Make a funny Face!!

 That's what she told us to do, so we did.

 Eeek, that's sooo not flattering!  What's wrong with me?!  Why am I sharing this with you?!

I'm not sure why her hand is behind her head - sneak attack on herself from behind?

 Is it me or did the kids do the same funny face?  Also, why do they look cute when Bry-D and I look kind of creepy?

Christmas 2011

We had a nice, quiet Christmas here.  We kept with our traditions from last year; spent most of the day with Bry-D's family, eating and laughing.  This was the first year Lex seemed to really 'get' the whole present thing.  Eliz gets so excited to be unwrapping, she doesn't even notice whats he gets, and later she's all surprised and excited to see everything. Which is cute and funny, but Bry-D and I are the only ones that see it.  We need to try and teach her to sl-ow-do-wn! 

We got the kids some big gifts- a dollhouse for Eliz-

And a parking garage for Lex-

The boxes for these were huge-I had to make room in the garage, so I wrapped them weeks earlier than normal, the kids kind of forgot they were under the tree.  Or, beside it.  They did get other things from us and from family, and they love all of them, I'm not going to inventory presents on here.  I was a lot more careful with my planning and spending this year.  But that's a post for later. 

   When Bry-D was opening his gifts he told Eliz, "Your Mom knows me too well."  Probably.  I was very excited for him to hook up this, an ergonomic gaming keyboard.

And yes, he got me something wonderful-a big comfy blanket, and I didn't even have to tell him to get animal print, he did that part on his own!  It's all warm and comfy and I get mushy and gooey with love for my honey when I roll up in it.

There was one very special gift from my parents to me, and this will require a post all it's own, but here's a preview-

They insisted that they had to come over-a 45 minute drive ONE WAY- the day after Christmas to give me this really great gift.  I'll admit, I was kind of annoyed.  They had to come early b/c Dad had to be somewhere, and Bry-D and I couldn't figure out what was so special, so important that it necessitated all this?  Then I took the old tablecloth off.

My mother had gone through _all_ and I do mean _all_ the family heirlooms and divided them up between my sisters and I.  My father made a custom box for it, and they printed out a genealogy and inventory book to go with it. By itself, that's a big deal.  However, my box gave my Dad fits, so it wasn't ready; which means my sisters got theirs and couldn't say anything about it until they knew I had gotten mine.  That's why my parents HAD to come over, my sisters were dying to talk about the boxes.  I've got to find a way to display this-I may try to design and make a coffee table just for this.  It's huge, though-2 ft high, 2 ft wide, 3 ft long. It's got so much n it, it'll take forever to see everything, which is kind of the point.

Happy Birthday To Me!

For my 34th Birthday I had my favorite breakfast- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and a White Chocolate Mocha. 

 Bryan wasn't off work on my birthday, he had the next day off. So, the kids and I went to one of my favorite places for lunch-Johnny Rockets.

 Eliz sold me out to our waitress, which meant that I got sang to and I got a free sundae.  I got the kids malts. 

Bry-D bought me a box of assorted chocolates, a bag of Reese's cups(How I love that man) and a BIG balloon. 

I had a friend that wanted to babysit for me as thanks for sewing something for her, so we went to dinner and saw Breaking Dawn.   I've been on a quest to find knee high boots that fit my big calves, and thought that since it was my birthday weekend, I would for sure find them...but no, boots that fit continue to elude me.  It was a very nice, peaceful birthday.  Next year I turn 35.   Hhmmm...I think that bothers me.

It's coming along

It took him some work, but he got the toilet in.  The cabinet was easier,

He has promised me that the sink will be in soon.  Well before Christmas.  I am for sure holding him to that.  So far the best part of this whole thing was the other morning;  Eliz was doing the potty dance outside our bathroom while Bryan was inside.  She shouted "Daddy!  FIX OUR BATHROOM!!!!!!"  First world problems.

From Grey & grey to brown & blue

Doesn't it look great?  Bry-D worked hard on it, I'm really proud of him.  However, there has been a, umm, glitch?  The tile color is "Puritan Grey" & the grout is "Slate"  Both of these look grey in the store, and most of the time he was installing it, the tile looked grey.

My mom has a great eye for color and when I sent her a picture of our grey tiles, she replied with, "Looks brown to me"  I tried not to panic and just decided it was the phone's fault.  But then he started grouting...and the tiles were indeed, brown.  And the grout was...blue?!?

 With the names, we really thought we were doing grey with a darker grey, not brown and blue, but we agreed that at this point, it's not coming out.  Fortunately, we really do like the colors, they just aren't what we had planned on.  Next he'll put the toilet in and we'll add the sink!  Yay!