Squarespace Blog / "food"

Note to Self Saturday: Xmas Success!

Ohhh what a day... Cali may not be "home"... and Christmas sure doesn't feel the same when its 70 & sunny... but it sure went off without a hitch! We spent Christmas Eve at the Settimis house and it was amazing... such great company... amazing Prime Rib... and BEAUTIFUL baby girls ;) (which only helped to make me want a little lady even MORE!!)  But the boys were great... they had a ton of fun... and we were able to stay until almost 11pm!! My boys are usually melting down by 7pm and ready for bed! So that was definitely a nice treat...  we finished off the night with champagne & exchanging presents with hubby after the kids went to bed. It was perfect. I was the luckiest girl in the world! He got me a brand spankin new sewing machine, and  bad ass camera, lol Cannon Rebel XSi... two lenses and a case. *dies* I have had SO MUCH FUN taking pictures... and was so happy to have it for xmas morning... its everything i could have possibly wanted and MORE! He definitely earned the #1 hubby award, lol.

i got him a new grill and a bunch of other randomness...


hes doing a wonderful job at being excited... though a feel like a total failure next to his gifts. lol

The boys had a ton of fun opening gifts... the kitchen & felt food has been a HUGE hit. But I think izzaq's favorite is the Melissa & Doug Birthday cake... He has been with it for like 6 hours! (yay for creative play - click photos to zoom)

My girl Ailie @ Baby Boo Felt has been so generous in helping us build our felt food collection... Not sure how likes it better, the boys or myself... but I just cant wait to start buying more :)

Zavery's favorite toy was probably the Mater truck. He loves it so much he even slept with it last night, lol
 


After presents there was a TON of playing... lots of snuggling... and then finally napping... kinda. (i think they were just too excited) Daddy took a good nap though... *good job daddy* while zaq napped and the boys pretended to, I started prepping stuffing. Zaq's mom makes the best sausage, rice & bread crumb stuffing... and for Thanksgiving zaq took a crack at making it... fail, lol So for x-mas it was my turn... I must say (and he will agree) i did a much better job... but it still wasn't Nana's stuffing...

Zaq was in charge of the rest... he likes cooking and holidays make it lots of fun for him to prepare the meal.

(notice the Vikings apron he got from santa... i think santa is even COOLER now that i know he shops on etsy!)

For dinner zaq made big fluffy squishy yummy rolls...

a HUGE bowl of mashed potatoes... (and this makes me laugh)

 Healthy Organic milk... with about 3 sticks a butter, lol
and of course... a christmas "roast beast"...

With all the playing and eating... there was bound to be lots of snuggling... Zavery went over and plopped himself right onto the floor with his "b's" it was the cutest thing in the world...

Then after some snuggling with daddy it was time for bed...


The day was great... I couldnt have asked for anything more... and now today the countdown to Santa has switched to the countdown to Nana and Papa... The should be here in about 8 more hours! Not much time left seeing as the started the 30 hour drive yesterday! We are really excited to see them... its been about 4 months :( Hope everyone else had a great holiday! Be sure to leave some comment love, id love to hear all about your day!



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Something to be thankful for...

So - let me start this out with saying I hate Thanksgiving... I hate the holidays... and it hate it all even more being so far away from family... When I was 13 my parents split... then my grandpa died about a week before Thanksgiving... But the time Thanksgiving had actrually rolled aroun we were so tired of Ham, Turkey & casseroles that we actually made Turkey Taco's & burritos for dinner that year. Let me tell ya, it made it hard to be thankful that Thanksgiving... But every year it gets a little easier... instead of being angry... instead of crying... now I just spend the week a little sad... trying to make the best of the day... and get it over with as fast as possible. But, Im always trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel. And this year... it was easier to find that flickering light... the store has been super busy... thus I have busting my butt and staying distracted... this year I did a big push for Black Friday... worked all wednesday and half of Thanksgiving just trying to get ready for it... and biggest kicker to a good Thanksgiving? Hubby did it all!

The day started out with me totally screwing up some Blueberry pancakes... lol the MIL was missing the boys and always made them Blueberry pancakes in the mornings when she had them, so she sent a box of mix in a goodie box last week to make for Thanksgiving breakfast :) I totally destroyed the first two... "thankfully" daddy stepped in and took over... doing a MUCH better job than I did.... either way... the toddlers ate them. We didn't have a "who's was better" contest... but if we did, I probably would have won. lol



After breakfast there was lots of snuggling... watching the Macy's parade... dancing to Yo Gabba Gabba... watching movies...
and prepping dinner... yes... while wearing grown man butt drop zip up feety jammies.

it was nice... after that the babies napped... we hung out... daddy watched football while I took photos and listed all the new goodies you now see in the shop, well... whats left of them... :) And then when the boys got up we started putting together the tree...

I love my tree... its big and full... 9ft tall... Full of pink purple and black glitter ornaments... Skeleton hands made by me with cute little matching bows added to them... handmade skulls from etsy.. and awesome dark pink and purple damask ribbons and matching tree skirt... oh, and lets not forget the lineup of Nightmare Before Christmas Stockings ;)

I suppose if you have to do Christmas... you should do it up right, lol And in this family... that means lots of skulls, pink, black & glitter, lol
Finally - the feast was ready... it was about 3 days worth of food for zaq, myself and the boys... aparently you can't make thanksgiving dinner for just a couple people, lol It was amazing... He hit a total of 3 out of 4 things right on... The turkey was possibly the best I had EVER had... and a close second was the home made mashed potatoes.... i was actually excited to eat it the next day... the rolls... so warm and yummy... the stuffing? FAIL! lol it was dry, crunchy, hard... and sadly... it all ended up in the trash except for what we tried to eat, lol He did SOO great though. I was proud...



So thats it guys... Thanksgiving turned out to be a pretty decent day after all... But just like Brooke said in her blog... Im thankful for my friends and family every day... and every day I kiss on them and love on them... and tell them thank you every time im thankful.. I don't need a day called Thanksgiving to be thankful... let alone a day dedicated to food and football... and family when their not doing one of the other twothings... I just need my friends & my family... every day... and for them to love me like i love them.
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