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December Daily 12/2-12/7

I've been keeping up on the pictures even though I don't have my book ready yet. It's been a busy December already, I am just glad my shopping is done.

December 2 - A typical morning the boys eating breakfast together and me heading off to work. Nicholas had a doctor's appointment and he weighs 27 pounds now. He still is pretty little for an almost 3 year old. But a cutie just the same.

December 3 - A typical night after I get home from work. After dinner the boys play a bit before bath and bed time. Jackson is such a character.

December 4 - This week was not a good one for naps. But they can only fight it for so long. Nicholas conked out watching a movie. See his bear?

December 5 - We started a busy weekend off with Nicholas and I doing the Sunrise Safari at the Phoenix Zoo. The other family did not show up so Nicholas and I had the tour guides to ourselves. Nicholas fed chickens, turkeys, horses, sheep, cows and goats. He had so much fun. Mom made dog treats and a sock puppet because Nicholas was more interested in the trail mix they had for a snack. We did a bit of shopping after the zoo, I cleaned out my closet and made Snickerdoodles in the afternoon.

(oops! I didn't rotate before uploading)

December 6 - We went to the mall for Christmas pictures. Jackson was a bit out of sorts and Nicholas didn't like his sweater, but all in all we were happy with the pictures. After pictures we had lunch at BJ's Brewery and did a bit of Christmas shopping.

Coming to a Christmas card soon.

December 7 - A cold rainy windy Monday. After work I met up with my old freind Suleman for dinner at Oregano's. Great food and catching up. After I got home, Mike checked his stats on Live 365 and found his alternative radio station "Flashback Now" is in the number one spot. So cool!

Now I am caught back up. Hopefully this week will not be as crazy as last week!

December Daily - 12/1

I'm going to give the December Daily album a try. I thought it would be fun to document our life in December this year. Nicholas is starting to understand some of the Christmas things going on and it's a good time to establish some family traditions. Some traditions are extensions of things Mike and I have always done and others are new. I spent a lot of time before this month began planning and shopping to hopefully let us have a bit less stressful holiday season. With my job it is not always possible for December to not be crazy, but we are going to try. I have cut back on things, like not making Christmas gifts or cards this year. I have been working on a few crafty things, but they are for us. If I get behind or don't get them done I don't have to stress out about it. So we'll see how it goes.

One of the traditions I wanted to start this year was a countdown/advent calendar. Jackson is still a bit too young for this, but I made one for Nicholas. So tonight was time to open our first drawer. I had to work late (of course) so I barely made it home in time to do it before bath and bedtime. (I didn't even have the drawers filled!)

Nonetheless, I snuck some Hershey Kisses into the day 1 drawer and we brought Nicholas to open his first drawer. He has already been counting with all the numbers on the calendar since I put it out over the weekend. He was excited to see his Kisses and couldn't wait to eat them.

Thanksgiving is over let the Christmas rush begin

My weekend was interrupted on Friday, by work. No fun, but a necessity, given that it is year end and at least some of us need to be there. But nonetheless I still enjoyed the rest of my three days off.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house. We all shared the cooking duties, so it allowed some time to enjoy the company of our families. I did get out of work early on Wednesday which gave me plenty of time to make the pumpkin cheesecake, clean all the veggies and prep the turkey.

Mike's parent's brought a birthday gift for me on Thanksgiving day, which I promptly put to use. An ornament display stand that will be perfect year round for the different holidays and a Michael's gift card, which I used on Black Friday for the new Sizzix Texture Boutique.

The traditional annual picture of me and my mom.

After we had everything underway, we went out in the backyard to watch Nicholas play. He decided he liked to sit on the rocks and we even got a few poses. We did get him to sit long enough for pictures with his Nana's, he loves his Nana's.

Nicholas and his Nana (Rettberg). My mom and Dion watched Nicholas and Jackson on Saturday for us and they all had a fun night.

Nicholas and his Nana (Carr).

Nicholas also hung out with his Grandpa's. Although he has decided he likes saying Dion so Grandpa Rettberg is called by his first name.

Jackson enjoyed eating Thanksgiving dinner, pretty much cleaning his plate.

And what would Thanksgiving be without a little rough housing.

After dinner, Nicholas wanted to go out and work off the dinner he did NOT eat.

Jackson of course needed a bottle shortly after dinner to wash down all that turkey and fixings.

After everyone was thoroughly stuffed, it was time for a catnap. Nicholas crashed in my arms and then was handed off to Nana, so I could pack up leftovers.

On Friday I got up early to hit some sales at Michael's, JoAnn's and Bed Bath & Beyond before heading into work and doing a bit of online shopping at Amazon in between my "way too busy day for a Friday after a holiday". While I was out, Mike got all the outside decorations done. He did the backyard too and it looks great. It's nice we get to enjoy his efforts and not just the neighbors. When Nicholas saw it Friday night, he just stood by the window for a while and smiled.

My birthday was Saturday and Mike and I enjoyed a rare date night. We had dinner out at Brio at San Tan Village and saw this:

I definitely still like Edward better.

Saturday and Sunday we had plenty of time for our hobbies while the boys napped and played. We also got the store updated for December. So all in all a fun and productive weekend.

I finished up an advent calendar using the Color Me Daisy December Kit and lots of Thickers. I have lots of fun surprises planned for Nicholas to put in the drawers. So I can't wait for Tuesday, he has already been pointing at the calendar and counting the numbers.

Color Me Daisy December Kit & Cyber Monday Sale

Color Me Daisy's December kit Under the Mistletoe is now available. Don't miss out on the Cyber Monday sale starting now orders over $50 ship free and all past kits and past kit add on's are 10% off. All orders over $100 receive a gift. Some restrictions apply.

Color Me Daisy December Sneak Peeks

Under the Mistletoe...available November 30th at Color Me Daisy

Deck the Halls....

Mike spent this week getting the trees up and decorated. After getting the two trees up on Tuesday, we both had second thoughts about not doing a tree in the family room. But....I did not want to put up the big tree in that we put in the Family Room. It is a 9 footer "old school tree" that takes about 6 hours to put up. You know the kind, individual branches that have to be put in the tree and fluffed out, and no lights so you have to string them yourselves. Do you remember those?

So, there I was on Tuesday night at Target and Michael's looking for a smaller pre-lit tree so we could add one more tree to the mix. I was in meetings all week and out late for dinners with the out of town guests. Fast forward to Saturday morning, Mike has all 3 trees up and we spend today putting out the rest of the indoor decorations. This year I cut back (for us) and didn't put our all the decorations we normally do.

So as of tonight our indoor area is decorated, I am half way done with Christmas shopping and determined to make this December the most for the boys.

Here is the living room tree. It is our formal tree, lots of red, white and silver.

Here is the family room tree...lots of Disney ornaments on this one. We moved it to the corner because the family room is also the main play room and has a lot more toys now than in years past. So the corner is a better fit now.

Here is our stockings and one section of the Santa's...I collect Santa's and with little ones I have had to alter the way they are displayed. So they are in a few sections in the house now, instead of all together but I really like how it turned out.

Nicholas is enjoying the Christmas trees. Tonight, he crawled up on the couch and was looking at the living room tree. He kept telling me he was hungry, but wouldn't leave the couch to come eat his dinner that was waiting for him.

Happy Holidays!

Our Weekend & Jackson's Birthday Party

I can't believe how fast this weekend went. Saturday I took Nicholas to the zoo to the Wild Art Zoo class. We made a Kamodo Dragon Puppet, but Nicholas lost interest as soon as she wanted us to paint with shaving cream. So I made the puppet and he played. After the class we walked through the ZooBoutique, ate some popcorn and watched the giraffes for a bit. Before heading home to get ready for Jackson's birthday party.

We celebrated Jackson's birthday with Nana & Grandpa Rettberg and Nana & Grandpa Carr

Jackson wasn't really interested in opening gifts. He would rather play.

Nicholas liked Jackson's toys. Especially the Little People Airport.

Time for birthday cake. Jackson wanted to take the tablecloth off the table. but we were party poopers that way and wouldn't let him.

He enjoyed his cake ... Full now... Happy Birthday Little J. We love you!

Happy Birthday My Little Man...

A year ago today you entered our lives and we will thankfully never be the same.

You are my sweet Little J, mommy's Peanut Butter Pie, our Mr. Squishy, Nicholas's Mai Me, and our funny JJ (the second J because you are definitely a Johnson, ;0 even if it isn't your last name).

Love this new smile you started doing....

You had no hesitation digging in and enjoying your birthday cupcake...

We love you Jackson!

Oh What a Night....

“Early November back in 2-0-9What a very crazy time As I remember what a night

Oh what a night, You know I didn't even know the game But I was never gonna be the same Was it crazy, oh yes what a night!

Oh, I got a funny feeling when he cried to soon And I, as I recall we watched the TV toons

Oh what a night! Doo dit doo dit dit doo dit doo dit dit’

(If you are too young, Google December 1963)

Yep! This was a dose of our day. After about 5 hours of sleep the boys woke up way too early and were cranky from the get go. Jackson barely took a nap and Nicholas (my great sleeper) refused to take one. So by the late afternoon it was crazy in these parts of Arizona.

I usually love my day’s home with the boys, but today work sounded like a great idea. I have a lot of patience with my kids (yes those that know me everywhere else won’t believe that) but it is very true. I said to Nicholas tonight that he had worn down my very last nerve and he had. I couldn’t wait to get them to bed.

Mike had planned and cooked us a fabulous dinner of beef tenderloin roast and scalloped potatoes with gruyere and smoked gouda cheeses. After we aborted a family dinner and decided to eat after they went to bed, Nicholas woke up as I was spooning out the dinner plates.

We watched about 25 minutes of TV (the shows never seem to last that long, but tonight they did). Then finally Mike and I enjoyed this fabulous dinner with a fantabulous bottle of Tobin James wine.

Then about 10 minutes ago Jackson started crying. He is relentless, no crying it out works for him. So Mike is giving him a bottle now. Happy! Happy! Joy1 Joy!

I did get a bit of scrapping done with the November Color Me Daisy Kit the past couple of nights.