Top 5 Reasons My New Laptop is Better Than Our Old Computer

1. I actually have sound on my laptop. Our computer hasn't had sound on it for about a year. Somehow our kids erased the soundcard and we haven't been able to get it working. Now I can hear everyones great music on their blogs. I am also very excited to listen to music on itunes before I purchase it. Yeah!!!
   
2. It doesn't take my pictures 10 mins. to download. I guess I thought that was normal. It's not! I loaded 120 pictures off my camera onto my laptop in about 30sec.
   
3. I can blog in bed while watching TV. So fun!!!
   
4. I can do 10x's more things in ½ the time.
   
5. It's red and my hubby gave it to me!!!
   

Santa was very good to me this year. Thank you!!!

I love My New Laptop!

My new computer is so much fun. I am sitting here watching Amazing race (that I taped a few days ago)and blogging. So Fun! We also got a wireless printer and I can hit print from my laptop and it prints in the office. Technology is so amazing.

Back From The Cabin

We're back from the cabin and we had a great time. It was so relaxing and it's always nice to be away for a few days. It has been snowing like crazy here in I.F. and at the cabin. We have over a foot in I.F. and there was over 2 feet at the cabin (and it was still snowing when we left) It was so pretty to sit at the cabin and look out the window and only see trees covered in snow. Nature is so beautiful. The girls had fun playing in the snow with their Grandma and Dad. Before we left for the cabin, we discovered Donevan's original Nintendo and we took it up to the cabin with us. We ended up playing Super Mario Bros. a lot. It was really fun. We watched a few movies too. I slept in both mornings, and that was great!

 

I took my new computer up to play around with. I didn't have internet service there, but I was able to check it out a little bit and I love it. It allows me to do a post in Microsoft word and then it sends it directly to my blog. I am trying it for the first time now, so we'll see how it works.

 

Hope everyone has had a great holiday. I love Christmas, but I am sure ready to get back into our regular schedule. It seems like the entire month of December has just been so crazy.

Off To The Cabin!

We are off to the cabin for a few days. The cabin is so relaxing and we can't wait to enjoy a few days of having Dad off of work and to not have to do anything! We got a huge snow storm Christmas Eve and I am sure it is just georgous at the cabin. The kids will have a blast playing in the snow and we can just RELAX. Yeah!!!

My Favorite Christmas Gift!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGO!!!

Happy Birthday to My Mother-In-Law Margo! If you have met Margo, then you know, she is one of the sweetest women you will ever meet. I am so grateful to have such an amazing example in my life. I am even more blessed to live in the same town with her.

M- Mother-She is a wondeful mother who would do anything for her children

A- Always An Example

R- Really Loving

G- Grandma-She truely is an amazing grandmother to all her 11 grandchildren

O- Outstanding Women

Hope you have a wonderful Birthday. We Love You.

Christmas Pictures

A Christmas To Remember!!!

As I am reflecting on this Christmas, thinking of all the highlights, I find myself an emotional wreck. This year, it wasn't just today that was so spectacular, it was this entire Holiday season. We have tried to implement tradition and fun into our little family in the past, and this year was crammed with all of that and more. With three 7 year olds and a new baby boy, it seems like this is definitely a Christmas to remember.

Christmas Eve we had fun eating Chinese Food (a strange yet incredible Payne family tradition), wrapping gifts, delivering gifts to some less fortunate families, reading Christmas stories, etc. I think the best part of the night was delivering gifts to 5 families. We would place the gifts on the doorsteps, knock and run as fast as we could to our getaway car. It was a lot of fun and especially to think about these children receiving these surprises and how excited they must have been. I think after this evening and two deliveries to a trailer park earlier in the weekend, my girls are feeling very fortunate and blessed...and I am too. It really feels good to help others during the holidays and I hope the feelings we have now will continue throughout the year and we can have other opportunities to help those in need.

It is such a magical time for my girls. They really believe in Santa and believe in magic! Donevan and I found ourselves getting little sleep last night trying to prepare every little detail to be perfect for the morning. One thing you must know about Donevan is that he is a kid at heart. He never sleeps on Christmas Eve because he is always so excited with anticipation. I have heard from his family that this is the way he's been since a small child.

We woke up to the sound of three little girls with such joy and excitement in their voices. "Santa came and we got gold paper" (gold paper means you were extra special that year). Then we heard, "He ate the cookies and he drank his milk." Then they looked outside and saw reindeer prints and Santa had left behind in the snow three silver bells from his sleigh. It was so fun to hear the girls giggle with excitement!!!

We spent all morning opening gifts. Santa brought Asheligh a pink mp3 player. Brittany got a scooter w/ puppies on it and Caitley got a green gameboy. They have all been thrilled all day with their gifts. We got them each new bedding and they opened many gifts from Grandmas and Grandpas, cousins, and eachother. It just seemed to never end! Little DJ got some cute clothes and some fun new toys to entertain him. Grandma and Grandpa Neider spent the morning with us and it was such a treat to have them here!

Doneven surprised me like he does each year! This year he bought me a red laptop. I was so surprised and very excited. Our computer is ancient and so slow. Not to mention that the sound doesn't work on it and many many more problems. I am very excited to get it up and running!

This has been a wonderful Christmas! I don't want the memories of it to fade. Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Happy Birthday Virginia!!!

Happy Birthday to My Sister-In-Law Virginia!!! She is one of the lucky who gets to celebrate her birthday on Christmas! Hope you have a great Birthday!!!

Brittany and Rudolph

If you know Brittany, you know that she is an animal lover. All she wanted this year from Santa was to meet Rudolph. So cute and innocent. She didn't care about presents or anything else, she was just obsessed with meeting Rudolph. So, after many incidents with tears, we finally talked her into the understanding that wasn't possible. But, she did get a picture of the REAL Rudolph in her stocking and a letter from Santa and Rudolph. She is very excited!

Team Neider

Margo and Kenny (Donevan's parents) got all their children and grandchildren these cute sweatshirts for Christmas. They gave them out at our little family Christmas party this weekend. We had a great time at Shawn and Jeanine's!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We are having a beautiful snow storm this evening. It's cold and it's windy, but it's pretty. It seems like the month of December has just flown by. I have been so busy with getting ready for the holidays, the girls birthday, a sick baby, no sleep, work parties, ballet recitals, singing concerts, a huge neighborhood party at our house, and the list just goes on and on. This is my excuse for being a horrible blogger this month. I have to say Thanks to my loyal viewers because I know you are still checking daily to see if I have posted anything new.

Last weekend we had a great party at our house. We had a great turn out of about 35 couples (no kids). We had some incredible food and a yummy slush punch and a great chocolate fountain. Yummy! I started a neighborhood tradition where we all donate $ or gifts to some families in need in our community. We collected a good amount of money for our first year doing it. Tonight my family went out and bought gifts for 5 families in need this year. We had cart fulls of toys and food and wonderful gifts. It was a lot of fun and my girls just love doing it. We have done this each year we've been married, but this year we are doing it in a larger capacity with neighbors help. We will deliver the gifs on Christmas Eve. Thank you so much for all the donations. There will be a lot of kids and parents very grateful this Christmas. This is the true meaning of Christmas!!!

We have had fun with the kids the past few weeks reading Christmas stories and talking about the Birth of Christ. We have been doing an advent calendar and counting down the days. My very talented sister in law, Beth, made the girls these darling Christmas pillow cases. They have these little pockets on them and each night if the girls were good that day, Santa's elves come and leave them a surprise in the pocket while they are sleeping. The girls just love this. It's a super cute idea. I will have to post a picture of the pillowcases. They are so darling. The girls truely Believe in Santa. They have told us about kids on the bus saying he's no real, but they believe. It's so cute. It's a really fun age.

Well we are off to Utah tomorrow for a cousins wedding. We are also having a Neider Christmas party which should be lots of fun. My girls are so excited to go down and be with cousins and exchange gifts. We'll come back on Sunday, just in time to prepare for Christmas day. I'm glad I will have Monday to do some last minute stuff, especially wrapping.

I love Christmas time. I love that I have my own little family to start traditions with a celebrate in our own home. Waking up Christmas morning and watching our children so excited is such a highlight. I'm also married to a total kid at heart who can never sleep on Christmas Eve. We usually stay up half the night just getting everything ready for the morning. It's so much fun. I love being a Mom!

I BIN Good!

This is Ashleigh's letter to Santa. I love "I bin good." And I also love that she wrote B.F.F. She is such a girly girl. Well the days of buying them gifts from the dollar store are long gone. We have gotten away with that in the past, but not this year. Santa is bringing and ipod for Ashleigh, a razor scooter for Brittany and a green gameboy for Caitley. Santa brings one gift for each child to our house. If they have been really good during the year, he wraps it in special gold wrapping paper. They will also have gifts from eachother, Mom and Dad, grandparents and cousins. It's always a lot and every year we say we are going to do less and we always end up spoiling them. 5 Days until Christmas. We are all really excited at our house.

We Love Grandma and Grandpa Payne

We had a nice visit with my parents last week. They were able to be here for the girls birthday and to see them in the Nutcracker and their TaVaci singing performance. It's always difficult to see them go, but we look forward to their next visit...or our next visit to Virginia. (hint hint, Donevan)

Go To The Link Below For A Good Laugh!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1542528300
(You'll have to copy and paste it, for some reason it's not making it a link you can click and go to directly)

I'm coaching Basketball!

My dream is coming true!! My girls are playing basketball and I am coaching. From the time I was 5 until high school, my Dad coached me in basketball. These are probably my most vivid and exciting memories of being a child. While my Dad was here this last week, I quizzed him on all the drills we used to do and wow did it bring back a lot of memories. I know I could never be as good of a coach as he was, but I am going to try.

This afternoon is our first practice. I'm excited and a little nervous. I know everything about basketball, but I just don't know if I know how to teach it to 6 and 7 year olds. I guess we'll find out after tonight. Wish me luck!!!

P.S. Donevan is my assistant and I can't wait to Boss him around!!!

Busy Week

This is the week of parties. Wed. night I went to a baby shower. We went to a fun party last night where dinner was served. Yeah!!! No cooking. Tonight I have another little baby shower and then Saturday night is our Christmas Party Open-House. I have no idea if 10 people are coming or 100. My Mom and Dad were visiting this week. My Mom and I were cooking up a storm. We made pumkin bread and gave away 8 mini loaves and made two large loaves. We made 75 mini cheescakes and choc chip cookie dough. Donevan and I are working on the punch today and also a fun pastry that a friend makes that we just love.

Last night I stayed up until 2 am working on my Christmas Cards(125). After talking to others, I have come to find out that I do an excessive amount of cards. I love getting cards and love sending cards. It's one of my favorite things about the season!

Christmas Shopping! Well, it's going alright. My children have asked for some very specific things and when I say, "Oh that's too expensive or I have never seen one of those before." There response is, "Well Santa doesn't have to pay for it, or Santa can make anything". There going to mail their letters to Santa and I will post about that later.

Hope everyone is enjoying their pre Christmas activites. I sure am!!!

Nutcracker

This is our third year of doing the Nutcracker Production. It was fabulous as always. The girls were in three performances this weekend. Wow are we all tired. I can barely move after late night practices every night this week plus the performances. This may have actually been the busiest week of my life. It was so fun to watch my girls shine on stage. They were beautiful and their costumes were to die for. They were definitely my favorite costumes they've had yet! I love the way my girls feel after accomplishing these performances. They feel like they have been apart of something big and they have! It makes me so happy to see them so happy! We have vases full of flowers around the house. They got flowers from both sets of grandparents and roses from their Daddy. So cute!!!

Ballerina Ashleigh

Ashleigh doesn't have to work hard to be a good ballerina. It comes naturally to her. She did a great job and smiled so big during her entire performance. She told us that she got stage fright and that her teeth were chattering so badly and she was about to faint. You would have never known, she did so fabulous.

Ballerina Caitley

Caitley really surprised me this year with how much she has improved. She was so into her part and making sure she did everything so precise.

Ballerina Brittany

Brittany did such a good job at the Nutracker. She was so cute trying to find us in the audience and waving.

TaVaci Singers

We managed to fit in a TaVaci Christmas performance this weekend too. It was so cute. Their costumes are so cheesy, but so darling. They sang lots of fun Christmas songs with cute little twists. They love this singing group and have so much fun doing it!

This isn't a great picture, but at least you can see how cute it is with all these kids in their costumes on stage. This is only about 1/10th of the performers. It was a great show.

Busy Week!

This upcoming week is going to be so busy. My girls are in a huge nutcracker performance with three shows this weekend and dress rehearsals and practice every night this week. They also have their TaVaci singing group performace Sat. afternoon and a dress rehearsal and practice two other days this week. I'm not quite sure how it's all going to work out, but I'm sure it will. Blogging will definietly take a back seat this week, but many cute pictures to come from performances. Have a great week!!!