Showing off her fave new minifigs.
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Did someone say more rum punch?
We went over to Anna and David’s for Christmas Day dinner. And another batch of Dave’s amazing Trinidadian rum punch.
Daaaaamn. I guess I do like rum. Merry Christmas!
The Santa hats aren’t working this year.
I take these pics every year. This year they just aren’t working. The hat didn’t fit. Someone can’t find their hat. They have the wrong hat. They aren’t in the mood. They don’t look cute. The lighting is off. The pics don’t turn out. They have to have the tiny hands in them…
Sigh.
So this is what we have thus far.
I guess 7:15 wasn’t too bad.
Tom and I had both taken Tylenol PM so we were both zonked in the morning when the kids came in together at 7:15 with a loud MERRY CHRISTMAS and hopped in bed with us! We always leave their phones outside their doors so they can let us sleep longer but apparently 30 minutes was all they could handle!
I must be slacking on my old age because I didn’t take any pictures! But they started with their stockings and were thrilled to find a ton of Lego Minifigure packs so they started building those right away! Before we knew it, this is what the room looked like (and I think this is after one mid-opening cleaning).
Santa brought the kids a few things they asked for so they were thrilled—Owen got a game for his computer (he was super sneaky and actually installed it on the computer!) and some video game cash and Katie got some dolls she asked for.
Katie was proud of her wrapping job. And she knows me…it was a stemless wineglass that said BEST MOM EVER.
Then we video chatted with both sets of grandparents AND had a zoom call with the Schwalmlettes. (We might have been a little unprepared since we were thinking it was noon our time. But it was noon Eastern. I am never going to get used to being CST.)
I’ve got a little secret.
I posted this on Facebook and it was hilarious. Someone guessed it was a pillow. Someone said I didn’t have nail polish on. Someone said I had a ton of unread notifications.
But look at my tiny hands! The kids got these creepy rubber things in their stockings. They love them. They’re really weird. Stay tuned for more fun with them that I’m sure will come soon…
Santa was here!
I woke up about 12:45 because I thought I heard something. I went out to look and yep—Santa had been here! The kids’ bags were moved (and filled!) and the cookies were missing!
Christmas Eve with our bubble!
If I haven’t mentioned it, we have created a bubble with our good friends Anna and David. Each family quarantined for two weeks and we always wear masks when we are with anyone outside our bubble—and even try to avoid prolonged visits with anyone outside the bubble. So we do hang out with each other a lot.
We usually share Hello Fresh dinners but decided to splurge tonight on not one, not two, but three orders of our favorite octopus appetizer from our favorite restaurant (Primo) and a homemade charcuterie board. That was seriously all Tom, Anna, David, and I wanted. Easy peasy.
We didn’t take one single picture of our amazing dinner, but it was delicious. We might also have drank an entire batch of Dave’s amazing rum punch and watched Christmas Chronicles with the kids. I’m not naming names but someone fell asleep.
Then we got ready for Santa!
We left out Girl Scout cookies because Katie texted Santa and asked if he liked them and gave him a choice and he picked the chocolate and peanut butter ones. The candy cane is for the reindeer.
I absolutely love the letters both kids left for Santa. Owen thanked him for being awesome (and gave him a spot for a Robux code) and Katie wanted Santa to write his name.
And this was where Maggie was. Maybe sneakily waiting for Santa, too?
My Christmas Eve look(s)!
I started with Pink Champagne lips and it looked okay…but that color is really just too light for me.
So since I am trying to redo ALLLL my color collage photos, I tried two other colors. My favorite is the Sheer Berry.
But check this out. I had Anna try the same Pink Champagne color and look at how different it looks! That’s simply due to the different color of our lips—hers are much more pigmented then mine!
Me and my bestie.
She can stop growing up now.
We did a thing tonight!
I let her wear LipSense now and again and today was one of those days—and she always picks Skyline! So tonight I decided to just start adding some makeup…I’m not great at it (I’m barely good at it on myself) but she didn’t care and loved everything. I can’t believe she’s only 8.
I even made her do the full makeup removal and face washing routines to hopefully show her it’s not all fun so she won’t want to do it. We’ll see.
She’s been BEGGING for fake nails.
She has loved fake nails forever and always plays with them so I finally I let her buy some…and they were actually super cheap and didn’t stick so I eventually got her nail glue. I tried to get her to use the shorter ones she had but she wanted these. She is in heaven.
A fort sleepover!
I helped Katie build a fort today and she loved it so much she played in there all day and then invited Owen to sleep in there with her tonight!
Cookie decorating!
We haven’t done cookie decorating because I just don’t have the patience. Buuuuut Anna wanted to do it so we tried. And even though there was a bit of a shaky start…Katie was actually pretty good at the whole thing. I was impressed. Owen doesn’t like sugar cookies so he did like one cookie and that was it. Tom and I even got into it.
Frontera in my own kitchen!
We did a Frontera pickup today from Dwell Social. It’s a bit more prep than just dining at a restaurant, but we didn’t have to drive to Chicago, so it’s a win. This photo is missing most of the main courses but trust me, it was all there.
Short Rib Enchiladas
Six homemade heirloom corn tortillas, each wrapped around braised Creekstone Farms beef short rib, roasted local gold potatoes, tomato-guajillo chile sauce, Samuel’s artisan Jack cheese. Served with black beans and chocolate-pecan pie bars for dessert.
Tacos al Carbon
Wood-grilled Creekstone skirt steak and Gunthorp Farms chicken breast along with everything you need to make fabulous tacos: guacamole, roasted poblano rajas, black beans, classic Gulf-style rice, grilled knob onions, shishito peppers, two salsas and handmade tortillas with heirloom corn from Oaxaca, Mexico. Finish off with Mexican vanilla flan for a sweet ending.
Guacamole and Chips
Mashed Michoacán avocados, local Mighty Vine tomato, serrano chile, cilantro, lime. House-made tortillas chips served with red three chile salsa & green roasted tomatillo salsa.
Queso Fundido
Samuel’s artisanal Jack cheese, garlicky roasted peppers, and homemade chorizo served with heirloom corn tortillas.
BAR SÓTANO CRISPY TLAYUDA (TOSTADA) STARTERS
Six crispy Oaxacan tlayudas (rustic tostadas) with 2 toppings:
- Avocado Mash (luxurious Michoacan avocado, roasted poblano, pomegranate, fresco cheese).
- Local Corn Esquites (serrano chile, epazote, chintextle crema, queso fresco).
Mom Squad Zoom Christmas
Kim Ho Ho Ho’ed everyone today with treats and a #momsquad wine glass for our Secret Santa exchange…
We had a great time but can’t wait to see each other in person again…
I like less wrinkles and longer lashes!!
Just going through some old photos and I’m gobsmacked at the difference in my eyes and my lashes!
He has their attention.
Who knew I actually liked Honey Rose?!
Honestly this lip color isn’t one of my go-tos and I think it’s a bit more of a spring or summer color but I grabbed it this morning anyway and frankly I’m kinda loving it. You just never know. Tastes change. Lip colors look different with different clothes and different color makeup. So today I’m totally rocking it!! The blue sweater doesn’t hurt either!!
I’m gonna need a bigger skirt.
So the problem with my dream 12′ tree is that you need oversize accessories. More ornaments. BIGGER ornaments. A bigger star. A bigger tree skirt. (And this stuff is kinda stupid expensive.) Amazon didn’t have much in the way of 72″ tree skirts (typical ones are 48″) so I called on my friends to help me. And they came through. After we parsed out the $200 skirts, this is what I ended up ordering for $59! Yay!
More Christmas up in here!
This isn’t the best pic, but you can see my new Hobby Lobby clearance trees and reindeer above the TV. And the stockings hanging below the TV on hooks Anna gave us since they can’t use them.
I still need to figure out what to do on the topmost shelf…it looks odd to have the regular glass jars, candles, and rooster up there with Christmas all around…so stay tuned.
The tree that friends built.
I wasn’t sure what color scheme I wanted to do with my tree. My friend Britt has a gorgeous red/gold/silver tree that I thought about trying to duplicate…
…but when I went to Hobby Lobby with Anna (to get some clearance Christmas decorations and (hopefully) ornaments) they had nothing with color that I liked. I did get a few generic items like silver deer heads and neutral burlap balls—as a start.
And then.
Anna said she had a whole bucket of unbreakable purple ornaments I could have. I had thought about purple but didn’t really want a PURRRPLE tree. But as soon as she showed them to me I knew they were perfect. They are in the dusty lilac plum family.
So now I need to find some bigger ornaments in those colors. And get some ribbon (right now we’re just testing it out with a few lengths Anna had on hand). And maybe add some snowflakes or icicles…
Anyone else do this with lip balm?
I typically use a mini binder clip but it’s gone missing in the move. You might think I’m being cheap but really I just don’t want to waste a single bit of this “liquid gold”—it’s legit the best balm I’ve ever used. I will even cut it open once I can’t squeeze any more out! No shame in my game, y’all! (Grab yourself some here from my site, or just hit me up! You won’t be sorry!)
Busted!
Parenting is always an adventure!
Tonight Tom and I were going to bed about 10:30 and I heard voices upstairs. What? Tom snuck up and caught Katie FaceTiming with Gramma Jean! GRRR! She knows devices aren’t allowed at night. She knows her bedtime. (That said, it was cute but she’s such a stinker to think she can get away with it. On a school night no less. When she knows she’s not really even supposed to have her device.)
I called Gramma immediately and she just told me yes they were talking and Katie was helping her with something on the iPad. I wasn’t mad at my mom for sure but just frustrated with Katie. Neither kid makes good decisions when it comes to technology and Tom and I are at our limits. (I don’t think I mentioned this, but about two weeks ago Katie lost her devices for an indeterminate amount of time because she downloaded TikTok and Instagram on her phone!)
Gramma said: Busted! Katie has been calling me on Face Time pretty late in the evening, certainly past her bedtime. Last night she was trying to teach me how to record a video instead of typing. Jen and Tom were downstairs watching TV and then started turning off everything to head to bed. Tom heard some noise and they discovered Katie on her iPad. OOPS. Jen called me immediately and Tom said “gramma is grounded!”
My small win for the day!
I love it when a random clothing purchase (the gorgeous tank top I got in my favorite online boutique) just happens to match one of my favorite Lularoe cardigans. ❤️ I’m also legit stuffed into a pair of jeans today for the first time in two or so weeks just to see if I could. They’re not super comfy but I can still button and zip them so I’m calling it a win.
Cheers! It’s a strawberry margarita kind of night.
Christmas decorating injury!
Bent over to pick up a snowman head off the floor and smacked my own head right into the corner of the mantle.
We got my bucket list tree!
I have always wanted a huge Christmas tree! My dad used to get a 2-story tree and I loved it. My cousin gets a 2-story tree and I love it. But we’ve just never had the room for one—and even if we did at one point…the next house we moved to might not fit it. So when we found our forever house and it has super tall ceilings, I knew what was going to happen. But of course I didn’t want to spend the $900 Costco was asking for their 14′ tree, so I figured I would wait until the clearance sales after the holidays and see what deals I could get.
Well…Costco was out of trees by mid-November so there would be no discount Costco tree. Sam’s Club was even out of them! So I resigned myself to probably paying full price next year.
And then Tom and I ran into Sam’s this morning and while we were browsing…I saw my 12′ slim tree on clearance for $259! WHAAAAAT?!?! Yes, please!
And the best part? Dad and Linda had wanted to get us a housewarming present and we hadn’t really been able to think of anything perfect…so the tree was our gift! It’s soooo perfect!!!
I don’t have any decorations for it but those will come with further clearance sales!!
ADDENDUM: Two days later Anna was at Sam’s Club and told me it was reduced even more so I went back and got $100 credited!
He’s my lobster.
This was going around Facebook so I finally did it. The sad thing is I really had to think about the engagement year!
Met ♥️ 1997
Dating ♥️ 1997
Engaged ♥️ 1999
Married ♥️ 2001
Still Together ♥️ 2020
Bonus points if you know the reference.
Bingo! A super easy, super fast look.
I swear. Most mornings I say “I’m just going to put some CCTM on!” And then, well, I have to do my brows. And really, shadow just takes like a minute or two. And since I have the darker shadow out I’ll just use that for a quick blush. And now that pretty much my whole face is done, I have to do my lashes and I HAVE to use Primer. But I drew the line today at LipSense and just did gloss!
Katie’s Christmas Wishlist
This showed up on my pillow tonight. I’ve only been asking for their lists for a month now…so the chances of her actually getting any of this is pretty low since I’m done shopping and I refuse to pay last-minute prices or go out shopping in throngs of people.
But just look at that list. It starts off all normal and then WHAM! Bunk bed and pool? And her own YouTube channel? And a hamster and kitten? I just can’t even.
