Simple Things

Christmas Eve!!

Yay! Pictures from Christmas Eve!! Who is ready for the extravaganza to begin? Let's start here with the finishing up of a few Advent calendars/countdowns.

Last Christmas, after everything was on crazy clearance, I snatched this up. This is the Fisher-Price Imaginext Advent Calendar and it is so cute! Each day was some guy, a tool, something that person used, etc. Very cute! We ended up getting a fireman, construction guy, policeman and all of their equipment and such. Well, silly me, I only bought ONE. Hello...? I have TWO boys... Luckily, I had a few of these Imaginext guys that I had saved for "prizes" and some other guys from a Bat Cave that Rachel gave us. They boys - all the boys - loved playing Batman!

I know, I know. It doesn't really "scream" Christmas, but we did get to that. It wasn't left out. Remember we were working though this book. After breakfast/dinner we would ready the stories and have a little talk about the things that were going on and the previous stories. The boys really loved learning about Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Which, ok, again I say...teaching the boys about Joseph is difficult. Yes, he's a kind of dad, but not his real dad...but his real dad is father to everyone and Joseph is a helper dad... It was confusing to Andy. Alex knew who everyone in the manger was, but Andy was the one with questions. Maybe he can help explain it to Alex next season. Anyway, by Christmas Eve they BOTH had the story down and knew exactly what went one that night in Bethlehem :)

 Later that morning, they boys were telling me their favorite ornaments from the tree. I LOVE that Andy calls the glitter balls "sprinkle ornaments" - it is so adorable!! Alex loved the football one...and tried to throw it. I'm glad I caught it. That guy has quite the arm!

Of course, for the 800th time... The Polar Express was showing. I couldn't you if it was on TV or if was the DVD he was watching. He LOVES that movie. I downloaded some of the music and had it playing in the car. As soon as they heard the first 3 seconds of the title song, they would squeal and giggle and both would shout, "Polar Ta Pess!!!!!"

While everyone was occupied with the movie, I got to work on getting the roast all fancied up. And, yes, I called it our "roast beast" LOL Gotta love Dr. Seuss, right?

The mail came, too! And my present to myself showed up at the door : ) YAY!! You may see me link to Catholic Mom here, on Facebook, or on Twitter, right? Well the creator of Catholic Mom wrote this book. I can't wait to get her other one, too! I think that one will be my birthday gift to myself. Anyway, she is fabulous and I can't wait to really start reading it... I'm a bit behind on things, can you tell?

We headed to Mass after a quick nap. I wish I had taken pictures of our Altar decorated for Christmas, but I feel that's a bit on the rude side snapping pictures while people are trying to pray. So, when someone updates the website and add those pictures, I'll link to it. It is so beautiful!

One our way home, the boys were getting hungry and jumpy and all kinds of excited for the ringing of Santa's bells. 

 So before bed after reading the story of Baby Jesus from Luke's Gospel and The Polar Express, we made sure we set out cookies for Santa. Andy is making that face because he thought for sure that Santa would share one right now with him... He forgot he already had 4...and brushed his teeth... LOL Silly boy...  Don't you just love his pajamas?!

Time for sleep, boys! They were so excited and tired, but they went right to bed :) They definitely wanted to make sure that they were quiet enough to hear the reindeer and the bells. I wonder what he is going to bring......

Family Pictures!!

For those of you who received our Christmas card this past season, you got a taste of our family photos. Jennifer did such an amazing job, as always! We just love her!! If you are a local and in need of someone fabulous, giver her a try - you won't regret it!! :) You can see the ones she did of us last year here.

LOVE THEM ALL!!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Zoolight Safari!

Note: I'm apologizing in advanced for the bad quality on some of these pics. Clearly, I don't have a clue what setting to use on my phone for taking night pictures...


The weekend before Christmas we headed out to the zoo for to see the millions of Christmas lights displayed all over the zoo. It was so pretty!! I love the zoo at Christmas!! Here is a taste of what we saw (click on the pic to see it bigger):

From the top:

Can't leave out the Chick-Fil-A Cows! And, of course, Andy loved those blue elephants 

The tree in the middle of the swan pond (from one side of the zoo)

They boys in their wagon - tried 500x to get a smile... They loved it, but were just so amazed by it all. 

Cool parrot Alex said to take a pic of :)

The tree from the other side of the zoo

Gingerbread houses - Andy said, "That's where the cookie mans live!!"

From the top left, clockwise:

Andy driving the tractor

Mountain Goat. LOL

The boys in front of the giant snowman

Alex's turn on the tractor

 Guess who we saw?! 

These two cracked everyone up. Andy went up to Santa giggling like crazy and Alex pretty much jumped into his lap. No joke. I thought Alex would be shy or something. Oh, no. Not one bit. They were THRILLED. 

YES!!! A PERFECT picture of me and my hubby! He's a hottie, I know. ;)

(btw - Jason took that picture of us! woot!)

From the top:

On our way home we hit up a few neighborhoods to check out the lights. This house was DECKED out! The whole front window had a village inside. Trees all over, every character that has anything to do with Christmas, everything!

Andy was saying "WOW!" the whole time

While Alex was saying "look!" and finishing off his lollipop from Santa

Yes, the hose from the 1st two pics also made sure to include the reason for the season :) Everyone from the Nativity was present here! Animals, shepherds (yes - with an S!! I don't remember how many, but there were a few). It was great. The boys both saw and yellowed out, "Baby Jesus!"

Finally, I just had to share...this is from another house. Go ahead. Click it to make it bigger... This has got to be the tackiest Christmas blow up ever. And we have seen a lot... But this tops it. Santa. In a tub. Bathing (his arm with a brush in his hand moves). And a reindeer is just hanging out rather close by. Interesting. And this wasn't the only one.... Oh, goodness...

Anyone go check out their town's zoo at Christmas? 

What's the wackiest Christmas decoration you saw? 

Do share - I want to see if anyone can top the "Santa in the tub" thing.... LOL

Bit of a December Recap {Around Christmas]

Man, am I behind....it's already next year! Don't fret. I am going to go through and edit the pics from Christmas and our P'cola trip very soon. For now, let's take a look at what was going on around the Christmas season, shall we?

Doing a little bit of painting. How cool are these paint papers? The paint is already on the paper...just add water! Thanks, Nana!

 Working on a puzzle during "quiet time" before Alex wake up from his long winter's snooze.

  

 One of our many mornings of Christmas cartoons - complete with cheerios and milk for them and coffees for Mommy and Daddy :)

 Another one of our "quiet times" before Alex is up. Andy LOVES mazes!! 

 One day at Target, the boys found their favorite people... "Sticker Man" He is one of the managers at our Target and he LOVED that the boys called him "Sticker Man." So he gave them about 500 stickers that say something like "thanks for buckling up" or "safe shopping" -- something like that. Anyway, they LOVED that and had a BLAST with them all the way home and for a good while the rest of the day. Gotta love Target!

 FINALLY got a picture of these cuties with the Christmas tree in their sorta matching pajamas! :D One happy mama!!

 Being silly with the camera phone

 A Christmas story before bed - so sweet!

 Playtime at Chick-Fil-A after breakfast! Gotta beat those big school kids so we went early! :)

One of our many evening of Christmas cartoons before dinner - this is "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and the Winter Wizard guy is on the screen. 

Christmas cookies for Santa - YUM!!

Hope your December was fabulous!!

Menu Plan

It's about tome to get back into the swing of things! Got almost all the freezer cooking done. Here's a look at what's coming up this week :)

Botanical Gardens

What gorgeous weather we are having this week (minus the rain that claims to be coming later this week...)!! A few week ago we had some great weather, too. It was a perfect day to get out those pre-Christmas sillies. What better place than running around at the Botanical Gardens?!

 We grabbed lunch and brought it to the gardens. When Andy was done he got up to play in the columns. He collected as many acorns as possible while Alex was finishing up.

 We walked along a lot of paths and found some new things along the way, like this iron scrap sculpture. 

 Andy said this was the biggest Christmas in the world :)

 Looking out from the bridge at all the rocks. 

 Another "Christmas tree" - Andy said it needed those "sprinkle balls" (he calls the glittered ornaments sprinkle balls)

 We walked over a few bridges in the Japanese Gardens. Alex like the red one - it's my favorite, too. 

 They loved that there were "secret paths" all over the place!

 The King of the Gardens!

 Clockwise from top left: 1) Alex found a helicopter, 2) Taking a wagon ride down another path, 3) Andy thought this rock was cool because it has a face, and 4) Collecting acorns. 

 Walking down the bridge again. We walked ALL over this place...twice!!

"Land 'ho!!" yells Capt. Andrew Sillypants :)

Such a fabulous day. We are definitely heading out here again very soon!!

Goals Galore!

Why, hello there, 2013! We had a very nice start to our year at the House. We hope your beginning was great, too!

Last January, I made some goals for the house. And, well, that was pretty much thrown out the window. The office is GONE. It is now Alex's room. Yep, the boys are separated. Too much chaos. And when that happened, all of a sudden it was time to get ready for Christmas. 2012 sure did fly by, huh?

Well, it's time to start over, right? And so far we are off to a great start!!

source

HOME GOALS 2013

Andrew's Room (hello WHITE SALE! it makes the most sense to start here):
1.   Patch holes in walls and sand
2.   Paint (picked out - just gotta pick up)
3.   Get bed frame and full mattress set to change toddler bed to - gasp! the final stage
4.   Dry clean down comforter and get the rest of the bedding (it's picked out - just have to order)
5.   Dressers- they aren't working out so they are trading with each other...silly boys scratch that lol
6.   Switch out knobs on dresser for these (found them at Hobby Lobby) scratch this one too
7.   Spray paint frames I bought different frames - no need to spray paint!
8.   Put up pictures and other train trinkets
9.   Get printouts of those awesome train pics I took a few month ago
10. Make these super cute toy storage bags (looks like mail bags on a train, I think)
11. Get fan installed (another one that we have picked out but need to be purchased)
12. Celebrate with a train ride! Seriously :) Tickets have been purchased! Though...technically, they are for Alex's birthday. But they will both enjoy this event very soon!!

**The items in bold red are things that we are going to wait on for a bit**

Alex's Room:
1. Patch holes in walls and sand
2. Paint (picked out!)
3. Airplane propellor...I'm on the hunt at all the antique shops. I just want a small one...How hard can it be?
4. Bulletin board and airplane pins for his maps and travel things we have collected
5. Decoupage some buckets with maps for his toys (like this)
6. Hang a few airplanes from his ceiling. I found some AWESOME ones at Hobby Lobby. Nice metal ones, but very lightweight.
7. A great globe
8. Put up wall art and other items we saved before they got separated
9. Install fan
10. Celebrate with a trip to the Airplane Museum :)

Master Bed/Bath:
1. Fix shower door
2. Replace a few cracked tiles
3. Org under the sinks
4. Org linen closet
5. Make a bedskirt - I found a few tutorials that I like, so I may see what happens here.
6. Gallery wall with wedding, honeymoon, and current pics mixed with a few other items
7. Board and batten on window wall to look like head board - too easy...this should be first on the list. It's more fun. And I want to paint...but not sure of the color yet. 
8. New towel hooks/shelving in bathroom near the tub fit for a GIANT....
9. Framed map of Puerto Vallarta
10. Nerdify Jason's night stand LOL - see here 
11. Celebrate with a trip to Puerto Vallarta. LOL! HA! That's out 10 yr anniversary dream....not 6.. Ok more like 20 yr anniversary. 

Living room.Hallway/Entryway:
1. New carpet - hardwoods! LOL Now, I'm just getting crazy... But SOMETHING needs to change. Ew. Builder grade SUCKS!!
2. Fills holes and sand
3. Repaint - probably the same color, but BETTER paint. Again...builder grade is ICK! And, it's seen better days...
4. Org DVD and Wii stuff
5. New art work on the walls. Maybe I will paint something again...not sure yet.

Kitchen:
1.  Patch holes and sand
2.  Repaint...this may be a shade lighter than the current color (which is the same color in the living room)
3.  Sand table down and refinish it complete with a coat of polyurethane... toddlers hurt tables!!
4.  Sand chairs down and refinish
5.  Reupholster chairs
6.  New kitchen mats
7.  Fix pantry light...it's been dead for 3 years. I think its time. 
8.  New kitchen faucet...too small. Why is that one there?
9.  New kitchen light. Because I hate that one that's in there. It is hideous...
10. Celebrate with a new bottle of wine!

Laundry Room:
1. It just needs to be organized really.
2. New place for shoes.
3. More hooks put up for jackets, bags, and such.
4. Repainted or something...those walls are gross. 
5. Celebrate by NOT doing laundry! HA!

Garage/Attic:
1. All that sports stuff and outside toys need to be organized
2. Need to get a cabinet for items that don't have a home inside the house
3. Attic is such a horrible mess... I found things I wanted to put up for fall that I didn't find until I was getting out the Christmas stuff. Terrible.
4. Org yard work items
5. Celebrate by parking my Swagger Wagon in there (cough hint hint cough Christmas cough gift cough). I'll be such a good girl, Santa.

Yard:
1. Trim up bushes/shrubs
2. Something with the tree...I don't know if something is wrong with ours or what, but it is sad. Maybe some mega grow tree food? Maybe a new tree....lol no. But something. Maybe I should hug it once in a while.
3. Brick border around landscape beds
4. Re-stain door
5. Topiaries by front door
6. New light.
7. House number sign on area between front door and garage. Can't wait to add this!!
8. Celebrate with a water balloon fight! Awesome sauce.

Well, I think that about covers it! It's a lot to get done. But this house really is our home for a longer run. It works for us right now and we do love it here. It just time to make is ours :)