happy new year...

It's been quite the couple of weeks. So much packed into such a small time frame. I'm happy to see it come to end ;)

Christmas Eve was very fun. We went to Carl's for dinner and games. Played a extra loud game of Pit with a ton of people. I never win at that game. Ever. When we were getting ready to play Sequence, Ivette had a gift to open for their family. It was in a big round tube. What the heck? It ended being a super huge version of the game. It worked out great because then we could all see the board without magnifying specs on ;) And true to our non-cheating form, Ivette, Abby and I won one of the games and the cheating Dad's with Michael didn't even win one. Ha! Serves them right! Came home put a few pieces of fudge out and sent the girls off to bed.


Christmas Day was really low key. The girls were up (well, part of the girls) by 7:45-ish, which was really nice because the super early mornings always were hard when the kidlets were younger. Santa brought a Wii and the extras for two players. A unexpected gift for sure. Opened presents, which everyone seemed happy with and then had breakfast. Yummy! After everyone was dressed, we visited Grandma Verla for a bit. The rest of the day we hung out and played the Wii. Bowling is pretty fun and I really am not a bowler! Carl's family came over in the evening and we played a little Guitar Hero with them. Chelsea definitely has the musical ability! Who would have thought that she was quite the little rocker chick!

New Year's Eve was Abby's birthday..we now have another teenager in the house! Unbelievable. She seriously look like she grew into a little young lady over night! Her birthday is always really hard because it falls so close to Christmas. I ended up finding some really good after Christmas deals at Aeropostale and she ended up with some junior-high looking jewelry. Her gifts always include books too. Throw in some more clothes and girl stuff and it all was good. Chocolate cake with thirteen candles later that evening. FUn times.

Chantel had to work on New Year's Eve until 10. She said that it was super busy until 8 pm and then it slowed down alot. She came home and went over to friend-who-is-a-boy's house to bring in the new year. The rest of us stayed home and watch movies. Paul even stayed up this year, which normally doesn't happen. Paul brought some drums outside and Chelsea played her saxaphone with Abby and Madalyn on cake pans for bringing the new year outside. Super cold out there..we didn't last for long. Chantel drank Martinelli's with the boy's family and came home with a kiss for the new year. Good times for all :)

School starts tomorrow for the girls...can't come soon enough. There will be lots of tired kids and early bedtimes in the next few days. But, it's all good for me because I can finally get back on track and feel like a normal mom again. I love it when vacations come to an end :)

On that note, must get busy and do some Christmas returns and plan some awesome QVC scrapbooking for the next month. The next show we're working on is in February and I'm told that it is huge. There is a show on Jan 3rd and 4th too. That was the December deadline. Off and away...