Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that jazz

Wow! It has been so long since I've posted, mostly due to the fact Christmas hit my house. HARD.

After 3 straight days of baking (I'm talking the type of baking that has you in the kitchen from 9:30 in the morning until 8:30 at night!) Christmas Eve dinner at brother and sister-in-law's, delish. Christmas morning: a smashing success! Some of my favorite pics from Christmas morning:

This is what I like to call "Santa prancing." They love to pose ridiculously for pics. Oh, and I have to say: there's nothing better than Christmas jammies! This was taken Christmas Eve.

The tree after Santa's arrival. Note the beds hubby made for their American Girl dolls :)

Patryk's new teddy

Andraia's reaction to the Justin Beiber cd hubby and I got her. Ugh.

Lulu the talking kitty, or whatever it's called. All I know is, this thing meowed in the wrapping paper all the way to the tree...hard to be inconspicuous that way, huh?

Rileigh's big gift, Go-Go My Walking Pup. She was THRILLED as she's asked for this for two years straight!

The only toy Patryk asked for, all three times he sat on Santa's lap: "Handy Manny's toolbox with all of his tools," as Patryk would say.

The Christmas bomb in all it's glory:

There is no picture of it, but my sweet husband bought me an iPod Nano, one of the new 6th generation ones. It is so cool, and will really be great for running, which I do when the weather allows (which means I'll be waiting a few months before I can truly enjoy it LOL) The kids, bless their hearts, got me a wet/dry dustbuster. Love it, as they are all so messy.

So after tearing into 3-kids-worth of presents, it was time to clean up for round 2, the arrival of the in-laws and all their gifts (which was like Christmas morning all over again, honestly. They think we live in a house with endless room or something!) We were quite systematic about it. Each box that was opened for the girls had it's contents brought directly up to the girls' room. Patryk's toys weren't as easy to get out of sight/out of mind, as he's still too carelessly clumsy to be trusted to go safely up and down the stairs, so they ended up as neatly as they could be placed, in the living room. The in-laws arrive, and they bring some doozies, too! Like:

A Breyer horse collection for Rileigh the animal lover

U-Command Buzz Lightyear, the coolest remote control toy, for Patryk, which made his day. He always asks to push the big red button on the display Buzz in Target!

Of course, more Legos (Santa brought those for Andraia, too, as it's her "thing" this year)

Smithsonian science sets for each girl

Buzz Lightyear wings for little man

Mommy got a breadmaker :) YAY! So excited as I try to bake all my bread rather than buy it. No more kneading for this chic! WOO HOO! My carpal tunnel-ridden arms are so happy!

After more present chaos/taking things out of packages, it was time to get cracking on Christmas dinner. My mother is an ER nurse, so she had to work on Christmas, but came by after her shift and helped out, which was much appreciated! I had started the turkey before the 2nd round of presents, but didn't really get to enjoy them playing with the things, as I was slaving away to prepare a meal for my 5 person family, mother and father in law, mother and father, and my brother and his wife. We ate, it was yummy, and then everyone left. I just stared at the mess left behind and drank some wine, amazed at the fact I had cleaned things spotlessly so many times, and what for? LOL

The day after Christmas, we headed up to my parents house for MORE presents and MORE turkey. Again, lots of fun, but the food mess was in someone else's house. HA.

My mom, each year in early December, heads to New York City with all of her friends for a few days of shopping and shows. She ALWAYS hits Macy's, and comes home with Christmas outfits for everyone.

A little pre-opening push ups to get the blood flowing LOL (yes, he is seriously demonstrating how to do a push up. For REAL.)

The BIG gift, the DS. The girls are in heaven.

My brother finds the strangest/coolest toys. He returned from a recent cross-country trip, and found these in TN...Crazy Cat Lady action figure and Lunch Lady action figure. I didn't even want to give them over, or take them out of the box! Pop culture at its' best!

Gotta love his face here. This is a car that he can build and take apart all by himself. He loves it, and didn't even need help figuring out where everything went the first time he built it!

My brother and the hubs, sporting the matching shirts my mom got them. It's a good thing my bro lives in RI, and this is the only time they'll be caught wearing it at the same time!

I got a bunch of stuff that was perfect, like the little sensor you put in your shoe that talks to your iPod, sending it info about your run, like how many calories you've burned and how far you've gone. That was a perfect gift, but none more perfect than the blue Cricut Expression my mom got me! I've been using the smaller Cricut, the first model ever made, for years now, and she found it on sale on black Friday and couldn't walk away (and I'm glad she didn't!) Can't wait to see the capabilities of this model!

Packed up the presents after dinner to head home, as there was a snow storm that came in. It was a doozy of a storm, too...the next day, the kids got to play outside, giving me an opportunity to try to clean up. Here we are, though, 3 days later, and I'm STILL not done. It's been overwhelming to say the least. However, today, I'll be returning to the scrap room for the first time (of course, I need to play with my Cricut!) this afternoon. I need some normalcy back!

One more party for us...each year, we get a sitter and invite our friends over for good old fashioned fun, college style. We have a Beiruit tournament. You may know this game under the name of beer pong as well. The only difference: in our old age, we don't put beer in the cups. We use water, allowing each individual to responsibly control how much they drink. (We all drink too much, though! Gotta let loose at least once a year, right?)

So happy new year, lots of good things in store here for 2011, starting with the Bling It On 2011 event over at sketches4all on January 10th, you won't want to miss it!! Lots of challenges and prizes!

I wish you all the healthiest, happiest year yet! XOXOXO