Putting up the Christmas Tree

A whole lotta pictures of putting up the tree.   Somehow they got out of order, but I'm too lazy to put them back in order.  I'm sure you get the idea. 

 Dancing.

 I love this candid shot!

 Lydia had to join the fun.

 Playing with the sheep.  My grandma gave me these sheep a looong time ago.  The kids used to take them off the tree to play with them, so now we just leave them under the tree for playing.  We always sing Handel's Messiah, "All we like sheep have gone astray."  A funny story - I used to think the words were, "Oh we like sheep" as in, we think sheep are cool and we like them.  My family finds it hilarious that I believed this till I was like 39 years old and that's why they sing the song to me every year.

 Get over here and help big teenage boys!  (They eventually did.)

Stocking Themes 2013

It's that time of year... time to share stocking themes!  (For anyone who doesn't know, we have a tradition of doing a theme for stocking gifts.) I had so much fun planning and shopping for all of it! So much fun that I'm kinda depressed now that the fun is over.   Last year's stocking themes turned out to be really expensive, so this year I tried to think of themes that weren't so expensive. But at the same time I want them to be able to use and like what I got them.  I didn't just want to buy a lot of dollar store junk. So I started listing a few ideas and then happened to notice that I could describe their gifts with one adjective. 

So this year's theme is "adjectives". 

Nathan: musical 

1. Speaker shirt (he can record music or phrases and play it back while he's wearing it)

2. iTunes gift card

3. Ear buds

4. Blue tooth speaker

Michael: geeky

(Don't worry, geek is a good word around our house and he'll appreciate the compliment.)

1. Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock shirt (from Big Bang Theory)

2. Chain mail pouch (Lord of the Rings)

3. Lightsaber pen (I didn't take a pic out of the box so click the link if you want to see it)

4. Darth Vader USB thumb drive

Katie: humorous

(Not everyone will understand these, but these are all things that make Katie just crack up laughing.)

1. Peter Pan crocodile shirt (If you say, "Hook is a codfish while acting like the Peter Pan crocodile flapping his... legs? fins? paws? whatever they are... in the water, Katie will die with laughter.)

2. Lucifer the Cat figureine (from Cinderella. She finds him hilarious!)

3. Toast with grape jelly necklace (This is from a song in Hannah Montana. Katie sings this all the time and loves to tell Blake, "It's all your fault you bad dad". To which Blake says, "I'm not a bad dad" and Katie laughs hysterically)

4. Playing cards with pictures of her favorite characters from Hannah Montana. (no pics, they're in the green box.) Like I said, no one but Katie would like or understand these, but she's going to love them!

Close up of Lucifer and toast necklace since you can't see it very well in the other picture:

Anna: sparkly/shiny

Anna loves all things sparkly and shiny. So, for Anna I got her:

1. Lord of the Rings "The One Ring" earrings. I spent way too much on these, but she's going to FLIP!  She loves LOTR!  

2. "Blue Canary in the Outlet By the Light Switch" night light. I've turned her into a They Might Be Giants fan.   

3. Sparkly nail polish

4. Lip gloss. Lip gloss is shiny, right? 

Lydia: creative/artsy

Lydia loves to create and loves anything artsy and right-brained. So for Lydia:

1. Model Magic clay

2. Spyrograph game (I loved this as a kid!)

3. Pipe cleaners and pom poms

4. Fabric markers and a pillow case to decorate. She's going to have a blast creating all sorts of things.  

Elizabeth: miniature

She loves tiny things. So Elizabeth is getting:

1. Mini Squinkies (called Zinkies)

2. Teensies (mini Littlest Pet Shop)

3. Mini coin purse with Boo the Dog (who is sort of a tiny/mini dog. She loves Boo the dog!)

4. Mini Ty Boos Beanie Babies. Anna has some that Elizabeth keeps taking so now Elizabeth will have her own.

Caleb: adventurous

I think all these can sorta count as "adventurous". 

1. Stomp rocket (I'll open this so it will fit in his stocking.)

2. Camping Kids trout fry (he already has the fire, hot dogs, lantern, etc. This is the last thing he needs to complete his set.)

3. Skylander figure - Drill Sergeant

4. Wii Lego Lord of of the Rings. He loves Lego Wii games.

Blake: electronic 

1. USB hand warmers... in the shape of toast ( I don't know why toast, but I'm so excited about these!   His office is cold and he's always complaining about typing work proposals and emails with cold hands.)

2. Lightning to USB cable (this is a selfish gift - I got it so he'll stop taking mine! )

3. External power brick charger (you can't see it in the picture very well, so I added a link.)

4. Golf clubs USB thumb drive

5. "Joy Stick" controllers for his iPad (He has 5 things because I forgot I already had one of them and bought more. Oh well.)

I think they're all going to love everything! I'm so excited for them to open everything!!!!!  Time is moving so slowly right now.