the holidays did happen

I just realized I never posted pictures from Christmas 2010 (except for my awesome boots).  This year was a little more stressful than most and I sort of wanted to move on once the holidays ended.  Just a few things though:

 We met up with Tyler and his Grandma...Tod mentored him for years when Tyler was a little guy.  Now he's graduating.  We are getting old.  He used to take off his shoes and shimmy up light posts (in Tod's care).

 Lennon frosted these cookies wearing the apron my mom bought him.  

 On Christmas Eve we went out for dinner instead of making it.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS because there were no groceries to buy, no cooking to worry about, no mess to clean up.  I don't know if it was Outback or Kari but something was weird with her eyes that night (see above).  We have a picture that shows it more but I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to post it...to be fair, Kristi has a hole right above her lip from a basketball altercation earlier that day.  Those darn twins!

Boys hugging while we waited for a table.  Lennon was excited for Santa.

 

 After dinner -- Kari and the boys wrote a note to Santa and left him some cookies.

Our house lit up back home.  I liked Tod's use of color.

 Tod's parents came out for New Year's and took the boys to Primm where they rode every ride and loved hanging out with their cousin Evan.  They were in heaven...with Evan.

 Primm was a lot of fun but promise me this -- if I ever become an operator of the "Hop It" ride there, run me over with your car.  Or use a baseball bat, I have no preference.

It should also be mentioned that Tommy came dressed as Buddy the Elf for our family Christmas party.  His sweet wife sewed this costume for him.  The kids were scared but the adults seemed to enjoy him.

Speaking of Tommy, he can make Larry laugh harder than anyone.  In this video he was slapping himself and Larry was loving it.  Later I slapped myself for him and he just stared at me.  Maybe Tommy's a magic elf.

Click HERE.

Christmas Boots: A Love Story

Now that the holidays are officially over (ie: we're done eating leftover New Year's cheeseball and carrots with ranch for dinner) and our decorations are finally down (because by the 6th I still couldn't pull it together so Tod did it for me)(hey, new tradition!) I want to talk about the best part of this year's Christmas.

My new boots.

Instead of shopping for each of us, my mom gave us money and a few hours of free babysitting to do it ourselves.  My immediate thought was to get some diapers, some new shirts for Larry, some....and then she specified it had to be just for us.  Right now we spend money mostly on what we need, not what we want.  But I knew what I wanted.

At the mall I started walking into Nordstrom's from the car so Tod reminded me that we could get more for our money at other stores.  But you know how people adopt babies from different countries and tell us they felt a pull towards that country...a pull towards that child?  I get it now, Angelina.  Something inside that store was quietly calling my name. 

"I'm coming!" I called back but not really.

We walked through Nordstrom's doors and the first thing I saw was a clearance rack covered in boots.  The next thing I saw were my boots.  The only caramel colored pair on a rack of black, I walked straight over to them and looked at their size.  Mine.  Then I looked at the price.  It was right.  My search began and ended in 30 seconds. 

As I waited to try them on I watched as two overdressed girls (we're only at the mall, ladies) walked by.  One of them commented on the clearance boots, "Ewwwww, these are SO last season."  Wait, you think I made that part up don't you.  I did not, swear on my life.  And while I find comments like this unbelievably annoying, these girls made me love my boots even more.  Because I am a mom and not a runway model and if these are last season and affordable then let's do this every season. 

Because p.s. I'd rather be poor than annoying. 

And p.p.s. thank you Mom.