I Heart Nativities!

My Lovely Willow Tree Nativity! I love it! My sister bought this one for me for Christmas one year.
This is my all time favorite thing! It was my Grammas & I cherish it! It should also have candles at the bottom to make the top spin, but with little kids, we don't ever do the candles.
This is the sweet little Nativity Scene inside Grammas Silvestri! How cute!!
This gorgeous Nativity I bought in Ft. Collins Colorado. I got it at this great little store called 10,000 Villages. It is a terracotta with whitewash, hand carved from Bangladesh. I love it! & it reminds me of our time in Northern Colorado.
I got this cute little simple thing in Santa Fe New Mexico. 5 years ago we had an Alger Family Reunion in Santa Fe & we found this cute little Christmas shop in the town square. I love the simple little ones! It reminds me of our fun Family Reunion. I found it with my sister in laws & my mother in law. It was a fun day & I love this cute Nativity!

Keep Going theres more...

Merry Christmas!

I Love my Nativity Scenes! I love them & love getting new ones! One of my Favorite things about my Nativities is to remember where I got them each time I look at them! I have to admit, I just love having them ALL over during Christmas time. I think it's so fun to SEE everyday, almost everytime you turn around, the Reason we Celebrate the Season! Merry Christmas! I got this cute one at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii! I LOVE it, my fun little Coconut Nativity!

This beautiful wall hanging is on the wall right when you walk in my house. So it's greating you! It's kind of a rusted metal, cut out.
This cheesey little set I made right after Scott & I got married. I was so proud of this goofy Nativity Scene. In fact it was my only Nativity for the first couple years we were married. Until Scott bought me this one....
Scott bought me this beautiful Ceramic set right after I had Savannah. It was one of those years we weren't buying each other gifts because we were pretty poor & then he surprised me with this. He's the best & this was & is one of my very favorite Nativitiy Scenes ever! So precious!

What do you collect at Christmas time? What is your favorite Nativity Scene? Thanks for letting me share with you My Favorite Christmas decorations!

Great Neighbors!

Okay, So I have some REALLY cute Neighbors who have brought by some fabulous Neighbor gifts! I love exchanging gifts with the neighbors! We've gotten homemade cookies, homemade banana bread, a pine tree candle, yummy Hot Chocolate mix, a Holiday hand soap from Bath & Body (my favorite!), a really cute bag of granola, & some of the cutest salt dough ornaments you have ever seen (although that fabulous friend isn't a neighbor, she's just amazing!!) I'll post on those later. Anyhow, I have some of the cutest things on my counter. I LOVE getting the creative, different than the usual gifts. Here are a couple that I just LOVED. Don't be surprised if you receive something like this from me next year because I'm definitely going to steal these ideas!! Here goes...

So attached to a LOVELY big bag of M&M's was this cute little note!

Holiday Survival Kit

Each Color has a different cure

Of this fact I am sure.

When you're grouchy & mean,

I recommend green.

For times when you're down,

The best choice is brown.

Oranges special coating will

Minimize the Bloating.

The ache in your head is

Cured by the red.

To help you be mellow,

Take a dose of the yellow.

If agitated too, eat a

Handful of blue.

If you're whole life is a drag,

Just eat the Whole Bag!!

I mean seriously, how cute is that? I love it & I have to admit, I've almost polished off the whole stupid bag!!

Okay here is another super cute one. It's a Sugar Cookie Mix & tied to it is this cute little card & a Star shaped Cookie Cutter. So cute!!

The weather outside may be frightful,

but these cookies are so delightful,

and since we love our neighbors so...

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

May a star shine brightly on you this holiday season!!

I just thought these were so adorable I would share them with you!! So, if you still haven't gotten to your neighbor gifts, there are some great ideas for you!!

Too cute!! Love ya & Happy Gift Giving to ya!

Cookie Monster!!

Brookie is a Cookie Monster!! I took Cecily's idea of giving babies oreos & Brooke was SO SO happy!! I know she doesn't look too happy in this picture, but really she was! I swear!! In fact she was so pleased with her oreo, she was giggling at it! She would hold it up & look at it & giggle! It was so so funny!

She was REALLY unhappy with the flash on my camera. Each picture got a crazier look from Miss Brookie Beth! Also like Cecily, I decided to give it to her in her walker/excersaucer thing & it got destroyed! I never knew oreo "mud" could infiltrate ever square inch of that thing!

It's been completely hosed down now, along with Brooke. She has a lot of fat creases that were caked with oreo too! It was a fun bath!

She's so cute!! I just love her chubby cheeks! Cute stinky baby girl!!

New Recipes on the Recipe Blog!! Yummy Traditional Treats for the Holidays! Thanks GirlyMom for doing the recipe exchange to kick my butt in gear & post some new recipes! Enjoy!!

http://easyrecipes-kalger.blogspot.com/

Check out GirlyMom's blog for the recipe exchange too!

http://momof4girls.blogspot.com

HaPpY BiRtHdAy SaVaNnAh!!

My sweet baby girl is 9!! Holy Cow!! When did this happen? I swear just last week she was in diapers. Happy Birthday Sweet Savannah Elayne! Miss Savannah is my little Sweetheart! She is a total tenderheart baby, I don't know how I got so lucky to be her Mommy! She is so goofy & funny & loves to laugh until she falls over. (which she does often!) We just LOVE Savannah! This is from her friends 70's birthday bash back in September. She is just so so cute!!
Here is Savannah Banna on her way to school the morning of her Birthday. She is wearing a cute outfit she got from Grandma & Grandpa Alger. She is starting to look so big. It's kind of freaking her Mommy out!!
Happy Birthday to you... we haven't done her official party yet. So I bought her a Birthday Eclair & stuck a candle in it. (I know I suck!) I did make her Lasagna (her very favorite) for dinner & she blew out the candle in her eclair. So, it's official, she's 9!!
Savannah loves the movie Hairspray & the soundtrack too.
She is on the Express Dance Team at Dance. She loves it!
She LOVES to sing. No matter how crazy, or if she doesn't know the words, & she likes to sing REALLY loud!!
She likes her American Girl Dolls & playing with her cute little friends!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart Savannah! Love your stinky little bum!

Photo Shoot & Family Night!

Happy Christmas Card Pictures!! It was quite the experience trying to get all 4 of them to cooperate! As you can see Brookie never really got with the whole spirit of "look cute & sweet for a picture for everyone to see, like we're a nice happy normal family!" Well, we are happy, but normal is a stretch!! Actually at the time, Brookie wasn't so happy! I have to admit, they are DANG cute!! It's a good thing you can't hear pictures! ha ha Awww, they are so cute all dressed up!
This is how MOST of the pictures turned out! Look at Brooke, she's wondering what the crap is going on! So so cute!
For Family Night we made Gingerbread (actually just graham cracker) Houses! They turned out so so cute! The kids had a great time doing them. We went over to my sisters house. So, we had 8 kids making these. It got a little crazy over there!!
I also copied Crystals idea & made gumdrop trees. They loved that too! We had tons of fun! Grandma Robin was even feeling up to playing with us. She was extra tired, but she was in on all the fun!
Avery Lyn is so funny! She's pretty particular about how her "creations" look. She's quite the artist! I think she had the most fun & she was the last one still at the table "creating."

Sammy did a fabulous job! This is the most focussed he's ever been about any activity! He loved it! he did a great job on his tree too! He worked really hard on his house & his tree!
Savannah is just a bit of a goof ball! She kept laughing until she fell over! Her & Ryanne are pretty gooney when they are together & tonight was NO different! They are pretty funny girls! Savannah made a great M&M fence around her house. Too cute & too fun!

Tonight I'm toasting my Diet Coke to kids on a SUGAR HIGH & trying to get to bed before 4 a.m. GoodNight!!

Yay....MoRe SnOw!!!

So, the snow hit...again! It's beautiful & freezing out there! It rained for a couple days & melted all the snow we got last weekend. Most of the state was hit with this crazy storm & we hadn't gotten too much until today. When I got home tonight from my fun shopping trip, the neighborhood was completely covered in SNOW!!! Here is the house, from the last storm. It's also Pre-Light hanging, so I thought I would show you all just what a fabulous job I did on the lights. Ya know, the lights I hung ALL BY MYSELF! (I know I'm talking as if I split the atom! I'm just proud!)
I know you can't really see the house, but I just loved this picture with the snowflakes caught in the flash. It was a pretty night!
You can see my awesome light work a little better in this picture. Really the reason I'm so proud is because, if you can see it. There is a retaining wall flower bed right under the porch, so it's not so easy to reach the roof with the ladder. I'm also afraid of heights, so it was a huge accomplishment for me. I know I'm impressed with really simple things! & I'm a bit of a dork! ha ha
This is the front "walk". I found all the sleds, buried in the snow & tripped over a scooter that was completely covered in the snow also. The kids had A LOT of fun with the babysitter playing outside! Woo Hoo! I just wish they could remember where they left the sleds to be buried in the snow & put them AWAY! I also wish I could have seen that stupid scooter before I ran over it, & then tripped on it when I went looking for whatever it was I ran over. It was fun times & I won't talk about the words that flew from my mouth when I found it, by face planting over it!
Nothing like a peaceful night to enjoy the winter majesty. ha ha ha

This is what I saw when I turned around on the porch after taking the pictures. Sammy in the side window showing me his "muscles". I love that kid! He's such a goof ball!

*Never mind the nasty dirty window! It never looks like that, I don't know what happened to it. ha ha ha, I'm funny!

Hope you're all enjoying the snow & driving safely!! Watch out for buried Spider Man Scooters, they're a killer!

YaY...SnOw!!

I know, I'm so slow with the pictures. These are from our snow storm last weekend. The pictures were just so cute, I HAD to put them on here! We haven't had much snow yet this year, so this was very exciting! Woo Hoo for Snow!! This is Savannah & her cute friend Bryson making Snow Devils, I mean Snow Angels! They are so cute!! Bryson just lives a few doors down & they are cute little friends.
Sammy decided to join in the fun. He's a little nut! He was so excited to go out in the snow, he was dressed & ready first & the girls wouldn't go out & play with him. When Bryson came over Sammy almost jumped out of his skin he was so excited! Yay for another boy! They were so funny to watch. Ya know, safely from the front porch. I have decided I really am the Wicked Witch & I'm afraid I'll melt!
I had to try to get this picture, it wasn't easy. I kept telling them to stand like they liked each other. It wasn't working. Finally I just pushed them together to get this picture! Cute Friends!
Sammy & his "shubble" (shovel) so he can dig. One of his very favorite pasttimes!
Gooney Savannah pretending to roll down the hill. As you can see there isn't really a hill there.

Avery Lyn wouldn't be caught dead out in the weather. She's hilarious! Literally she wouldn't even come out on the porch to watch the kids. She hates to be cold & doesn't want anything to do with it. Scott even tried to get her to go sledding with them & she refused. She's a goofy little girl. She said she needed to stay inside with Little Auntie Katie & keep her company!

We are suppose to get another storm tonight. Maybe we can PRY Avery out of the house this time. I also put up Christmas Lights on the house today, All By MYSELF. Yay me! (It really isn't anything great, they are just over the porch) But, I was very proud that I did it! Woo Hoo! Tonight I'm toasting my Diet Coke to Tooting My Own Horn! Woo Hoo!

Tell All Tuesday - O' ChRiStMaS tReE!

Here is our Christmas Tree! I don't know that I have too much of a family tradition regarding the tree. When I was little in California we would go out & cut one down ourselves in the hills. It was great. We usually ended up with only a few fights & always ended the day with Hot Chocolate.

When I was little we would go to my Grandparents house for Christmas. I don't really remember all the particulars of my Grammas tree, except that it was always Beautiful! When I was a teenager she did her tree with Gold Bows & Glass ornaments. I just remember it looked so pretty!

When my Gramma got a little older & wasn't up for putting up a tree, she gave me a few of her Glass Ornaments. They are my absolute favorite!! I don't let my kids anywhere near them. I always put them way up at the top of the tree. They are definitely prize posessions! I love them! It's not Christmas until my Grammas ornaments are on the tree.

I also have Snowmen all over my tree. I love snowmen! I have a Baby's First Christmas ornaments for all my kids. I also have family ornaments with our names on them for each stage. With one kid, two, & so on. I haven't gotten the new one yet with Brooke. We'll have to do that!

I usually decorate the tree with the kids for a family night. I put on the lights & ribbon & breakable ornaments & the kids get to put on "their" ornaments. They love pulling their special ornaments out & picking the best spot for them!

I love my tree. I love the way it looks & I love sitting here at night looking at it with the Christmas lights on & the other lights off. I also have a Department 56 Village & I light up the Village pieces too. It's so pretty in here at night during the Holidays! I love to sit here & watch Christmas movies. It gets me in the Holiday Spirit!

Happy Tell All Tuesday to Everyone!! & Happy Holidays!!

Pullin' Teeth!

Okay, I went a little overboard with the pictures. But, it was Avery Lyn's first big trip to the dentist & she lost her first two teeth! Woo Hoo! Not exactly the best situation to lose teeth, but that's how we do it here! Here she is all ready to see the Dentist! (She was a little nervous)
She was so Brave! She sat right up in the chair & did what the Dr. told her. She was SO SO good! This is my little drama queen emotional girl & I was so glad that she was such a big girl! Her two front bottom teeth were coming in & her baby teeth weren't even kind of loose. So, we had to make a visit to "help" them come out. The Dentist was fabulous! You could tell that he's a cute Grandpa & he was so great with her. She didn't make a peep & the teeth were out in no time.
Here she is getting some "happy gas". I was hoping I could have a few snorts of it too. ha ha

Here is the cute girl showing off her funny teeth. She was also so excited to get her little tooth case to put the teeth in & her Princess toothbrush! Woo Hoo, for easy to please!

She was such a big girl! Yay! The toothfairy even brought her $5! (the toothfairy has become a whole lot more generous then when I was little!!) ha ha

Happy Toothless Monday