Christmas 2013

Happy holidays! They certainly were for us! Not only did we get to enjoy our first Christmas in our new house (present enough in itself!), we got to enjoy a virtually endless array of parties and get-togethers with friends and family.

Finally figured out something cool to do with that weird curtain rod in our front entry way. The garland is made out of little chalkboard pieces so we wrote Merry Christmas on it. And now I have inspiration for the non-holiday version of the space!

The kids were VERY excited to go see Santa Claus with cousins Harper and Carter. Especially Tagg who asked for 2 Blade-Blades (Beyblades, go ahead...look them up. We had to.) and a remote control airplane. Sloane wanted a princess castle, a baby, and a remote control chair. (look that one up too. Unless she was talking about a pedicure massage chair, we have no idea what she was thinking! Poor Santa was stumped.) For the parents, it was a long Sunday afternoon. The line was long. Selecting the pictures was long. The people were sooooo slow. Kids were cranky. Dads were cranky because we missed the start of the Broncos game. Moms were cranky because of all of the above. But hey! that's what Christmas is all about, right? Wait a minute...

The girls were both lucky enough to get Frozen dresses for Christmas. They were thrilled! If only we had known then that these would be worth like $1000 four months later, we might never have let them put them on!

Sloane wondering at the Christmas tree.

Christmas Eve and matching jammies. Love it.

And then there was Christmas morning. Santa did us proud! Maybe a little too much? It's a good thing we didn't have any furniture in the living at this point because there was no room for anything but Christmas! We had a bit of a rough time around Christmas. Scott got sick as a dog so I had to pretty much run the gift-buying, card writing and late-night wrapping show solo. Really makes me appreciate all those years that our parents pulled off the perfect Christmas. It's not as easy as they made it look!

Christmas Overload. I'll bet Santa was really tired.

 

Tagg with his Blade-Blades. Very happy kid!

Little Miss Boo had no problems
ripping through the wrapping paper.

Remote control car...huge hit.

Future basketball star? Get practicing, kid!

 Getting Crafty!

What would the holidays be without a few arts n' crafts projects and decorating? A helluva lot easier, probably! But not nearly as much fun...

I made my own tree topper. Quite proud of myself!
Even though I stole the idea from Pinterest.

The kids helped me make reindeer food - oatmeal and candy sparkles.
We spread it out in the yard on Christmas Eve and darned if those deer (or dogs?) didn't eat it all!

Managing the Christmas tree with kids is a challenge for my OCD.
Seriously, the things I am learning to live with!

Game Time!

We have a family tradition that we get a new game every Christmas. This year, it was Cards Against Humanity. Until you've played a game with your sweet little mom where she actually has to use the phrase "Flying sex snakes" or "Sad hand job", you really haven't lived. It was hilarious and yet so, so wrong. If you don't have this game, get it. Unless you're sensitive or have morals at all. Then you should steer clear!

Laugh till you cry, mom!
That's when we know things are getting good!