Christmas Festivities

Finally a post on our Christmas Festivities :)

*warning there are a lot of pics and this is a looooong post*

Our pretty tree with all the gifts...

Christmas Eve - Billy had to work so I spent the day around the house cleaning and doing laundry. We went to his sisters house around 5:00. For his side of the family it's his parents, his sister and her husband and their two kids Lo is 5 and Jordy is 7, then us. They decided this year that we weren't going to exchange presents, it was going to be all about the kids. So we brought Billy's niece and nephew each 4 presents to open. Of course the kiddos wanted to open presents first thing so they ripped in to the gifts ;) I forgot my camera at home that night so I don't have any pics of the kids. They were darling as always and loved their gifts. After presents the adults hung out at the table and I played baby dolls with Lo for the next hour. Fun times, I was a doctor for a while, then we took our babies to the mall and the zoo...haha! Maybe next year we'll have our own baby and I won't be playing dolls all night ;) Although playing with his niece was quite entertaining, esp when she brought her baby to the doctor and told me the baby had diarrhea! haha!! His sister cooked us a delicious meal of chicken alfredo lasagna, ham and a few salad side dishes, everything was so yummy!! We had a wonderful night with his family :)

Christmas Day - We slept in and were told by my mom late in the morning to come whenever because the food was all ready. We decided to let Gus open his presents, he gets so excited. It's so cute watching him try to get his new "babies" out....

Gussy with his head in the bag....

baby in his mouth before off the package....

penguin in the mouth....

Gus in his new snuggie....
We went over to my parents house around noon and started playing games right away. We played some Wii bowling and then Would You Rather while snacking. If you haven't ever played Would Your Rather, I totally suggest it. It was a lot of fun and we played for 2 hours and didn't even realize how quick the time went! After that game we had to have a Wii bowling tournament in the basement. My parents haven't had a big tv in over a year so it was a big deal for us all to be able to all play bowling again. I love playing that game, it never gets old. I think we were downstairs playing Wii for the next 3-4 hours, we totally lost track of time.

Finally we decided around 9:00 to go upstairs and open presents. My brothers friend randomly showed up at the house so they talked for a while, then my parents neighbors showed up....it was 9:30 before the first present got opened. Also, we hadn't even eatten dinner yet. ha! So Dominic opens his first present and it's a snowman decorating kit from my Aunt, so they went outside to put the parts on the already built snowman.

my brother and Dom with Frosty...Once they were back inside and all the guests left we finally played our gift exchange game!! It was around 10:00! Christmas this year was a bit different than years past but so much fun :)

Billy ended up with a Magic Bullet (which was put to good use the other night, he made me a blizzard!). I ended up with a serving platter and a fancy little vacuum to use on our hardwood floors, I love it! It was so strange not to exchange gifts with everyone this year. It was pretty much all about DOMINIC! :) Which was just perfect! He loved all his gifts. Here are a few pics...

Dominic riding Thomas....

"reading" the back of the book, we always get him a Christmas book....

Gma and Gpa got him a big safari set...

auntie Lexie got a head massager and Dominic loved it!

have any of you ever tried one of these things?

i thought it felt really creepy on my head!

B playing with D and the new safari....

i'm not sure when, where or why Dom lost his pj's! ha!

LASTLY......

We did get a yummy dinner of french dips and au jus, around 11....twas scrumptious ;)

here are some random pictures from throughout the night
me and my boo, he sure looks handsome...

my parents :)

my brother and his fiance Gina...

Dom having fun with uncle Billy....
nothing new here, Dom and Joey fighting....
mom with her beer and it's cute koozie, ha....

Dominic being a ham, dancing for us...

Billy and I didn't exchange gifts this year either so that was different....this year everything was different about Christmas but it was still WONDERFUL!!! I am just happy I got to spend so much time with our families and enjoy everyone's company! We had so much fun with everyone!

If you are still with me here, you can go ahead and pat yourself right on the back....

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

3 Wonderful Years

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!! :)
It was so nice to have 6 days off although the time flew by!
I think I slept between 10-12 hours every night, ha.
The one night I had 5 hours of sleep, I took a nap the next day...a nap that was over 4 hours long! I might have kept sleeping but Billy insisted I wake up so I could sleep that night ;)

I feel like we did a lot in the past week with Christmas and all so I decided I'd write a few posts instead of one huge one.

On Tuesday night (a week ago) Billy and I celebrated 3 years together. We got a hotel room at one of the big casino's in Minnesnowta and we saw a show, Cirque Dreams Holidaze (not a Cirque du Soleil show). It was awesome!! We had such a fun night!

I got to the hotel around 4 to check in and get ready, Billy got there around 5:30. We ordered some room service and had some drinks in the room. The hotel/casino is a "alcohol free" so we could only drink in our room. I was naughty and snuck in the LQ and I thought I was totally busted when the bell boy asked to check my bag. I slowly unzipped it hoping the bottle was on the bottom of the bag, thankfully it was and the guy saw my crackers and juice and let me close the bag back up....phew ;)

After we shared our sandwich and some beverages we headed to the show. It was an hour and a half of non-stop entertainment. It was in a new theater and our seats were great. After the show Billy wanted to gamble. We agreed on a $100 " gambling allowance". I don't gamble but Billy enjoys it. He went through $70 real quick. Once he got on his "favorite" machine, one that he had previously won money on. He put in the last $20 of his money and he won $400! I was so excited for him! That more than paid for our entire night! After gambling we went to a noodle bar and had some really yummy chinese food then just wandered around the casino doing some people watching ;) It was around 1:00 when we got back to our room.

Billy had to leave early the next morning for hockey so I woke up when he did and ordered breakfast for myself...eggs, bacon, sausage and toast oh and hashbrowns. It was the perfect ending to our perfect 3 year celebration. I just realized how much of a pig I am. I was barely at the hotel for 16 hours (a few of which I slept) and I ate 3 big meals, hahaha. i also haven't been to the gym in a week so i'm feeling slugish.

Here are the only pics I have from the night, Billy doesn't like to take pics with me and the self timer so I'm lucky if I can get in a few with him....

oh, how i love him! :)

after looking at all these pictures and most of the pictures our camera has taken recently , i think it's just about time for a new one. i really dislike our camera.

anywho, i hope everyone has a happy tuesday!!

a little of this & a little of that

first, a little of THIS weekend....

Friday
I had to babysit until 1:00 in the morning.

Saturday
I finished and put away mountains of laundry.
Then I went over to one of my friends house to spend the day baking with her.
We baked 3 different kinds of cookies, I only took one tupperware full home. I don't need cookies laying around our house ;)
Billy and I got home around the same time early that evening and decided to go have some pizza. We came back home and watched the WILD hockey game and I wrapped presents.

Sunday
I went to the gym then cleaned the house, finished Christmas shopping and present wrapping.
Then we went to my parents house and made homemade pizzas and watched the Survivor finale. Billy ended up winning the pot of money! woo hoo! :)
I was surprised Natalie won but hey, worked out great for us!

Here are a few pics from pizza baking last night....

making our pizzas....
Dominic loves black olives, I think he ate them all.

I love how his mouth is open anxiously awaiting the black olive he dropped on the counter ;)

D helping himself to some italian spices ;)
the guys making their pizzas...

after din, dominic being a stinker.... he is pulling my sisters hair.

he walked behind her chair and i happened to take a pic right when he grabbed it.

Dom fighting with Joey, notice Joey's mouth around Dom's wrist.

These two rough house with each other all the time, ha!

D kept getting into Grandma's decorations and throwing them so he had a time out in the corner ;)

playing with auntie lexie, Dominic gives great eskimo kisses....

sometimes we are mean aunties and we tease the baby ;)

Dominic likes to line up Grandma's Hallmark snowmen and press all the buttons...

second, a little of THAT….

I wasn't planning on posting today because I don't like posting when I can't comment but then I figured I have off the next 6 days so that will be plenty of time to catch up (or so I hope)!

I am SO happy I have 6 days off!!! We have plans every night so I know the time off is going to go quick. I'm excited for Christmas and all of our fun plans though!!

I hope everyone has a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and/or a happy holiday season!!!!

roses and thorns

* It's FRIDAY!!

* Christmas is a week away!

* I only have to work ONE day next week!

* I had a very productive day off yesterday, went to the gym, got a haircut and I am now almost done with my Christmas shopping. Billy happened to have the day off as well ;)

* The fam came over for din last night and I made homemade potato soup, it was delicious!

* I have a meeting at work today, the title of the meeting is "GOOD NEWS". I'm excited for that meeting!!

* My work holiday party is today from 1:00-4:00, drinks and apps with the law firm at a restaurant in our building.

* I'll be baking tomorrow with one of my good friends that I haven't seen in a while.

* I can't wait for next week, Billy and I have so many fun things planned!!

* I have a boss who is impossible to shop for, has everything that he could possibly want and I have NO IDEA what to get him for Christmas. He loves fishing and hunting. Any ideas?!?

* My Pops could still use your prayers, he has been laid off for a year now. He is beyond ready to be working again!

Life really is pretty great right now!!
I LOVE this time of the year!
Happy Holidays my sweet friends!
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!!

get on the bus gus

i dont know why but my mom always says that to gus, ha! gus has a million nicknames, i tend to call him pookie, baby G, gus the bus, gussy....that list could go on and on. billy calls him boogie (said like boooo-g). anywho, last night gussy and i spent the evening together, billy had hockey. i went to the gym and then came home to catch up on blog reading. gus has ADD or restless leg syndrome and can never sit still on my lap for more than a few minutes unless i'm sitting/laying still. last night while on the comp gus only lasted on my lap a minute or two so i brought his bed and blankie in the office room. gussy is such a sweet happy puppy, I just love him. here are some pics from last night....

he laid down so i covered him with his blanket....

that didn't last long, he ended up walking around with it on...

happy puppy, by one of his toy bins...

please excuse the cords!

i think he was looking at me thinking...
momma, why are you always taking pictures of me?! ;)

thanks for the suggestions yesterday for gifts! i would totally give giftcards but my mom made some rule that we couldn't buy giftcards! i think i'll be hittin up bed bath & beyond. i like the movie package idea as well so i might see if i can find some movies, my family tends to buy dvd's all the time so that might be tough. i'll be doing my shopping on thursday so i don't have to go out this weekend, i know it's going to be crazy out there! i was planning to take friday off but our company holiday get together is friday afternoon so i decided to take of thursday instead.

i don't know if ya'll have super targets by you but that is my favorite place to grocery shop. i picked up some garlic rosemary baked chips while i was there last time and i have to say i'm totally addicted to them! try them!! i'm a junk food addict but i'm trying to be better these days so i figured baked chips were better for me than regular chips ;)

in other good news, my bus route changed and now my bus picks me up right outside the building i work in!!! this is awesome, now i don't have to walk 4 blocks and stand outside in the freezing cold weather!! it is -2 here today! frickin' cold!!!

i'm sending out my cards today, i apologize now....
they are a blurry mess :(
cute still.....just blurry! haha!
i should mention they include the entire fam!
ya'll pretty much know my fam by now anyway, right?!?

ha, that was a random post....
have a great day everyone!!

p.s. sorry for not capitalizing anything!

weekend recap...

I had a 3 day weekend and I didn't do anything productive....including no Christmas shopping! YIKES! I really need to get on that. Thankfully we don't have many presents to buy this year. Billy's family decided we weren't swapping gifts, just buying for the kids. My family is doing a gift game where everyone brings one present around $40 and we draw numbers and make a swap/stealing game out of the gifts. It's practically impossible to buy the gift (let alone 2) because I can't think of one thing that everyone in my family would love. Any ideas??

We do already have gifts for all the kiddos.

I didn't take any naps this weekend ;) & I don't think I was lazy but thinking back over my 3 days, I didn't do all that much.

FRIDAY

Gym

Laundry

Target

Babysat 6 hours during the night

SATURDAY

Gym

Cleaned the house

Finished laundry

Put away 4 baskets full of laundry

Babysat another 6 hours at night

SUNDAY

Slept in

Took Dominic to the zoo with my sister

D had an auntie day

We also had lunch with uncle Billy

After, I went to the gym

Then Billy and I went to my parents house for sloppy joes and homemade mac n cheese!!

We were at home and sleeping by 9:00

I guess my weekend of not doing much wore me out ;)

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!

I'm so glad some of you ladies wanted to swap holiday cards!!

I plan to get mine out today/tomorrow!!

Have a great day my sweet bloggy friends!!

baby, it's cold outside

It is my Thursday ;)
SO glad i have a 3 day weekend!
This weekend I HAVE to get some present shopping done!
We are behind on our shopping this year.
We’ve had a few unexpected set backs recently.

Today in the frozen tundra,
we are having a blizzard!
It is super windy and snow is a fallin.

I don't like snow, being cold or bundling up.

I know I live in the wrong state.

Work is crazy busy, go figure!
I know that is a good thing though.
I’ve started blogging at night to attempt to stay caught up on ya'll!!

Did anyone watch Biggest Loser last night?!

What a great finale!!!

This was my first season watching, I'm officially hooked!

I want to share a couple pics from this weekend.
Saturday, my brother and Dominic came over to watch the WILD hockey game.
Sunday, I just cleaned and did laundry.
We made quite the mess on Saturday night.
We had a lot of fun playing though.

Anyone out there want to exchange holiday cards?

I have done this with a few blogger friends so I’m curious if anyone else is interested?!

I love getting cards in the mail!!

If so, email me - chaptersofourlife@yahoo.com