On the Fourth Day of Christmas ...

It rained.

We started the day early by making a batch of Addiction for Brinley to take to her math class. They could make a recipe for extra credit showing the calculations to double or triple the amounts and then share it with her class ... aren't they lucky? I haven't done hardly any baking yet this year due to the kitchen disaster of 2010. Good news on the horizon, though - countertops go in tomorrow, plumbing will be done Saturday {dishwasher, sink, disposal, RUNNING WATER} just in time for company to arrive on Sunday, and they will be here to finish up and clean the tile (and grout *WOOT*) on Monday!!! Don't worry ... pictures will follow ;)

I headed into Ashton's class to help with some Christmas crafts today. She is a lucky girl to have such cute and sweet friends! I had so many kids come up that were excited to see me ... I love that! I also got to stay and enjoy the holiday feast with her {although I didn't eat - I had a lunch date with my guys right after and Chipotle sounded way better than the ham and tamales they were serving}!

As I was frantically preparing food for my Bunco hosting duties tonight, a sweet girl from my ward stopped by to drop off some goodies, a Christmas card, and a darling thank you gift. I didn't feel I had done anything "worthy" of a thank you, but as I read her note I was humbled by her overwhelming thoughtfulness and gratitude toward me. It reminded me that I need to take more time to express my own gratitude for others and the impact they have on me ... not just for the big things that we might normally show our thanks for. It was just what I needed and I will definitely go back to her note when I need a pick me up!!

Then it was off to Bunco! I was invited to be part of a Bunco group several months ago and it is such fun - I had never played before that!! I chose to host in December because it is the one month out of the year that I feel like my house has any style. This was, of course, before things fell apart in the kitchen! Lucky for me, my dear friend Beth came to the rescue and offered for me to use her house ... even nicer since she's not even in the Bunco group!! I convinced her to sub for another girl who couldn't make it this month. We made Cafe Rio salads and fruit salsa along with lots of peppermint goodies and some amazing peppermint oreo brownies that Beth made.

I made a little gift for the girls, too. I had been wanting to make a little something and I knew I also had teacher gifts, office gifts, and friend/neighbor gifts to make, so I worked and created my very first subway art {inspired by so many designs that I had seen online}!! I love the way that they turned out and I can't wait to give them out to everyone else ... hope they like them!!

I asked if everyone would be okay with bringing donations this month rather than bringing gifts to hand out after play. Everyone was on board and I talked with the nurse at one of the local high schools (after being tipped off that there were some specific needs there) about what could be used. We decided to collect lots of hygiene products - pads, tampons, shampoo, lotions, soap, deodorant, combs, brushes, etc. These will go to help students in our area who are homeless, displaced, or without some of these everyday basics. It felt so good to gather everything up in my car tonight and I can't wait to deliver them to the school tomorrow!

While I was at Bunco, Steve attended Brinley's "regular" band concert. She has been playing the french horn for months now and is improving as she practices! She really seems to enjoy it and I'm sure she did a great job!