All Grown Up

Not me.  My bedroom.  We finally got rid of the old Marine Corps bachelor set that Tom had been hauling from state to state and bought a real, official, grown-up master bedroom set.  And a rug.  And lamps.  My budget ran dry at curtains, but I barely notice.  So very happy.

This was during the "empty all our clothes out of old set to prepare for the new set, so it is a bit if a disaster

We only had one dresser, and Tom had all his things in it.  My clothes were stored in the tall, mirrored armoire I bought at Ikea back in 1999 and our only nightstand.  Yes, that is also a halogen lamp in the corner.  College called and wants its light back.

But now, we each have our very own dresser, and very own nightstands!  We ordered the furniture sight-unseen, and are completely happy with our choice (whew!)

A HomeGoods unexpected find.  Tom suggested filling it with golf balls.  I think I will fill it with Christmas bulbs for the month of December .

 

What finally swayed us to buy without seeing the furniture in person were the nightstands.  Tom and I both loved the tiered nightstand.  The task lights I found at Target and are just the right brightness for reading without keeping the other person up.

But one of the very best parts is the hidden charging station.  No more unsightly cords from lamps, baby monitor and cell phone sitting on my floor anymore (which had annoyed me to no end)

I did hit up Pottery Barn for the rug though after a lengthy search.  Got it on sale, of course.  In my dream plan,  I would have had the wallpaper stripped (yes, those periwinkle walls are wallpaper) and a new color on the walls, but add in two little boys who need still a lot of my attention and well, we'll live with it for now.

Who Does That?

How could one person lose their AMEX card TWICE, within a month and half time span, at the exact same gas station? Yours truly.  Glad I can can still awe and amaze. My third card is being fed-exed right over.  Thanks to my husband for not making fun of me (to my face).

Black Friday Cousins' Present Exchange

It is our annual tradition to gather as many as my nephews (and my lone niece) as we can the day after Thanksgiving for an early Christmas exchange.  My niece and nephew from Virginia are always in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving, but not Christmas, so this gives the kids a chance to give their gifts in person.  We kicked off at 11:30, and it turned into an all day affair.  Patrick played hide-n-go-seek with his older cousins throughout the house and had a blast (my two are the youngest in the family).  We ate, drank and were merry.  My sister Janet and my two nephews in Vermont were not able to make it down, and oh, how we missed them!

Kate with Tommy and Patrick.  Kate loves mothering these two and where you found one, you found the other.



Jack, Kate and Patrick

Thanks Uncle Steve and Aunt Christina for piling on the love.  These two entertained my boys non-stop during their visit. 

OK, not the best shot of P in this year's cousins' photo.

Tom was in charge of assembling P's new Playmobil toys which he has been playing with 24-7

The morning Uncle Steve and Aunt Christina were due to leave brought us our first snow of the year.



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The Day I Gained 5 Lbs (Thanksgiving to You)

I impressed even myself with the amount of food I consumed over the holiday.   My brother and sister-in-law drove up from Richmond, VA Thanksgiving morning and shared in our feast along with my dad.  It was good.  Really, really, good. 

Tom and P made the Pumpkin Pie and it was PERFECT.

I decided to opt out of the high chair for Tommy, but he didn't sit still as long as I would have preferred.

Can you guess who ADORED their Aunt Christina and Uncle Steve?  Both boys were spoiled by all the attention and oh, how we wish they lived closer.  I am going to have to plan a road trip in the spring, but their house is so nice (and fingerprint free)- do I dare unleash my kids there?

Keeping it all Together Sometimes Means Shoving Everything in the Closet

I am not striving for perfection in my Thanksgiving day prep.  I just want a clean guest room for my brother and sister-in-law (who always insist on cooking these gourmet breakfasts while they are here, so of course they deserve a nice sleeping space), a tidy house, and the zillion-plus-infinity projects on my to-do-list tackled.  Because everyone knows that if it doesn't get organized or done before Thanksgiving (like the basement, which is not),  it all gets lost in all the Christmas preparation. 

I cleaned out my bathroom drawer (ladies you know this can be daunting).  I managed to sort through and organize some our guestroom closet so I could cram in all the random items laying around the room.  I organized the bottom cupboards of my dining room armoire where I secretly toss everything that doesn't have a home.  I threw away 10 lbs of old receipts I didn't need anymore.  I cleaned off the kitchen counter.  Organized the top of my closet. Cleaned up the garage. Winterized flower beds. Wiped all the mysterious marks/spots/dried food off of my doors, cabinets, walls.

Here's me going!
and going
and going.
Look at all I can accomplish!

Crash.

Here I am, Tuesday night, cranky, exhausted, irritated, and short-tempered with a whole list waiting to be checked off.  Yesterday I was so over-done that I physically could not put Patrick to bed.  Tom got him tucked in while I crawled into bed at the same time, 8:15ish.  I feel a bit better today as a result of that sleep, but still very much out of sorts.

Thank God for the best kind of mother-in-law one could wind up with, one who stayed with the kids while I ran errands today, including the dreaded Thanksgiving feast day grocery trip extravaganza. 

When you read my Thanksgiving Day post and see the joyful faces, know it did not come about because I have my life perfectly planned and timed.  It is mostly bursts of motivation mixed with bouts of exhaustion.  God always sees me through.  And in the last few hours before our guests arrive, I'll probably just end up shoving everything in the closet.

Gingerbread Workshop 2012

This was our second year at the Gingerbread House Workshop and Patrick did much better this year-more decorating and slightly less eating of the candy.  Tommy helped out by eating the surplus inventory.  P's house is proudly displayed on our counter, but poor Tommy keeps pointing to it and cries when I don't give him a piece of candy off the house. 

I told P this would make a good mouse house, so he was very careful to check to see if there were in fact any nice mousey families living there currently.

I'll Give You a Unicorn if You Just Say "Cheese"

This past Sunday, despite colds and other illnesses, we all dressed in our finest for church and headed over to Grampy and Baba's house afterwards to attempt to nail just ONE decent photo for use on a Christmas card.  We did get a few, but I love this series that I tried to squeeze in when the boys had clearly had enough posing:

P looks like he is being tortured.  One of these days they'll say, "Thanks mom, for taking all of those pictures of us growing up".  Until then, I don't lose sleep over it.