Christmas Joy to the Max

We are having so much fun with little Maximus! He is two months old and brings a lot of joy into our lives.  He is a lot like a baby to our family. He is getting lots and LOTS and lots of attention. Do you remember my "Referee" post a few months back? Well, Blake and I are now playing referee over the puppy. Who held him last and who is next and for how long...etc, etc! He is a Dachshund/Poodle mix. He is the cutest and we especially love his random bouts of hair sticking up in random places on his little body! He is adorable!!!! When he plays fetch he pounces like a rabbit. Soooo cute! 

Downtown Aquarium Fun

On Friday we went with The Murdock Family (Blake's mom and dad, brother Ben and his family and his brother Scott and his family) to the Downtown Aquarium. We had sooo much fun together. I was impressed with the exhibits of the fish. We got to touch stingrays and see humongous fish and snakes (gross) and tarantula! We saw tigers and eel and sharks! We had fun riding the ferris wheel and the train! It was a great day! We went to eat afterward and  eventually that night we made it to see The Curious Life of Benjamin Button! ( I thought it was entertaining but did it really have a purpose???)  Our day at the Aquarium was a wonderful time and we were so happy to have been invited! 

Look how very sweet! Bella was making a wish while throwing a coin into the fountain. Blake's father, Lynn, is so wonderful with the girls as is Blake's mom.  We count their love in our many blessings. 

Look how HUGE this fish was! 

We got to see them switch out the tigers! After the switch they fed this girl! I was impressed with how close the Tiger came to the glass. The feeding was amazing. 

We all got to ride on the Giant Ferris Wheel! I am so afraid of heights but this is pretty fun. 

Blake, Ken, Cali and I rode in this gondola. Brae rode with Scott and Aly and Bella rode with The Murdocks!

My hair got so jacked up with the darn humidity that day!!! Uuggh, Houston! Anyway, Cali looked too cute to NOT put this picture up. 

This was the Shark Adventure Train Ride. We got to ride under the 'shark tunnel'. I won a bet while standing in line for this! Thanks for paying up Blake with a lovely shoulder massage! I bet that we would get on the next train! I barely won when we slid in with the rest of the family when the conductor tried to get Blake, Brae and I to wait. 

Kaleb (Blake's nephew) and the girls standing in line to ride the carousel

Dinner at Taco Bell after! We all had fun "relaxing" at this restaurant. :)

 Brae, Cali and Ken sat at their own table and behind them were Ben, Sara, Kaleb and Dylan. Bella sat at her own table for awhile then joined Ben and Sara's table for cinnamon twists.

Aleathea, Lynn, Aly, Scott, Manda and Blake.

Christmas Goodness

Our holiday season was jam-packed and the most stressful one to date! With running the business it added so much stress and chaos around our home! It lasted all the way up until Christmas Eve. I don't have pictures yet from Christmas Day but I want to share a few miracles that touched our hearts! We had someone do a drop at our door with a home-made gingerbread house. The inside was filled with candy too. The girls and I loved it! It was a beautiful treat! We also had a drop at our door with presents and plenty of goodness to go around! What was left was really too much and we were very humbled. Many tears were shed from the generosity of others! It was a true act of kindness! We also loved when our next door neighbors rang our doorbell on Christmas Eve and brought gifts for each of the girls specifically. It was so sweet! We are not sure if they even celebrate the holiday or not so it was very touching! We have had many blessings that surround us but these three were true acts of charity that I wanted to share! 

My Saving Grace

I am so glad the last week is over! I can't even begin to tell you how intense it was! I had my second open house for my business on December 5th and I received a lot of orders from it! I had 13 days to complete all the projects! If you add everyday life and the holidays (school programs, parties, shopping, Christmas cards, teacher gifts, etc...) to the nightmare of the orders you get ONE MELTDOWN. 

This season has been one of many lessons learned. I won't bore you with the knowledge gained for the business but I will share things I have learned in general. I learned that you can survive on very little sleep, four hours Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night and an 'All Nighter' on Wednesday night to have the orders done by Thursday. I learned that Late Night Talk 

Shows are a lot funnier on little sleep. haha I learned that vinyl is dangerous work. Do you know how many injuries we had this week alone! I learned that you can add getting a puppy to the mix of this past week and you can find joy amongst all the craziness and poo.

(Meet Maximus... one cute little puppy. He is a Dachshund/Poodle (Doodle according to the girls) mix. He is 2 months old and the girls gave it to Blake for Christmas! He is adorable.)

I learned that I can sleep sitting straight up at a dentist office and a Frappaccino can cure the tears during a meltdown Wednesday morning when it appeared there was NO WAY to get the orders done. Here are the most important things I have learned though... that family and friends are always there to help and that Heavenly Father provides a way to help us even when it appears there is no way. 

(This was one of my favorite signs I made this week for a woman. I think of The Jones' every time I see it :)

I blogged about how The Hairs helped us two Sundays ago and they also came back over the following Monday night for FHE to help with vinyl. Then, later that week Shannon and my friend, Lisa came over to help... ALL DAY, and ooh that was a harsh day! Then, this week, my friend Tiff took the girls for hours after school to help me while I worked. And can I just say how much I love Blake for what he's done to help! He has surprised himself by how good he is with peeling vinyl and recently applying it to ornaments (when we had 35 ornaments the night before the deadline!!!) He stayed up late with me during this past week working then on Wednesday he told me he was staying home from work to help me. If he hadn't done so there would have been NO WAY that I would have finished! We worked so hard! I can't describe how much it meant to me, in so many ways, that he would stay home to help me! Priorities are huge to one's heart. 

We completed all the orders and sleepily I went to drop them all off. I

crashed when it was all over and finally get to blog about it all! I am

trying to get caught up in life now after the craziest two months of my 

entire life!!! I am thankful for what I have learned professionally and

personally and I know that Blake and my friends are my 'Saving Grace'.

Holiday Party

Friday night was Blake's holiday party at Moody Garden's Hotel in Galveston. It was a beautiful event and the food was delicious!!! The hotel was gorgeous and was all decorated for Christmas. After the party we walked out to the "Festival of Lights" presentation. It was a really fun time! This is the only picture from the night. As a side note, the time away was MUCH needed. If I hadn't gone I think I was going to need to be admitted to the psych. ward! I feel much better now. 

Snow in Houston

It is darn cold today! We were sitting in line at school and it started to sleet. I was impressed with that for Houston. The next thing I knew it was snowing. It lasted for like twenty minutes or so. Pretty crazy!!!

Where Have All The Dresses Gone???

Well, I will re-phrase that question... Where have all the MODEST dresses gone? I went to the mall last night with Blake to look for a dress for his holiday party coming up. We looked in every major store in the mall and every other store that looked like it might sell a dress. There are NO modest dresses out there. Out of every store we went into I tried on 3. None of them were long enough! 

I loved this picture. We were in Dillards and this was my favorite dress of the night. Blake picked out this ROCKIN' sweater to go with it! What do you think? 

Intense

So, last Friday was my second open house for MandysWallCandy. It was a huge success. I had one women who needed her order by Monday. Since she lives an hour away I was trying to complete the order by Sunday at 5:30 so my friend from church could take it into work and save me a trip. :) I didn't get a chance to start the order until about 3pm on Sunday. There were 18 ornaments and one small tile. We were invited to the Hair's for lunch/dinner so I took the vinyl over there and we created a small sweat shop. Jared, Skyler, Kamryn, Shannon, Braelyn, Blake and I all helped! We were so fortunate that my friends stayed at church for 'Break the Fast' so we could drop the order off to them still. We met them at like 6:45. It was intense!!!! Too much pressure.  (Shannon sat where the ribbon sits and notice the baby in the bottom of the picture~ haha)

THURSDAY

I had quite a big day on Thursday. Blake took the day off for some well visit appointments so we hung out. In between appointments he and I went to see Twilight. I felt like the last one on earth to see the movie but learned since then that there are 'others' who are still in the dark. haha

I loved the movie. I had no expectations for it because I had heard both good and bad things. I was pleasantly surprised. I just thought they could have cast Jasper and Emmett better mainly. Maybe Esme too. Okay, and Rosalie and Alice as well. haha I liked Edward and Bella! So, besides the casting of the vampires the rest was awesome! 

After the movie I was so excited because I got to drive Blake's car. It is a stick shift and I hadn't driven one since high school. I know, right, forever ago!!! Like 11 years. I was so nervous at first. Right Blake!!! :) I did pretty good after driving through the parking lot at the movies and gave him the keys back. He insisted I drive more (he heard me talk about wanting to drive it for a month now and we never had a good time to do it) so I got to drive on a main road by our house. This main road had like 30 stop signs (no exaggeration- Champions Forest) so I was scared to stall the whole time. But I didn't. Yay me!!! haha I felt sad because I couldn't do my usual Cali stops that I do in my automatic ;) 

To finish a great Thursday I want to write quickly about Survivor. The end of Survivor had me biting my nails. Can I just say that I hate Corinne. Is that nice? I don't hate much- but I really, really can not stand her. She is a wretched, miserable and horrible person. She is plain nasty! I was sooo happy she was voted off! Here are her parting words to those who are left "I hate all of them, I hope they all have miserable lives." So endearing and just one example why I think so highly of her! Go Matty! He's my favorite! 

Galveston Day Trip

Breakfast at The Huddle House

Blake & Manda at the beach

Lunch at The Rainforest Cafe, Galveston Island

This picture is of a large boat that was smashed into this building. The boat is on the left. The building was destroyed. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of the damage still left from the hurricane. It was really horrific and sad. One house had lost an entire side and we could see into a bedroom with the blankets on the bed still. 

Saturday I went with Blake and his mom, dad and grandma for a day trip. First we ate breakfast then we headed down to Galveston for the day. It was really fun to be with his family. I loved it! When we got down there we drove around and looked at different things. We saw monuments from different wars, a Carnival Cruise line that was docked, and a lot of the damage from Hurricane Ike. It was so relaxing and nice to drive along the beach. We ate lunch at The Rainforest Cafe there. It was such a wonderful day! I was thankful to have my nieces watch the girls and I was so thankful for the invite with the Murdock family. 

Putting Up The Christmas Tree

The day after Thanksgiving the adults braved the crowds for the Black Friday sales. I was disappointed with the lack of great deals out and by the small crowds it looked like I wasn't the only one.  When we got home we put our Christmas tree up. It was fun!  I think the tree looks good! 

CrAzY LiFe!!!!!

Eating lunch with the girls at school~ Balance Amanda Balance

I forgot to get a picture of the three of us eating lunch (what a shocker, my brain...) so we got one at home!

Manda & Blake time! Notice the huge laundry pile in the background. Doesn't it look glamourous! I think it's a permanent pile. ;)

Can we get any crazier over here? Life is certainly hoppin!!! Check it out! Life with four girls is busy enough but add an amazing social life, running a business and the holidays and you have enough to make you go insane!!! haha Here are some pictures from the past couple days. My business open house from a few weeks ago was a success and I am coming up on my deadline to have all my orders complete... and just in time for a second open house! Aagghh! It is such a blessing! The girls have been on self propelled mode with a lot of their homework while I try to keep my cool. They have been figuring out a lot of their own dinners too lately. Laundry piles up all the time (as you can tell in the bottom picture haha) and the housework is never up to my Par!!! But, life is rewarding right now and I am very happy! Oh, the other day we were driving in the car and Cali said "Mom, you  may want to start making dinners again!!! I am sick of Captain Crunch!!!!" Oh I felt so bad! I have made dinners every night since then! And no, it wasn't yesterday when she said it. It was three dinners ago :) 

Sidenote~ gas is down to $1.59 here! Yes!!! Is it imaginable that it will drop less than $1.00? I think it may!!! 

Girls Disco Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Loving the Gas Prices

I use this blog as half my journal so I wanted to make sure and note the gas prices today! I got gas and filled up 3/4 of my tank for like $30.00! I seriously doubt we will see gas prices like this for long but I am soooo loving it while it lasts! I think we are all in shock that they have dropped over $2.00 a gallon from what they were a few months back! Yes!!!!

Dancing Elves!!!

Okay, I am having the best time with these videos! My little sister sent me the one with her kids first and I was laughing so hard there were tears! Every time I see her daughter it cracked me up so much! Her smile is just too cute and doesn't she look natural on that body! 

Then, Angie sent me one of her and me! Too funny... I had to put them on my blog! Shake it, shake it!!! We are so awesome!!!! I love the ending when we are really getting into it and I love the Macarena!!! 

Dallas Baby!!!

Me and Sweet Baby!

Our dinner with Michael, Angel, Shannon and Jared

The Birthday Boy! The surprise was so fun! Check out his dinner! It's called "The Whole Enchilada"!!! He had to take some home in a box! Oh, you would have thought that I ate this meal because I went to close their van door with my bum and I DENTED the door pretty bad! Seriously- I put a huge dent in it- Happy Birthday Mike??? Sorry about that...

After dinner the kids were conked out at Angel's house! This is Rylan laying over Ellen and Taylor! It was sooo funny.

Tay-tee and KK sleeping upside down in the chair! How do they fit!!! It was adorable!

I think we look good! He is so gorgeous! Thank you Ku'ulei for taking the pics!!! 

This past weekend Blake and I and the girls went up to Dallas! It was quite a roadtrip! If Blake can survive the car ride, I am certain Blake can survive AnYtHiNg!!! hahaha 

We had a great weekend! Saturday we were able to visit with Paula and her family and we were able to meet their sweet little baby, Millie. She was yummy and I loved her! It was the best being able to visit with her again! Saturday night we surprised Michael for his birthday and we went with Shannon and Jared & Michael and Angel out to LaHa Ranch for dinner, DoubleDip ice cream for the best StrawAna in history and then went to see Quantum Solace. We had the best time with them and we laughed a lot! I LOVED it! I fell asleep during the movie though.  A lot of action, too confusing and we were too close to the BIG screen. haha  Saturday night we hung out with Ku'ulei and the kiddies! It was soooo good to chat and be together... just not enough time in the weekend to spend the time I want to!!! Sunday we went to church and I loved that too (can you tell I LOVED my weekend), it was great to see friends! I was sad I didn't get to spend more time with more people! Sunday we had lunch after church at Angel's! It was my favorite meal that she makes! It was special! I think in life that relationships formed and kept are the most important things!!!! I am happy though to be back in Houston- at home-and I am grateful for a wonderful weekend with those I love! 

MandysWallCandy Open House

I am excited to announce that my Open House was a success! I am so happy with the turnout and support from yesterday when I had my first open house for the little growing business. I am happy to share that I had 27 items on display! It was a great feeling! Please check out what is new with my vinyl creations at www.mandyswallcandy.blogspot.com! Happy Holidays!

Houston Wildlife

Tonight I walked into my bathroom and was startled to find a guest on my wall! I have these guests on a weekly basis here in good old Houston!!! I can't even count how many lizards I have removed from inside our home. I ran back out after seeing it and noted (to myself) how gross they are when they are not outside, then I proceeded to use the ladies room and told the lizard to not jump on me (haha). I was going to leave it but I thought it might scare the girls if they were to see it in the morning so I trapped it between an old doggie dish and my dust pan and as I was scooting it across the wall I smashed it's tail! Now come on... that is just disgusting! Poor lizard, I felt bad as I put it outside tail-less. :) Then I wiped the tail off my wall! Enjoy!

Halloweenie Night

I loved that Cali brought home a little puppet from school that she made from a book and it was called Halloweenie! It was about a dog. 

Our Halloween night was fun! It started out with a bunch of whining and complaining and the girls were so anxious to go out so out we went!!!  Shannon, Jared and the kids came with us and we just went around our house. The kids made bank! I have great memories when I was growing up when we went to Santo Thomas every year. I will always remember the house that gave out sodas! I would never waste money on that but I am glad they did it. :) 

I am glad Halloween is over and now I am loving picking up candy wrappers around my house!! Man, I have complained a lot about this holiday. Sorry, I will promise to be more uplifting now!!! Kell, I was thinking about you and your family last night with the Longhorns game.