a HILL of a good time.........: December // 2014

December is a crazy month for everyone. I feel like it is a major overload (in a good way) of family, friends, food, parties, drinks, shopping, planning, playing, etc, etc, etc... It is exhausting, but worth every moment.

Ours started with a surprise visit from my brother and Lisa. I love to watch him interact with my kiddos. Dane was quite the fan!

This is what happens when Daddy is in charge for a night... fun dip and pictures. WOW. At least he got pictures!

We went to a super fun bday party. We have boys with zero fear so a big giant blow up slide park is just up our alley!

And then this happened. Click HERE to see the hubs in a hurricane machine with a bunch of kiddos. He claims they were too scared to go at it alone but I will let you be the judge.

And my favorite... Group pictures with lots of littles. BWHAHAHAHAHA!

The pup got fixed this month, so she got a cone. Cone + doggy door = negative.

And you end up with a flower shaped cone. She is special.

He is such a great daddy!

Sometimes I let them do a sleepover. They really do love each other. Notice the pup. She loves to cuddle.

Lots of mall time in December so I know I better have my purse loaded with quarters. If I drag them around I need the leverage of the games/rides to keep them going to the end. Success!

Time to go see Santa!! We pretty much were just praying for a miracle because this guy, although cute as can be, was not planning on sitting or even talking to the old jolly man.

Before we left, they wanted to check out the tree. I love that they love it as much as I do!

So what do you do while waiting in line for Santa? I sent the baby with the hubs and kept Chaz with me. This is good because otherwise they will melt. I didn't want Chaz to play on my phone so we talked about what he wanted for Christmas, what he did in school that day, his friends, baseball, etc... I was out of stuff to talk about. So I told him it is humanly impossible to lick your own elbow. This gained me 10 more minutes. Score! #boymom

Once he saw the above pictures, he thought he looked pretty good so he wanted me to take some more. Thanks for hamming it up, dude.

And then we were up. I wasn't sure what would happen. We had a moment when Dane decided he was NOT going anywhere near this guy. The hubs was struggling to calm him so I walked over, took him in my arms and, through my gritted teeth, quickly explained he WAS going to sit and he WAS going to be nice. I turned to the camera lady and said "Be ready" I quickly placed him next to Santa and here is the result. WHAT?!?! Score! The camera lady was like "Ummm, what did you say?" With great pride, because these are not always the results when faced with a three year-old meltdown, I told her I just explained who was the boss and that he was going to behave. Yes, I pretty much patted myself on the back all the way out of the mall. Sometimes I win. For perspective, here are the years past.

I LOVE baby/kiddo feet. LOVE!

Dane stole one of Gaga's dancing toys. Oh goody!

The love. Oh the love!

I don't know if we were all just exhausted, I was terrible car company, they simply have my car sleeping DNA or I had just developed a knack for putting the boys to sleep while driving. I mean, check it.

Sweet, sleepy, lazy Saturday mornings are the best! Every morning Dane comes in our room and asks "Mommy, can I hug on my puppy." Ahhhh, melt my heart!

And then he goes crazytown!

He loves his pup and I think the feeling is mutual. So precious!

I think everyone loves her. This is Dave, they are snuggling.

She is so stinking cute. She makes the best faces.

My Daddy made these AMAZING growth charts for me LAST Christmas. Yes, LAST Christmas! I had not put it on the wall yet because 1) it needs some muscles to put up, so I needed a little help 2) It was a process because I had to COMPLETELY redo all my wall decor in my house. Ok, maybe that is a little dramatic but it is my plan. I am so happy to have these in place!!

Midway through the project. The pictures aren't updated but that is the next step. More to come!

I decided to take a different twist on our advent calendar. Usually I use a framed board and pin a wrapped gift/activity for each day. This year, I told the hubs I wanted to do some kind of "punch" board. I wanted to boys to be able to bust through tissue paper and retrieve the gift/activity. Remember that game on Price is Right?? Yeah, kinda like that.

So the hubs came through on the execution! I was strugging with how to make shelves for each day's thing to sit on. Insert hubs with great idea to use a wine box. GENIUS!!! Add some tissue paper for the front and wrap it with cute wrapping paper! YAY! Out comes the Elf to introduce this new tradition.

The boys were pretty pumped. Getting a picture of the baby is a little tricky these days.

Each day had something different. If it was a gift, there was one for each of the boys. The best part was the preplanning. You know me, I'm a planner. The front was hinged so if for some reason I needed to switch things around, I could! I also bated them a little. I mean, there are things we knew we were going to do -- Go to see Santa, Donate toys to Toys for Tots, spend the night with Gaga and Papa, spend the night with friends, Christmas shop for brother, etc.. SO I put those on the days it made sense for us to go. YAY! Happy kids, happy momma!

Day one: Write a letter to Santa.

And, of course, we did the elf thing. Judge if you want to but I love it. Now, I won't lie. There are days when I wake up in the middle of the night and shake the hubs "DID YOU MOVE THE ELF?!?! Shit, go toss it in the tree!" Yep, that happens but sometimes I get to plan a little better. I will say, the elf spent far less time in the tree this year! Go us!

Yes, Chaz made him a shirt. Adorable.

Chaz was simply appalled when he discovered the elf had doodled all over our pictures. I am a bit OCD so it was floored when I thought this was funny. I can fake this!

And, of course, Spiderman had to join in on the fun!

And now for the funny, sweet and silly I have captured on my phone this month! Probably my favorite thing ever!

My coworker leaves me Twix all the time, she is the best person EVER!!

Yep, see. Told ya!

I sent these to my ladies. I do have some of the best friends ever!

Ohhhh, now it makes sense. HAHAHA!

I didn't do this this year but I think I may just purchase a Santa hat and try this out. Hilarious!!

I think my entire family thinks this way.

Yes you are! Every single one of you!!

So this may be one of my favorite things ever. When I was registering Chaz's karaoke machine, this popped up as the "enter this so we can make sure you aren't a robot" Seriously, check the security word. This is my life y'all! #boymom

BAM!

I have to admit, this was a legit fear of mine. Why? I don't know. Maybe the game Pitfall did it to all of us 80's kids.

Please to the short people! Please to the hubs!! Leave me be and let me sleep!

So this is what happens when your texts pop up in the reverse order. Note: the "and dane" and "and Ryan, I guess" Were NOT linked to the sleepover invite!