Friday, December 30, 2011

Weekend

For some people, the holidays falling on the weekend means two long weekends in a row.  That isn't the case here as both Steven and I have to work regular schedules, but it does mean that the girls get to have a whole weekend with Grampy and Mimi, and maybe Auntie Angie if she's not working.  They're super excited, and so am I.  Steven and I haven't had a weekend that was completely kid free in almost three months.  So we're going to do some of the things that are easier to do without kids, like take down decorations from Christmas and go grocery shopping.  We can probably manage dinner out I'm thinking too.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

It was Great!

Christmas was fabulous!  I couldn't have asked for a better day.  The weather cooperated, everyone came, we ate and drank too much... It was just a lot of fun.

Christmas Eve we headed to church with about ninety million other people.  The building was so crammed that there were people standing in the aisles with twenty minutes still to go before Mass started.  It was a nice service, and the girls hand delivered a christmas card to Father Bill on our way out.  Then we headed over to Meme and Grampy's house to have dinner.  Once the girls got their dinner out of the way they headed to the tree for gifts.  They both got adorable pajamas that fit them very well, some new games to keep at Meme's for when they're visiting, and best of all for them, their dolls!  They were so happy and excited to get them, it was fantastic!  Norah carts hers everywhere, and Hannah is almost as bad.  Then it was time to head home and open one gift from us.  Since I knew they were getting the dolls on Christmas Eve, I got them pajamas with a matching set for their dolls.  They were so happy they stripped in the living room and put them right on.  Then it was off to bed.

Christmas morning started around 6:30 with stockings opened.  Then we made breakfast.  Pancakes, potatoes, and bacon filled them up enough to open gifts.  I think their favorites are still the dolls, though everything seems to be getting played with.  Steven liked his gifts, and I can't wait to start cooking out of my new cookbook.  The best gift of all was the card from Sara and Zach telling us that the girls will be expecting a new cousin come June!  About 9:30 Meema came with her entourage, and once Uncle Donny showed up, we got the party started for real!  Drinks and gifts and stockings were passed out to everyone, and I think that everything was a hit.  No one seemed to be disappointed by anything, which is always a sign of a great Christmas.  My favorite gift were my Never Ever Boring salt & pepper shakers that Donny gave me!  They make me smile every time I look at them.

Then it was on to lunch, clean up, and a round of dancing with the Wii.  After all of that, Grampy, Mimi, Nana, and Papa came.  There was lots of chatting, some gift opening, and then more eating.  We had turkey with all the fixings and lots of desserts.  The girls had a fabulous day, and are thoroughly enjoying all their gifts.  I'm still finding room for everything, but slowly we're putting the house back to normal.  The end to their fabulous vacation week includes a weekend spent with Grampy and Mimi at their house, and I get to go out with my husband alone for NYE.  I couldn't have dreamed up nicer holidays.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Christmas is coming!

And it's going to be a busy one!  I'm in the busy stages of getting the food planned out, since we're having two big dinners on the same day with separate parts of the family.  I wanted to make red velvet pancakes for the girls in the morning, but I think I might go with regular pancake mix, since we're having lasagna for lunch and a turkey dinner with all the fixings for dinner.  Gifts are nearly all wrapped, though I've debated wrapping all the stocking gifts also, to prolong the gift opening joy.  I'm just waiting on one last thing to get here for Hannah and I need to wrap their two last books I got them Friday.

I wish I had unlimited money at Christmas, I love buying gifts and making sure people truly love what they're getting.  I think this year will be a good one, but I guess I only have six more days until I find out.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Train!

Back in October Meme mentioned to me that she wanted to buy tickets for the girls to go on a Polar Express train ride.  She had found one semi locally, and was all set to get the tickets as soon as I gave the Ok.  As it happens, the tickets went on sale in July, and were completely sold out when we tried to get them.  I remembered there is another place, in Carver that I had been to when I was a kid.  So they have two kinds of rides.  Polar Express, which unfortunately only happen on weeknights, and holiday lights, which conveniently are on weekends!  So we are headed down there in a couple hours.  The girls are SUPER excited, and I have my camera all set and charged, so we should have some fun pictures too.  So we're thinking good thoughts, because Hannah gets carsick very easily, and it's a good two hours in the car each way.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Secrets

Norah is just terrible with secrets.  She helped me wrap some of Hannah's christmas gifts the other day while she was at school.  Despite me telling her that Christmas gifts are a secret, she told her that she's getting slippers almost as soon as we picked her up at school.  Fortunately I think that's all she remembers.  And neither of them appear to remember the things that I bought for them when they were with me.  I think this is the last year I'll be able to get away with that.  Hannah is smart, much too smart.  She confessed earlier this year that she doesn't believe in the tooth fairy anymore, because she knows that I'm the one who takes her teeth and leaves the money.  She also appears to believe that Santa isn't a real person, just a bunch of different people dressed up the same.  Since we don't do Santa, it's not a huge deal... but I really don't want her to spoil it for any of her friends.  I don't want my kid to be the one that spoils it for the other kids. 

And for anyone who might not have gotten the email, there are new pictures on the shutterfly site.  More to come eventually of course.  My main photo computer is having a meltdown, so I'm hoping it makes it past Christmas.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Christmas!

It looks like Christmas in my house!  I don't know what it is, but I adore having the tree up in the corner, lights glowing, treasured ornaments catching my eye.  The girls loved decorating it too.  I trusted them with some of my special glass ornaments, and they did great.  Nothing broken or missing, and it doesn't look entirely like kids decorated it.  Yes there are spots where certain things take over or are too close together, but mostly it looks normal.

I also managed to get pictures for our christmas card.  I'm hoping to get them downloaded and ordered today so I can get them mailed out as soon as I can.  It's hard to believe how big the girls have gotten.  I look at the picture two years ago and it amazes me how little they both look.  I have my string hung up for my cards, and we already have two.  I know it's early still, but I'm hoping that we get enough to fill it up like we did last year.  I save all the photo cards we get so we can look back on them and see how our friends' children have changed also. 

We also had a great weekend, Steven's first full weekend home in ages!  It was great to have him around.  Saturday we put up the tree and decorations, then the girls had a party for Mimi and Iza's birthday.  While they were there doing art and playing Wii Steven and I went and did some shopping for them.  Then it was a picnic dinner at home after Bright Nights.  Yesterday we went down to Ikea to replace my lamp that was broken, and stopped at Sonic on the way home.  The girls were extra fabulous, and enjoyed eating their lunch in the car and watching the carhops skating around with trays and food.