We love the show Big Mouth so when I saw this personalized artwork on Etsy I had to get it. So we all now have a framed copy.
Besties as Big Mouth characters
Category Archives: Christmas
Look at my new infinity scarf!
Anna has gotten really good at crocheting and gave me this for Christmas!
Schwalm Christmas 2023
A Christmas surprise!
Since we missed going to Grayling for Christmas since Katie had Covid, we surprised them in Lansing for the Schwalm Christmas! We decided at about 10am that we could make it…and walked in to Beth and Jim’s as they were finishing dinner! SURPRISE!
Olive loves the kids’ new beanbag
Bah humbug.
Katie tested positive for Covid (her second time!)—she even took two tests. I blame the cesspool of middle school. Tom and I are as boosted as we can be so fingers crossed we don’t get it.
She was super upset and crying when we got the results—she really wanted to go to Gramma’s house. I’m just glad we decided to test her at all because we thought it was just a cold.
So regal.
Holiday nails!
Now it’s time for Christmas!
The Len Christmas in July is over!
It’s now just a gathering with food (lots of food!) and catching up…and euchre!
Plus we get the chance to get the kids together for comparison pics!! (They were all really good sports about it, too!)
Omg. Look what’s still up.
I just happened to be sitting on the couch (Nott my normal seat) add looked up. Oh. My. We were going to take them down at one point but got sidetracked. ..
Katie’s rescheduled holiday party
And her desk looks just like her room!
Amazing Christmas ornament craft!
I’m so excited about the Christmas ornament project I finally finished today (with moral support from Anna)!
INSPIRATION PHOTO:
I wanted to do this because we have soooo many ornaments that we don’t always get to use but I miss seeing. And I didn’t want a wreath because I had lots of big ornaments that wouldn’t have fit well around a wreath. (I used a deep mirrored tray.)
So the ornaments range from things I grew up with on my parent’s tree to handmade ornaments from both grandmas to mementos from family and vacations to favorite TV shows and hobbies and favorite things…and more!
I am soooo thrilled with how it turned out!
Second batch of Chex mix!
The kids missed giving gifts to their teachers since they had a snow day so they need to take them tomorrow! I had planned to give them some from the first batch but we ate it all. But loving my new oven!
My Christmas forest
These are all the trees I place all around the house…but I actually kind of like them all together. Maybe next year…
Napping with her new favorite toy.
Christmas dinner!
Anna and family went home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning but came back for Christmas dinner! Tom had wanted to smoke a prime rib…
It was delicious.
Already tuckered out!
My view on Christmas morning!
Presents have been opened. Katie was thrilled Santa got her the Ouija board she asked for but was upset it “didn’t work.” Tom liked seeing what he bought me…and everything we got the kids. And now the kids have disappeared…so Tom is napping and I’m reading a book with a cuddly dog.
Nuts and bolts!
Otherwise known by most as Chex mix. But it’s not your basic recipe from the back of the cereal box.
My mom has been making this for probably 45 years — though now it’s on a much smaller scale than before. She gifts each family a small container every Christmas and it’s never enough… So this year I decided to make some myself! I’ve made it before but it was so long ago I can’t even remember when it was.
The best part about making it yourself is putting in whatever you want! This is what I chose (the last box is peanuts).
All buttered and seasoned and ready to bake!
Laying out to cool…just like mom does on brown paper bags!
To be honest it wasn’t the best, but it was still damn addictive. I bagged up 7 small bags for some of the moms and the rest was gone within a week!
Christmas at the Shanty
We were looking forward to great food at the Shanty Christmas party…but long story short we were idiots and didn’t realize that “passed plates” meant hors d’oeuvres and not family style so we were all bummed. The things we had were decent, but not worth the wait or the cost. At least we got to meet up with a friend of ours for a little bit.
Let Christmas begin!
Anna, David, and the kids came over to stay with us for a few days! The impetus was a huge storm that was supposedly coming (the kids’ last half day of school was preemptively cancelled because of it) but also because we generally spend a lot of time together so why not just stay in the same house?!
Of course, Anna brought one of Kai’s old sweaters for Olive… But he got dressed up as well.
The best caramel corn ever!
If you love caramel corn but hate the hulls… We usually get it from Grannie every year but I made it this year!
Yes I’m wrapping gifts with an Olive on my lap.
She was whining to get up in my lap so… Yeah.
Botanical Gardens Lightscape
Admittedly I bitched a lot beforehand about Anna making us go to Lightscape (I’m turning into a major homebody as I get older!)…but it ended up to be super cool and I have apologized.
Christmas lights on my car!
I saw these on Amazon and had to try them. They are reflective — which is cool but obviously I can never see them because I’m in the car. And there was only enough to do this on both sides (unless I wanted to add more “string” between each bulb). Also, can’t wait to see if they stay on as the magnets aren’t that strong. But it’s cute, right?
The second best part about Thanksgiving!
Holiday decorations go up!
Tom hauls everything up, puts the tree together, then comes back to do the star. Unfortunately the lights in the star were dead and we didn’t realize until it was attached.
Here’s the new rule!
If I wasn’t so busy getting my house ready for our first huge Thanksgiving family dinner…my tree would already be up. You can bet it’s going up Thanksgiving weekend!
She wanted blue hair so she got blue hair!
We finally did Katie’s Christmas gift! And my friend Amy helped because I’d never done anything exactly like that before! (I could totally do it now, though, after watching!)
And after the shower… plus look how long her hair finally is!!
Great Wolf Lodge Surprises
Did you know that all Great Wolf Lodge waterparks are not the same?! I didn’t until this week.
Anna got a steal of a deal on a weekday suite so we took the kids for an overnight surprise before school starts again.
As broken-bodied adults, we were excited about the hot tub (and, to a lesser extent, the lazy river).
Until.
We learned that this particular GWL does not have a hot tub!! WHAAAAAT?! I know, right? Fail. Big BIG fail. Ughhhh.
And then we learned that the lazy river (among other things) wasn’t open because they were short-staffed.
GAHHHHHHHH!!!!! 0 for 2 does not make for a happy mom.
But the kids didn’t care. And they ended up opening the lazy river later in the day so Anna and I got to be floating blobs for two hours.
But the water wasn’t warm enough for me and the air temp felt too cold, too. I think maybe I’m too old for this.
After checkout, Anna and I managed to find a somewhat secluded couch to relax while the kids are back in the waterpark. We can actually stay until close (!) but I’m thinking we’ll just stay until lunch!
