Christmas Family Pic Fail

Why is it so hard to get a family picture?

Seriously children?

Last Insta Friday of 2011

Buckle your seat belts folks...
because our post Christmas recovery has been really exciting.

I mean brace yourself.
This is some crazy stuff...
edge of your seats, take your breath away insta content here.



I went through all the toys in the basement...
and filtered out toys the kids haven't touched in months.

Does it get any more colossal than that?!
You need to know these things about my life.
Keep reading.

It was a covert mission.
I'm not kidding.
We waited till the kids were asleep
then loaded the boxes into the back of Andy's car in the dark for an unannounced late night
Good Will drop off.

Because
AJ would freak out...
dramatically declare his devout love for,
weep excessively over,
and desperately beg to
keep.every.stupid.little.toy.in.those.boxes.

And I just don't do well with
unnecessary dramatic flare.

So without further ado...

here is the play room after the big toy overhaul.
They still have a lot of crap if you ask me.

Here is my self-portrait of the week.
Pocahontas much?

We haven't bought a bench to solve the lack of enough chairs at the table scenario yet...
so the huge dinosaur of a high chair came up from the basement
during my eliminate excessive toy rampage.
Man, that's a cute lil' fella in that monster of a high chair if I do say so myself.

I have aided in putting together over a thousand Legos over the last three days,
and I have to say the space shuttle is the coolest set yet.

And I know I kinda made fun of the little grown man that works at the Lego store...
because he is an adult obsessed with little plastic toys,
but I think I kinda get the Lego obsession now...just a little bit.
Okay, so...
don't be surprised if you see me working at the Lego store part time on the weekends one day soon.

Do you see that little Brody mohawk?
I know the bug eyes are a little distracting at first, but look again...
it's there.

Seriously, I do enough laundry that if we could just convert the energy it takes to fold and put it all away into a renewable energy source, we could solve any and all future world energy crises.
Can I get an Amen from all the moms out there?

And I may have consumed an entire box of $18 truffles in one sitting over the first 50 pages of
The Hunger Games last night.

It's hard for me to buy a 99 cent bag of m&m's without a coupon, but
all bets are off when it comes to Godiva's fine, gourmet chocolate indulgences.

Have a fabulous New Years.
Resolve to start Insta Friday's.

3 Months

Insta Christmasgram

Hello!

Between 3 kids and Christmas,
I lost my groove.
There is no routine.
No order.
Just a whole lot of the Christmas aftermath going on around here.

AJ was gifted with an Angry Birds hat, a couple stuffed Angry Birds and t-shirt that says,
"I'm the bomb."

As if the child needed a bigger head.
He now announces loudly everywhere we go, "I'm the bomb!"...
or just oinks at random strangers.

Thanks Aunt Missy, Uncle Wayne, and Taylor
for making our lives that much more exciting.
AJ l.o.v.e.s. you.

We've been through the 3o minutes of getting snow gear on to play 5 minutes in the snow, track snow all through the house, and have hot chocolate routine
about a million times over the last week.
Thank you Mother Nature.

Brody has been rockin' his festive green sparkly hat like nobody's business.
Because how often can you get away with that hat other than Christmas time?

I've been drinking a lot of creamer with a little bit of coffee.

Every year I make my mother-in-law a family album for Christmas...

which really means that I get away with locking myself in my sewing room playing with scrapbooking embellishments and looking at pictures for many many kidfree hours during the busiest time of year.
Thank you Nana Ann.

I had grand plans...
but this was the extent of my holiday baking this year.
Thank you Pillsbury.

I finished all my pot holders to go with my cupcake kits.

Girlfriend loved her princess dress and has worn it for 3 straight days.
Good girl.

She loves her Rapunzel hair.
What.were.we.thinking?

Santa pulled through with AJ's 783 piece Lego Police City...

resulting in many many hours of Lego building.
Again.what.were.we.thinking?

I got a new pair of jeans from The Buckle...
(Check that bootie bling.)

some fun sparkly nail polish...

a canning set...a bread maker...a colander I can't melt...a quilting table for my sewing machine...some fabulous prints...

the list goes on and on for this spoiled rotten chick...

BUT my favorite gift this year is Brody's binkie from "Uncle Map".

His vampire name is Brutal.

Good times.

Now if anyone wants to swing by and pack up my Christmas decorations,
I'm taking names.

I pay in Dr. Pepper, Twizzlers, and chocolate.

A Donkey And A Mouse

There is something so pure about children singing.

So healing.

So innocent.

So sincere.

So passionate.

So magical.

Decorating Us A Gingerbread House

Insta Getting Ready for Christmas Monday

Yeah...Insta Friday was not happening...or
Insta Saturday...or Insta Sunday either.

I am running around like a freakin' chicken with its head cut off trying to get ready
for Christmas.

And then
AJ told me yesterday that we needed decorations for Jesus' birthday...and a cake...and balloons.

I tried explaining that the lights on the house, the Christmas tree, the stockings...
all of these were the decorations.

He said, "No. We need more."
I said, "I think it's nap time. Go away."

Punk.

We have been wrapping gifts, eating Christmas cookies from neighbors, and reading lots of Christmas books around these parts.

I went to a fabric exchange last week with my quilting group and saw some of my favorite people.
We are warming up for our next quilting project...& you know what that means.
I get to buy more fabulous fabric!
Although, I still need to finish my last project.
Crap.
Anyway, here are my two fat quarters for the fabric exchange. I secretly wanted to pick my own gift and keep my fabric, but I guess that is against the rules.

Frisbee, our creepy little elf, has been up to no good lately.
But he's about to really get into some trouble.
I need a winning entry before midnight on the 20th to take the Inappropriate Elf Contest.
Send me your best ideas. Fast people. I don't have much time left.

I finished my fave sistah's Christmas present.

I started a new take the kid's picture by the stocking tradition.

My BFF and I exchanged gifts.
I love her.
Seriously.love.her.
She got me this rad BFF necklace charm.
Because all BFF's need a BFF necklace...even if you are in your 30's.

Girlfriend rocked her Christmas hair bows, hot pink sparkly leg warmers, new pink tutu, and pillowcase dress last week.
Dude, if you don't have yourself a girl, you need to get one.
They are fun.
Sassy, but fun.

This baby boy smiles and coos more than any of my babies...
(after he got the reflux meds that is...thank you Jesus, Mary and Joseph.)

I could just converse with him all day.

I made a couple cupcake pot holders...only six more to go.
6 more!
Who needs sleep?
I mean really?!
Sleep is for wimps.
Sissies.
Light weights.
Ha!

Mmmmm
Cherry coke from Sonic.
It's like crack in a straw, with crushed ice, in a nifty styrofoam cup.
With a real cherry!
It can make you forget all you have to get done in 6 days.
6 days!
I need to get off this computer!

I quilted, made binding, and bound that quilt I started the week before last.
Just in time for it to make it to California before Christmas.
Whew.

I got to visit my beautiful sister, brother-in-law, and niece at the airport during their layover.
I love them.
Good people, I tell ya.
Good people.

Abby and AJ gifted us with their Christmas presents they made in school.
I tried to get AJ to wait until Christmas for us to open them, but he wasn't having it.
I love kid art.
Check out Girlfriend's stink face. It's her favorite expression.
I think it's awesome that it will forever be preserved on her preschool angel.

I ended the week with a breakfast sundae and manicure with my BFF.

My cup runneth over.

And now I have some pot holders to make.