shaped peanut butter/jelly sandwiches, opened gifts, for a craft...they made ornaments with their cute little faces in them, and of course dessert....I found a super cute recipe for ice cream ornaments(we were totally "cookied-out", so we needed an alternative!) The kids had a blast, us mommies did too...and Shawny...he had the week off so he got to join in the festivities!

All of our precious babes...

Time to make ornaments...

How cute!

Time to open presents...

Clara with Skylar...
Us with our babes in the playroom...


All of us moms...

My creative treat...


Just when I think it will slow down...New Years Eve is right around the corner. My sister always hosts a casual celebration with the little ones who can hang till midnight, so we'll be there! My nephew's birthday is Jan. 2 and then Claudia turns the big 4 on Jan. 17th!!!!!!! So more planning ahead, she wants a princess, B.G. (A cartoon that she ADORES on the Qubo station), tea party...oh and she wants blue roller skates...so we'll see what I can come up with to accommodate little MISS! :) Today, we shopped at the GAP in search for the perfect birthday dress and no luck, she is very specific about her "all blue, poofy sleeved dress" (her words)! So, we'll be on the hunt for that!

AND...........how can I forget?!?! I got tickets to the Britney Spears concert in Columbus, OH on April 30, I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

It's PARTY time!

Last weekend we had Shawny's Holiday formal Christmas party. I didn't realize it was as fancy as it was! People were in evening gowns and sequins were a must! (I didn't get that memo!) Everyone looked great and it was a good time....I never danced to so many oldie's in my life! You have to remember there are a handful of us "young bucks" and everyone else is a bit older than us....have been with O-I for over 25 years!!! GO THEM! :) The food was great, and I'm always up for good deserts! :)



This weekend was full of celebration! I was preparing for our big adult Holiday (adult) party all last week. The party was Saturday, we had a blast! It really does take a village, we had about 70 rsvp's! To say the least, we were overwhelmed! My sisters and best girlfriends stepped in to all help out...baking, cooking, helping, doing whatever they could! It was a huge success, everyone had a GREAT time! We started "Club Canady" right in my very own kitchen! I guess you had to be there to really grasp that idea! :) Oh and yes I realize I'm literally GLOWING in that last picture, especially next to my chocolaty husband!!! So, I opted to tan a few times for our party!!!!

About this pic, WHY is that TV on?!?!? It is a Holiday Party and a DVD that makes the TV look like a fireplace was supposed to be on!!!! I'm soooo over darn football...it really makes me want to poke my eyeballs out!!!! Anyway, it was the best one of I found of Shawn and I...











Not only was I preparing food, deserts, drinks for everyone....we had a noon birthday to celebrate at Chuckee Cheese on Saturday! It was Claudia's BFF from pre-school, Sadie. Sadie has been talking about going to Chuckee Cheese with Claudia since summertime! We made some time and met her family there, it was really nice. We just had Claudia, which was just weird! If I only had one 3 year old, I swear I could conquer the world! Right now, I'm just working on conquering playdates! :) Just when I thought...yah, the party's are over, we can put up our feet, sleep in.....I remembered that we had yet another birthday party on Sunday at 3pm!!!! One of my very best friends daughter was turning 5, Miss Tessa...and she was having a "Fancy Nancy" birthday party....so we HAD to be there! :) Again, the girls all had a blast making their very own fancy cookie and dressing up! (of course you had to be fancy for the party)

At Chuckee Cheese with Sadie...



The girls with grandma...ready for the party!



Happy 5th Birthday sweet Tessa...

I know, I know!!!!.

I know I have been a HUGE slacker on my little bloggy...is anyone really reading anyway!??!?

I have spent the past couple weeks decorating for the holidays, you heard me right, couple weeks!!! The girls helped decorate the tree...I tried REALLY hard to not care if I had 2 random clusters of bulbs in one area, well my OCD kicked in. I texted Shawn at work last week..."I'm taking down all the tree decorations and all the lights and starting over". This actually probably didn't surprise him all that much! Claudia said "mommy, what are you doing, is Christmas already over?!". I kinda felt like Joan Crawford from Mommy Dearest, but she was a sport....this time she put the ornaments where I said they needed to go! :) On top of that, if you look (I encourage you do this!) in the Holiday 2008 Pottery Barn catalog, check out their front porches...BEAUTIFUL! So I have spent lots of time trying to perfect my "Pottery Barn inspired" porch! We are having a pretty big (about 60 people) Holiday party (adults only...woo-hoo) so I HAVE to get it all done by Saturday! Oh, the pressure!

I just realized I totally skipped over Thanksgiving...now I think my ADD is kicking in! See...you're getting to know me now! :) Anyway, we had dinner over here and it was really nice...tons of food and great company always makes for a good time...oh yah, can't forget Catch Phrase! LOVE IT! Shawn went out shopping at 4am on Black Friday. (NOTHING will get me up that early, good man!) He got some pretty good deals and now I think I'm addicted to Kohl's...I don't typically shop there, I just forget about it, but I have been back there like 4 times in the past month and now I love it!

Claudia had her parent/teacher conferences last week at her pre-school...Ms. Sarah said she was a little bossy towards her friends, she can tell she has younger siblings at home. I approached Claudia with that and oh let me tell you she was MAD at Ms. Sarah!!!! She denied it and started crying! Man, is this happening at 3?!!? Other than that, she is doing great! :)

I need to go check on my holiday porch now, ha...good night! :)

Oh wait...before I go I was summoned to do this little survey...

List 5 of my favorite addictions:

1.Play dates...I love being active in my baby girls lives and getting the latest juice from my girlfriends!
2.Right now(literally), this darn cookie dough I bought from my nephew's school fund-raiser....we made the cookies and they weren't too good, but the frozen cookie dough on the other hand...yummy!
3.Having my house look "magical" for the holiday's, I love it and so do the girls, I think Shawn does too or at least he goes along with it! :)
4.Shopping!!!! I find a store a day I swear that is having a BIG sale! :)
5.Working out...I don't know if I'd say "addicted", but I definitely LOVE the way my abs and bum feel the next 2 days!!!

For fun, do a survey too! :)

Claudia and I...



Chloe in her ballet get-up giving daddy kisses...



I love this picture of my Claire-Bear...



Family picture from Thanksgiving day...