It's that time of year...

When so much is happening in such a short span of time the events all end up in one long post...enjoy!!! (Or skim through.)

My sister Elizabeth got engaged in November and they planned their wedding to be the last day of December, New Year's Eve. So as you can imagine everything had to be done right away. Meeting with the wedding planner, deciding dresses and decorations, and the bridal shower. Elizabeth has asked me to be her matron of honor so I had the excitement of sitting in on the meeting with the wedding planner and throwing the bridal shower.

Here's Elizabeth with her cake I made out of wash cloths and hand and bath towels complete with rose shaped soap.

The next day was Thanksgiving, which with all its chaos in making it to our mom's houses and shuffling the kids in and out of the car, it always turns out to be a good Thanksgiving. It was good to see Emily and her family for a couple hours before they had to head back home.

Our four generation picture my grandparents, mom, me, and my kids. It's been a few years since we have been able to see my grandparents on Thanksgiving and Lindsey and Olivia loved seeing them. They came to see our new house and the kids enjoyed showing where their rooms were.

The girls and Grandpa Naylor

So the evening of Thanksgiving arrives. Jaime's parents and my sister Lori came to our house to hit the black Friday sales. We got the kids to bed then Lori, Jaime's parents and I went to Walmart for their 10 pm deals. After that the in-laws left to do some shopping and Lori stayed at the house while Jaime and I went to Kohl's and Target. We got home around 2:30 and didn't get to bed until 3:30. Friday morning Lori and I went shopping some more around 10. After that Jaime and the kids joined us for some more shopping. Jaime did some shopping of his own in the evening. Needless to say, we were shopped out but we did have a good time.

Saturday after Thanksgiving we put up the tree. We've always borrowed my mom's extra tree so this year we bought our own. It could still use more ornaments and ribbon and a star on top but I'm thinking I'll see if I can get some of that after Christmas on sales. 

It still looks sparkly and I love it and enjoyed the kids excitement over it. (well maybe not Tyler's. He still will occasionally take off an ornament and hide it. Keeps me busy though I guess.)

I have a kids nativity on the bookcase for the kids to play with. It's used daily. Sometimes not in the best ways. I was on the phone and found Tyler giving baby Jesus a bath in the toilet. :(

I love having Christmas music playing in the house throughout the day and watching Christmas movies. The Polar Express is currently the favorite. The kids like to make a train with the kitchen chairs and watch the movie.

During this time of year everyone seems to be excited and CRAZY. It seems that Aidan gets hurt wherever he turns, literally. The other day Tyler was chasing Aidan around the island in the kitchen. Aidan turned too sharp and ran his face right in to the edge of the cabinet. It made a bruise/scratched line down his nose and lip. Some say it looks like a cat scratch. Jaime says it reminds him of pencil lead from the "quarter game." As if one battle wound wasn't enough, a few days later Aidan had another "incident." We have a baby gate inside our pantry because I was tired of Tyler dumping out cereal onto the floor. It only keeps Tyler out because the kids just climb over it, which is fine. Well, Aidan was climbing over the gate to get a snack. Tyler, being the BOY he is, pushed Aidan right over. Aidan cried for me, I assumed it hurt but he was fine. I sat him on the counter to let him help me make cupcakes for a couple of my friends' birthdays. This is how I saw my poor, wounded Aidan with his bump and scratched bruise down his nose to the top lip.

I guess he hit his head harder than I thought. The bump was big!

Other fun things we've been able to enjoy recently was an Ugly Sweater Christmas party (so much fun), driving around seeing all the Christmas lights around town, wrapping presents (but leaving them in my closet to keep Tyler from opening them), and preparing for upcoming events we'll be doing. I'll post on those as they happen...I hope.:)