Review Extravaganza: October to December

The final post, the last part of the year.  Let's look back on October, November and December.

October:

• I got the Sunshine award--twice.
• Spin Cycle: Coming back around, Color of Love, Fall, Halloween Fun, Cooking up Love.
• We got our first snow of the season.
• We checked out some fall color.
• Homecoming and Pumpkin Pie Bread.
• Nick and I concluded we need a life, or an activity of some sort.

Holiday confused.

My very first cupcakes.

The pergola that Nick built.

November:

• Bruiser was a bit holiday confused.
• I gave some thanks, random thanks, Guilty Pleasure thanks, more random thanks
• Spin Cycle: Halloween Wrap up, Beauty, Temptation.
• We got sick. Then we worked on getting better. Then we were better, finally.

December:

• I talked about our Thanksgiving and other weekend activities.
• Some of our random Traditions.
• I lost a diamond in my ring, Nick got it replaced.
• Spin Cycle: California Dreams, Letter to Santa, Wonderful time of year.
• Christmas festivities rounded out the year. 
• I also got some awesome stuff for the 12 Days of Christmas Swap.

So go see what everyone else did for the end of the year.

12 Days of Christmas Swap--The Goodies

So it's time to show the goodies I got for the 12 Days of Christmas swap I participated in.  My partner was Scriptor from Incognitus Scriptor. I've been reading her blog since not too long after I started blogging.  She is great fun and some day I'd love to meet up with her.  She did a fabulous job of finding things that I love.

We do enjoy a good beer.  Beer Salt can only make them better.

Ginger bread Hot Cocoa mix.

Bath snow.

Yummy caramel corn.

Green votive candle.

Chocolate turtles, my favorite chocolate candy.

A green jewelry box.

A cute owl.

Green key chain

Fuzzy socks and a hand warmer--very useful around here.

A dinosaur volcano--the boys will love this.

A Big Band Theory magnet.  I am hiding this from Turbo--he will want it for his own.

So I did very well for this swap.  Go see some of the other swappers and what they got.

It Was Christmas

So Christmas happened:

Making cookies for Santa.

New gloves from Papa and Nana

Santa hat fun.

New Christmas footie jammies  

Santa was good to us.

Diving in.

Happy boys.

That was Christmas.  We had all the grandparents over for breakfast. Nick and I made a very yummy breakfast casserole.  It was so good, my mom has requested the recipe for my aunt and cousin, and Nick has decreed we will be making it again soon.
I got a necklace and earrings from the boys.  Nick got a remote control helicopter.  He loves it.
Everyone is most satisfied with what they got for Christmas.
How was the day for you?

Seasonal Confessions

Hey, hey it's Friday!  I get two whole weeks off after today!  I'm so excited! And I'm using up my exclamation point quota.  So let's confess and move on:

• We could have killed the puppy yesterday afternoon when we got home.
• The Christmas tree was lying on it's side, several ornaments were chewed up, and so were a couple presents and the lights that were on the tree were in many, many pieces.
• Yep, total disaster.
• He now has a handy crate to live in when we aren't home.  
• We got new lights.
• Repaired ornatments that could be repaired.
• Had a glass of wine and we are almost able to laugh about it now.  
• Almost.
• The ting that makes me the most annoyed it that the dumb dog tore the wrapping off the one surprise gift for Nick and now he knows what it is.
• Grrr.
• I do so enjoy surprising him.
• We get a night without kids tonight. 
• My mom is taking them.
• Not sure what we are doing tonight, but I hope it's fun.

Well, that covers my confessions for this week. Do you need to get anything off your chest before Christmas?
Link them up with Aubrey and confess it all.

Review Extravaganza: July to September

And now we come to the thrid part of the year.  July to September.  It was a very good part of the year for us.
July:

• We got ready for our camping holiday.
• We had our fabulous Fourth of July camping trip.
• Spin Cycle: Summer, Summers Past, A Rerun.
• There were good times with friends.
• Relaxing weekend, a mundane weekend.

August

• We went camping again.
• Nick and I hit 15 years married.
• We got approved for a puppy.
• Travel anyone?
• I turned 40 by going on a rafting trip.
• I talked about getting back into a routine.

Camp fire.

Rafting

The new puppy

September:

• We replaced our fence.
• A to Z book listing.
• Tailgated a bit.
• I saw some Hummingbird Moths.
• I maybe indulged in the demon alcohol a bit too much.
• I wrote a letter to my boys in the future.
• Spin Cycle: Summer Vacation, Things that make you stronger.

The new puppy.  He's so much bigger now.

And that covers that.   Want to join the fun?  Link up with Emmy Mom and have some fun looking back!

Spin Cycle--A Wonderful Time

It's the most wonderful time of the year.  Mostly.  The holiday season does comes with it's share of stress, but it also has some very wonderful things as well.
I think it all depends on how you plan and what you are doing.  We don't travel.  We are lucky in this, but throwing travel on top of the normal Christmas stuff and the stress can shoot through the roof. 
Our most stressful Christmas was the year Nick's folks took Nick, myself, and a two year old Turbo to Vermont for Christmas.  Nick's brother lived there and we stayed with him and his partner.  There were nice things about the trip, but it was also very stressful.  We vowed to never travel at Christmas again and to never travel with Nick's parents again.

We try to keep Christmas as stress free and fun and memory filled for the boys as we can.  Christmas eve at Nick's folks with good food, present opening and Skype with Nick's bother in New York.  We then drive around a bit for Christmas light looking and then home to open new Christmas jammies.  We put out cookies and milk (or Christmas milk) and carrots. Then it's time for a check on Santa's location one last time and read The Night Before Christmas and send little boys to bed.
Christmas morning dawns as early as little boys insist we get up.  We have the grandparents over and make breakfast. After everyone goes home,we have time clean up, play with new stuff and then we take the boys over to Nick's cousin's house. They have two kids about our boys ages and it's fun to get together with family.  We split the food duties and just relax and hang out.

See, Christmas with family and we keep it as low key as possible. Christmas is about family and getting together and enjoying the season. It helps that it usually looks like Christmas outside.  Snow on the ground is very important for that Christmas feel. It's even more magical when it snows on Christmas and gives us a truly white Christmas.
We still have a few Christmas things to do with the boys.  Sunday is cookie making.  I'm hoping to find a gingerbread house or two to let the boys decorate.  I'm contemplating some crafts for them to do too.  Not that I'm crafty, but two weeks of home together is staring me in the face. We have to have something to do with them.
So, is it the most wonderful time of the year?  Spin it up and link up with Gretchen and Ginny Marie, they would love to have you!

WWTK--Favorites

Time for some favorites on We Want To Know.

1. What is your favorite warm beverage? I'm very partial to chai tea.  I've never been much of a coffee drinker. And most tea seems bland to me, but I like chai.
 

2. What is your favorite color? Green and then purple.
 

3. What is your favorite quality about yourself? I'm dependable and a good listener. 
 
4. What is your favorite thing about the holidays? Being with family and enjoying the interaction.
 

Not a holiday picture, but family.

5. What is the best book you've ever read? This one is tough.  I've read so many good books.  One I tend to recommend to people is a Mercedes Lackey book called The Fairy Godmother.  This book is one I can read over and over again.  It takes the fairytale tropes and turns them on their ear.  It is the first of a series and I have read and enjoyed all of them, but I keep going back to the first one for a comfort read. I also enjoy books by David Eddings.  His books are mostly fantasy, but very well written. I have read many of his books over and over again. I'm currently reading them out loud in the car when we take road trips. Turbo is totally caught up in the story.

Grab the questions and play along!
Link up with Kensie and Scriptor.  They would love to have you join in.