The Christmas Train

Yes another year and another successful outing with our family and our Christmas train!   Yes the kids go to bed like any other night and then shortly after we say good night we come back with their tickets and their Santa hats and we board the Christmas Train!     We have Christmas music, decorations in the car, Christmas blankets, a snack (oranges this year!) and we go on an adventure to find great Christmas light displays.   

During our outing we allow the kids to choose the direction from time to time and they love it.  We go out for about an hour and then come back home and put them to bed.    It's a great tradition that we've done for a couple of years and they asked several more times if they could go again on the Christmas Train!  Can't wait until next year!

Christmas 2013

Our Christmas was great!   ...And I am woefully behind on blogging about the close of 2013!  Goodness, I'm going to try and play some catch up and so there will be some blog bursts.  I know, I know - the only acknowledgement to Christmas so far in my blog has been about Ivy the Elf... not even the focus of Christmas in our house!     2014 I'm going to try to be better about blogging and keeping up! Resolved?  Eh maybe.  ;)

Now for Christmas 2013 let's enjoy a photo array of our morning!  This year I did an elapsed timer with the camera set up on the tripod.  I got it going and then just let it go.   Leaving me hands free to enjoy time with the kids and not trying to grab a shot of them opening presents.    It was great!  Later in the afternoon I grabbed the camera and got a few more close up shots of them with their fun.  

The traditional shot at the top of the stairs awaiting the word they're allowed to come down!

Reading the Christmas Story out of Luke before we begin the presents

Merry Christmas, Pixel!

Legos from Grammie!!

Present for dad!  Another Walk Rock Jar they painted (the first one was full!)

Pose for a couple shots here!

Legos and Ninja Turtles.  All boy!

Someone was introduced to Calico Critters this Christmas and she's super excited about them!

We got to chat from afar with my family for 90 minutes.  While my nieces showed me all their presents and I got to laugh and spend time with my family.    I love technology.

We had a wonderful Christmas season!   We hope yours was too!

Ivy the Elf

Yes, for the third year a little elf came to visit our family after Thanksgiving.     For the second year in a row we did the North Pole breakfast which was festive and fun.    The elf arrived and brought donuts, Pez, candy canes, and their 'Christmas' pjs!    Yes, Ace's were Hulk pjs but well he's green... and red and green are traditional Christmas colors.  ;)   He was thrilled.   It was a fun morning (though mommy was quite unhappy with picture quality, fooey!)

The kids again enjoyed the game of hide and seek - they are allowed to touch our elf and play with her throughout the day once both kids have found the elf in the secret spot and as long as she wasn't up high.   If she was up high - mom or dad had to get her down first!   Ace was quite frustrated some mornings because his sister had little desire to find the elf.  It didn't concern her in the least but he desperately wanted to get her before he left for school.   It caused some tension sometimes, but again they loved the elf and the hide and seek game that we make of it in our family. 

As December waged on Ivy the Elf got herself into lots of festive places and at time antics!    There were a few parental favorites and one request from a friend for where/how to hide the elf.    There were a few "phoning it in nights" (Ivy under tree skirt, Ivy in bucket of blocks)  and one night that must have been so lack-luster I didn't take a picture and I can't remember where she hid one night.    Overall not too shabby! I *do* have to pat myself on the back that while there were many nights it was right as I was going to bed I remembered to hide the elf every night and only once had to get out of bed to do it and the elf did move every night!  ;)

There were a couple of nights when the creativity bug got a hold of me and we spent a decent amount of time being *THOSE* parents that other people blog angrily about regarding elf mayhem.   Sorry folks.  :)   To be fair we were only those parents 25% of this holiday elf-hiding season.

My first wave of creativity came when I wanted Ivy to sail the seas, then I thought a battle scene would be fun and so it just evolved after that.   It probably did take 20 minutes, but let's be honest a good part of that was cleaning enough so that I would be willing to capture that space of my house on camera. 

And well we couldn't just let Ivy get away with charging attempting to take over the Pea's land...couch?  and so I wanted to build a jail out of tinker toys... but Ace had dispersed them amid the house and my best efforts to collect them from his room (and Mae's) before they went to bed was not enough to construct something with them alone and thus the Zoobs had to be brought out and the husband called in for some serious construction assistance - but I have to say the jail is still intact and in Ace's room... pretty sure the minion is still in it.  ;)

On another night as I was ready to just go to bed I was hunting for a good spot for the elf to hide and I was struck with inspiration for drawing on the chalkboard and so I went to work drafting up a drawing for Ivy to have been posed to draw.   There was also another good 5 minutes of shoving stuff away from the easel and if you panned the picture out - to the right would be a pile of crap that normally lives under the easel.  True story. 

We recently have been undergoing construction.  New floors, new paint, new fireplace, new mantle.   Our fireplace and mantle before was this ugly shabby chic brick.   Not shabby chic pretty - like shabby crap.   Like there once was tile stuck to it and it was ripped off.  Not pretty!  HOORAY for family that is good at stuff like this and was willing to do the job of building us a new mantle and tiling up the fireplace nicely for us!  Love it!    So I wanted to unveil the mantle in an excellent display of photos of Ivy.   Alas my excitement and all of my toner spectacular photos were upstaged and barely noticed because it snowed the night before and there Ivy sat all day with barely a notice.  

Finally for you fine readers I present to you this delightful elf!  My friend sent me a picture of another elf in a Christmas tree sitting on an ornament, someone (the same person that posed it, or maybe not)  had posted the ever so infamous Miley song lyrics along with it... my friend begged me to please do it!   Since I'm mildly obsessed (in the way that you can't stop looking at a car wreck) with Miley's utter train wreck of the last year of her innocence I couldn't resist and thus this fabulous (and carefully posed) shot was taken! 

Merry Christmas, Ivy!  Now off you go until next year and a new personality will be born! 

Black Friday 2013

First, I have to say that I was incredibly sad that my partner in crime for the last six years was under the weather and unable to go with us!   I can't say how disappointed I was to not be traipsing through the mall and various stores and inexplicable hours with V.   Now that said, my SIL had planned to join us so while we were missing a key player we certainly didn't lack in Black Friday (and Gray Thursday, hehe) fun!    

After SIL's power nap we headed out around 10:30 - music cranked, seat warmers on, gas filled up - we were on the way to Target!    We got a pretty decent haul - I had one tote with me and filled it to the brim, got several movies, a few gifts, and a lot of fun - we got in line that literally was wrapping in and out of the outer aisles of one half of the store.  It was great fun, met some fun people in line,  we sang happy birthday at midnight and we were only in line there for about an hour and unlike when I went in 2011 the line was constantly moving.    SIL stepped out of line and got us Starbucks while I maintained our place and it was grand ol' fun!  :)    

Next stop was the mall and a great adventure getting many presents taken care of at the Disney Store!  We found a parking spot right away and headed into the mall!  We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes in order to get into the store (or at least it felt that long, it was nearing 1am)  The line wasn't quite as long as Target but for a store that's like 1/6th the size it was still impressive.   We headed home and were in bed by 2:30. 

We slept until around 7:30 and were up and out the door again by 7:50 for the next store - in which we spent 3 hours there and knocked out several more presents and purchases!   It was great and so much fun to go out with SIL!    

Upon returning home I commenced my sad face and pleas to persuade the husband to get out the Christmas tree - which for the most part didn't take too much effort - he loves me! ;)      We got the tree out, got all the lights on it, and then each of the kids grabbed an ornament and put on the first two ornaments of the tree while we captured the moment.  :)  And so begins the wonderful Christmas Season!!

2012 in Pictures

Christmas with Family

It is always a blessing when you get to spend the holidays with family and when I am not able to be with mine - Loving Husband's is just as awesome and fun to be with.    We headed south on the 23rd a tad later than our schedule after we first dropped off Pixel at his boarding place with Christmas presents scheduled for their delivery to him on the big day.   I was a tiny sad we wouldn't be spending the official Christmas with him, but sorry, it was only a fleeting sadness.  ;-)  

We arrived at Aunt and Uncle's house which was thankfully live-tree free (a HUGE thank you for abandoning your Christmas tree and opting for a fake one exclusively to accomodate me, Aunt and Uncle!!)  and had a great evening with them and met Uncle's dad and his family that were also staying with them.  He and his wife have two kids similar in age to Ace and Mae and for being in the same house together for 3 days they did wonderful together.   

On Christmas Eve we occupied our time with Grandma Carol making snowflakes with all the kids and a few other of the adults joined in on the fun from time to time as well.   Some played Scrabble, for a while all the kids enjoyed games on various Aunts, Parents, Grandparent's phones.... it was a pleasant day and night. 

I cheated and looked on Pinterest.  Martha Stewart hooked me up on the how to. :)

Germa came over and she gave them candy canes.   Mae ate the entire thing and was the fastest AND cleanest of the four of kids.  :)  Uncle did very well to keep us very well fed as well throughout the day!

Christmas eve we went for a walk and enjoyed a stroll past houses decorated in Christmas lights.  I created a little scavenger hunt sheet for each of the kids to take with them and find the items on various houses as we walked.  They had fun with it.  Mae called it her purse and was quite upset a few times when it fell to the ground.  :)  After our stroll the kids were settled into the bed, Grandmas went home,  and the rest of us remained awake and enjoyed a semi-traditional game of Kings Cup and some Taboo as well.   It was a lot of fun.  And we enjoyed a skype visit with Gran and Pop Pop to ring in Christmas day officially.   :)

Christmas morning arrived and we ate and had slow start to the morning and then the time to unwrap presents was upon us!   It was a lot of fun with all the kids.  :)

We had a lazy rest of the morning, I skyped in to see my nieces and the rest of my family opening some Christmas, and then Aunt, Grandma Carol, and myself bid adieu to the rest of the family and headed to the movies!  Yes, we had 1:30 tickets to see Les Miserables!  Now, let me just say I absolutely LOVE this book.  I've read it three times, I've seen the Broadway play (off Broadway) three times, I own and exhausted my VHS (yes, VHS) copy of the 25th Anniversary stage production, and I have stomached through the movies that thus far had been produced (deplorable by the way)  so when I heard that a rendition of the musical adaptation was going to be produced I waited with baited breath in the hopes that this amazing work of art would be done justly.    Let me just say I was not disappointed.   I was breathless at the acting several times, the raw emotions the actors brought to the character was bone chilling in some instances and heart warming in others.   The directors choice to have the actors sing live was by far the best one ever made. Ever in film production.  Ever.     Did I like it?  I loved it.   It was the perfect thing to do and see on Christmas Day (yes I know it's kind of a downer in many respects but the beauty of the humanity and love that surpasses the bleak times gets me every time and I love it.)   We left the theater and headed home happy with our experience. 

Dinner was just getting underway as we came home: prime rib and lobster - why THANK YOU Uncle!!    It was delicious and a perfect end to the visit.   The kids said good night to their aunt as she was headed to work at 6am the next day and we were headed home around 10am and they were off to bed.    The adults finished off Christmas night watching Die Hard.  :)  

A wonderful visit and great time with some of our favorite people.   We drove home, got Pixel who had a perfect report card but was super happy to see us and we went home.   Another great Christmas for our family.   Truly a blessing.

Christmas at Home

This year our family of four celebrated Christmas on the morning of the 22nd.  Why?  Well because on the morning of the 23rd we were venturing south to spend the holidays with his family down there.   So bright and early on Saturday morning the kids awoke to Christmas morning happily buzzing downstairs with the yule log streaming on an electronic device in the fireplace.  ;-)  It was a fun morning of presents from aunts and uncles and from the family.  It was a lot of fun and kind of exciting that it was a bit early! :)

Pixel enjoyed his first Christmas with us and enjoyed his new bones he got to chew on and was a good puppy avoiding consumption of wrapping paper, new toys, etc..    Mae enjoyed her first Christmas not spend in an ER!   Yes, Mae's second Christmas was much more a traditional fan fare - and yes on our Christmas night we reintroduced the same food to M that caused her allergic reaction (nearly) one year prior.  Don't worry we had a blood test done to determine that M is in fact allergy free from her previous food allergy - something we are extremely thankful for and hooray she loves the food too! :)

She was telling us all about ripping the paper.

Ace had a lovely FIFTH Christmas.   I cannot believe that he's had FIVE Christmases - but as pictured... it's true.  Sigh my how time flies!!!

The kids had a great time - Mae enjoyed PRINTHESSES and the boy LOVED his Hot Wheels racing track that we got them.  There were many MANY more presents from their adoring friends and extended family.    They (and we) are very blessed.    It was a nice day to spend just the four of us (plus Pixel)   :) 

The Adventures of Ellie

Yes our little Ellie the Elf had a grand ol' time - she even got to venture to another state!  What fun!    This was another great year and this year Mae had a lot more fun with trying to seek out the elf.  Ellie did make some repeat adventures to some of the same spots that Holly her predecessor had, but there was still plenty of new places to seek out and trouble for Ellie to get into!  

Ace really enjoyed the hunt but Mae loved to hug on Ellie once she was found!  Can't wait to see what next year will hold for the little elf and my two!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.  Thank you for reading my blog!