Jolly Old St Nicholas, Lean your ear this way!

We made it to the mall to meet up with Jolly Old St Nicholas on Saturday morning.  We were first in line as we waited for Santa and both kids were eager to show him their list.  When he arrived he was loaded with cheer, candy canes and jingle bells.  The kids hopped right up on the seat/knee, smiled pretty for the camera, and filled his ears with what they wanted for Christmas.  Nick's list included a Kindle Fire, Ipod touch, BB Gun, and skylanders.  Lauren requested Monster High dolls, crafts, an Easy Bake Oven and clothes for her American Girl doll.  We'll see what Santa brings in 11 days!



Chucky the Elf in Nick's Stocking

After seeing Santa we did some more Christmas shopping (we did some before Santa, too), ate some lunch at the mall, braved the aisles/lines at Costco, and then headed over to see Uncle Royce and Aunt Jamie's new house!  It is beautiful!  Colton and Carson showed us their rooms, we helped do a bit of unpacking, mounted a TV, visited with Jamie's family, ate some food, and left them with a ton more of unpacking to do.  They'll be busy for awhile.  ;)

All our activities meant we skipped gymnastics, but we manage to stack firewood and hang 3 curtain rods before relaxing for the night. 

Sunday Ryan went in to work before leaving town on business for the week, so the kids and I were on our own for the day.  We busied ourselves around the house, headed to Lowes, Walmart and recycling, then went to basketball open gym in the afternoon.  Afterwards, we hunkered back down at the house for Monster High coloring and Christmas specials on the flatscreen (guess these days you can't say 'on the tube' anymore). 

With Ryan out of town and Christmas coming soon, I was busy this week.  We went to basketball practice (where Nick made 2 very nice layups during a scrimage), kept the fire blazing, cooked fun meals the kids selected (Lauren loves to help cook), searched for Chucky the Elf, took bubble baths, and studied/completed homework.  I received some curtains I ordered and also busied myself with ironing them all week.  All 6 very large panels.  Each one took me 45 minutes to iron. 

This may not sound like a ton of stuff...but it kept this single-for-the-week-full-time-working-mom a bit crazy

Tonight we look forward to seeing Daddy!  I may just slip out for a bit and find my sanity after he arrives.  ;)

PS - This is a picture of the of Lauren's Pillowpet DreamLite display on her ceiling.  We have been trying to use this as a night light instead of the hallway light for Lauren.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but it is always cute. 


DreamLite, sleep tight!