Christmas Day! 2015

 Not sure what face Jason is making above, but we put out our Christmas cookies and mug of milk on the fireplace for Santa last night before heading to bed.  Emily and I read my old book "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (copyright 1985) and for once, she was very easy to put to bed!  Jason had Timmy up very early this morning, but fortunately, he allowed me and Emily to sleep in until 8 AM before he demanded to open presents.  Caroline joined the early risers at 6:30 AM and Emily and I forced Garrett out of bed by 8:15 AM.

Hmmmmm......hygiene products?  What are you saying Mother?

Gold circle decals for her walls--over 200 various sized circles 

Gold music notes to hang on the walls!

Shopkins!  Yay, more things to jam my vacuum cleaner (Mom says).

I found these Walking Dead bobble heads while visiting Carrie in PA and they were a huge hit with Garrett!

Earrings from Etsy for Caroline!

The money load!  New laptop for Garrett!

Spicy little boy was SO EXCITED about his new power tools!

I introduced Caroline to Pusheen the cat with a book and coin purse!

The frenzy has begun!  The struggle is real!

Timmy got Caroline a Pioneer Woman cookbook, then "borrowed" it to read some shrimp recipes.

Jason's Santa present was a keyboard that does everything but your taxes!  It plays drums, instruments, demo songs, etc.  It even has a microphone and a stool.  As you can imagine, it was one "show" after another today....I'm going to need to buy stock in Excedrin Migraine.

Christmas Eve 2015

 Somehow we managed to coordinate into red and black outfits before heading over to Peggy and Joe's house for Christmas Eve festivities!  The weather has been unseasonably warm and rainy so it didn't even feel like Christmas as we drove to MD.

Jason, Brooklyn, and Emily

cousins!

Jay being cheesy with Grandma

Do these group photos ever work out?!  Johnny was having NONE of it when we tried to pose the
cousins in front of the pile of presents. 

Let the present-opening begin!

Caroline got artsy with this photo of the Christmas lights up close.

Uncle John crashed hard after presents.  

Teacher Gifts 2015

 I am inspired by all things Etsy, and mug cozies seemed huge this year.  I thought to myself, "Hey I can make that!".  Caroline loved the idea so I bought some cotton yarn and got to work.  I figured out a pattern that would work for the size mugs I purchased, and each one took about 20 minutes to make.  I kept them consistent with solid colors trimmed in white with a white button, but you could really do any color combination.  So my breakdown this year was:
$1.77 per mug + $1.78 yarn (each for 6 different colors) + $2.88 (6 pack of buttons) = done!  And for less money that I expected to spend this year!
At first, I planned to do something different for Emily's teachers (she only has 2 while Caroline has 6), but in the end, I bought 2 more mugs, and made cozies in green and yellow for Emily's teachers!  Keeping it consistent this year!

$1 rolls of wire ribbon from the Family Dollar and my stash of white tissue paper, and that girl got to work!  

She filled each mug with chocolates and mints.

Ready to hand out tomorrow!

Halloween 2015

 I've been a slacker about posting pics for the last month, but I have 2 grad school exams behind me, and a month off from grad school!  So I should get a chance to breathe and catch up :)
Caroline and her friends started planning last year to be the 3 fairy godmothers from Sofia the First:  Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.  To coordinate with them, Emily decided to be Sofia.  It helped that she already had the amulet necklace and Sofia shoes!  Jason stuck to his principles and wanted to be a farmer.  Too cute!

Caroline and Claire

Claire (Fauna), Anna (gumball machine), and Caroline (Merryweather)

and Emma as Pippi Longstocking!