Ahh, the happier times...

Since January has sucked (the life right out of me, almost literally!), I've been thinking back to December. I'm not sure how we loaded all this in.... but hang on for a quick (or quick as I can!) pictorial recap! (This should more than make up for the LACK of pics in the last couple rants!)
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1. Mom's Weekend - the kick off to December! This was our 8th annual mom's weekend of shopping, eating and fun! This year we added something new: Pei Wei and Polar Express! We ordered some takeout one night... headed up to the movie room... and watched The Polar Express! (Most of mom's weekend is centered just around the moms and Mr. Fix-It and I... since there weren't any kids in the picture 8 yrs ago! So this part... was for them!)

2. Dec' the halls! I never got around to one of my big, semi-homemade recaps of all my fun decorating ideas... Big Sis's party took all my creative time and energy this year, so I'm saving a semi-homemade Christmas recap for next year, in the new house! ;)

Big Sis, decorating the Kids' Tree upstairs....

And our family tree... (shut up... yes, this picture is POST-Christmas... when I realize I never took a pic during the season!) And wander over here, if you want to weigh in on next year's decs...

3. Big Sister's Ballet Recital - you already know the details! (Or you can read them here.)

4. Big Sister's Nutcracker 'Sweet' Birthday Party - seriously, the upside to a December birthday? That you celebrate it 100 times. (I still wouldn't recommend it. Would highly discourage it. Have I shared my views on Dec children enough?) ;)

If you haven't been bored to death of the details yet, you're invited to check out her party!

5. Christmas Lights & Hot Chocolate - Mr. Fix-It and I have had this tradition since before we had kids... We make hot choc and load into the car to listen to Christmas music and enjoy everyone's Christmas decroations. We have a nearby neighborhood where every house has different wooden Disney cutouts in the yards... EVERY movie ever made, it's so cool!

We modified the tradition when Big Sis could participate and added Hot Choc in Sippys.... (yes, I still insist on sippys for 4yos... in my beautiful car....)

Last year, I modified my hot choc because I was nursing G-man (remember all that dairy-free ranting I did when I first started blogging?) I had soy hot choc that year... This year....

..... I had coconut rum hot chocolate.... yummmm.... ;)

6. Elfing! Our Elf first made his appearance in 2008 and he was quite busy this year... here, he's having tea with Frosty and Rudolph...

... and here, he's gone to the bathroom.... at least that's what Big Sis explained to us... it's 'green elf pee'...... hmmm....

7. All Aboard the Polar Express! This one is a new tradition... that instead of buying gifts for the Everything children... and them for us.... we'd just DO something instead! (This is probably the 17th Semi-Homemade/Everything family tradition, they just keep coming!)

We headed to a nearby suburb and boarded the Polar Express!

This way to the North Pole! It was even snowing!

Mrs. Everything, Baby Priss and G-man (looking like such a big boy!) are on the train!

Mr. Fix-It and Big Sis (and Mr. Everything and Miss Priss) sat in front of us, keeping their eye out....

.... for the big man in red!! I love it, so magical!

8. CHRISTMAS! We were snowed in for days in a teeny, tiny town in OK (where Mr. Fix-It happens to be from!)

"Twas the Night before Christmas...."

Have y'all seen these books from Hallmark? A grandparent/aunt/whoever records the story and each page reads back to your kiddos. AMAZING! I hadn't heard of it, but both our moms bought them for our kids (which is totally lucky because they sold out across the country!) I think it's special they'll have the story from both sides of the family!

Big Sis and Mr. Fix-It's mom always, always decorate sugar cookies together (for pretty much any holiday or any regular ol' weekend!) They were perfect to leave for Santa..

G-man's favorite gift? a box. That wasn't even from one of his gifts. (Haven't all of us parents been there?!)

Big Sis's fav gift.... a bike from Santa!

Then another bday celebration for Big Sis... complete with her wearing a big sombrero and being sereneded to at the local Mexican restaurant!

9. Christmas, part 2. We don't typically do Christmas twice, with both families (in fact, I don't think we ever have!) We trade off... But this year, I decided I just couldn't handle a house full of out-of-state guests and the 12+ 4yos for Big Sis's party, so... we planned to see everyone in OK so they could help us celebrate her big day. Thus... 2 Christmases, while we were at it.

G-man went nuts for his new 'man cave chair.' ;)

And now we can get rid of our tivo version Wizard of Oz... that's over a year old... By her choice of Halloween costumes and the look on her face in the pic to the left, I'm sure you can guess how important this movie is to Big Sis...

Then on to Big Sis's birthday, version 81. The theme this time? Hannah Montana... don't even know how she knows who she is, but that's what she wants to be when she grows up....

10. We Squeak-ueled! We took advantage of being back home... and free babysitting grandparents.... and left G-man with them while we took our soon-to-be-4-yr-old to see the new Chipmunk movie. So fun! Date night with the parents! ;)

11. Big Sister's ACTUAL birthday! By the time it actually came... we had celebrated 100 times and maybe even Big Sis was ready to move on. Okay, maybe not... but...only because that girl loves chocolate cake!

We told her we'd take her to dinner ANYWHERE, her choice....

..... so she picked the "Buffalo Princess Place"..... aka Buffalo Wild Wings!

12. Big Sister's first trip to the dentist (or reason 49 why I should be mom of the year)! Okay, in the picture above... or any of the other 80oo pics of her on this blog... have you ever noticed anything about her smile? Because I'm her own momma, see her every.single.day, and I didn't notice. Mrs. Everything is the daughter of a hygenist and a self-proclaimed 'teeth person,' and she didn't notice.... That Big Sis has an underbite that's unbelievable. She's going to have to visit an orthodontist in 6 months!! So that they can catch her next growth spurt and get her jaw to grow correctly..... WTH?! I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed... and I couldn't believe how sad that made me.

But on the bright side....no cavities and her actual TEETH are perfect.

13. NYE! We switched up the tradition and celebrated with "champagne in Joe's cups" in the Everythings' new house. It's one of those crazy stories... but at some point, years ago, we ended up drinking champagne on a random night... out of cups from 1 of Mr. Fix-It and I's fav college spots, Eskimo Joe's.

Uh, not sure where the Joe's cups were at this point..... ;)

14. New Year's Day Yumminess! We used to always, always make chili and queso on New Year's Day.... nurse our hangovers.... and watch football all day, without ever moving.

Those exact days are over, obviously (although I still nursed a surprising hangover this year, ouch!)..... we're grown up, so this year we decided on a more 'grown up' meal... Mr. Fix-It made THE perfect prime rib and I combined 3 recipes and made 'fancy steakhouse-style' mushrooms.... I'll share both recipes soon!

Hmmmm..... reading thru this, maybe I can see what led to all the illness we had this weekend! We were worn out!!! But.... I already can't wait for next year!