Christmas 2013

i flew down to california a couple of days before christmas to celebrate with my sister and her family. no, my parents did not come. yes, they are sad we aren't there. yes, i am sad i am not there. yes, it is more fun where the kids are. since traveling with 3 small children during the holidays really isn't practical, i went where the kids are. sorry parents. be prepared for a picture overload we usually just read the nativity story from Luke 2, but since the kids are a little older, we acted it out this year.

 karlee was the perfect little mary. kyler wasn't exactly thrilled to be the baby.

 traditional christmas eve present.

chelsea tried to stop the tradition with my mom this year, but i insisted on getting new pajamas

 the kids in their new pajamas

 love matchy matchy

 kyler loves treats more than anyone. he didn't really get the whole "these cookies are for santa" idea

 jingles the elf came back for one more night to say goodbye

 so much for not going overboard this year

 all the kids got new bikes, and kyler got this fun toy. all the kids thought it was for them.

 kyler saw the treats in the stocking and that's basically all he cared about

 karlee really wanted a kitty. she was pretty happy with this fur real kitty.

 chelsea and i got matching sunglasses, and we can all see why i don't leave the house without makeup

 we opened presents, skyped with my parents, and had our traditional breakfast. christmas is pretty low key around here. i finally changed out of my pajamas into workout clothes in the late afternoon and never got ready for the day. since it is just us here, we played with toys all day and never left the house. it seems kind of strange that christmas is the one day of the year i don't get ready, but it's perfect. we have a great day with family. i'm so happy to be able to spend the holidays with these littles. i hope everyone had a very merry christmas!

hot cocoa/ornament exchange

At the favorite things party at the end of the summer, we all decided Kyla's house is the perfect party house. After the xtendbarre event (more to come soon), Kyla and I decided we needed one more get together before the holidays. She invited us all over for hot cocoa complete with various toppings and a fun ornament exchange. 

jessie, lauren, gentri, ariel, me, bri, rachel

most people (except me) brought ornaments for the exchange

jenny starting the exchange

ariel got a jellyfish or something equally disturbing.

gentri got the star bonnie took right off her tree.

kyla, rachel, jessie, ariel

jenny, jenny's sister, me, bri, bonnie, lauren, gentri

with the ornaments. some of them were really pretty and other were funny.

It was the perfect relaxing fun night. We laughed and laughed all night long. Thanks to Kyla for hosting us. Can't wait for more gatherings at the party house. 

last minute wrapping

I'm usually pretty organized, but there are some things I always seem to do at the last minute. Wrapping presents especially for Christmas is definitely one of those things. I flew out to California yesterday which forced me to wrap a few days early. Wrapping isn't my favorite task, but I love the end result. I love pretty presents. 

I love traditional wrapping (red paper) with some added color. If you are last minute and still need wrapping ideas, I found the small ornament balls in the dollar section at Target and the jute and other ribbon at Hobby Lobby (or any local craft store). Merry Christmas and happy wrapping.

 

happy birthday to me

i complain a lot about my too close to christmas crappy december birthday. i shouldn't complain so much. i'm pretty lucky to have great friends and family. i haven't been too excited about this birthday

a. i turned old..like really old

b. it was on sunday

c. it's 3 days before christmas

well, it was yesterday. the actual day itself was pretty uneventful, but i basically celebrated all week long.

co-worker michelle started off the celebration by leaving this little surprise on my desk. sometimes little things really are big things.

laurann, jared, and i went to tucanos for dinner to celebrate. we had a lot of fun and ate a ton.

i went to lunch the day before with my roommate dana, and forgot to take a picture #fail

i got this funny email on my birthday. it was extra funny to me because i don't exercise on sunday. thanks golds gym. i wasn't planning to come that day anyway.

i came downstairs to go to church and found this.

roommate dana brought me a little treat. we were talking the other day about earrings. sometimes they are too heavy and hurt my ears. she remembered and bought much lighter blingy earrings. how nice!

i'm really excited about my new streamer. i HATE ironing, and some clothes just need something besides the dryer.

i got a lot of calls, text, facebook messages, instagram comments, etc wishing me a happy birthday. i love birthdays. i love celebrating and making a big deal out of it. i shouldn't complain so much about mine because it really isn't so crappy.  thanks for all the birthday love everyone.

sarah and ted want to adopt

forget what i said about only posting churchy things on sunday. this week has been crazy town. i planned to post about a blogger event on thursday night to go live on friday. i was too busy partying with my bloggy friends, and it didn't get written. this post was supposed to go up yesterday, but it didn't get written either. anyway, i'll get to the point...

i've known sarah and ted for almost a decade. we were all friends when they were single. they are some of the greatest people i know. they have an adorable little boy, drew, and really want to add to their family. if you know anyone looking for an adoptive family, send them over to their adoption blog sarahandtedfamily.blogspot.com to learn all about them.
i can't believe we are so close to christmas. i'll be back this week talking all about it.