Yes this is a Christmas post even though it is January 23. Don't judge me.

Snappy title don't you think??

 Jacob got some Beats for Christmas.  He was pretty pumped about it because they are headphones that are just STUPID expensive.  But I got them back in June on clearance.  Yep. I rock.

 Out of order....

The day of my birthday we had to help Jon's mom move from her house that she has lived in for almost 50 years into an apartment.  So there wasn't much celebrating.  But the day after Jacob asked, "Mom, do we have any candles? I want to put one in one of the Christmas tree cakes that you like for your birthday."  After letting him know how touched and thrilled I was at this thought, I got up to get a candle.  While I was gone, he looked at Jon and said, "Top that."  #thisboy

 He got a new Alabama blanket from Grammy that he LOVES

 Morgan and I got new matching boots. Cuz that's how we roll.  The funny thing?  It is SO difficult to find boots that fit Morgan's calves because she has big feet and skinny legs.  These boots fit both of our calves.  It was kind of like Sisterhood of the Boots.

 I made some treats to take to the crew on Christmas eve.  Our long time assistant Deandre, who always shares our last name and we tell all the new people we are related even though he is black, is allergic to nuts so I made him his own batch of fudge that didn't come anywhere near nuts or nut products.

 So one day I was walking down an aisle at Walmart and passed this.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  Then I realized it was just a joke gift box.  So of course I promptly paid $3 for it and used it to put Josh's gift in.  I didn't record him opening it because I was afraid it would arouse suspicion, but let's just say I totally had him convinced that it was real and I thought it was awesome.  To make it even more seemingly legit, I put one of Jacob's sport water bottles in there and taped a gift card to it.  It was pretty great.  I hadn't even told Jon about it so afterward even he said, "I was just sitting there thinking, 'is she serious? does she really think this is good?' "   #takethathughes

 That's a cute Maveroo playing with his glow worm from his Shae Shae.

 Gonzo got some candy cane -shaped bones.  And loved them.

 Hallie's last Christmas in their house.  They are moving in a few months.

 Jacob with his new iPod and beats.  He had an iPod already, but it was the 1st generation, which means it couldn't do a whole lot, and no memory to do it with.  Plus I had bought it for really cheap about 4 years ago from an employee so it was REALLY beat up.

 Morgan, Jacob, and I have a tradition where we make and decorate a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake.  Well, Morgan continued the tradition this year with me...

 Maveroo loving his new car from Mama and Daddy.

 Minecraft books. It's a video game thing.

 I put a nail trimmer kit in Hallie's stocking which she promptly used on Mav's nails

 Jacob got some new (sports) necklaces and bracelets.
**That brace on his elbow? When you have a boy, or a Hallie, you will have a supply of all kinds of braces-ankle, knee, elbow, finger, etc.  On the last day of school Jacob was playing football in the street with friends, was tackled and bruised his elbow really badly.  And because he is a boy, he kept forgetting about it being hurt and would run and hurl himself through the house and hurt it worse.  So I made him wear the brace to remind him to be careful.
**When you have a Hallie you know that constant injuries don't just apply to little boys.  Seriously, all those braces I have? They are left over from Hallie's school days.

 New Beats, new hoodie, new socks, new shoes.  

 Playing with the pod.

 I surprised Abby with a Nook.  She loved it !!! I was so happy.  The best part about the whole thing was that when I bought it, I brought it home and wanted to make sure it worked right so I connected it to my Barnes and Noble account.  When I did that it of course automatically loaded all my books to her Nook!! It was great and I didn't even think about that happening.  So in the bottom pic she is thumbing through all the books.

 Mom got Michael and me each a "perfect pancake" maker.

 She also got this sticker for my door.  She was really proud of it.

 I got a $20 credit for Shutterfly AFTER I had already bought all the calendars, books, etc that I usually buy for gifts.  So I went on the site looking for something cool to spend it on (because of course I couldn't let it go to waste!) and found that they make table runners now!!! I made this one for mom and it is such GREAT quality!! I was really happy with it.  In the middle I put the Italian word for family.

Hallie's family at Zoo lights.

Christmas Part 2

I saw a person making and selling these on Facebook, thought it was SO cute, but she was asking $125. What.  Well, I thought, I can do that. Yea. With a little lot of  help from Hallie, Jon, and a neighbor with a vinyl letter maker.

 Basically all I did was paint the black arm and the little black thing at the bottom that the strings are attached to.  Oh, and I distressed them.  Hallie painted the guitar, Jon attached the arm with screws sticking out so I could wrap the strings, and a neighbor made the letters and came up with the idea to put the ribbon and pics at the top. I did glue the ribbon and pick the pictures...

Reading the card:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKMd6ZbV5yo

opening it (not sure why it is two separate videos): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5rstZMlyYE

*Jacob is like a puppy desperate for attention.  Good grief

 Strolling through Target one day. 

 One of our assistants bought the Home Depot cup for Jon for Christmas.  Pretty awesome.

 Mav's first Santa pic!

 A cheap train set Jon bought at Goodwill.  Seriously.  They were both obsessed with it.

 Jacob's little tree in his room

 This yellow water plane ornament is special because when Jacob was little, there was a movie he was OBSESSED with (Alaska?), and the dad in the movie flew a yellow water plane.  He called it a "banana plane."

 The Polar Express Ornament.  Again, young Jacob obsession. 

 I got Mav a singing, light up, snowglobe blowing snowman.  He loved it.

 Again, the train.  

 Again, the snowman.

 I have posted before that I get everyone pj's for an early Christmas gift.  But this year I got Jacob an Alabama Pillow Pet.  He LOVES it.  Goober.  The Friday of the first week back to school the kids could bring something they got for Christmas (as long as it wasn't electronic).  He brought this.

 Again, the train.  The presents are stacked so that they are tunnels.  Jon did this.  The 50 year old.

We were still working on the guitar and were at the string phase.  I was letting Hallie know that when we came over to make cookies I would bring the twine...

 So I couldn't let her down!!

 Speaking of twine, I mean wine, I may have developed a reputation...  Two of our long time employees got me a bottle and a cute glass for Christmas :)

Christmas Part 1

This is the officer officially assigned to Jacob's school.  His name is Officer McKinney, a.k.a. Officer Smiley.  He really does smile ALL THE TIME.  He is just wonderful, really.  Anyway, as I was leaving the day of the class party, I spotted him in this getup made for him by on of our awesome art teachers. 

 Jacob's team during a game where they had to build snowmen with little marshmallows.  At the end of the minute each team had to count how many were actually standing.  At this point, which was about 4 minute-to-win-it games into the party, I had perhaps gotten a little too competitive.  Because my son, the brilliant spelling bee finalist himself, had figured out that if you smoosh the marshmallows together they would stay better.  This process took a little more time, which meant his team had less, but the "winning" team's snowmen weren't all standing.  Which I might have shouted out...and embarrassed myself in the process...

So the teacher sent out an email asking for ideas for the Christmas party; i.e. to do gifts or what.  I suggested each child bring in a $5 gift card from a food place (McDonald's, Chick Fil A, Baskin Robbins, etc) and then play a game with it.  But somehow that fabulous idea got turned down (how many times do all kids ask their moms to drive through one of these places only to have their mom say, "No, I'm not going to spend money on that"?  Well, apparently, someone thought that every kid bringing in 22 little tiny gifts to put in stockings was better.  Would you like to know what percentage of that crap was NOT thrown away by me at the end of the day? About 1%  And that was the gift we gave, which was Grinch Poop.

What is Grinch Poop you may ask yourself? Something you can buy at Kroger? Walmart? Target?  NO.  It is green M&Ms carefully sorted out from the bag of red & green ones, divided into baggies, and then a cute little poem is stuck on it.  Adorable, yes.  But really.  Why didn't I just buy a bag of crap like the other moms?

Well, as it turned out, Jacob really got into it.  Which made me happy because the boy has officially reached the stage where most Christmas related activities are "lame."

 Guess what his fave line was?  "It scared IT out of him."  Yep.

We bought a cheap stocking for him to take in but we needed to put his name on it somehow.  With glitter? With felt letters? Paint?  No, Jacob said, "don't we just have a sharpie??"  #lifewithaboy

 Because I didn't have enough to do during this holiday season, I also volunteered to help wrap the Angel Tree gifts the class had brought in.  Except it was a little bit different of an experience than I thought I was getting myself into.  I walked into the room expecting other moms and no kids-I assumed this had been scheduled during their art or music or gym class. NO.  I was the only mom, and all the kids were there.  I was going to be helping THEM wrap the presents. Yep.

Well, it was fun, and Jacob stole my phone to take a selfie :)

 Making cookies with the family!!

 We have a tradition where I give them all an early present to open and it is always pajamas.  These are Mav's.  They are adorable.  They are two pieces first of all, like he's a little person.  And they're Snoopy.  And he LOVES them.  He kept trying to grab Snoopy off of them this night.

 I made initial cookies.

 We went to the Enchanted Forest and they always have trees decorated by different companies in different themes.  And someone did Harry Potter!! It was so great.  The three of us, Morgan, Jacob, and I, have been reading the books together.  Jacob was so excited to find ornaments from all the houses.

 We Wish You Harry Christmas- haha. 

 Jaybob came down with the flu on the last day of school.  It was pitiful.  So he spent the first 4 days of Christmas break sick.

Love that he still goes in the play house thing at the doctor's office :)