Christmas Clean-Up

And a Merry Christmas it was for our family!!!  I hope everyone had a happy holiday season - we sure did.  Today is the day, however, that we take it all down.  {sniff...gasp...}  This part is always so hard for me because the Christmas break, the excitement, the spending time together, the celebration, all of it is so much fun and when we take the decor down, it means that the fun is officially over.  So to keep myself from lapsing into a post-Christmas depression, I'm looking ahead.

Is it weird that I'm already excited for Valentine's Day?!

Here's some of the decor that will all be destroyed today...  I didn't take a whole lot of pictures this year...I know, shame on me, but I'm so preoccupied with way too many things going on.

My tree this year....ahhhhh....

I wanted sort of a golden/sugar plum kind of thing going, and at night, that's exactly what I got.  It was gorgeous.  And then, slowly, it got un-decorated from the bottom up to where my little baby girl's arm reaches.  Thank goodness everything is plastic!  Glad I learned that lesson long ago...

And this is my little baby tree up in our window mantle area.  

(it's dark here...always cloudy...not much natural light...OY!)

zoomed out, a little crooked, and kinda dark... but you get the idea, right?!

It was all so magical.

Some Christmas whimsy.  

And my little elf 'helper' peeking out! And when I say 'helper', I mean 'destroyer.'

So now it's onward and upward.  January is not only the start of the new year, it's the start of my MOVE TO ARIZONA COUNTDOWN!!!  wahoo!!!!!  To say that we're excited is a severe understatement.  Not that we don't love it here in Michigan, we really do, but we're pretty much homesick for all things related to home.  Our families, Mexican food that will never be matched, outdoor activities all year long, the scenery, the scenery, and more scenery.  This year couldn't end fast enough for me....come on 2012!!

Happy New Year to all of you!!!  

Coming Up for Air...

So my last blog post was early November.  OY!  That's pretty typical for me during this time of the year.  It all starts with Halloween and all of the fun things I think I'm going to do...and never manage to do...

Now that it's December, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I wish I had a fun Christmas craft to post, but nowadays it's getting so hard to squeeze in some craft time.  I know, I know.  Not cool.

Since school has started back in September, my typical day goes something like this:  wake up at 6 a.m., stagger to the kitchen and take the thyroid meds, send the hubby out the door for his 1.5 hour commute, get the oldest kid up and ready and out the door; get the younger two up and ready and out the door; the little one wakes up sometime in between and needs food FAST...get myself dressed, get the baby dressed, go to the gym and pound it out for 1.75 hours (I know...it's a luxury and I desperately depend on this), come home, collapse, feed little one and put her down for a nap (or at least hope she naps), check email, convince myself that taking a shower would be a good idea, or not, but the smell usually wins out {eww} and I end up in the shower, do the whole hair routine crap (wish I could wave a magic wand for this step), clean the house, do chores, scrape crust off the floors; oldest kid gets home, needs food, little one wakes up, needs food, younger ones get home, needs food; homework, start dinner, clean more stuff, do dishes, feed the family, hubby comes home tired, feed him, tell kids to bathe and hope it all works out; teeth brushing, scriptures, prayer, tuck the kids in bed; vege for a little bit with the Love Nugget, crawl into bed and start the whole thing all over again in a few hours. 

AND I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

Honestly, I love it.  And there are so many happy little moments in all of the day-to-day things that it makes me want to bottle it all up and save it for when my little ones are grown and gone.  {sniff}  

my beebies...  They're getting bigger.  Older.  Wiser.  Soon they'll leave me.  Then what?!  I'm dying.  [are you loving the sweet sock/shoe combination on my little robo-cop guy?!]

 These rad little kids make my job feel like the most important thing in the world. 

Then came Thanksgiving.  November just kind of crept up, lingered for a minute, and then ran off.  We had the most beautiful, spectacular November I've ever had while living in the Arctic.  Thanksgiving was busy and fun--and I only managed to take two pictures.  What the?!  See what I mean?  It's all like a giant, fun blur.  Our food was SO good, too!!!

Now it's December and the Christmas season is upon us... and I feel like I just got Halloween taken care of!  ???!!!  

So whattyagonna do?  Go to the biggest Christmas store in the WORLD!  I took some photos for all of you - so you could experience a taste of it!

Any type of theme you could imagine is available.  How could you not want a pizza tree?!  Pizza, burgers, hot dogs, and breadsticks?!  If that doesn't scream Christmas, I don't know what else does.

Of course, I naturally gravitate to the candy/cookie/ice cream themes.  

And look at all the fruit!!!  How FUN!

This place really is so huge.  Every nook is filled with something magical.

Someday I want to have an amazing little mini-village.  There were so many here.

Even the miniature village has a Nativity scene.  

America the Beautiful on display here.

And.....chocolate?!  I. will have. a chocolate tree. someday.

...it was a little embarassing when my kids found me gnawing on these...how do you explain that?...

And so it continues...December is rolling by and I'm finding that it's getting harder and harder to squeeze in a project here and there.  I'm ready to make something fun, but when?

HOWEVER...I am proud to say, though, that my Christmas shopping is all done.  Thank you, internet shopping.  Because of you, I didn't have to feel overwhelmed and irritated.   

And my little baby girl.  She's going to be TWO in February.  ???!!!  {hold me...}  Where did the time go?  I really don't know.  Slow the heck down!

 My baby girl.  And she looks at me with that little face and no matter how many times she drops sticky things, powdery substances, and liquids all over the house, I just want to squeeze her and kiss that little face!

Well.  Time is ticking.  Soon I'll be welcoming the kiddies home, so I better to scrape some crust, do some dishes, and if I don't sniff my sweaty self, I can get an hour's worth of work done while I can!  

Merry Christmas to all!!