On the Third Day of Christmas...

...Grammie and Bumpy came down and, once they had hauled everything inside, it looked like Santa had swung by again!!!
.
.

.
Iz got a Tinkerbell backpack...

.

.

...a bunch of Little People stuff...
.

.
...ANOTHER sled, a soccer ball, MORE Lego's, a memory game, some new clothes...
.

.
....AND the new TINKERBELL MOVIE! Yippee! (she has asked for this EVERY time we've seen it in a store....and commented on Christmas that Santa didn't bring her the movie she wanted - thank goodness Grammie and Bumpy came through!!!)
.

.
Hot turkey sandwiches were on the menu for lunch and we had a great visit! Both Grammie and Bumpy loved the socks I knit them, the picture of Iz, and the other gifts we gave them. They spoiled us too with new Patriots mugs, a new shirt and fleece jammie pants for Hubby, a Patriots snuggli for me, more baking dishes and a very generous greenery gift. We are VERY blessed by those two :)
.

.

.
What a great three days it was. My favorite part? After EVERY present she opened Iz would exclaim,

"THIS IS JUST WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED!!!"
.

LOL....just what I wanted to hear :)

.

On the Second Day of Christmas...

...we awoke to discover that Santa had, indeed, come to OUR house and left us a whole heaping mess of goodies!!!!!
.
.
Iz's pile o' presents was impressive all on it's own :)
.

.
Being coy....or maybe just still a little sleepy?
.

.
We opened our stockings right away and then had a little breakfast and waited for Nannie and Papa to come join us for present opening and lunch.
.

All that fit in ONE stocking???

.

.
A Barbie!!!
~not the best look on Iz's face though, huh?
.

.
Her favorite gift....a Leapster! She also got 3 games to play with it - very fun!
.

.
You didn't think Santa would forget Callie did you? She spent the entire day loving her new rope/tennis ball/bone!
.

.
Iz spent most of the day figuring out the Leapster...
.

.
...though she did take a little time to do some coloring and playing with her other gifts. Santa brought her a couple new movies, a new portable DVD player (for those long car drives and for when the power goes out!), UNO Moo (which was have played a million times this week!) and all kinds of other goodies. That Santa....he's the BEST!
.

.
Nannie and Papa stayed for a late lunch/early dinner...we had turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing and green beans....it was all very good and we enjoyed the leftovers for DAYS!
.
You might be thinking that Hubby and I were on the naughty list....nope! We BOTH got goodies of our own - highlights include Hubby's DVD's of the original tv series V, a German Shepard puppy calendar and handmade knitted socks (hrrmmm...wonder who made those?). I was definitely on the nice list - I got a new crockpot AND a new toaster oven, plus a few new movies :)

.

Now to find a place for all the new stuff...

.

On the First Day of Christmas...

(which was actually Christmas Eve) ...we started the day by going to see a movie and, as if that wasn't enough, that night...we went to Auntie D's!
.
Iz got to hang out with her buddy, Kiko (though Kiko doesn't look too thrilled)!
.
.
There was a TON of yummy food....and, even though there were 15 people, there was a TON of leftovers at the end of the night. How did that happen?
.

.
Ellie was there....all dressed up and ready to celebrate her FIRST Christmas...looking SUPER cute, as usual!
.

.
Iz showing off her Rudolph shirt (and her fake smile...drives me crazy!)
.

.
Teenagers.....need I say more?
.

.
SOMEONE was pretty excited to get presents!!!
.

.
Iz was lucky enough to get a princess activity set AND Lego's from WW & Uncle P, a new sled, a zippered case and viewfinder discs from Auntie D & Uncle Skip, princess Yahtzee from SnL, and a bunch of cool little things and CA$H from Nannie and Papa...spoiled little girl :)
.

.
Ellie modeling one of the gifts we got her....GO PATS!
.

.

When we got home, Hubby and Iz got down to business writing a letter to Santa...
.

.
...and making sure he and his reindeer had PLENTY of goodies waiting for them!
.

.
Then it was off to bed....to dream of dancing sugarplums and stockings hung by the chimney with care and hoping hoping hoping SANTA would swing by while we were snoozing...

.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday 'L'!

.
.

Hope you have a GREAT day :)

.

Aaahhhhhhh....

Christmas is O.V.E.R.

.
Don't get me wrong - I love Christmas! I love the music, the smells, the wrapping paper, the gift-giving, the gift receiving :) and the magic of Santa.
.
But, as much as I love it, boy oh boy am I glad it's over.
.
Christmas was a 3 day celebration for us.
Day One: Christmas Eve at Auntie D's house.
Day Two: Nannie and Papa came over and spent the day with us on Christmas Day.
Day Three: Grammie and Bumpy came down the day after Christmas and celebrated with us.
.
Whew!
.
I have lots of pictures to post and WILL get them posted THIS WEEK! Also on tap this week? A trip to the library, a visit *hopefully* with Mel and her boys, grocery shopping, packing away decorations, rearranging the kitchen to accommodate my new presents :), figuring out how we're going to ring in the New Year (might be having friends over....not sure....but, no matter what, it will be a FUN night) AND getting packed and ready to head to Providence Saturday to see WICKED!!!
.
Just THINKING about what I have to get done is exhausting....I'm going to bed. Will start my To-Do List tomorrow.
.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did!
.

Eat, Drink & Be MERRY!

That's what we plan to do for the next few days :)
.
.
.

Merry Christmas!

.

Last Minute

I'm getting kicked out of my own house!
.
Well, for the next few hours, at least...then I'll be welcomed back *hopefully* with open arms :)
.
Hubby has decided that this morning he and Iz are going to wrap my presents. Never mind that I was gone most of the day Monday with Auntie D grocery shopping or that both Iz and I were gone Saturday morning for ballet...maybe he didn't have anything to wrap on Saturday or Monday - MAYBE he got everything yesterday before he went to the dentist. Hmmmmm...
.
So, anyway, I'm outta here. I have no place to go really so I'm headed to return the movies we rented yesterday then get an ice coffee, sit in my van and KNIT KNIT KNIT! I'm soooooo close to being done. Both my mother-in-law and my father-in-law's sock are done. I just have one more to knit - only, stupid me, the person I need to knit this sock for is on VACATION this week and therefore lurking around constantly and not making it easy for me to secretly knit their second sock. So, if you want to find me today look for the woman frantically knitting in her minivan...and bring me another ice coffee, I'm SURE I'll need it :)
.

TWO MORE DAYS 'TIL CHRISTMAS!

.

Christmas Week :)

Christmas Week is FINALLY here...and this is what needs to get done:
.
1. Send out cards with $$$ for the "big" kids

2. Find (and print) a picture to put in the frame I bought Hubby for Christmas

3. Get Birthday invitations ready [Iz's Bday is January 10th - I like to have invites ready to hand out when we see everyone at the holidays...saves on stamps :) ]

4. Clean the bathrooms [this is an every week to-do item, but counts even more this week since the in-laws are coming down Saturday!]

5. Make some more cookies [it IS Christmas, after all...you can't have TOO many!]

6. Finish knitting [1-1/2 more socks and I'm DONE!]

7. Finish wrapping [can't finish this until I finish knitting :)]

8. Find and wash our special plate and cup for Santa's milk and cookies [you would think it was with the Christmas decorations...you would be WRONG!]

9. Go through the fridge ONE MORE TIME to make sure that I don't have to go anywhere NEAR a grocery store on Thursday!

10. Figure out a way to stop the dog from trying to EAT the cinnamon applesauce ornaments on the tree

11. Buy enough batteries to get Iz through a day or two with her new toys :)

12. Get a haircut [seriously...my hair? out of control!]

13. Check that the liquor cabinet is stocked [it IS the holidays...and we will be seeing a LOT of our family in the next few days :)]

14. Keep Iz out of our closet so she won't find all her presents before Friday [easier said than done!]

15. Continue to get even MORE excited about the weekend AFTER Christmas when the girls and I go see WICKED!

15. Take a few minutes to actually ENJOY the holiday season...

Santa Claus is Comin' To Town

Adorable :)

.

Kissee Kissee

Here we go again. This is one of those stories that is absolutely hysterical when it happens to SOMEONE ELSE. When it happens to you, er, me...it's still a little funny, but I made myself NOT laugh.
.
Iz and I decided that a good thing to do on a freezing cold day like today (high of 15!) was to make some cookies. Mmmmmm...
.
We made those super-yummy peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kiss in the middle. My job was to make the cookie dough. Iz's job was to unwrap the entire bag of kisses. She asked if she could eat one (naturally) and I said "Yes. Just ONE." We went about our duties and all was well....or so I thought (silly me!).
.
When the first batch came out of the oven I looked in the bowl of kisses and saw that almost EVERY kiss was missing it's tip (and some were missing even more!). I asked Iz if she was eating them...her reply? "I was just giving them a little nibble on the top."

I wanted to laugh, scold, and nibble some of my own all at the same time...I just shook my head and finished making the cookies (I DID refrain from using the few kisses that looked more like a pancake than a kiss...those were the ones that got more than a nibble).
.
So, now we have 4 dozen cookies with slightly used kisses on top :) Want one?
.

A Few to Wet Your Whistle

I downloaded pictures from my camera...68 of them! :) I haven't even BEGUN to sort through them. Until I do, here are a couple cute ones of Iz to tide you over.
.
These are the pictures I put on our Christmas cards. She's so darn photogenic it was a breeze to take her down to the pond, snap a few and get GREAT ones to send out to our friends and family!
.

ENJOY!

.

Tattletale

***Someday SOON I'll post pictures of Iz :) Believe me, I have a TON! I've totally been a slacker about uploading my pictures onto my blog and I don't even remember the last time I downloaded pictures from my camera onto my laptop (yipe! There's probably a billion on there...give or take a few). I *might* get to that tomorrow.
.
Iz and I met Auntie D over at WallyWorld today so that Auntie D could START her Christmas shopping (don't want to rush into these things, you know) and after a little shopping we went to lunch. I got an appetizer sampler, Auntie D got fried clams and Iz got shrimp (she LOVES fried shrimp! and who can blame her? yum!). Anyway, we had quite a few leftovers so I brought them home to have for lunch tomorrow. My *plan* was that if Hubby asked what I had for lunch I would tell him what we had - if he didn't ask then I would keep it to myself :) knowing full well that he NEVER asks.
.
Only, Iz has a BIG mouth.
.
Hubby was only home about 10 minutes before Iz announced that she wanted french fries for dinner. When I told her that we weren't having french fries she announced, with Hubby standing right next to her, she would like her

LEFTOVER SHRIMP FROM LUNCH WITH AUNTIE D

for dinner!
.
.
Ugh! Busted...
.

Brrrrrrrrr....

Although Winter has not *officially* begun (we still have 10 more days of "Fall"), unofficially it is here...and it is here with a vengeance!
.
We got a little snow last weekend (4" or so - just a "dusting" really) but Wednesday we got HAMMERED and we got hammered good!
.
Most of Maine got between 8" and 10"..... up here in our little section of Western Maine, near the NH border we got a good 12" PLUS (I say 15" but Auntie D said no way). For the icing on top...it turned to rain at the end giving the snow a nice, hard, heavy crust about an inch thick.
.
FUN?!? Welllll, not really.
.
Today...it's FREEZING! Currently 24.8 degrees but the wind? Oh, the wind is brutal and chills me right to the bone!
.
Enough of this pseudo winter...I'm ready for spring :)
.
Busy weekend coming up - Iz has a birthday party tonight for HC's youngest boy and a place with a whole heaping mess of bounce toys. Should be a BLAST! Then tomorrow is ballet (of course), then a visit with Santa at the Library (if Iz is brave enough to even look a him, that is), then VG is coming over to babysit Iz while Hubby and I go to a Christmas Party at HC's house. This is a BIG deal. Iz LOVES VG :) VG will be 15 on Valentine's Day (not sure HOW she got to be so OLD!) and this is the first time she'll be watching Iz up here at our house...all alone...at night. They're planning on making cinnamon applesauce ornaments and I plan on renting them a movie and making pizza for dinner. Should be a good night for the girls. PLUS, Hubby and I get a "date night" out partying with some of the nicest, coolest people we know.
.
Have a great weekend all!
.

TWO MORE WEEKS 'TIL CHRISTMAS!!!! (yipe!)

.

Can You Hear My Heart Breaking?

It's that time of the year...no, I'm not talking about Christmas. I'm talking about something that has a little bigger impact on me. Something that effects me on a deep, personal level. Something that practically brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.
.
.
.

Winter Hiatus*

.
That's right....ALL my shows are disappearing over the next week or so. The Biggest Loser finale is tonight, the last new Grey's episode until January was a couple weeks ago, no more Private Practice until after the holidays, GLEE is off air until SPRING (yipe!) and the Survivor final is the 20th.
.
Luckily, come mid-January I will be able to devote 2-3 nights a week to this guy
.
.
and this guy
.
.
and this girl
.

.
and, new this season (and I'm not sure yet how I feel about someone who has NOTHING to do with the music industry involved this show), this girl
.

.
Plus The Biggest Loser will be back on the air late winter and Grey's and PP should be back in a few weeks. I'm all for celebrating the holidays and enjoying time at home with family but let's not go overboard, shall we? Do ALL my shows really have to go off-air for most of December? I don't mind season finales in the spring as much (though I DO miss my McDreamy fix in the summer) but I live in MAINE...and I don't ski or snowboard or snowshoe or even go outside in winter unless I HAVE to. There isn't much else to do in December. Well, I guess I could clean my house or something....hmmmmm....nah!

.

*not sure if that's what it's "technically" called...but that's what I call it

.

credit, credit, credit, credit

Another GREAT Weekend....Almost

First of all -
.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my MIL!!!

.
The movie Saturday was SO good! and an afternoon spent with Mel sans kiddos was pretty great too!!! Thanks Mel :) and a BIG THANKS to WW and Auntie D for watching Iz for the afternoon for me - you guys are the best!
.
The ride home Saturday was a little sketchy because of the white stuff coming down (ugh - winter had to show up sooner or later, didn't it?) and Sunday morning we woke up to a Winter Wonderland.
.
.
Iz was thrilled with the prospect of playing in the snow...
.
.

.
She had a blast making snow angels on the deck...not too happy when Hubby went out and shoveled the deck though :(
.

.
Though I am far from a winter person....in fact, if I could find a place that felt like October year-round I would be super happy....I have to admit that the first snow of the year IS beautiful.
.
OK - it snowed...now I'm ready for spring :)

.

.
We DID have plans for the afternoon but they fell through so we spent our snow day putting up the Christmas tree (pics tomorrow!) and decorations. Plus planning our menu from now through the end of the month, making a grocery list and planning out this week which is shaping up to be a SUPER busy one!
.
The one black mark on the weekend? The Patriots lost...to the DOLPHINS! Seriously? UGH!
.

I Can't WAIT for Tomorrow!

Seriously...tomorrow is going to be a GREAT day!
.
Starting off with taking Iz to ballet class (always cute AND a good chance for e to have 45 minutes of solid, uninterrupted knitting time!) then Auntie D is being AWESOME enough to watch Iz for the afternoon (since Hubby already has plans of his own) while Mel and I do a little Christmas shopping and then, FINALLY, go see
.

NEW MOON!

.

.
VERY excited about this! Mel and I have a standing date for all HP and Twilight movies and it's taken us a few weeks to mesh our schedules to go see this one, but tomorrow is the day! I've heard good things about it and can't wait to see super hotty Taylor Lautner all buffed up and looking super yummy as Jacob Black (even though I am TEAM EDWARD all the way!).
.
YAY! Is it Saturday yet?
.
Have a great weekend everyone :)
.
.
.
image credit
.

One More Month...

...until my "seesters" and I hit the road, head to Providence, RI and see WICKED!
.
.

I am unbelievably excited for this! I love the music, I enjoyed the book and I've wanted to see this show for a LONG time! I would love to see it in NYC but Providence is closer and makes more sense. Keeping my fingers crossed that the weather is cooperative for our trip and I wish it would hurry up and be January already!!!
.

Let the Countdown Begin!

What better way to count down to Christmas than with a

chocolate advent calendar!

.
.

YUM!

. .