"Sigh" and "Phew" the Holidays have come and gone

I have pretty much updated everyone on the latest and greatest of the past two months, but for the sake of blogging I'll re-hash a little.

Thanksgiving was spent with Mary, Luke, little Max and Liz.  We had way too much fun together.  Mikelle got more attention than she could ever pray for.  She adores her cousin Max and even Chance got a kick out of him.  The entire week revolved around when our kids were sleeping, but when does life not revolve around that. 



Helping Uncle Luke finish Max's bottle





We pulled off a pretty good Thanksgiving dinner.  There were five pies which we had no hope of finishing and we managed to forget to make any stuffing.  Nonetheless I still managed to put on three pounds, which I promptly lost by eating nothing but cereal and vitamins for a few days.



I am not wearing make-up...



Mary and Liz exercised their collective creative genious (which I am entirely lacking) and decorating my house and my Christmas tree.  It was all beautiful and I got lots of compliments. 

mason jars with ribbons and lights

Gingerbread house from a kit

My birthday/Christmas gift from Mary,
 the other side says Kerns

 

Christmas shopping wasn't too hard this year.  Danny isn't difficult to shop for and Mikelle is way to easy to shop for.  Thanks to Danny hitting a dear and the resulting insurance payout, we had a little extra cash for a decent, but not excessive, Christmas. 

Mikelle spent most of December redecorating the Christmas tree, removing any bells within her reach and putting many ornaments all on the same limb.  It was beautiful once I got over it. 

We overgifted Mikelle on Christmas.  She would have been content with her stocking contents which were all purchased from the Dollar Store.  We had to open most of her gifts for her.  She got some puzzles and some Disney Princess slippers. Her favorites were some mardi gras beads and a fireman hat, again both from the Dollar store. 



Her new table and chairs



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She insisted that she had to take off her PJ's to where her slippers



 Danny got more work clothes like always, and some Patrick F. McManis books that he finished in two days.  We are both enjoying the chess set we got and try to play evey chance we have when our grabby kids are sleeping.  I got a set of Pampered Chef pots and pans.  I love my husband for parting with the dough for these.

We drove to Rexburg for New Year's with Mary and Luke.  Liz and Jess drove up from Utah as well.  We had a great time doing pretty much nothing...ideal!! Chance has caught up to max a little more and they enjoyed staring at each other. 

Mikelle is all about full sentences now and is still rebeling against potty training.  Sigh.  We'll get there I am sure.  Chance grabs anything within reach, and he manages to make a lot of things within reach.  He uses his rolling as a mode of transportation and can get himself from one side of the livingroom to the other in no time. 



Danny reading a gun catalogue with Chance
showing him the gun he will buy him some day



Chance loves Mikelle and smiles and laughs at her more than Danny and I both.  Now that he is a little less fragile they play together much more and both have a great time.  Mikelle is very good at sharing, almost too good.  She gags Chance alot with her plastic food she got for Christmas. 

 

Now its January and things are getting back to normal.  The decorations are all down and I am trying to get organized.  I just finished filling a 3rd tote with the clothes Mikelle has grown out of and already have one half full from Chance.  Unbelievable. Next project is a closet of Danny's full of things he never uses but insists he needs for that one random day ten years down the road.  I love my life.  Really, I do.