Christmas 2016 Re-cap

 It was a good one!

Highlights:
- My kids really enjoyed shopping for each other.
- How they kept a secret and their gifts to one another were surprises.
- How they decorated the tree with many of their homemade decorations.
- That I let go of my 'no waste' Christmas and let them wrap presents with wrapping paper I thrifted.
- That my dad surprised us and traveled to us for Christmas.
- How Adrian couldn't fall asleep the night before because he kept hearing Santa's bells.
- How my kids are convinced Santa is real because mama would never buy all the junk food in the stocking.
- That my kids wanted to watch me open my gifts first...before they even opened their own!
- That he was and is so excited over his Paw Patrol water bottle. He doesn't even know what Paw Patrol is, but asked for something Paw Patrol since he noticed some friends wear Paw Patrol.  She is most excited about all the sparkly stuff and wants to paint everyone's toes with sparkles.
- Family matching 4-H shirts.
- Believe it or not, only a few of these gifts were from us.  Our extended family- very generous-thank you! Clearly I didn't buy all those Cheese Balls!

Overall, Christmas with a 4 and 6 year old is very magical!

It was a good one!

Full of thanks

 Did you think my kids made this awesome snowman? Nope, the BOG made it as surprise for the kids.  And he did dental work on our 12 year old dog, stacked wood, kept the fires going over all the days he was there, put in a new faucet in the bathroom, replaced a window, brought home some broken chairs to fix, brought home Adrian's rooster lap to repair and read oodles of books to the kids. And that's just an overall list...I could add more.  Including this hike figuring out how to use their new compasses. What a great surprise to have him visit! Thanks BOG!

Festive

Wow, the weekend of holiday festivities has flown by! Lots of pics to sort through.  Tomorrow, however, it's back to work, so I'm heading to bed early instead of organizing pictures.

I will leave this one pic here, my two festive ones. That's Adrian's homemade Rudolph nose he made from a battery top he had been saving for the occasion. His idea.  My two littles (6 and 4) are the most perfect age ever for celebrating.  Christmas at these ages is nothing short of magical. Blessed.

Merry Christmas 2016

Going into Christmas Eve...

Going into Christmas Eve, we definitely will have a white Christmas.  Which we clearly did not last year (I have to dig out pics from our 60 degree days).

I'm limiting the grapefruit so they don't eat it all before Christmas day.  (They LOVE grapefruit, like me. My great aunt used to send us a citrus box for Christmas and I'd devour the grapefruit. My dad used to set limits on how much I could eat!  My aunt used to give me the ones her family didn't eat...which I would hide so I would be the one to eat them.  Clearly we have grapefruit love.  And we live in the wrong state for grapefruit love.)

Cinnamon rolls are prepped.

 My good enough attempt at a selfie and two excited kids. And a rabbit. Oh, that rabbit....

And look what the cat dragged in!  A complete surprise to have my dad, the BOG (Bald Old Grandpa) join us...his first Christmas in Maine! It's going to be a good Christmas!  Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Christmas Pajamas 2016

Well, here they are!  My two littles (age 4 and 6) with their mama made Christmas Jammies

 Confession. They aren't truly 100% homemade.  When I was pricing plain T shirts this summer to make our 4-H fair shirts, I came across an entire area of navy sweat pants/shirt sets for $1.00 a piece on clearance.  For that price, I figured I might as well work smarter, not harder. So, I just added the applique...out of fuzzy materials.

 

 The kids love them, so that feels like a win!  All ready for Christmas eve now!

Keeping it Real: Christmas 2016

Yesterday I posted the best of the best from our little photo shoot. (See here).

Just to keep it real....I thought I post the reality of how the shoot actually went, just so you can see that I bribed and begged and didn't get full cooperation consistently.  These are the not so picture perfect for holiday card shots, but the ones that really encompass the quirky personalities I love so much.

And so I bring to you the "Mama, you are driving me crazy" takes....

 Do you see that? One in tears, the other one laughing at the one in tears. Keeping it real, folks.

 We wish you a Merry Crazy Christmas!