Christmas Eve & Day!

Y'all know me, Pictures tell the story ;)
Just a little run down though.
Christmas eve is normally a tradition we have every year at my sister Kathleen's house. We exchange gifts for the kids and have dinner. Its an awesome tradition so that we can spend time with them since on Christmas Day we are all all over the place.
However, this year my sister and her family went to Disney for a week and got back Christmas Eve morning. So we had the event at my aunt Diane's house! Worked great! Dinner was delicious and kids had a great time!! Here's a peak!

 My mom!

 Awesome scarfs my sister had made for the girls. They have pockets for their hands, with their initials!

 My sister, My mom, My sister

 Michael and my Bro-in-law John

 My hostess herself, My aunt Diane!

I love this picture!!

CHRISTMAS DAY!

Christmas Day has never been a quiet, relaxed day. It is always busy and go go go. I hate that. I am SO hoping we are in our new house settled before Christmas and we won't be going anywhere! Make everyone come to us!

We start the day at home, Santa presents, and our presents to each other! Then the kids play with new stuff while I fix breakfast. Although this year it was raining, and I didn't realize it until everyone had shoes on ready to go ride their new bikes!! So we went outside for a few minutes and then came back inside to play with other stuff!!

 AND BTW- I don't have all the awesome surprised faces pictures bc 1) my camera was broke, and I forget to borrow my moms to use Christmas morning, 2)my phone doesn't take movement well and all pics I did take turned out like crap. But I did eventually get some good pictures. Michael told me that before the girls could open any gifts I needed to open one. I was like "what??" lol but after opening it it made sense. I got a new AWESOME camera!!

But even with new camera. Taking pictures is very hard to do while you are there living the moment too! M&M needed help and we just had stuff everywhere!

 another gift from Michael! I have been wanting one of these forever! The open heart necklace!

The top has Michael's birthstone, then all the girls stones are at the bottom. You cant see in pic but also on the bottom of heart says Michael & Megan.

This almost made me cry. By far most thoughtful gift id ever received!

Caught a little sibling argument!

THEN we start getting ready to go to my moms house and do it all over again. (My mom is crazy mom at Christmas, she buys TOO much no matter what you tell her)

We then have Christmas with my mom, sister Elizabeth, and my aunt Diane who came over too!

We also eat Christmas dinner with them!

 I LOVE this picture of him ;)

That's my darling, sock monkey hat and Dad's Against Daughters Dating shirt! lol

So after my moms house, we load up and drop off everything at home, then head to Abigail and Aaliyah's other Nana and Papa's house. This is also a yearly tradition! Its the one time of the year they are all together. They have 3 aunties, and 2 uncles there too. So its really special for Abigail and Aaliyah to get to spend time with them!!

 Papa!

 Nana!

Aunties!!

Christmas night, we were SO exhausted! The girls wanted to try out the Wii, so Michael got it hooked up for them and they 'just danced' the night away!!



Well that was our Christmas, as quickly as it came, it was gone! But definitely enjoyed! Girls beyond racked up, DSi, skates, purses, clothes, pj's, books, bikes, games, feather extensions, baby dolls, dress up clothes, jewelry, new comforter sets for their beds, Cd's, movies... oh my. The following couple days were filled with cleaning out room and closets making space for it all!!





My Favorite Things!!

I have NO idea how to link up to another blog. I assume I cut and paste? Maybe it will work!
http://www.butlerpartyof2.com/

I love this idea and I didn't want to miss out! I enjoyed reading everyone else's favorites lists! Even got a couple good tips! SO I thought I would like to share my favorite things too!!

The first thing that came to mind is my shampoo and conditioner! This stuff isn't anywhere near reasonably priced. It actually makes me sick to my stomach to think of how much I spend on it. BUT they have just changed it to a concentrated formula. So I literally use the amount of a nickel/quarter and it does all of my shoulder length hair! The only way I justify spending $25 a bottle on this stuff is how well it works! My guilt set in a little for a couple months I went back to a store bought brand. :/ bad choice. Because in my RIPE older age, I have gray hair. Ugh. Hurt to say that. I mean like about 10 noticables in the part of my hair that grow in every time! So I have to color on a regular basis. Because, HELLO, I am not rocking gray hair till I am least 70. On top of colored hair, mine tends to also be a bit dry. I noticed a HUGE difference when I stopped using this stuff. My hair was dry, brittle, had no softness, no volume, and color faded *snap* like that. So I promised my hair I wouldn't do that to it again ;) until I find a cheaper version that does exactly what this does. I am sticking to it!
Round of applause for ...


#2. I love love love Clinique makeup. I usually only wear the base and powder. I figure eyeshadow, blush, eyeliner, etc. is pretty normal stuff, and I can't justify spending over the top on those things!
So I LOVE when Clinique has bonuses!!! I get free stuff! (that i usually fall in love with and end up buying the big version of anyway! They are very smart, excellent marketing there!)
This is the one I got this time, except I didn't get these exact colors. This the the 'cools' and I went with the 'warms' :)


#3- (I am with you Rachel!) I love Adele. Love Love Love this CD! Since I got it for Christmas I have had a raspy voice after driving in car alone. I have to kind of scream/sing to try and match her vocals. lol. yeah. right. I know. However my kids think I sound awesome ;) My personal play list is #1, #2, #5, #6, #10, and #11!



#4- Another Christmas gift was from my Mom. She knows me TOO well!
I got hooked up with the Love Spell by Victoria Secret. I have been wearing this since high school. I always loved it, but I guess kind of grew out of it and hadn't had it in a while. When I smelt it again I remembered why I loved it so much before. It has a soft, light, happy feeling fragrance to it. I just love it! And will be keeping it in the collection always!


#5- Bath and Body Works Wallflowers. After Christmas I hit a huge sale. Accidentally. I went to buy my normal refills and actually found a fragrance that I LOVE on 75% clearance! Score! I tend to ALWAYS buy something Apple. Cinnamon Apple, Autumn Apple, Apple Crisp, Candy apple, I love them all. Something just fresh and clean smelling about an apple. I lucked out when i found Autumn Apple on clearance. I bought all 4 2pks they had left! Think I maybe spent $2 each? I don't remember exact but I know it was an outstanding deal!
I try to keep house as much as possible. But I would be lying if I said I actually had time to do it all. Laundry gets piled up,  potty training for two going on, over sized 9 year old bulldog with gas bad enough to clear a building, normal daily trash ... lots of things can create not so pleasant smells. And there is NOTHING worse than coming home, opening the door and saying, "uh, whats that smell?" lol. Wallflowers are in the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, and hallway. They help with the little unpleasantness that may occur. And they make me happy ;)



#6- A while ago I bought a new mop. I have a big heavy duty one with mop bucket. But it is really inconvenient to use it daily! I bought the Swiffer wet mop. And while it works well. I was going through refills like crazy. So I randomly at walmart came across this. Cedar Pro Mist. This is awesome and my life saver for many reasons. #1- it is cost efficient. No refills, the cloth part velcros on and off and is machine washable up to 100 times! #2- You can use your own solution. So I can still use my favorite floor cleanser too!! #3- its light weight and easy to use on daily basis! #4- it's red. ;)


#7-  My drink of choice! Best way water has ever tasted ;) I go through like 2 boxes a week! I love this stuff! Tastes like kool-aid! I not sure about the whole 'energy' thing. I don't really get that from it. LOL. But it is delicious and helps me down a few bottles of water daily!


#8- Last but definitely not least. My favorite pair of shoes, ever. By far most comfortable!! And cute!
Reebok ZigWild running shoe. While I like to think that I run in them. I don't. But they are awesome walking shoes ;) I chose these strictly on cute factor. Then was wowed by the comfort factor. I am actually going to get another pair in different color soon!