here we are again. the last week in the year. feels like we were just here.
12.24.12 | monday christmas eve. i made a trip to albertsons to get the ingredients for the breakfast casserole. then i swung by einstiens for bagels. darric had gone to the at&t store to get himself a new phone. he got the iphone 5 and continued to rub it in all day that he had a better phone than me. the two of us went to target so he could get a case. i found a really cute case for myself, but it was for the iphone 5. oh well. darric went and waited in the car, while i went into bath & body works. their lipglosses were only $3. so i grabbed two handfuls. plus i had a $10 off coupon, so i think i really scored. madi and max played a few games of monopoly hotels throughout the day. madi begged again for me to tell them their reindeer names (that are written on their gifts). around 2:00 i got the cheese dip made and in the crock pot. darric ran to circle k for drinks so i wouldn't ask him to stop at sonic. and at 3:15 we headed over to the sedillo's. (kobe was not happy about that) grandma dee was there. mom and dad, jodie and her family and awburn and paisley. and all of us and the sedillos too. we filled our plates with enchiladas and taquitos. chips and dips and ate every single bit of it. (not max, he was too busy playing) i brought oreo balls for dessert, there was a pie and my mom's cookies too. the talent show took place after dinner. kenzie did her double dream hands dance. paisley did her sumersaults. beckam did his breakdancing. mason did a very loud, high pitched whistle. grace sang silent night. quincy and madi both drew fabulous pictures. max did some impressive push-ups. clapping ones and one armed ones. grandma dee sang santa claus is coming to town and jen whipped out the splits. the kids got to open their pj's next. and it didn't take them to long to change into them. then grandma dee put a bunch of books out on the table and called the kids a couple at a time to come pick out two books. (and they each got $5 too) it was a fun night. just seems to fly by too quick though. when we got home, mixter drew santa a picture. madi put out oreo balls and carrots. max filled a glass, very full, with milk. and they were off to bed. kenzie's too old to allow them to sleep in her room anymore, so they just did max's room, like normal. i got my breakfast casserole put together and made spinach dip for the next day. darric only had one thing to take care of this year, but it took him quite awhile to get it together.
*p.s. my mom got us all the little hallmark tappers that went with the one we already had. they had them at cvs. so, now i have two complete sets (of the hallmark collections) and i couldn't be happier with them.
12.25.12 | tuesday merry christmas. all three kids were in our room right at 6:00. (that's the earliest we told them they could get us up) even though they were awake before then. they examined their stockings filled by santa, we revealed which reindeer they were (madi was right... she was blitzen, max was vixen and kenzie was donner) and then we dug right in to the gifts. max was very excited about his new jersey, kenzie couldn't have been happier with her easy bake oven and madi was super stoked when she FINALLY got her new phone. darric waited until we were all done to give her her new phone case. and then her phone. he took max to get me a drink at circle k and had me open the garage while they were gone so max would see his big gift when they got home. only max didn't notice anything. when darric pointed it out to him, he thought it was pretty awesome. a new basketball hoop. we all got ready and went to grandma & grandpa steward's at 9:30. we had breakfast first. biscuits, gravy, french toast, sausage, bacon, hash browns, breakfast casserole and eggs. after breakfast, was gifts. the kids opened their gifts from grandma & grandpa and then their gift exchange gifts. the adults opened their gifts and then did the white elephant gift exchange. i ended up with the alarm clock/speaker/phone dock and a $25 starbucks card. darric got $50 cash. by the time that was over, it was already 1:00 and we had to head out. kobe was excited to get out for a few minutes while we put together the veggie tray and then he got locked back up when we left for the dayton's. jude made some roasts in the crock pot and sour cream potatoes and all kinds of goodies. jan made rolls and a pecan pie. i brought the veggie tray, spinach dip and oreo balls. the kids drove the little cars around in the front and when we were done eating, the kids opened gifts. grandma made them all new pj's and grandpa got the boys all harley davidson shirts. and then they exchanged their gifts. or opened their exchanged gifts. the older kids had separated all of the gifts earlier and had them all in piles. gabi could NOT wait to rip into her gift and decided to actually do it before the whole gang was in the room. the kids performed their talents. kenzie did her dance, madi did some gymnastics, max did the worm, darian played a song on his new keyboard, jayce rapped a song, billy played some drums and tommy and gabi danced to gangnam style. the couples all brought a new game, but we didn't have time to play any. we all brought a prize too, so we just exchanged them. we got the football photo that dana and jan brought last year. dan and jude ended up with it and decided to re-gift it. there was also a $25 starbucks card attached to it, so i was more than happy with the gift. we had brought a handset that attaches to your cell phone. we gathered up all of the gifts, goodies and cheeseball and came home to let a poor puppy out of his kennel. i helped madi get her bed put together, while she sang songs on her new microphone. max pretty much pulled all of his gifts out of their boxes and tried them all out. and kenzie HAD to try out the easy bake oven.
12.26.12 | wednesday sticking to tradition, i put christmas away today. and cleaned out the hall closet and max's room and put all of the new gifts and games away. (after mixter and i went to get starbucks, of course) it feels good to get things put back to normal. even if it does take all day long. which is part of the reason we ordered pizza for dinner. max and i did take a trip to target too to get some D batteries for his hot wheels track (that i put together).
12.27.12 | thursday went to walmart to get a few groceries. picked up a bucket of bagels. came home to put groceries away and to grab max & madi and then we went over to jodie's house for a blog meeting/playdate. the kids were begging yesterday to have someone come over. mom and dad swung by for a little bit to have villa pizza with us. and we ended up taking a beckam home with us. quincy had gone with grace and piper tried to get madi to stay with her, but she doesn't like sleeping over at other people's houses. on our way home, we swung by sally beauty supply so madi could get her manic panic vampire red hair dye (temporary, of course - although she probably won't wash her hair for a while just to keep it in) her and kenzie got busy as soon as we walked in the door and the boys went right to playing.
12.28.12 | friday we went to jen's house today for a meeting. we were going to work on our media kit, but worked on our survey instead. and while we did that, madi applied marker/conditioner color to grace and quincy's hair. and they all got some make-up and a spritz of perfume. the boys finally got to play max's new epic mickey game. (our wii is broken and yesterday he had forgotten to put the disc back in the case when he took it to beckam's) we had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner and then us girls hurried off to yogurtland for dessert. because it's friday, that's why!
12.29.12 | saturday darric and max put the basketball hoop out and played for a bit. kenzie and i went to the galleria. got her a new pair of pants, got savannah a birthday present (outfit from gap), got darric an under armour sweatshirt and then got myself a new purse at the vans store. we picked up capriottis/sonic for lunch and came home. that evening, all of us except kenzie, went over to the dayton's house for pizza, games and to watch a ufc fight. we attempted the SNL game, but it wasn't easy if you don't watch a lot of SNL. so we played Logo next. it was more fun. (and there was no acting required. although, i did enjoy watching dan be george bush)
*while at the mall, the cashier in tilly's commented on kenzie's red dipped hair. she liked it. and then the cashier in dicks said we looked like twins.
12.30.12 | sunday that morning, i went to albertsons to get us stuff for tomorrow night. and then over to starbucks for drinks. that night, darric made me a deal. i could go get a new wii IF i went to big k to buy it. he knows i am not a big fan of that store. but i ended up going for the kids. (and because i wanted to play kenzie's new just dance 4 game)
12.31.12 | monday darric went and got donuts and sonic drinks this morning. (tradition) the morning was spent playing games on the wii. we had cafe rio for lunch. that evening, we put together our food spread and sat down to play a game of monopoly. i don't know how long we've had the game, but it was still wrapped in the plastic. at least two hours later, we were all begging to end the game. but darric refused. he was having a great time kicking out butts. one by one, we lost all of our money to him. thank goodness. we turned the tv on and watched new york ring in the new year. and then madi was out, shortly after, max conked out too. and then darric. i fell asleep for a little bit, but woke back up just before midnight. watched the 8 minute firework show on tv and listened to all the fireworks going off around our house. and then fell back asleep. happy new year!

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