Christmas Time at Home

Evie is arching her back to see what scrumptious fare she might receive.

Her 'bib' is an old apron of my mother's.

Too bad it doesn't have a waterproof liner!

You are about to meet all of the 'characters' now belonging to Simon's castle that he received on Christmas.  By the way, if you see graffiti on the castle resembling gang marking, it was Simon coloring on his castle THE DAY AFTER he received it.  He drew a dragon, his name, etc.  Thankfully I paid $4 for the castle at Goodwill.  If I had paid the $59 for it that I have seen at other toy stores, I would have been kind of sad about his alterations!

In the above picture, meet the knights that Simon's grandparents bought him and some are from a gift Timothy gave him for Si's birthday.

The good king who looks kind of like a wiseman ... :)

The watchman who looks like he could also have come from a nativity set ....

The princess who looks strikingly familiar to the virgin Mary.

Now this is where you have to turn your head to the anachronisms of it all as Star Wars characters get involved.

Yesterday, I happened upon Baby Jesus in jail along with R2D2.

We moved this old white hutch into Si's room and it is now his desk.

We're trying to get rid of things in our kitchen area for our soon to be (I hope) kitchen remodel.

Our dishwasher broke the same day Matt's family came into town for Christmas! 

It was extra work to keep up with the dishes, especially with extra guests, but washing dishes by hand is growing on me.

Monday I was treated to some quality time and shopping :) with Shay!

Evie bonded with Shay - so sweet.

Shay and I went to the Crate and Barrel outlet off of I-35 after I picked her up from the airport.

Then later that evening after dropping off her pants at her favorite local tailor, we went to Northpark Mall and happened to run into a great sale at a couple of places.  

This is the time of year for sales!

IN CASE YOU ARE IN DALLAS AND NEED A TAILOR

The prices at Unique Tailor were amazing and while we waited (10 minutes maybe) they hemmed a pair of jeans that Shay needed that week.  So,they were willing to do a rush job on one of her pieces - (she dropped off several for pick up later this week)

I think it was approx. $4.99 for a jean hem.

I don't have to have a lot of things altered, but Shay does and says they do excellent work here.

She asked J.Crew once who they used to do their alterations (because they had done such a great job on a jacket for her) and it was Unique Tailor.  This was several years ago, and now they are a bit more busy since D Magazine voted them best tailor last year.

They were around Greenville and Mockingbird, near the Campisi's Egyptian Restaurant that serves Italian food - the same Campisis that was supposedly at one point owned and operated by the Mafia.

Simon called me to his room, "MOM!  My castle has a big king!"

Simon and Alex played so well together outside - for a looong time!

Corey and Matt had gone to Home Depot -- When Corey came over, he was hoping there were some projects he could help with that day.

  So, he and Matt put Si's bunkbeds back together, came up with a plan for raising his bunkbeds so that we can eventually get a trundle under them, and looked into getting parts for our hall bathroom's issues.

I thought that was rather kind of Corey to be so eager to be helpful.

The fallen knight.

The funniest thing that happened between Alex and Simon was at one point Kelly commented, "Is Simon wearing a tomato wire?"  We looked outside and Simon had put on himself a wire 'tomato' tree.  When questioned, he said he was a Christmas tree.  It was kind of dangerous, running around with pointed wires and such, but so funny to see.  

I wish I had taken a picture of it!

Kelly and her family came over last Sunday - earlier that morning Matt's parents and brother had headed back to Georgia.

Saturday night was really fun for Simon.  He was invited to sleep in our bedroom at the foot of our bed (on Evie's crib mattress.)  Evie was in our closet where she had slept all week.

Matt's parents were in Evie's room on the two twin beds that usually make up Si's bunkbeds, and Ollie was on Simon's trundle.  It was a full house that night!  Most of the week, Ollie had stayed over at our friends house - JD and Chrissy - while they were out of town.  They are very gracious hosts, even when they aren't there!

Ollie, Simon, and Evie.

This past week Evie has still been taking her naps in our closet - it is so dark and quiet back there, that she actually gets much more sleep.  She is a light sleeper (like her mommy) and wakes up at the slightest noises usually - and you can imagine there are plenty of noises since she is right by Simon's room and off the hall that isn't carpeted (which would help with sound absorption)

So, we've talked about it, and might continue to keep the pack and play in our closet and let her take naps there.  Worse case scenario:  we spoil her and she only takes naps in there.  Naps are something kids eventually outgrow, so it won't be forever.

It's just so nice to have a bit of peace during the day and not have to constantly be on Simon's case to be quiet while she sleeps!

I turn 30 in one week from today!

yikes

I gotta get my life together before then, I guess.

The kiddos and Matt's parents

My sweet little girl

Evie and I hung out last night.  We went to GFA's New Year's Eve fellowship time and watchnight service and communion.  I thought I'd have to leave around 10 or so for Evie's sake, but she hung in there until it was over, around 12:30 a.m.  I was pleasantly surprised at her staying awake that long, but not by her happy disposition.  When she is well, she is a sweetie!

It was nice to ring in the New Year with worship, praise, prayer, exhortation, and communion!

I've been able to update the blog today because Matt took Simon out for a fun day, since they have both been sick and feel a little better today.

They went to Lowes, Chick-fil-A, Frye's, and now they are at a park somewhere breaking in Simon's new bike that Gigi and Pops gave him, a new kite, and of course, the scooter!

About to go in the oven!

When these babies are iced with the creamcheese iciing ... wow!

I sampled this recipe when Debi brought some over one night for our wreath decorating party.  We assembled 29 wreaths for the GFA Christmas party!

Anyway, I was hooked on these cinnamon rolls.

Much better than the recipe that came with our bread machine that I made last year.

If you are interested, the recipe is on allrecipes website and is called:  clone of a cinnabon.

I was watching Little Women on the laptop while I made the cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve ...

Evie's hands!

I love them!

Another Christmas Eve snapshot.

I'm not sure what Matt was doing.

Oh, wait, I think he was trying to get a broken screw out of a piece of hardware.

Randomness.

Ollie and Simon (probably with the help of Nana) made this amazingly cute gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.

This is Simon, excited about Christmas and the really cool scooter that his cousin Alex had given him.

Matt was sick over Christmas week ...

I think he had yet another sinus infection.

But, he is getting better!

And next month or so, when our budget recovers from the holidays, we're going to get our airvents cleaned and all and see if that helps prevent all these sicknesses my family is getting!

The day after he received the scooter, Simon scooted EVERYWHERE and was anxious for me to give him little chores so he could scoot to that location.

He carries his matchbox cars in the little red bag.