Christmas Recap {Crash}

We enjoyed a super relaxing and delicious Christmas Eve/Christmas...and now the crash has begun.  I made the poor choice of cutting carbs and sugars immediately upon waking up on the 26th.  That lasted until I had to pour coffee creamer and just like that I was off the wagon (again).  Those 20 minutes of clean eating were great.  The problem with the entire food dilemma is this: I've spent a fortune on groceries this month and it's so wasteful to toss all the glorious baked goods, pies, cookies, and snacks that are sitting in my fridge...yet they all contain lard ass ingredients like bricks of cream cheese and Velveeta.  Therefore I'll be easing myself back into some better eating habits as soon as the last of the holiday nibblers are gone...but I am back on the dreadmill and I've replaced my nog/vodka consumption with water.

I've taken down about 88% of my holiday decor and will tackle the tree and mantle before we leave the country for New Years..you think I'm kidding...I just enjoy saying that, "We'll be leaving the country for a quick holiday..."  "We'll be vacationing abroad this New Year's"  baaaah.  We are driving 40 miles to the Canadian border for a ski trip, but technically.... 

My Christmas Eve Kiddo's!  I've declared this before, but it is official that I love these ages and wouldn't mind freezing time!

Finley's photo op!  Not bad!

Sackman/Downey cousin fun.  Never a dull moment with this crew!  Beau and Diesel were a sweat from running around the house like mad men..but we managed to wrangle them together. 

Listening to Papa recite his present opening rules...always funny!

This drive me nuts...a pile of gifts in front of my 5 year old..I have no clue who got her what and/or what exactly should be coming home with us...and the noise level is SO HIGH...but it's all part of our good old fashioned family Christmas. 

Sackman Family 2012

Downey Family

Life is so rough for this dog!

Santa came!

All he wanted was an ipod touch...and Santa came through!

Nothing quiet or relaxing for Beau!

This has been his favorite thing to do...hit, hit, booom...he's down. 

Princess Castle was filled with lots of Barbie stuff and makeup

We've played Clue about 40 times since Christmas morning. 

Very thankful this morning!

Don't distract me...I'm playing X-box!

My prime rib wasn't done so we ate Christmas dinner reaaaaaaally late. Husband is being a smart a--! 

Asleep in her new tent.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2013!

Eat, Drink, and be Merry!

Winter break is not exactly relaxing..not having to go to school is awesome, but we keep pretty busy with a lot of family stuff and parties. This year we decided to skip Ugly Xmas Sweater and instead had a party for friends and their kiddos. It ended up being really fun, each family brought a wrapped board game for a gift exchange and Santa made a surprise visit! There was so much delicious food, Husband had a nice bonfire out back, and overall it was a great way to get together with friends and enjoy the holiday season.



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Break Time {Finally...}

It was a craaaazy busy week with winter concerts, piano recitals, bball, book club, and our school staff party...but we made it and are now officially on Christmas Break! The weather is cold and snowy and adding nicely to the holiday mood.

We plan on taking full advantage of our vacation and have alot of fun things planned .... Items at the top of the list are all associated with eating and nogging. That's my official term for drinking egg nog.

Our Christmas Party is tomorrow night and it works out nicely because my house needs some cleaning and a party is always a good way to get my cleaning butt in gear...however I might just fall back on the tried and true party method of dimming my lights and lighting a few candles...presto clean house! Just don't open the fridge. Happy Break!

Big White Weekend

What do you do when you're so crazy busy with holiday schenanigans that your head is dizzy??? Yep, that's right...you add to the franticness by taking a ski trip to Canada! Gift wrapping, baking, party planning...forget about it! We wanted to ski! It was great...tons of new snow, hardly anyone on the mountain and ALL our kiddo's kicked butt on the slopes! TJ and CC pushed their independence a bit skiing without us, but it was good and mama bears handled it well! A fantastic way to start our Winter Break. T-minus 4 days until the official start of break...I can make it!

Cousins!

My kids love their cousins so much and our time together is always so special. Karli and I were discussing at breakfast if they'd be such good friends if we lived closer... Some of the specialness is due to the fact that it's always a treat when we get together.

Here comes the Bride!

This weekend we celebrated the wedding of my oldest brofus with a lovely wedding at Trezzi Farms outside Spokane. It was intimate, heartfelt, and very emotional. My new SIL has an awesome family and it was great to spend the weekend with them, while also seeing my other brother, SIL Karli and cousins! All the cousins swam and played and had hotel room slumber parties. I also had 3 alone hours of shopping and that was a treat too!

It seems like so long ago Husband and I got married and when I sat there listening to my brother exchange vows I was really happy for them, but also very content that I'm passed that stage and in a very established part of my marriage.

Hubs and I were babies when we married and it took us a while to hit our stride, but we've found a balance and ease to our marriage that I really appreciate. I feel sad when I see couples who don't have mutual respect for each other because their unhappiness is so apparent, and I know my brother and Heidi have so much love and respect that they are bound for lifelong happiness.

Tis the Season...

Tis the season to spend too much money manically decorate house over indulge my children stress over making the holidays perfect and nag at husband because I'm stressed.... remember the reason for the season is peace and joy on earth...giving to others who are less fortunate...and enjoying all the blessings of family. 

December 1st is TOMORROW!  Where has this year gone?  The tree is trimmed, most of the holiday shopping is done, our weekends are filling up with fun holiday events and I'm going to remind myself to take a breath and calm down when I start to lose sight of what's important during this time of year.  And if I have to drink large consumptions of egg nog to help me cope...so be it!  Wish me luck.