Merry Christmas Eve!

I just wanted to do a quick post for everyone since I know that I will be way too buys tomorrow to do one.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend with their family and friends. I've found that the older I get, the less I care about what I get for Christmas. I just enjoy being able to spend the time with my family and friends. And of course indulge in way too much good homemade food!!!

I hope the snow doesn't ruin anyones travel plans. I happen to like all the white fluffy stuff. I can't wait to take the boys out to play in it!

Merry Christmas to all my followers!

It's A...

...New Car!

Yup, told ya' I wasn't pregnant lol!

Today, well yesterday I guess now, we went to Boone and picked up our new car...err my new car. This was a first for me in many ways.

1. It was my first brand spankin' new car-had 6 miles on it when I drove it off the lot.

2. It was the first time that I didn't have anything to do with the actual choosing of the car*

3. I didn't have to beg to get it

4. It has everything that I wanted in our family car...and more!

*I have test driven an Acadia before, however I did not lay eyes on my new car until I had already bought it! I didn't sit in it, test drive it, pick out just the right color and features...nadda! Josh did everything, but he already knew what I wanted so it wasn't like I didn't have some say in it.

So this is my pretty new family car and I am super excited about it!

Craft time!

I made a trip to Michael's and decided to get some of the foam stickies and foam stockings for the boys to decorate to give the grandparents for Christmas. We had lots of fun! Well Evan at least got the hang of it, Andrew just wanted to chew on the stickies lol! But they still turned out pretty dang cute! :D

Evan with his finished product! He did such a good job!!

Our new furniture!

I FINALLY talked Josh into going out and getting new furniture. Which was a monumental day in our house since I've been practically begging for new furniture for over a year!

We love our sectional and two recliners and are so glad that we decided to get them. And as you can see, the boys like it too! :D

I Fail...

...at blogging lately! I've been horrible about keeping up with everything lately. I guess it's the Christmas season that makes me feel like I'm constantly chasing my tail. But we're on the home stretch right now and my Christmas shopping is done! Completely done! I have a couple of quick and easy crafty projects to finish, but other than that I'm done!

And I'm hoping that Wednesday I will have something really fun to post about! And no, I'm not pregnant! You'll have to wait about a year or two to get any more belly pictures or pregnancy updates from me! Lol!

I am super happy because Josh's sister Amanda and her boyfriend Greg are home from Tennessee right now. It's always fun to have them here and to get to spend time with them and for them to play with the boys. Hopefully they'll live closer eventually!

Sorry it's such a short blog, but I have a ton to do tonight to get ready for my annual bake-a-thon with my mom tomorrow. We've usually gotten it all done by now but we're slacking this year, what can I say?!

Pictures

I promise I will post pictures soon, well as soon as I figure out what the heck is going on with the uploader thingy!!!!

"How can you stay mad at that?!"

This is a phrase that has become ever so common in our house. Having two boys only 15 months apart can definitely be a challenge. I'm told having two kids so close in age is worse than having twins...but I don't know about that, I'd have to ask my friend Jenni lol! But anyways, I don't think a day goes by that I don't look at the ceiling and ask myself why I wanted two kids so close together. Some days both boys are at their "best" and I am at my wits end just trying to make lunch. And then one of the boys will do something absolutely adorable.

Evan is really good for these moments. He's becoming such a little entertainer. He loves to dance and sing, especially when one of his favorite cartoons comes on. His current list of favorite shows are Chuggington-Chachichtah, Umi Zoomi-Umi Shoomie, Go Diego Go-Go Geego Go, and of course Thomas the Train-Thomas. We've been trying for a while to get a good video of Evan singing, but once he sees that we're recording he gets a little shy. So I'll have to try to be a little sneakier!

Andrew is really starting to let his personality show, and it is so funny. Although his sassy attitude is becoming more and more a problem too lol! He is the typical little brother. If Evan is playing nicely by himself Andrew will wander over and pretend to just be walking by. Then all of a sudden it's World War Three and both boys are screaming at each other. Well, Andrew is almost always the instigator. Although he looks like he's the innocent bystander, he is anything but! He steals Evan's toys when he thinks someone isn't paying attention and when Evan gets up to give chase Andrew runs like a bat outta you know where screaming like a howler monkey! While it is very, very funny to watch it's extremely hard not to laugh! Of course as the parent your supposed to be all serious and discipline the naught one, I just wish it wasn't so funny to watch them be mean now and then. The funniest thing is that when Andrew gets caught and knows he was in the wrong, he scrunches up his face and whines and looks at you like..."But I'm so cute." So of course when he really does get in trouble the crocodile tears start falling and the whining gets louder. But he'll eventually walk away pouting, probably planning his next attack.

The fun part now is that the boys actually do play together nicely now and then. And that is what makes it so rewarding to have the boys so close in age. I love it!

Overall, its been so amazing seeing the boys' personalities change and develop. I can't wait to see how they grow closer over the next couple of years!

New Blog for 31 Gifts!

So as not to swamp my family blog with the goings on of my 31 Gifts business, I started a new blog!

http://annaj31gifts.blogspot.com

Check it out and become a follower to stay caught up on all the newest products, customer and hostess specials, and of course for the monthly specials I'll be running for my valued customers! :)

Five

Today I closed my fifth 31 Gifts party. I am so thrilled that I am having such a successful beginning with this business, and I am really hoping that it continues. I also got my first commission check, so that was nice! I'll now be collecting a monthly paycheck, and it's kind of funny that after a year of officially being unemployed I'm happy to say that I am working again and making a little extra cash for myself.

I still have two more parties yet this month, and I have two already scheduled for next month. I'm hoping to be able to get a couple more parties booked for January though, so hint, hint for all of my readers out there lol! I'll also be picking up my first recruit in January!!! My Aunt Linda in Kansas is going to sign up to sell 31 Gifts as well! I am super pumped about that because if I get four people to sign up under me then I get promoted to senior consultant and that'll get me a bigger commission check! :)

I am so thankful that I've been able to have such an amazingly successful beginning with this, and I am hoping and praying that the success continues. So I am begging, pleading, and begging some more! Pass the word along to everyone you know, give them my website, or give them my e-mail or contact info and I'll mail them a catalog. I love meeting new people and spreading the word about 31!!

Where to begin...

As many, or all, of my followers know a young man from Baxter was in a fatal car accident Saturday night. Jacob Moorman was my niece Hannah's boyfriend, so things have been very somber around here lately for everyone. I feel so bad for Hannah, having to go through this at such a young age. But I know that she has an amazing support system between her family, her friends, and Jake's family. They have included her in every step along the way of this experience, they even called her the night of the accident so that she could see him in the hospital before he passed. I think it's so nice that his family is there for her while they all go through this terrible tragedy. She helped in the planning of the memorial service as well as helping Jake's mom Natalie pick out pictures for the slideshow. I can already tell that Hannah will get through this and be a much stronger person for it. I'm deeply saddened for his family. I haven't been able to talk or think about Jake's accident without crying. I think being a parent makes it hit closer to home. You really do have to take advantage of the time that you have with your kids. It makes me appreciate the fact that I survived my accident and have a wonderful life, when not every one is so lucky.

Last Chance!

If anyone has had a chance to look at either a catalog or my website and would like to order something for Christmas from 31 Gifts, let me know by Sunday the 12th! I'll be placing one last order to get a few more things before Christmas.

www.mythirtyone.com/annaj31gifts

Just one more day...again...

Well...my book party turned into a home party, so I guess it's one more day until I can take a break lol! I also have a party that I was supposed to close tonight and now it doesn't look like I can because Josh had to go to work...ugh!

Just one more day...

I can't wait for next week! This week and weekend has been so dang busy I am really looking forward to hanging around the house with the boys and just relaxing instead of being so busy getting things ready for a 31 party or open house. And I won't have Jaxson anymore either so I won't be tied to the house, which is nice for me because sometimes that bugs me lol!

But on the plus side to being so busy, I'll be closing three 31 parties in the next two or three days, so that'll be awesome for me. I got four or five parties booked for late December and into January from my parties this week so I am thrilled about that. I even got a catalog party that is starting tomorrow and running for a week, closing just in time for guaranteed Christmas delivery.

Which reminds me...if anyone would like to place a 31 Gifts order I need it by December 12th! Or you can order online through my site all the way up until midnight of the 13th. I will be submitting my last holiday order the morning of the 13th, orders placed online directly through my site go straight to the home office so those get submitted as soon as you confirm! :)

Tomorrow I have one more Holiday open house and then the fun part comes, closing all the open parties I have right now lol! I know I'm closing one tomorrow night, one Monday night and possibly two Monday or another one Tuesday depending on when my mom is ready to close hers. So it's always fun to submit the order and know that everyones fun bags and gifts will be on their way soon! I know I'm such a goof but I am having so much fun with 31 Gifts!

Which brings me to my last discussion topic for todays entry. If you or anyone you know is looking for a fun and easy way to make money please direct them to me! I'm looking to add some outgoing and fun people to my team! Right now is the perfect time to sign up because it's such a new thing for this area and there aren't a lot of consultants around right now. So the opportunity to set your own schedule and make some good money is just too hard to pass up right now!

Just click here to go to my site, there's also a link on the right-hand side of my blog page! :)

Family Time

I am such a home-bodied person. I love spending time with my family. We don't have to do anything special, actually one of my favorite memories growing up was family game night...and Yes we really did have a family game night. We didn't always do it every week, but a couple times a month we tried to all sit down together and play Monopoly, Bingo, Life, card games, etc. That's probably where my obsession with the game Monopoly came from. I love the game and I actually collect Monopoly games and stuff but I actually suck at that game! I lose a lot! Well, except when I would play against the inmates at work...yes I actually played board games with the inmates, it was actually one of my favorite parts of my job because it allowed me the chance to learn about some of the inmates and how to recognize when something was going on with them. Always a good advantage as a detention officer! Anyways...I'm getting off subject.

I can't wait until the boys are older and we can start our own traditions, like a family game night. I love playing Monopoly, Phase 10, Sorry, Life, Yahtzee, Rummy, War, Boggle, you name it and I probably like playing. Rummy is actually a newer favorite of mine, my former co-workers taught me and now I'd play it every day if I had people to play it with!