Christmas Craft

Okay folks, here it is... the extent of my craftiness. I don't sew, I don't paint, so I bake and decorate. I planned on doing a lot more gingerbread things ( a house, a tree...) but this dang train took waaaay to long as it was. I baked and frosted, Mitch helped assemble, and the kids placed the candies. And tonight (Jan. 2) it will be destroyed... sigh!

Full view of the train... complete with licorice track!

The Engine- the cattle plow was my idea!

The Coal Car- filled with "coal"

The Lumber Car- covered in snow

The Caboose- complete with ticket man


Okay so it's not my finest decorating, but it was a fun- filled family activity and that's what counts! Bon' Appetite!

A Very Merry Christmas!

Well here it is, December 29... is Christmas really over? When did it begin? Am I the only one who thinks time is flying by waaaay to fast? I finally got my act together and got ready for Christmas- ready or not, it was here. And despite the behavior of my not-so-well-behaved children (a lot of the time) Santa visited our home.

Christmas morning brought many smiles and surprises beyond belief! Cameron has been asking Santa for 3 years now for a puppy. I suppose Santa thought Cam was ready to take on this responsibility- although mom is having second thoughts now. Mitch and I told him to not get his hopes up and have a backup plan just in case- so he went with the old stand-by: books and Wii games. So much to his delight and surprise on Christmas morning, he wakes up to wimpering! (We had the video camera strategically placed to see his face while we were still in bed) He came out to see what the sound was- stopped dead in his tracks, stared, and turned and ran up stairs. This is what we heard:

Cam: (in excited half whisper, half yell): Dad, Mom, I got, I got... a new puppy!

Me: (in a sleepy voice... hee hee) What? What do you mean, like a stuffed animal puppy?

Cam: (hysterical) no, a real live puppy! Come see, come see!

Then he tears back down the stairs, followed closely by all of us, since he had everyone in the house awake by now. And sure enough, in it's own little kennel, was a tiny little Mini-Pin. The kids said he was such a little pipsqueak... so we named him Pip. Here he is and as you can see, he thinks he's the king of the household!

Creed has his own personal bodyguard!

We are having fun with him, but he is a puppy and he likes to chew, nip, pee and poop where he isn't supposed to. But we will work it out and we think he'll be fun for our family.

Madeline was the easy one to buy for this year! She asked for an EZ Bake Oven and that's what she got! Okay there were a couple of bonuses with it.. lot's of extra packets of things to bake, and also a frosting pen decorator-- she's walking in my footsteps! Yea! She was so excited to because she got chapstick from my mom and dad and she LOVES chapsticks! Oh, and let's not forget her HSM nightgown- I didn't even know she knew what High School Musical was! Get with the program mommy!!! Yikes- she's growing up too fast!

Collin was easy as well since he only had one request... one pricey request that is! But since he only wanted one thing, we felt compelled to give in to his demands :0) He wanted Spike the Dinosaur. And boy does he love it! It was set up and roaring to go (no pun intended) and Collins face was all smiles on Christmas morning. He got a few other things, but this was definitely his favorite!

Collin also got a big pack of dinosaurs from Grammy and Papa- can you tell what this little man likes?! I think he was very happy with his Christmas.

As for Creed... he got a couple of things, but he mostly just wanted his bottle and back to bed- he's not an early morning baby, but we did get some cute shots of him before he crashed again!

Creed turned 6 months old on Dec. 23. What a little ball of fun! He is the cutest little guy, but he has been really fussy lately. I wondered if he was teething and last night when he was the worst he's ever been ( I couldn't even console him) and his little cheeks were rosy, I really thought he was teething. This morning, I noticed a little bit of white on his bottom gums... sure enough, he cut a tooth! His first one- and I think he's the earliest one of our kids to do so this early! What a trooper- I can' t imagine how that would feel to a baby. I love teething tablets and Tylenol! His six month appt. is on Friday, so we'll see how big he is now- I'm sure somewhere close to 20 lbs.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a great 2009!

Oh, I almost forgot... Mitch got me a beautiful curio cabinet to put all my trinkets and nice things. He is so thoughtful!

He even filled it for me while I got to take a nap on Christmas day! That was almost the best gift he and the kids could give me- quiet time and a nap! I'm sure all mom's agree with me!

Time Flies!

Where on earth does the time go?! It can't be the (almost) middle of December already can it? That came way too fast and I'm just not ready for Christmas!
It seems that ever since Thanksgiving, life has just been a huge whirlwind for me. We went to IF for Thanksgiving and had lots of fun with family doing what our family does best... making fabulous food and we even had a day of candymaking for what was meant to be for all the girls- but somehow we only ended up with me, my mom and my sis Katie. But we had fun and got lots of Christmas candy made.
At the end of the week, we went to Mitch's moms house and played games and visited. Mitch got carried away wrestling with his younger brother and cracked a rib... not fun! Especially since he came down with Bronchitis- that doesn't feel to swell on the rib! He has a nasty sounding cough and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, even with antibiotics- so keep him in your prayers please!
I have been up to my earballs in Enrichment- planning our RS Christmas dinner is tomorrow (the 9th) and I am in charge of the program this year. Talk about stress! If I hadn't dyed my hair on Saturday, I'm sure I'd have a full head of white hair! But... just because I felt like I finally had a grip on my calling (it's only taken me two years! :0) the bishop decided to go and switch my calling! I am now the Primary Secretary... yikes! I've never done anything like that before! I hope the Lord will bless me to do well and who knows... maybe this will help me become a bit more organized! Anyway, that's a run down of my life the past week or two. The kids are doing well- Creed is starting baby food and loving it! He especially loved the french fry that Aunt Joni slipped him (sigh!)
Well if I don't get around to sending Christmas cards, I apologize to you all! I love you and wish you the Merriest Christmas and a wonderful new year too. I'm not saying I won't send one, I just don't know if I'll get around to it, but I'll try!

My weak genes pull through!

I am so excited, I just had to post this! You all know that our kids have all looked exactly alike right? They are all mini- Mitch. I've always thought that the only one I had any say in at all was probably Cameron- he looks more like me than the others, but still so much like Mitch that it's not even funny! Until Mr. Creed came along that is... I had given up on my weak genes when I saw him and thought "yep, he's a McClellan alright". But yesterday, a heavenly glimpse of genetics shone down on me. I had a baby picture of me out because I went to a baby shower, and I had it sitting on the counter. Well Cameron came home from piano lessons, saw the picture and said "why is Creed in a dress?" I was fixing dinner and had my back to him, so I didn't see what he was looking at, and thought meant Creed was in a dress at that moment. I looked at him like he was crazy and said "Creed is right here, and he's not in a dress." He gave me the "I am right and you don't know what you're talking about" look and picked up the picture. He said again "Creed is in a dress... why?" My jaw just dropped! I was speechless! My 81/2 year old son thought my baby picture was Creed! And I have to admit... there is quite a resemblence... right? RIGHT??? Please tell me you see it. Tell me my genes came through just a little bit!

Maybe it's the double chin.. defintely not the dress though. Is't Creed so cute? He's almost 5 months old now. He weighs 16 lsb. 14 oz. and is 26 3/4 inches long. He's a big boy and so dang cute! He has deep blue eyes like his sister which we hope he keeps. He finally laughed at 4 months old! It took that long to get him to laugh! But that has got to be the sweetest sound in the world! Well here's a few more pics of us to catch up:

Our happy little guy

Some pics from Halloween- sorry so late about this post:

Madeline just couldn't decide what costume to wear: Winter Belle, or Ariel (notice the red hair?)

Cameron was the Red Ninja- look out!

Collin was a pirate- what else with that missing tooth?!

And our little tiger- wasn't too thrilled with the costume after a while.

My First Tag

Can you believe it? I've never been "tagged" before on someone's blog, and if I have, I just plain don't remember it... but my friend Janeal tagged me and so I thought "hey, why not? It could be fun... or not." So we'll see. Here goes:

8 Things I am Passionate About:
(note... for those of you who really know me, I am not a passionate person, so let's just say "8 things I really love")
1. My husband (and best friend) Mitch
2. My four children
3.My family- especially my sisters (but my brothers rock too, so do my parents!)
4. My friends
5. Baking- especially at Christmas!
6. Going on vacations
7. The Gospel
8. Decorating cakes and cookies

8 Words or Phrases I say a lot:
1. Holy Moley!
2. freakin
3. oh garbage!
4. no problem
5. Okey Dokey
6. What the crap?
7. I love you
8. What the...!

8 Things I want to do before I die:
1. Go on a cruise with my whole family!
2. Get out of the house we are in
3. Get out of debt
4. Get back to the temple (it's been a while- oops)
5. Take my kids to Disneyworld
6. Serve a mission with Mitch
7. Go back to a Culinary School to be a pastry chef
8. Travel with my hubby

8 things I've learned in my life:
1. Don't say things when you are angry, cool off first before speaking (I'm still working on this one)
2. I can't just eat what I want- it did catch up with me
3. Prayers are answered
4. Trials do happen, it doesn't mean God doesn't love you
5. Stay close to family- they're all you have in the end
6. Lies will always slap you in the face
7. Happiness is contagious
8. Smile, if you don't, everyone always thinks you're in a bad mood!

8 Places or things I would love to see:
1. Conference center at Temple Square and the park on top (I have never seen them!)
2. Italy (again)
3. Alaska (as a cook for my Dad's fishing trips)
4. Broadway Musical "Wicked"
5. Church history sites
6. My kids married in the temple
7. Hawaii (again)
8. Me, at the weight I was when I got married, and Mitch's face when I look like that again!

8 Things I currently need or want:
1. Alone time with Mitch -a date would be nice
2. My nails done
3. Money, Money, Money
4. To lose weight
5. The motivation to lose weight
6. To see my family
7. To be a better singer
8. Another cruise

8 People I Tag:
Whoever wants to do this- it definitely makes you think about things! Kind of fun too, but I think I'll wait a while before doing another one.

More Collin entertainment

This is Mitch for those of you that are used to reading Carlie's posts. I thought I would step in for a brief visit.

I know that the last post was about Collin and the funny things that he does, but he keeps doing them, so we needed another post to try to keep up with him.

First a picture that he drew of me. Now I know what you are thinking. What wonderful arms...., or ears...., or whatever is sticking out the side of my head. Now what is that below my head between my legs. What a nice, big........

CHIN! Of course! (at least that is what Collin says it is) Get your minds out of the gutter! This WAS created by a four year old don't you know.

Next was dinner tonight. We finally convinced Madeline to try a tomato. Once she tried it, she proudly proclaimed that tomatos were her favorite vegtable. Of course Collin wants to be like his sister, so he tried one. It was so funny that we had to convince him to eat another so we could record it. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

If you can't hear what he says last, it was "I think it was a barf!"

I am sure that he will pull something off again and we will have to do another "Collin did something funny" post soon. Who knows, maybe one of our other kids will decide to be as funny as Collin and we can post about them instead.

Never A Dull Moment...

In the McClellan home that is- anywhere Collin is- there is usually laughter! The most recent comic incident happened to be at church on Sunday. It was the Primary Program for our ward and Collin is a sunbeam (his teacher needs to be exalted!) First off, let me just advise you all to never be late on the day of the program- we were sitting in the gym in the last row! Well the first few talks went by smoothly, and then when they sang their first song, it had just ended and we hear (on the back row) a little voice that could only belong to Collin, yell as loud as he could "Did I do good mom, huh, did I?" This got quite a chuckle out of the audience. And the second song came along and the same thing happened after it was done... more quiet laughter. And we had full blown laughs when he popped off for the third time asking if he did good. It's a good thing he's so dang cute!

Then when Mitch was tucking Collin in bed, they were telling each other how much they loved each other. Mitch tells Collin "you are the best Collin in the whole wide world, and the whole universe, and forever", and Collin replies with a serious look in his big brown eyes... "No dad, I'm the best Collin in Idaho!" Guess that shows us the mind of a child and their understanding of mind boggling concepts.

Our little cowboy chillin in his Bumbo chair! He prefers this chair over the bouncy chair and his swing.

Here is a clearer shot of Creed- almost a smile!

Creed is getting so big and he's a lot happier. We can get some dang cute smiles out of him and even once in a while, a laugh! He is 4 months old now- time has gone so fast! He has the biggest blue eyes which we hope stay blue like his sisters. He also has a red tint to his hair- something the others definitely did not have. So, as much as he looks exactly like our other kids, he is his own little person too! And we love him dearly!