Merry Christmas 2013

We are having such a nice holiday vacation this year, nice and quiet. I really do love staying home and keeping it simple. Especially with Lauren coming home for a nice long break, it has been nice to hang out and do things just with our family.

We kicked off our Christmas break with the annual gingerbread house activity at Mike's work. I was lame and got us there late, so most of the good candy was taken. I think we did fine though. And the sweet boy next to us gave us his leftover candy. At first he was secretly moving cups over one at a time, all quietly like he didn't want us to know. He would do one or two, and then one or two more. Finally I said, "Are you giving us your leftover candy? That's so nice!" He was so cute and shy about it.

Matthew and I worked together on our very organized side of the house.

Michael and Lauren had their own thing goin' on. Hahaha

Lauren's amazing side:

Michael & Mikes' creations ... Very creative indeed!

 Don't get the wrong idea here ... Lauren made him hold that kiss on the cheek. 

It's still cute though!

 I did a good job of getting all of my shopping done early this year. I can't believe how easy it was. I did most of my shopping online in one day. Ha! I love Amazon Prime ... But then I had one key present that I needed to make. Since last year's gift to all the ladies was a flop, I decided to try again. At our church craft night, they offered this simple nativity embroidery that I really loved. That's something I could do! So, I signed up for nine of them. Everyone thought I was crazy. I was like NO BIG DEAL! Well, it really wasn't a big deal ... But they did take a lot longer to complete than I thought they would.

I was working on these down to the last minute so that 

I could get everything shipped in time for Christmas.

I never doubted, and I got them done just in time. And I love the finished product!

I also sent this book to all of my nieces and nephews. I think it is simply beautiful.

Lauren decided when she came home for Thanksgiving that she would work at the movie theater.

Yay for free movies! They dragged me to see the new Hobbit movie. But I ended up loving it.

We saw Frozen on Monday (i think), but a light bulb in the projector died when there

was only 15 minutes left to go. Dang it! We've been trying to go back all week, but it's

been too busy to get in for free. Hopefully we will finally see it tonight. I love that movie!

Christmas finally came :)

I was hoping everyone would sleep in, but Matthew woke up at 6:56am and got the party started.

Everyone got set up to open their stockings, Santa presents, and presents from Mom & Dad.

I love this Yes! button I got in my stocking. It will go well with my No button. :)

And these little color changing snowmen are the cutest!

Michael got me slippers and I got these fun socks in my stocking. Love it!

And I got touchscreen gloves that will come in super handy.

I don't know why Michael looks so silly, but I think he loves his camcorder.

I couldn't resist getting this shirt for Matthew. It's basically what he says every day.

Now, this is really funny. Collin got these travel chopsticks in his stocking.

I think they are his favorite gift! He ate Christmas dinner with them. Haha!

He also got little bowls for soy sauce. He used those for jam to dip his ham in. LOL

Lauren got an iPad Mini from us (which she is paying half of!), and a little stylus for drawing

from Grandma and Grandpa Tovey. She can do amazing things with this app she got.

Mike bought himself a crazy knife to add to his collection, and I gave him an apron.

Mike and I didn't really exchange gifts since we had an expensive year with

too much traveling and a new water heater and new roof. We had to be practical.

Matthew got this stress ball guy from Dr. Who that was just hilarious.

And Collin did some awesome wrapping. :) He gave me a new electric fondue pot

to replace the ancient one we have that uses those little sterno containers. Nice!

I love that the first thing the boys
want to do is read their new books. :)

Poor Cody was a little freaked out by all the mess and noise.

He was especially bothered by the remote control helicopter the kids got.

He konked out as soon as the commotion died down.

It was a wonderful Christmas!

My Birthday & Thanksgiving

Having a birthday on November 27th, I most often celebrate right around Thanksgiving time. This year my birthday was the day before Thanksgiving. It worked out perfectly since Lauren came home for the holiday that day! I had actually been preparing for my birthday all month. I decided in October to get the new iPhone 5s, and went ahead and ordered one. AT&T said it could take 2-3 weeks before it was shipped. Well, it arrived at the house in 2 days! And then Mike was a total dodo bird and opened the box. I made him hide it for me. Haha. I was dying to get that phone. And Mike didn't even remember. He didn't get it out OR wrap it. He just gave me a card and some dumb chocolates I didn't like. But I still got the phone. :)

And I love it!!!

My other big present was new dishes. We got new dishes at the end of 2004 when we renovated the kitchen. I am so over this pattern! And it drove Mike crazy when I added in some dishes I won at the youth auction a few years ago. They were the colors I wanted, but there weren't enough of them so I had to keep a lot of the old ones in the cupboard. It was pretty goofy. I tried to find a new pattern earlier this year, but was unsuccessful. The biggest obstacle is finding something that isn't made in China. And the second biggest obstacle is finding something I like that Mike also likes. I finally got mad at him. Why does it matter what he likes? He's barely at home! Our whole bleepin' house is decorated how he likes! DRIVES ME CRAZY. The big joke between us is that if he dies before me, I am going to completely redecorate the house. It's not really joke. But we laugh anyway. SO, I gave up. Well, the dishes drove him crazy enough that he finally said that he wanted me to pick out something I like for my birthday. OK!

He really lucked out. I had found these dishes before that I knew both of us would like, but had dropped them off the list because they are made in China. And I thought they would be too heavy. This time around I decided I would just have to get over the China thing. I hate it, but I need dishes!

So, I went over to Pier 1 Imports one day to check them out. They were PERFECT (except for the fact that they were made in china). Exactly what I have been looking for. I like them, Mike likes them, and they're lighter than the ones we had previously!

Actually purchasing them was a little tricky and hilarious. I have a hard time paying full price for anything, so I waited for a discount. There was an awesome daily deal discount a few days after I made the decision to get them. The coupon was only good for 15 items though. And one person could only use one coupon. That didn't stop me! I printed out one and took it the store in Southbury, then printed out another and took it to the store in Danbury! Just to be safe, I used cash at the second store. LOL. I didn't get everything I wanted though, and waited out for another deal. Sure enough, one came up and I ordered everything else.

I couldn't wait to clean out the cupboard.

Look who is sitting there all alone! My Salamanca frog and Segovia owl from Spain!

My new dishes are called Mexicali, which isn't Spanish, but I think these guys will be happy.

All new!!!!

There is more to the Pier 1 story that I won't go into. Too long... Just know that they have really bad customer service, and I will NEVER shop there again. I don't know which was worse, the actual store or the 1-800 number. They're total clowns.

I got new glasses as well, and these cute little bowls on clearance from Pottery Barn. That's another crazy story... There were two sets with different colors in each set. The one with the red bowl was sold out online, and I had to have red! I called almost every store in Connecticut (which actually isn't that many). Then I moved on to New York stores. I even called the store by the temple since we would be going there that Saturday. No luck! I was so disappointed. But I kept checking the website. What do you know? A set was finally available! It was the freakiest thing!

The white bowls are Corelle ... Everybody really likes those for cereal and stuff, and for warming things in the microwave. So, I found a pattern that went well enough.

I am SO happy with my new dishes. They're fun.

A HUGE THANK YOU GOES TO MY PARENTS AND MIKE'S PARENTS

FOR CONTRIBUTING TO THE DISHES FUND! THANKS FOR THE MONEY!!!

Lauren got me this funny card. I was laughing so hard. Very cute.

 Look how my cards match!

The next day was Thanksgiving which meant cooking all ding dong day long. I really do hate it. I told Mike that I am NOT cooking next year on my birthday for Thanksgiving. He and the kids can do it all. Mau-ha-ha-ha-ha!

A highlight for the boys is preparing the brussel sprouts. So silly.

Mike cooked a lot this year. Almost as much as me. And that made me hate 

it even more. It's not fun being in the same room with someone all day when 

they never listen to you or remember what you just said. Yeah... not the best day.

And this is the extent of my Thanksgiving pictures.

We had beautiful pies.

We had such a fun time with Lauren at home. We miss her!

We went glow bowling on Friday, and got a tree on Saturday.

I fought for that little tree. We had a connection. :)

We're getting better and better at this every year.

(we basically let lauren decide)

The kids always like to pet the animals. This year they had a calf.

Good times!