Friday, December 30, 2011

My Favorite Things: December

Thrifted Care Bears

My girl's piggies 

December GlamBag

Red red wine 

Healthy lunches in finger-sized bites 

Urban Decay's Naked2 

My baby wanting to get me a leopard for Christmas, "but I can't so I drew you one"

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas

This Christmas was absolutely perfect.


We celebrated Christmas with Clay's family the weekend before, we celebrated with my family on Christmas eve, so Christmas Day was entirely ours.


We relished the lazy day and opened our presents slowly while Clay and I sipped our coffee and laughed at our babies. 


(Narls' face is KILLING me lolol)

Every present was their MOST FAVORITE PRESENT EVER! and my heart burst into a thousand pieces over their sheer happiness.


My husband outdid himself with my gifts. I got soft leopard slippers and a coveted curling iron and oh yeah, A TRIP TO VEGAS TO SEE DRAKE (MY MOST FAVORITEST EVER!) PERFORM ON NEW YEARS EVE.  How did I get so lucky? His gifts, especially the electric razor I got him, paled in comparison lol.




We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and only changed out of our pajamas to go to a Hibachi Japanese steakhouse for dinner.  It was Narls and Em's first time at a restaurant of this style and at first they cried when the grill caught fire but then they quickly fell in love with the chef and the flare and omg our dinner was amazing and we decided we'll probably make this a Christmas tradition.


Then it was back home and back in our jammies.


And back to OUR TOYS!


Until we fell asleep, one by one, on the couch while we snuggled together watching The Grinch.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

The Adventures of Elfabit Victor, Week 4

You wouldn't know it from these pictures, but Elfabit Victor is exhausted.

No, really. I have it on high authority that there were a few nights where he didn't move from his shelf until mere minutes before the kids woke up. 


In a blind panic, he rushed to his spot and pulled something together and two anxious kids rushed through the house to find him and the magic of Christmas and mischievous elves lives on.


Next year I have a feeling he won't be making an appearance in the Church house until well after Thanksgiving.  Not until December in fact. Mid-December.



And under no circumstances will he try to be funny by touching and/or drawing on the children themselves.  Because that completely freaks them out and crosses their boundaries and they aren't cool with that. At all.  As he learned. The hard way.


It's a good thing Christmas is tomorrow. Because now Elfabit is heading back to the North Pole where he can REST. 


Sweet, sweet rest.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Annual Holiday Sing

My employer hosts an annual holiday sing every Christmas eve. It's quite the tradition, this is the 74th year in fact. We have a mixed choir made up of bank employees, and Santa visits, and we all look forward to seeing our coworkers' families and visiting with retired friends. It's very special and it's something I look forward to bringing my children to each year. 








Thursday, December 22, 2011

Monday, December 19, 2011

Bronner's

We went to Bronner's today. Our annual trip. Our fifth trip as a family.


We thought this would be the easiest year yet.  We left work early, so we'd get there early and avoid the busy evening crowds.  Neither child was in a stroller, which is a pain to navigate, so we'd avoid that hassle.  We knew exactly what ornaments we wanted: a wedding ornament for Clay & me, either Scooby Doo or Angry Birds for Narls and Em was looking for a "pwincess".  Easy peasy.


Only not so much.  Everyone and their brother picked today to visit Bronner's early. Serously.  It was busier than any evening we've ever attended.  And the stroller-free kids? They ran. And touched. And explored. And tried to hide behind the expensive and fragile decorations.


And we found not a single ornament we liked.  Every wedding decoration was cheesy and overly traditional and just not right.  They were out of Scooby Doo decorations and didn't carry anything Angry Birds.  Em found a soccer ball bulb she liked, but even that she wasn't overly fond of.


This is exactly the kind of trip that normally would ruin my day.  Hell, my week! I put so much emphasis on things being "perfect" and just so and when something deviates from my plan? Well Christmas might as well be cancelled.


But you guys, I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF - I didn't let that happen.  I handled my business. I worked through it.

Busy night? No sense stressing about it because I can't control it. So I relaxed.

Sure, I was bummed we didn't get our annual ornaments, but Clay & I have the ornament we bought in Vegas after our wedding, which is more perfect than any other we've seen. So I relaxed about that, too.


And Narls and Em running? Well they're kids, they're excited, it happens. They didn't break anything and they had fun. We made memories.  Good ones. Which truly was the whole point of the trip, right?  

Right.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

The Adventures of Elfabit Victor, Week 3

Elfabit's still at it. He's been into every thing from...

the bathroom,


... to the kitchen.


He's rolled with Santa...


...and played with Hulk, Buzz and Bumblebee.


It's been three weeks of shenanigans, and I gotta say,


... it's been tough keeping up with Elfabit.  
A lot tougher than I initially thought.


Thankfully he's kept the kids on their toes. Clay and I only have to mention the elf and their eyes dart nervously over to the shelf where Elfabit is sitting & watching (creepily watching, I might add).  It's an instant behavior improver. So it's worth it.  I think.

Only one week until Christmas. And I've never been more ready.