PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

I love our New Years Eve tradition to have a sleepover with our long time friends and all the kids!

The annual New Years Eve photo!!

Adult Swim!

Cheers!

Evan and Momma - New Years Selfie!

All the kiddos are ready to toast the New Year!

Ready for the final countdown! 3, 2, 1!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

David stayed at my brothers house for a couple days and had the chance to ride the 4 Wheeler, so when I went to pick him up, Uncle David gave the littles a quick ride to try it out!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

David getting a chance to ride my brothers 4 Wheeler!  It took him a bit to get used to it, but he eventually got the hang of it and now he wants one of his own.  *insert eye roll*

Finally getting a chance to watch a family movie in the new media room.

Venom

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

Christmas morning!  The boys were so great about letting everyone sleep in until 7am!  They were up around 5am though.

Ready to go downstairs!

Santa gifts have been wrapped in this paper for the last 8 years.  Last night we wrapped the very last gift in this paper. I cannot believe how long it lasted.  I was never able to find it anywhere after I first bought it.

Ready to open some gifts from Santa!

Shaun reads the letter that Santa left!

Merry Christmas 2018

Cousins

Evan had Connor for Kids Secret Santa and he was so excited to give him this shirt!

When you Auntie to give you cash for Christmas you know it's not going to come in an envelope!

Frozen Money!

25 individually wrapped dollar bills!

A perfect medium rare!

Be careful with those cookies, they're FRAGILE!!

Right after Thanksgiving, I sent my sister a message asking her for ideas on what to get my almost 19 year old nephew, my sister told me he really wanted a Golden State Warriors jersey.  I told her I would get that and to not give the idea to anyone else.  Fast forward to a couple days before Christmas and I get a message asking if I ended up getting the jersey because he had told her how he couldn't wait for Christmas morning because he was looking forward to opening up his new jersey so he could wear it for the game they were playing on Christmas night.  She had to make sure that I got the jersey because it was one of the only things he had put on his list and wanted it so badly! 

I assured her it was all set and then as a joke I asked her if I should wrap a decoy gift to punk him!  And she told me that it would be hilarious and to do it.  I started to brainstorm ideas and when I was searching AmazonPrime for joke gifts (because it was 2 days before Christmas eve when this all went down), I came across a funny Reindeer Mankini!  I sent a screen shot to my sister and she immediately called me and told me I had to get the mankini!  I was hesitant because this is my nephew but he's pretty much an adult now and maybe would find it funny.  Unfortunately because I waited too long to hit submit, that particular one wasn't going to arrive in time, but I was able to find a man thong with a fancy bow tie, and she told me to do it!  So I did and this was the reaction! 

When he finally opened the jersey he was stoked!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

It's my most favorite time of year!  It felt a bit more hectic than usual with the cat drama, the extra holiday parties and our trip to NYC, but we managed to get it mostly done and had a great time with our families!

The annual Christmas pajamas

This year was my niece's first Christmas (she'll be one in January!), it was so fun to include her in some of our Christmas Eve traditions with the boys!

Evie in the mix!

Cutest little reindeer!

Last year I tried to buy David a reindeer onesie to go with his brother's Elf and Santa jammies.  It wasn't easy but I finally found one that was available in a 12.  Well I guess I didn't read the fine print because when it arrived in the mail it was a 12 MONTH onsie!  Meant for a toddler!  I ended up finding an adult sized one and had it shipped and then gifted the baby one to my SIL who was 8 months pregnant with my neice at the time!

Fast forward to this year and it fit her perfectly and she was just adorable in it!  David still had his one from last year and couldn't resist the opportunity to be twinsies with his cousin for this cute picture!

There is a story here...

The annual reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas!

All is calm!

Santa has left the building! And a total miracle that he made it before midnight! 🎅👏🎄

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

Dad was on-call today so the boys and I went to see Mary Poppins Returns!  They love Lin-Manuel Miranda!

Mary Poppins Returns!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

David's Holiday band concert!

Photo credit - Fellow Band Parent

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

All dressed up for their holiday concert with the Purple Finches! 🎶

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

Honor roll for David and his friend!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

Shaun's 5th grade holiday concert!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

Last night our little guy got his foot stuck in the step ladder and we found him hanging by his leg.  Later that night it became pretty clear that something was wrong with his leg because he wasn't moving and he was using his front paws to drag himself across the carpet (like an army crawl).

I called the vet first thing in the morning and got an appointment to have him seen.  He had an xray done and we found that he had a dislocation and fracture of his leg at the growth plate that connects his leg to his hip.  The vet recommended a surgery consult and so we headed to the recommended animal hospital over in Portsmouth.

My poor buddy!

Snuggling in my coat while we waited for the results of the x-ray

At the animal hospital, we waited in their emergency room for the surgeon to come and consult.  When he finally came in he told me that at this time he didn't recommend a surgery because it was a tricky spot and if he could self regulate and modify his movements - he might be better off healing on his own.  My instructions were to confine him to a room with no furniture!  I wasn't sure how we would make that happen, but we did move them to our upper floor to prevent him from following us around going up and down the stairs.  This should be an interesting couple of weeks!

Waiting for the surgeon

Somebody missed us while we were gone today!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

Decorating the tree!

This is why these cats give me gray hairs!

Looking like Christmas!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

Taking in another show while Charlie learns about heart stuff! 🎭😊

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

We decided to check out the two part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  It was amazing.  Even better than I imagined.  The special affects were outstanding.  How they made it work on stage was so impressive!  I would highly recommend it!

So excited!

PROJECT 12M ~ December 2018

When I learned we'd be heading to NYC, I immediately started to research how to get tickets to see the Late Show.  The last time we went to NYC, we walked past the theater just as it finished taping and I decided that the next time we did this trip, I had to make it happen.  The tickets are free, but they only add them in batches so I got in the habit of checking the website every couple days.  When the tickets for our day became available I immediately put in the request for tickets!  Now that doesn't actually mean you get tickets, that just means you're on the wait-list.  We wouldn't find out we made it off the wait-list until a week before.

Once I saw we made it off the wait-list I clicked to accept the tickets.  I was so excited.  Until we realized, as I read more about the process on our way down, that our tickets (which were GENERAL ADMISSION) didn't actually guarantee we would get into see the show.  We had to wait in a special line across the street and hope that 2 people with PRIORITY tickets decided not to go.  The staff comes out to start the line up process about 2pm.  We decided we would wait it out and see.  It wasn't that cold out and we didn't have any other plans.  PRIORITY ticket holders have until 4pm on the dot to show up and claim their spot, otherwise they end up in the back of our line and we get their spot!  Turns out it was worth the wait because, at 4pm we found out that we were going to be able to get in to see the show!

Seeing how the show worked was a lot of fun.  I'm glad we did it and I would certainly do it again if we were lucky enough to get PRIORITY tickets.  It's totally random so you just never know until you get off the wait-list.  If we ended up with GENERAL tickets, I would decline because it's just such a long time standing outside and we were lucky enough to have the experience this time!

We're in! Can't wait to see one of our favorites!