Whew!

Today was a VERY busy day.  Double A, The Bean, The VH, Flower, Pippi, Tink, and Laughter were all here for Holidays!  Holidays is the tradition we started when DJ was 4 (she's 19 now), and try to do at least once a year, where we celebrate a bunch of holidays in one day because I'm usually not home for most of them.  So today we did:

Easter.  Each kid gets to dye 6 eggs, then we send them off on an errand and I hide the eggs (obviously it's too cold for the bunny to come do it).

 

Thanksgiving.  We eat Thanksgiving dinner, but very pared down.

We celebrate birthdays.  Each person gets a cupcake.  We've started doing only 1 candle for each, because between 7 kids and 4 adults, it would have been something like 304 candles.  11 are easier to light and blow out...

 

4th of July.  We got outside and do sparklers and smoke bombs.  There isn't always snow like this year, so this time we got to toss the smoke bombs in the snow and watch the results. 

Halloween.  We do face paint and the kids trick-or-treat around the house.

St. Patrick's Day.  We do a treasure hunt with clues to follow to find the Leprechaun's lost gold (gold wrapped chocolate).

Are you exhausted reading about it?  Because it's exhausting doing it!

 

We then all wore our matching owl pjs to the movie.  Because I am a dorky aunt who makes her nieces do stuff like that.

 

The movie was Moana, and it was a lot of fun.

Finally, today is Shoetopia's 4th blogiversary!  I think this shoe is hilarious and adorable.

Everyone is supposed to be spending the night, but sadly Pippi had a horrible headache all day and decided she wanted to go home after the movie, and Tink decided to go with her.  The VH has family stuff tomorrow so she couldn't say over.  I still have 4 kiddos sleeping over, though.

Speaking of kiddos, all of my nieces are amazing, but can I take a minute to brag on Double A and The Bean?  They still love to do Holidays, but they are also great with helping with the younger kids.  They're great with kids in general, and love hanging out with their cousins.  They are patient and kind and loving, and it makes my heart happy to watch them.  But now my happy heart and I are going to bed.

Let's Play Catch (up)

I know, I know.  But I got a sinus infection and slept a lot, went to the dr on Tuesday so I could get antibiotics before I flew home on Wednesday.  The flights actually went fairly well thanks to the antibiotics, sinus Tylenol, gum, orange juice, and plane sleeping.  So then I got to snuggle with my hubby, and get the world's most fabulous welcome home from the puppies.  We were pretty exciting on New Year's and went to bed at 9:30.  At any rate, I haven't posted in awhile.  When I got home  I had 6 weeks (can you believe I was gone for SIX weeks??) of the shoe calendar to go through.  Here are a few pages for you:

Not sure about the parents, but I like the shoe on the day of their anniversary.  It kind of reminds me of a dress my mom got to wear  in another wedding (this time when she was a flower girl) that was shimmery gold and pink.

I have no idea what this has to do with Thanksgiving.  I'm not sure the auntie would appreciate it for her birthday, either.  Although I guess it would probably keep your ankles warm on a cold November day?

 

These 2 are...interesting?  And by interesting I mean oh hell no.

I like these.  I think they would have been perfect for my Christmas lights post.  They aren't Christmas lights,  but they could be with a little imagination,

Another for the oh hell no category.

December 15th is my uncle's birthday.  I wonder if he would like these?  (heehee)

Do these say Silent Night to you?  Because they aren't really working for me for Christmas Eve.

This I can see for Christmas, though.  It's like a present with a fancy bow.

Ohhh...so THIS is what I should do with all of my old cassette tapes!

And finally, New Year's Eve.  It's shiny and sparkly, so that works, but It's not doing much for me really.  I don't think I need these for my next New Year's Eve party, thank you.

The end of another calendar.  When I got home the hubby was shocked I didn't have one for this year and kind of insisted I order one.  It came today (Sunday delivery?!).  We'll have to examine some shoes from the new one soon.

In other news, the hubby and I went to our friends J&S's house today to watch the Cowboys-Lions game.  I was watching football AND wearing a Cowboys sweatshirt.  Damn, am I a good wife or what?  I even (kind of) paid attention!

OH!  One more thing:  December 30th was my second blogiversary!  Apparently the calendar knows it's my anniversary:

Blue!  I don't need the fuzzy, but Blue!  And it was blue last year, too!  I approve.  Now let's go eat some chocolate to celebrate.