Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
::christmas eve part 2::
So we went to a late lunch at the Cowgirl Grill. We hadn't been there for a while and Max suggested it. It was a good choice.
But of course Sandy was in a cranky mood. Don't ask me why, but since he's a 3 yr old I just chalk it up to his age and the fact that he's realized the world doesn't _totally_ revolve around him. It was all things like I didn't have the right hot wheels car in my purse, Max was touching him, and the fact that Max's transformer belongs to Max, not him. That sort of stuff.
We had good food, and Kris and I only had to pinch people a few times.
Yikes. It was fun even though those guys wear us out sometimes.
After lunch we had an hour or so before we needed to head out again to see the lights on Canyon Road. Everybody busied themselves in different ways. Max put bows on some presents and Kris practiced some Christmas music on his guitar.
Sandy was probably cranky somewhere, I don't remember. I had to hurry and wrap up the PJs for bedtime, I almost totally forgot.
It appears I also took pictures too before we headed out. I love our tree this year, I will be so sad to see it go.
And what's so funny is that our ceilings are so high they make the tree look small. Let me tell you, as the one who lit the top of the tree, it's NOT small.
I liked this photo because not only does it show you the whole area, but on the far left you can see the little mistletoe hanging from the doorframe, and on the right you can see the big cheery poinsettia plant that a friend brought us.
Here's my sad admission about the tree--not all the ornaments went up. And by not all the ornaments I mean only about one quarter of them were up. After all the moving into the new house and Christmas setup and Thanksgiving and all that I just ran out of energy and never got the other ones up.
Sad, but at least there's a tree, and I did lots of other stuff.
Anyway, we headed out to Canyon Road at about five, got there just in time to snag a stellar parking spot (last time we went we walked about a mile from where we parked) and were on the Road just in time for the daylight to disappear. Just in time to shoot one good photo before it was too late.
And it's a great one--besides the fact that I'm not in it. Oh well.
I didn't take many photos of the lights and etc, but here's a little taste:
It was cold, but not terribly cold. The lights were beautiful and we had enough time to walk all the way down the road and back, so we saw it all twice.
We also saw Santa Claus--or an old man dressed up JUST like him--not sure which. He gave the kids some candy. Then we headed home to get excited and crazy kids ready for bed.
Cute boys by the fire in the low light. They opened PJs (Max and Sandy matched, but we have no photos because they were just too psyched up and moving too fast) and we read our Christmas book.
Then Sandy was just too exhausted and had to go to bed. After he was asleep we read Luke 2 with Max and watched Mr Kruegar's Christmas. It was nice. Max went to bed to try his best to sleep and Kris and I did the standard grown up Christmas eve stuff. We were smart and did lots of prep earlier in the week, so the evening wasn't too work intensive.
Take a peek at the letter Max wrote to Santa from Sandy and himself. It's adorable. (He did write it on like Dec 1st, but it was kept carefully and set out for Santa at just the right time.)
And to finish up, here's our pretty tree. Like I said in the last post, Christmas eve is the best and I just want to revel in it. But I know at least one kid--if not both--will be up at 2AM, and both up before 7, so bed is important. That's ok too. Sleep is awesome when it works.
But of course Sandy was in a cranky mood. Don't ask me why, but since he's a 3 yr old I just chalk it up to his age and the fact that he's realized the world doesn't _totally_ revolve around him. It was all things like I didn't have the right hot wheels car in my purse, Max was touching him, and the fact that Max's transformer belongs to Max, not him. That sort of stuff.
We had good food, and Kris and I only had to pinch people a few times.
Yikes. It was fun even though those guys wear us out sometimes.
After lunch we had an hour or so before we needed to head out again to see the lights on Canyon Road. Everybody busied themselves in different ways. Max put bows on some presents and Kris practiced some Christmas music on his guitar.
Sandy was probably cranky somewhere, I don't remember. I had to hurry and wrap up the PJs for bedtime, I almost totally forgot.
It appears I also took pictures too before we headed out. I love our tree this year, I will be so sad to see it go.
And what's so funny is that our ceilings are so high they make the tree look small. Let me tell you, as the one who lit the top of the tree, it's NOT small.
I liked this photo because not only does it show you the whole area, but on the far left you can see the little mistletoe hanging from the doorframe, and on the right you can see the big cheery poinsettia plant that a friend brought us.
Here's my sad admission about the tree--not all the ornaments went up. And by not all the ornaments I mean only about one quarter of them were up. After all the moving into the new house and Christmas setup and Thanksgiving and all that I just ran out of energy and never got the other ones up.
Sad, but at least there's a tree, and I did lots of other stuff.
Anyway, we headed out to Canyon Road at about five, got there just in time to snag a stellar parking spot (last time we went we walked about a mile from where we parked) and were on the Road just in time for the daylight to disappear. Just in time to shoot one good photo before it was too late.
And it's a great one--besides the fact that I'm not in it. Oh well.
I didn't take many photos of the lights and etc, but here's a little taste:
It was cold, but not terribly cold. The lights were beautiful and we had enough time to walk all the way down the road and back, so we saw it all twice.
We also saw Santa Claus--or an old man dressed up JUST like him--not sure which. He gave the kids some candy. Then we headed home to get excited and crazy kids ready for bed.
Cute boys by the fire in the low light. They opened PJs (Max and Sandy matched, but we have no photos because they were just too psyched up and moving too fast) and we read our Christmas book.
Then Sandy was just too exhausted and had to go to bed. After he was asleep we read Luke 2 with Max and watched Mr Kruegar's Christmas. It was nice. Max went to bed to try his best to sleep and Kris and I did the standard grown up Christmas eve stuff. We were smart and did lots of prep earlier in the week, so the evening wasn't too work intensive.
Take a peek at the letter Max wrote to Santa from Sandy and himself. It's adorable. (He did write it on like Dec 1st, but it was kept carefully and set out for Santa at just the right time.)
And to finish up, here's our pretty tree. Like I said in the last post, Christmas eve is the best and I just want to revel in it. But I know at least one kid--if not both--will be up at 2AM, and both up before 7, so bed is important. That's ok too. Sleep is awesome when it works.
::christmas eve part 1::
As I've probably mentioned many times before on this blog, Christmas Eve is one of my favorite holidays. In fact, it may be my most favorite. Max asked me why this year and I couldn't really explain it, but I think it has something to do with the suspense and magic of Christmas before everything is all unwrapped and revealed. When I was little it used to seem like anything could happen the next day. Not so much now, but it's still a magical fun day. And now that Kris and I set our own work schedule I've been able to give him Christmas Eve off the last couple of years which has been really nice.
We always get out the penguin race set that my parents got for us sometime the week leading up to Christmas. They are so cute, but the squeaky sounds they make require us to ration their use. Anyway, this time we actually waited until Christmas Eve and pulled them out. The boys were very happy to play with them, and only fought over them a little....or a medium.
Sandy really loved them. He may or may not have even remembered playing with them before.
Captain Hook came out to join the party and kept calling the penguins things like "scurvy swabs" and "codfish"
In the morning Kris went out and did a few manly things outside, like cleaning out more of the garage and cutting down a humongous cactus. I did a little more wrapping and some of that kind of thing. I was helping Max wrap a present and in the process cut the sleeve of the jacket I was wearing with the scissors--not sure how that happened--so I got to do a little mending too.
We facetimed with my mom and dad for a while, and with Kris's mom. It was fun to do that before actual Christmas because we actually had time to talk and play around, Christmas is just way too busy.
The most delicious thing we did that morning though, was work on our traditional Christmas sugar cookies--yes these are the same puffy and yummy cookies it seems like we make every holiday, but they are dang good and they deserve to be repeated.
The above picture is Sandy, being delighted that I had given him a peanut butter cup cookie. "For me??! A COOOOOKie?" He was hugging it to his chin and loving it. Cute little cheeseball.
Here's the cookie making. So, looking at these two clowns, do you think they helped make the process easier for me or tougher? How helpful do you think they _really_ are?
They were supposed to be the decorating crew. I finally had to call Kris in as my backup because I couldn't keep an eye on the sprinkles and finish the cookies at the same time. Every time I looked away there was some sort of spill or overdecorating disaster. Sandy took the job very seriously though and worked hard--as hard as a 3 yr old can, with all the messes that come along with it.
These cookies' sprinkle levels all look good because they were heavily policed. There were others that looked like they were growing hair or something, they had such heavy sprinkle layers.
The green penguin is definitely on the edge of being one of those. And yes, if you think the cookies look yummy, that's because they ARE.
When we got the cookies all done we packed up our entourage and headed out for a late lunch. That's where I'll pick up the story for part 2.
We always get out the penguin race set that my parents got for us sometime the week leading up to Christmas. They are so cute, but the squeaky sounds they make require us to ration their use. Anyway, this time we actually waited until Christmas Eve and pulled them out. The boys were very happy to play with them, and only fought over them a little....or a medium.
Sandy really loved them. He may or may not have even remembered playing with them before.
Captain Hook came out to join the party and kept calling the penguins things like "scurvy swabs" and "codfish"
In the morning Kris went out and did a few manly things outside, like cleaning out more of the garage and cutting down a humongous cactus. I did a little more wrapping and some of that kind of thing. I was helping Max wrap a present and in the process cut the sleeve of the jacket I was wearing with the scissors--not sure how that happened--so I got to do a little mending too.
We facetimed with my mom and dad for a while, and with Kris's mom. It was fun to do that before actual Christmas because we actually had time to talk and play around, Christmas is just way too busy.
The most delicious thing we did that morning though, was work on our traditional Christmas sugar cookies--yes these are the same puffy and yummy cookies it seems like we make every holiday, but they are dang good and they deserve to be repeated.
The above picture is Sandy, being delighted that I had given him a peanut butter cup cookie. "For me??! A COOOOOKie?" He was hugging it to his chin and loving it. Cute little cheeseball.
Here's the cookie making. So, looking at these two clowns, do you think they helped make the process easier for me or tougher? How helpful do you think they _really_ are?
They were supposed to be the decorating crew. I finally had to call Kris in as my backup because I couldn't keep an eye on the sprinkles and finish the cookies at the same time. Every time I looked away there was some sort of spill or overdecorating disaster. Sandy took the job very seriously though and worked hard--as hard as a 3 yr old can, with all the messes that come along with it.
These cookies' sprinkle levels all look good because they were heavily policed. There were others that looked like they were growing hair or something, they had such heavy sprinkle layers.
The green penguin is definitely on the edge of being one of those. And yes, if you think the cookies look yummy, that's because they ARE.
When we got the cookies all done we packed up our entourage and headed out for a late lunch. That's where I'll pick up the story for part 2.
Monday, December 23, 2013
::christmas card 2013::
Here is our Christmas card from this year--though I think any of my fans who are still hanging on and reading this blog already got one in the mail! If not, enjoy. I like making these cards for us, and this picture turned out extra nice down behind our house in Eldorado. The self timing remote we bought recently was a great investment.
And thanks to my mom who did a little photoshop magic to tone down the clash of the boys' hawaiian shirts, the flowers and Kris's plaid. We didn't plan ahead too well before we just ran down to take a few shots.
Merry Christmas!!
And thanks to my mom who did a little photoshop magic to tone down the clash of the boys' hawaiian shirts, the flowers and Kris's plaid. We didn't plan ahead too well before we just ran down to take a few shots.
Merry Christmas!!
Sunday, December 22, 2013
::matching christmas boys::
I just can't keep trying to catch up on backlogged posts or nothing will ever get posted! Here are my boys today in their matching Christmas finery---no it's not Christmas yet, but it is the sunday before when we always try to look extra nice and cute.
And Max thinks he's too good for smiling these days.
Funny to compare these to this and this (you have to scroll down a bit to find the pictures on that last one). And THIS!!! AHHHH!!!
Funny to compare these to this and this (you have to scroll down a bit to find the pictures on that last one). And THIS!!! AHHHH!!!
Monday, December 16, 2013
::work party::
Since I had some fun photos on my phone of our Christmas dinner party for work I thought I'd post 'em up here.
We did a big combined party for both office this time--last year we split the offices up. It was fun, but dang was it a huge group of people. We filled up a special banquet room in the back of the restaurant and even spilled out into the hallway.
More than 20 people! And that was just employees plus our kiddos. Nobody else.
It was a fun evening. Lots of delicious food and good company. We also did a white elephant gift exchange this year which turned out quite fun. A few of the staff had never been involved in one before. I think they all enjoyed it.
Max wore his "party shirt" as we like to call it.
Sandy was plied with cookies from all sides. Everybody loves him. He's the office pet.
And Kris, stylin' it up as he lays down the rules for the white elephant.
And there you go.
We did a big combined party for both office this time--last year we split the offices up. It was fun, but dang was it a huge group of people. We filled up a special banquet room in the back of the restaurant and even spilled out into the hallway.
More than 20 people! And that was just employees plus our kiddos. Nobody else.
It was a fun evening. Lots of delicious food and good company. We also did a white elephant gift exchange this year which turned out quite fun. A few of the staff had never been involved in one before. I think they all enjoyed it.
Max wore his "party shirt" as we like to call it.
Sandy was plied with cookies from all sides. Everybody loves him. He's the office pet.
And Kris, stylin' it up as he lays down the rules for the white elephant.
And there you go.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
::sandy & santa::
Sandy got to meet up with Santa at the ward party. He was pretty excited at the concept of it--sitting in Santa's lap, etc., but when the guys actually showed up he just wasn't so sure anymore.
"Santa" and "his Elf"--looking like trouble to me.
He was the first kid in line because we had other places to be that night, and once it was time to actually climb up in Santa's lap he was just not so sure.
But he did it, and just stayed silent the whole time.
It didn't help that when he wouldn't say what he wanted for Christmas, Santa asked him if he wanted a new baby. At that point the answer was most definitely no, so that was the end of the interview, and off Sandy scooted as fast as he could.
"Santa" and "his Elf"--looking like trouble to me.
He was the first kid in line because we had other places to be that night, and once it was time to actually climb up in Santa's lap he was just not so sure.
But he did it, and just stayed silent the whole time.
It didn't help that when he wouldn't say what he wanted for Christmas, Santa asked him if he wanted a new baby. At that point the answer was most definitely no, so that was the end of the interview, and off Sandy scooted as fast as he could.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
