Hi, if you've made your way to this blog, congratulations! It took me a lot longer to find this one, this was my "test" blog, so if you're here, go HERE
Thanks :D
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
A much less whiney, more fluff & circumstancial post :D
I knew it wouldn't be long before my last 'whiney' post bothered me enough to get back on here and do some fluffy stuff - and I found it in my bathroom, and I cannot believe I haven't posted on this, in the depth it deserves, sooner.
Ok, well, I won a giveaway that was hosted by Felicia, at Go Graham Go!, where she does wonderful reviews, has tips, great links, and just general cool blogger stuff. Anyway, the winner received a beautiful personalized bracelet from Belly Charms, which specializes in Belly button rings for Moms to be (they're flexible, and allow a mom to be to keep her edginess, I think it's a cute idea!) There are also bracelets & anklets personalized for Moms, they make them with a selection of swarovski crystals, you can personalize it however you like, your favorite colors, a sports team, names ... they're great! Well, I won, and was quickly contacted by Felicia, then Sonya at Belly Charms, to see what I wanted. Well, I picked the 1st initial from everyone in my family, I tried to arrange them in a way that the letters looked like they mean something, and it doesn't just look like a jumble of hodge podge letters. Well, Sonya then asked if I wanted a 'spacer' between the letters, which I hadn't even thought of, and was absolutely thrilled that she even thought to ask. Especially since I won a giveaway, which means I'm not actually a 'paying customer', per se. But she was very professional, and it was lovely dealing with her.
I then got my package in the mail, 2 days after it was shipped, talk about fast!
It was beautifully presented - it literally took my breath away, and I hadn't even gotten to see the bracelet yet!
It was done very professionally, and considering I had won a giveaway, I was absolutely impressed! I immediately emailed 3 of my friends who were waiting for me to get the bracelet, because they wanted to order from Belly Charms themselves, but wanted to see what my impressions were.
My bracelet was absolutely perfect! I picked the "Tahitian" color, in medium wrist size (which I did find I should have ordered large, the medium for me, is still small, I can wear the bracelet (wild horses couldn't stop me from wearing it!) but it's hard to get the clasp done up, being that I should have picked a bigger size - nothing at all to do with Belly Charms. Anyway, I had the initials QACJAC, in that order, placed on the bracelet. Here's the final result!
I was excited to try the new "Pure" Organic line, Chai Tea being a "OOOOH I want to try THAT!" one for me, so as I'm writing, I will now open the "Chai Tea, flavored SoftLips, new Organic line of PURE" & write what I think. Give me a sec to open it ...
So that's me for today, I actually feel a teeny bit better, so I bet if I go lay down, I'll be doing ok by tomorrow! (fingers crossed)
As for my New Years post, which I caught sight of my many, many pictures in my camera, I will get to it (sorry B) probably tom. or the day after. Sounds about right though, a New Years 'Joe' post 4 days after the fact? lol, I'll get there though!
(...all the single ladies, all the single ladies ... now put your hands up!...)
Ok, well, I won a giveaway that was hosted by Felicia, at Go Graham Go!, where she does wonderful reviews, has tips, great links, and just general cool blogger stuff. Anyway, the winner received a beautiful personalized bracelet from Belly Charms, which specializes in Belly button rings for Moms to be (they're flexible, and allow a mom to be to keep her edginess, I think it's a cute idea!) There are also bracelets & anklets personalized for Moms, they make them with a selection of swarovski crystals, you can personalize it however you like, your favorite colors, a sports team, names ... they're great! Well, I won, and was quickly contacted by Felicia, then Sonya at Belly Charms, to see what I wanted. Well, I picked the 1st initial from everyone in my family, I tried to arrange them in a way that the letters looked like they mean something, and it doesn't just look like a jumble of hodge podge letters. Well, Sonya then asked if I wanted a 'spacer' between the letters, which I hadn't even thought of, and was absolutely thrilled that she even thought to ask. Especially since I won a giveaway, which means I'm not actually a 'paying customer', per se. But she was very professional, and it was lovely dealing with her.
I then got my package in the mail, 2 days after it was shipped, talk about fast!
It was done very professionally, and considering I had won a giveaway, I was absolutely impressed! I immediately emailed 3 of my friends who were waiting for me to get the bracelet, because they wanted to order from Belly Charms themselves, but wanted to see what my impressions were.
My bracelet was absolutely perfect! I picked the "Tahitian" color, in medium wrist size (which I did find I should have ordered large, the medium for me, is still small, I can wear the bracelet (wild horses couldn't stop me from wearing it!) but it's hard to get the clasp done up, being that I should have picked a bigger size - nothing at all to do with Belly Charms. Anyway, I had the initials QACJAC, in that order, placed on the bracelet. Here's the final result!
Wow, my arm looks not so pretty, but the bracelet looks amazing! I'm so pleased with how it turned out, I've showed it off to everyone I know! I have recommended it to several friends, including my online ones, (that includes the 3 who were waiting on how my bracelet turned out before going ahead with their purchase) and I'll leave it said here Belly Charms does gorgeous work! They're professionals, in every sense, they know their craft & obviously have fun with it. The talent they have for making customized jewelery is blatantly obvious, & it shows through their pieces how skillful they are, & how beautiful their jewelery is.
I also wanted to quickly add, I won a giveaway (another!) from Here and There, actually I won TWO, so that makes my total THREE, from Here and There alone! Well, I won a "SoftLips" giveaway, & I love SoftLips, so I was super excited to get this! But, unfortunately, my daughters love SoftLips as well, so when I went to get all the SoftLips together and take a picture, I could only find 3 still in the package!! Oh, the bane of having young girls who know a good thing when they see it. I then went to hunt the culprits down (knowing full well who was involved) & learned that they thought it was one for everyone, seeing as there were so many! (I won 5, at least I'm pretty sure I did, I only have 3 left, and I'm only assuming they took 2!) So I clicked a pic of just one (& at least it was the flavor I really wanted to try! They left me that at least ...)
Firstly .. like the 'hiss' from a soda drink, my girls have fine tuned their hearing to hear the 'pop' of a lip gloss cap from up to 4 yards away, most impressive. They came wandering over as soon as I opened the cap, & it smells phenomenal! I get the hint of vanilla in there somewhere, but it smells like I want my next batch of cookies to smell like! Now for the lip test ... it tastes a little like Chai Tea, there's a 'spark' to it that I can't quite identify, some vanilla like I said, but there's something else, and the aroma from my lips goes all the way to my nose ... I can smell this while it's on! I don't think I've ever had a lip gloss do that for me before! It went on smoothly, feels great, smells fantastic & tastes good too! I think they've found a winner. Thank you to Pat at Here and There, go click over to her blog (& Felicia's, Belly Charms and Softlips) all the links are here, and google connect blog follow them all, or Facebook them, Twitter follow - whatever your poison is. They're all fabulous and you won't be disappointed!
Ok, there's one more thing I wanted to blog about. I took the girls to the "Squealqueal" of Alvin & the Chipmunks, 2. It was cute, the girls loved it, the songs just sounded so funny. Although, don't they always when you speed them up & chipmunk sound a song? I remember doing that to my step fathers old school record player. He had a collection of oldies - from the 50's & 60's, & my Mum had more modern records. (Can you actually say 'modern' and 'records' or 'vinyl' in the same sentence?) like Madonna etc. and I would speed them up with friends of mine & giggle away at how clever we were, & how funny it sounded!
Anyway, they had some Beyonce songs (of course, we've all seen the preview with the Chipettes singing "All the Single Ladies). That is seriously one song that I only need to hear a part of and it is stuck in my head all bloody day!
Funny. Anyway, it's a cute holiday movie, I took the boys to see Avatar the other night, the girls weren't allowed to come see that one, and it always makes me nervous viewing a movie with my children that I haven't seen beforehand. And this is one I wished I'd seen first hand. There was a huge amount of cussing in it, no 'F' bombs, or anything like that, just a large amount of cuss words, that truthfully, I thought brought down the show. It was unneceassary but that's Hollywood for you. It's not considered watch worthy without a couple of good one liners, some cussing and when you throw some nudity in you have a childrens movie! (good grief)
Anyway, Avatar was actually quite good, but for kids, stick to the PG13 rating. (My other son is 10, so I considered him too young, for all the cussing etc.)
But the Alvin & the Chipmunks 'Squeakqueal' is a good one. Cute, a good story about friendship and trusting your insticts, it's a one-we're-going-to-buy. And the girls loved it!
We were going to originally go and see 'The Princess & The Frog', which my girls were SO looking forward too, until a friend of theirs told them it was a movie for 'babies', so they suddenly wanted to go and see Alvin first, which I was disappointed in, tried to reason with them that this little girl also thinks she was set to STAR in HSM3, before she got really sick and they asked "Gabriella" (Vanessa Hudgens) to 'fill in' til she could come back, but she found she didn't want to do it anymore. Or that she's a 'secret' Princess, she just can't tell anybody. Now, to me there's nothing wrong with little girl fantasies, I think they're cute and harmless, but when it turns into it being "she" is the 'only Princess' when my girls try to join in, or when they try to do dance numbers from HSM3 & are promptly told they're 'doing it wrong', "watch me", and they're left to stand there while little miss shows off & they aren't having fun anymore, then it bothers me. So I really wanted the girls to go see 'The Princess & the Frog', which I informed them is not for 'babies', it's for every little girl who wants to watch a great movie about a Princess - and their Mommies who want to watch too! But Alvin won out , mostly because when we entered the movie theater there was Alvin stuff everywhere - and Christmas things too, but not much cutouts of 'The Princess & the Frog', which was a shame. But anyway! I digress ...
So that's me for today, I actually feel a teeny bit better, so I bet if I go lay down, I'll be doing ok by tomorrow! (fingers crossed)
As for my New Years post, which I caught sight of my many, many pictures in my camera, I will get to it (sorry B) probably tom. or the day after. Sounds about right though, a New Years 'Joe' post 4 days after the fact? lol, I'll get there though!
(...all the single ladies, all the single ladies ... now put your hands up!...)
a somewhat "downer" post, sorry
I haven't posted anything lately, so I figured I should get on here and leave some kind of something behind! I got word from Hasbro, they are sincerely disappointed in my disappointment with a product of theirs. They will be rectifying the situation, which is fine, but I'm still not a fan of Hasbro, so offering to 'give me something else of equal or lesser value', while is a nice thought (I do have to send EleFun back though) it's really just a store exchange, isn't it? Which I specified in my email was exactly what I didn't want (I can easily go back to the store here and get another product of equal or lesser value too, it still doesn't work as it should!)
So I'm still at square one - they did send me an apology, but I'm still stuck with my daughters curious glances whenever IT is mentioned near her. When she see's it, she will point and say "Elefun", but wonders where my excitement went, and why I don't get all worked up over it anymore. I'm to blame for that though, I have learned my lesson - no more "pre" excitement in extreme measures until I've trial run whatever it is.
This has turned back into another Elefun rant, and I'm not consumed with this, so let's change the subject for fear of looking as though I am consumed.
I'm Lupus sick today, and was yesterday also. I wish there was some way of not being on any medicine at all, & being strong enough to cope with everything that will most assuredly land on my lap.
I've done natural, ran (with my knees & eyes now though, I can't run as much as I want to) <-- well that, and my laziness level is up there.
My doctor has informed me to "go swimming" for the back, eyes and anything else that's occurred. I agree, to some degree (lol, say that 5 times) it would help with muscle cramps etc. but for my eyes? How would chlorine filled water, with other peoples bacteria help with my failing eyesight? Well, it can't hurt at least. So a-swimming I will go! (Once my Flare has died!)
The kids go back to school tomorrow! I have mixed feelings about this. I've liked & gotten used to having them around the house, even though it's a short time they were here (in N.Z our Christmas holidays are during summer, so we have 6-8 weeks off from school there. It took me a while to get used to the whole "I go back to work the day after boxing day" thing.??) Well, they're here now, and we have to shift back into 'school schedule' mode, & on days like today, I just don't feel like it.
I've seriously turned this into a 'whine' post, which I usually can't stand, so I'm stopping now. Just know, I'm sick, tired and have a lot to catch up on. I also argued with my mother the other day over some strange unimportant things, the end result of which is she hung up on me from over 8,000 miles away. She knows I can't just "call her back" due to the cost of that (N.Z has cheaper rates & phone deals to other countries, but N.Z is such a small country that america doesn't have the same deals, and the cost is almost surreal. I once was on the phone from our end for 3-4 minutes. The cost was nearly $30.00! Mum can call me here, talk for 2 hours, and pay $20.00) Anyway! I've been feeling "off" ever since that went on. So another reason why this turned 'blah', but I'll be back. I know this will bother me all day until I get back on and post something light and fluffy with some pictures to boot. Unless it's a not-so-good review, but I'll be back.
*Happy School Day for Tomorrow*
So I'm still at square one - they did send me an apology, but I'm still stuck with my daughters curious glances whenever IT is mentioned near her. When she see's it, she will point and say "Elefun", but wonders where my excitement went, and why I don't get all worked up over it anymore. I'm to blame for that though, I have learned my lesson - no more "pre" excitement in extreme measures until I've trial run whatever it is.
This has turned back into another Elefun rant, and I'm not consumed with this, so let's change the subject for fear of looking as though I am consumed.
I'm Lupus sick today, and was yesterday also. I wish there was some way of not being on any medicine at all, & being strong enough to cope with everything that will most assuredly land on my lap.
I've done natural, ran (with my knees & eyes now though, I can't run as much as I want to) <-- well that, and my laziness level is up there.
My doctor has informed me to "go swimming" for the back, eyes and anything else that's occurred. I agree, to some degree (lol, say that 5 times) it would help with muscle cramps etc. but for my eyes? How would chlorine filled water, with other peoples bacteria help with my failing eyesight? Well, it can't hurt at least. So a-swimming I will go! (Once my Flare has died!)
The kids go back to school tomorrow! I have mixed feelings about this. I've liked & gotten used to having them around the house, even though it's a short time they were here (in N.Z our Christmas holidays are during summer, so we have 6-8 weeks off from school there. It took me a while to get used to the whole "I go back to work the day after boxing day" thing.??) Well, they're here now, and we have to shift back into 'school schedule' mode, & on days like today, I just don't feel like it.
I've seriously turned this into a 'whine' post, which I usually can't stand, so I'm stopping now. Just know, I'm sick, tired and have a lot to catch up on. I also argued with my mother the other day over some strange unimportant things, the end result of which is she hung up on me from over 8,000 miles away. She knows I can't just "call her back" due to the cost of that (N.Z has cheaper rates & phone deals to other countries, but N.Z is such a small country that america doesn't have the same deals, and the cost is almost surreal. I once was on the phone from our end for 3-4 minutes. The cost was nearly $30.00! Mum can call me here, talk for 2 hours, and pay $20.00) Anyway! I've been feeling "off" ever since that went on. So another reason why this turned 'blah', but I'll be back. I know this will bother me all day until I get back on and post something light and fluffy with some pictures to boot. Unless it's a not-so-good review, but I'll be back.
*Happy School Day for Tomorrow*
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Elefun is NO fun!
So I decided to post this tonight (Happy New Years! everyone) because I suffered acute disappointment with a game that Hasbro produces called "EleFun".
This game has become the bane of my existence starting with Black Friday where I had to fight the crowds at three different stores in order to obtain the bloody thing, my theory being that "A" would have a blast playing this game on New Years Eve, which is what our family does. We all play games, eat junk, and talk trash on how awesome we are at playing said games, until midnight where we all "HAPPY NEW YEAR" each other & stumble off to bed, tired and satisfied (depending on if you won most of your games)
Well this year I thought "A", who is 2, could be included because we would have this amazing, super, wonderful game for her to play. Anyway - after getting it, I tried today to set it up, and found it didn't work. (bites) So I took it all the way back to the store (New years eve day, I might add, when everyone and their mother is out getting last minute goodies for the night) they then told me (by 'they', I mean the caring, customer minded workers at our towns Wal-Mart) that I needed to have my drivers license to exchange it (since when?) which of course I didn't have on me.
I then drive all the way home, back to the store (after stopping at a friends house to help her out with some stuff, so by this time it's getting late, I'm tired & want a quick game exchange, because I have everything I need to do it)
I get to the store, finally exchange it, after only waiting nearly an hour - (how fantastic is that! Only one hour!) So I finally get the game, which I've started to refer to as "IT" home, only to discover that IT's fan isn't powerful enough to shoot the butterflies up the trunk.
So now I've hyped my poor daughter up ("LOOK A! It's Elefun! Yay!! Butterflies - wanna play? I'm so excited to see you play it! Yay!") She was practically foaming at the mouth. What a disappointment! The first thing I did wascuss email Hasbro with a "Disgusted-IT-didn't-work-after-all-my-trouble" email, thinking it would help me to feel a little better. Which of course, it didn't, because theres no one on the other end telling me how sorry they are, how awesome I am for going to all that trouble for my daughter, how they'll do all my housework for the next week just for the inconvenience. But Then!
I check my emails - and I'd WON ANOTHER GIVEAWAY! (Ha! Take that Hasbro.) It was thanks to Dwana over at "A Bittersweet Existence", and it was a beautiful "Baby Emi" jewelery, those cute anklets with little bells for babies and/or moms? I'm psyched! So that at least perked my night up alot (thank you Bittersweet!) So now I'm not in a the-night-would-still-be-better-if-IT-worked! (I know that sounds selfish, I should be (and am) grateful to just be with my family, but really? After all that trouble, it just would have been nice if it worked!)
My husband made a great dinner of buffalo and killer potatoes (I won't touch the buffalo, but I hear it's fabulous) my kids are excited ("We get to stay up till WHEN?) And I've got my 'won a giveaway' glow. So all in all, things are looking up - I hope everyone else has a fantastic New Year - much love from the Degen family to yours. My new years resolution? Burn IT first thing in the morning and find another game to captivate my 2 year old - Take THAT again Hasbro!
As a post note, this was a giveaway I won from Aubut Family and an Etsy store called "Girlie Bows", which makes the cutest girls dresses! Well, I got my package today and immediately threw it on A who ADORED it, she was posing & grinning and telling everyone "Mine. no - MINE" when they tried to touch the bows, lol.
Well, that's it for me and 2009. See you next year! xx
This game has become the bane of my existence starting with Black Friday where I had to fight the crowds at three different stores in order to obtain the bloody thing, my theory being that "A" would have a blast playing this game on New Years Eve, which is what our family does. We all play games, eat junk, and talk trash on how awesome we are at playing said games, until midnight where we all "HAPPY NEW YEAR" each other & stumble off to bed, tired and satisfied (depending on if you won most of your games)
Well this year I thought "A", who is 2, could be included because we would have this amazing, super, wonderful game for her to play. Anyway - after getting it, I tried today to set it up, and found it didn't work. (bites) So I took it all the way back to the store (New years eve day, I might add, when everyone and their mother is out getting last minute goodies for the night) they then told me (by 'they', I mean the caring, customer minded workers at our towns Wal-Mart) that I needed to have my drivers license to exchange it (since when?) which of course I didn't have on me.
I then drive all the way home, back to the store (after stopping at a friends house to help her out with some stuff, so by this time it's getting late, I'm tired & want a quick game exchange, because I have everything I need to do it)
I get to the store, finally exchange it, after only waiting nearly an hour - (how fantastic is that! Only one hour!) So I finally get the game, which I've started to refer to as "IT" home, only to discover that IT's fan isn't powerful enough to shoot the butterflies up the trunk.
So now I've hyped my poor daughter up ("LOOK A! It's Elefun! Yay!! Butterflies - wanna play? I'm so excited to see you play it! Yay!") She was practically foaming at the mouth. What a disappointment! The first thing I did was
I check my emails - and I'd WON ANOTHER GIVEAWAY! (Ha! Take that Hasbro.) It was thanks to Dwana over at "A Bittersweet Existence", and it was a beautiful "Baby Emi" jewelery, those cute anklets with little bells for babies and/or moms? I'm psyched! So that at least perked my night up alot (thank you Bittersweet!) So now I'm not in a the-night-would-still-be-better-if-IT-worked! (I know that sounds selfish, I should be (and am) grateful to just be with my family, but really? After all that trouble, it just would have been nice if it worked!)
My husband made a great dinner of buffalo and killer potatoes (I won't touch the buffalo, but I hear it's fabulous) my kids are excited ("We get to stay up till WHEN?) And I've got my 'won a giveaway' glow. So all in all, things are looking up - I hope everyone else has a fantastic New Year - much love from the Degen family to yours. My new years resolution? Burn IT first thing in the morning and find another game to captivate my 2 year old - Take THAT again Hasbro!
Quick, late night post
It's a marvel to me how so many busy Moms can post little what nots, and I can't seem to find the time to even drop a few lines. So here they are - my few lines at 1:30am! My friend has gone to Texas for a week so I'm left here to hold down the fort with work, and just general drama with our mutual friends at least.
And my, oh my, do I get tired of the high school play outs. Honestly, sometimes I'm reminded of my 8 year old coming home & telling me about her "drama" filled day - and it sounds exactly like the junk that goes on with adults I know! Am I the only one who gets to that point of 'good grief, enough already!'?
I try to tell my husband about some of it - more to vent than anything else, and I watch his eyes glaze over & know I'm now talking to that infamous brick wall. He'll even go as far as to shut me down right as I mention maybe a name with a quick "Hold on, is this drama crap?" and my hesitation will tell him all he needs to know. (As in, he shakes his head & changes the subject with a pat on the shoulder or a quick hug)
It makes me think men may be onto something with the we-don't-need-to-talk-on-the-phone-for-hours-unless-theres-something-important-(hunting, shooting, fishing, hunting)-to-organize-or-talk-about.
Because he never seems to have the troubles I deal with. Hmmm .... I don't think I've ever said this ... but maybe he's right with how he deals with his mates .... hurry back K :D
And my, oh my, do I get tired of the high school play outs. Honestly, sometimes I'm reminded of my 8 year old coming home & telling me about her "drama" filled day - and it sounds exactly like the junk that goes on with adults I know! Am I the only one who gets to that point of 'good grief, enough already!'?
I try to tell my husband about some of it - more to vent than anything else, and I watch his eyes glaze over & know I'm now talking to that infamous brick wall. He'll even go as far as to shut me down right as I mention maybe a name with a quick "Hold on, is this drama crap?" and my hesitation will tell him all he needs to know. (As in, he shakes his head & changes the subject with a pat on the shoulder or a quick hug)
It makes me think men may be onto something with the we-don't-need-to-talk-on-the-phone-for-hours-unless-theres-something-important-(hunting, shooting, fishing, hunting)-to-organize-or-talk-about.
Because he never seems to have the troubles I deal with. Hmmm .... I don't think I've ever said this ... but maybe he's right with how he deals with his mates .... hurry back K :D
Monday, December 28, 2009
What's going on for your New Year?
Where I'm from in New Zealand, I rew up having 'New Years' as almost a bigger deal than Christmas. You picked where you were going to celebrate it, with whom, doing what - and who would have your kids, because of course there would be much drinking.
My, how times have changed! Not only do I not drink, but New Years is more about keeping the kids up til midnight by playing a bunch of family games (Risk <--Husbands fave. Monopoly, or Video games that are two-player) then we all say "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!" & drag ourselves off to bed because we're dead tired & really have wanted to go to bed for about 4 or 5 hours.
Sometimes I miss the NZ way of doing it - it's a big party, and the whole country (& alot of people from other countries) are all there to help you ring in the New Year.
Nelson, in the South Island, is the first country in the world to see the sunrise. Which is cool, because they always do something really big and explosive - for this tiny wee town that otherwise, doesn't see much action, other than beachy tourists.
This year, we'll be doing much of the same as every other year - sitting around, playing games, enjoying each others company, drinking apple cidar (which my eldest son thinks is just too funny. He was convinced it was actual wine due to the bottle, and when I tried to give him some to taste, he looked at me as if I was Jezebel reincarnated! I had to coax him into it, he took a very small sip - with extreme distrust in his eyes (and where the heck did that come from? All of a sudden I'm going to do something that would be harmful for him, lol?)
Now he begs for it - I think he secretly pretends it's wine & he's at some fabulous party with grownups where he's allowed to drink. So I'll post some pics from this years sitting around party, but I wanted to know what you all were doing for New Years (I wonder if we're supposed to be getting together at the Mother in Laws this year?? I'm always the last to know!!) But link me to your site so I can go check out your pics if you post any. (Also - At D&R do you think you can find a use for the gift we gave you? Like, a "real" use, not a "we-have-this-so-we'll-use-it" kind of thing. I hope so, but if you can't give it to someone who might!)
Til we meet again,
My, how times have changed! Not only do I not drink, but New Years is more about keeping the kids up til midnight by playing a bunch of family games (Risk <--Husbands fave. Monopoly, or Video games that are two-player) then we all say "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!" & drag ourselves off to bed because we're dead tired & really have wanted to go to bed for about 4 or 5 hours.
Sometimes I miss the NZ way of doing it - it's a big party, and the whole country (& alot of people from other countries) are all there to help you ring in the New Year.
Nelson, in the South Island, is the first country in the world to see the sunrise. Which is cool, because they always do something really big and explosive - for this tiny wee town that otherwise, doesn't see much action, other than beachy tourists.
This year, we'll be doing much of the same as every other year - sitting around, playing games, enjoying each others company, drinking apple cidar (which my eldest son thinks is just too funny. He was convinced it was actual wine due to the bottle, and when I tried to give him some to taste, he looked at me as if I was Jezebel reincarnated! I had to coax him into it, he took a very small sip - with extreme distrust in his eyes (and where the heck did that come from? All of a sudden I'm going to do something that would be harmful for him, lol?)
Now he begs for it - I think he secretly pretends it's wine & he's at some fabulous party with grownups where he's allowed to drink. So I'll post some pics from this years sitting around party, but I wanted to know what you all were doing for New Years (I wonder if we're supposed to be getting together at the Mother in Laws this year?? I'm always the last to know!!) But link me to your site so I can go check out your pics if you post any. (Also - At D&R do you think you can find a use for the gift we gave you? Like, a "real" use, not a "we-have-this-so-we'll-use-it" kind of thing. I hope so, but if you can't give it to someone who might!)
Til we meet again,
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Our Christmas Day!
We had an absolute BLAST with Christmas this year, the kids loved what they got (from "Santa" & us) they also loved the photo we caught of Santa leaving gifts under our tree :D
We had a great day - I may have gotten a little "snap happy", but in 20 years I'll be patting myself on the back, I know it!
Also, the "big" story of my day was my wonderful husband who had known for weeks that all I wanted was a "Cruicut" - an amazing tool designed for scrapbookers mainly, to be able to 'cut' cute pictures, letters, designs etc. professionally, easily & quickly - and you can also so vinyl letters!!!
I had gone on, and on and on for days, singing praises about how wonderful this machine was - knowing full well that if my hubby would get it for me, I'd be able to read his signs and signals. No matter how hard he tried to hide it. Well, bigger fool me - I was oblivious! I honestly got caught up in the rush of Black Friday, giveaways, coupons, getting a good deal - what my kids want as opossed to what their friends have, and I forgot and honestly believed I was not going to get it. It was too much money, money that should be going on the kids, or neighbors - something else rather than "me". OMGOSH WAS I WRONG!
My husband set up a treasure hunt type deal, my brother & I used to do this when we were bored in New Zealand growing up - I've done it with my kids and passed the love of it along to them, and C knew how much I absolutely adore doing that kind of thing - so he set one up for me - and then took various pics of me running around the house in my p.j's searching for the hidden treasure! The 1st one is me looking by the encyclopedias! (Dig my purple jammies eh?)
1: Ava & Daddy, opening "Tink" as she calls her - a Tinkerbell toy.
We had a great day - I may have gotten a little "snap happy", but in 20 years I'll be patting myself on the back, I know it!
Also, the "big" story of my day was my wonderful husband who had known for weeks that all I wanted was a "Cruicut" - an amazing tool designed for scrapbookers mainly, to be able to 'cut' cute pictures, letters, designs etc. professionally, easily & quickly - and you can also so vinyl letters!!!
I had gone on, and on and on for days, singing praises about how wonderful this machine was - knowing full well that if my hubby would get it for me, I'd be able to read his signs and signals. No matter how hard he tried to hide it. Well, bigger fool me - I was oblivious! I honestly got caught up in the rush of Black Friday, giveaways, coupons, getting a good deal - what my kids want as opossed to what their friends have, and I forgot and honestly believed I was not going to get it. It was too much money, money that should be going on the kids, or neighbors - something else rather than "me". OMGOSH WAS I WRONG!
My husband set up a treasure hunt type deal, my brother & I used to do this when we were bored in New Zealand growing up - I've done it with my kids and passed the love of it along to them, and C knew how much I absolutely adore doing that kind of thing - so he set one up for me - and then took various pics of me running around the house in my p.j's searching for the hidden treasure! The 1st one is me looking by the encyclopedias! (Dig my purple jammies eh?)
The 2nd one is in the kitchen, and the last one was in his garage (well, his side of the garage, it was hidden under a mexican blanket he brought when he was down there and I COULD NOT believe he had gotten it for me - I was so focused on everyone else, I forgot about me. 2 seconds after this shot, I burst into tears and snuggled into his arms to cry openly!
Here's some more of our fantastic day!
1: Ava & Daddy, opening "Tink" as she calls her - a Tinkerbell toy.2: Jahmal with his bulletbike, he found it for sale in our old neighborhood, worked for the money, & a friend of mines husband worked on it until it worked!
3:Aliya with her "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" game - she was dying to play this, and being a 3rd grader is bound & determined to beat this game!
4:Quintyn got his Lego Rockband ... which was confusing to him as we didn't have a PS3 (whoops on Mom for that one!) I played it off as a "Oh, I though it was for the Ninetendo! I'm sorry" so that's the "Gee Thanks Mom" look on his face :D
5:Quintyn, Aliya & Gracie lined up with some gifts
6:Gracie showing me a trick her gift does
7: Ava playing with a "giveaway win!!" the Plan Toys Duck - she LOVED it - at first the 'quack' gave her a fright, but as soon as she got over that, she was quacking all over the house amid our calls to "Open another gift Ava!" The only time she put it down was when I distracted her with cookies, and Craig grabbed it and hid it, lol
8:Craig with his gift from me. A Photo book of our beautiful family!
9:Ava opening a ballerina dress from Old Navy, which is something she was really coverting! She also looks adorable in it, so I'll have to snap some pics of her in that too!
All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas, we should have put more Christ in it - I'm sad we didn't do that, we did have a family feel Christmas though, so that makes it worth it! Next year, we will be doing more for others (secret Santa type stuff) & definitely more Christ like things. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas though, like we did!
Now for the New Year .... I need to start thinking of some resolutions ... so I guess my first one is "Next Christmas I will make it more about Christ, and less about Commericial junk"
Let me know if you have any good ones!
And this is, of course (albeit part of my last post) the infamous "Santa caught" picture! Although my kids wondered why he's smiling (Shouldn't you have been asleep Mom? Why is he smiling at you?) We told the kids it was Dads motion camera used for hunting, and that he was smiling because he knew full well it was there & decided to 'humor' us all. Looks great though, the people at "Capture Santa" do a great job I think!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
