We had a great Christmas!

This year my two older boys actually bought presents with their own money. I was very proud of them. They were so excited and could not wait for us to open gifts. They didn't want their gift as much as they wanted us to have the gifts they gave us. It was so wonderful to see them have the giving spirit. I loved it.

We were all to work Christmas Eve, but it turned out John did not have to go in at all and I only worked about an hour and a half. Then JM came home shortly after me. We thought about opening Christmas Eve but didn't. We got up Christmas morning and went to Ihop for breakfast. It was pretty good and it was busy! The place was actually full. I was surprised. I wasn't even sure it was open. After breakfast we came home and opened gifts. I let the boys give out their gifts first. We then gave the boys our gifts and to each other.

I was spoiled this year! I got an iphone, a digital picture frame, a game for the Wii, a daily planner/address book/notebook thing, a subscription to the newspaper with a comic umbrella, a dice game called Farkle, and a build-a-bear that plays a Christmas song. And it is all paid for! No credit cards!!! Yeah! lol That just really thrills me to no end!

We went to my sister-in-law's house that evening. All of John's family was there except his dad. We had a nice visit with them. His oldest son from his first marriage came. We were excited to see him. That is another story for another day.

I hope you were all blessed this Christmas! I know I was.

Christmas Eve

Usually at this point and time we are eating breakfast at Bob Evans and then coming home to open gifts with our kids. Well, not this year. This year everything seems different. It isn't really but it just seems this way.

JB and JM are working today, then part of tonight. I have to work tonight so we have to do our Christmas in the morning. We won't be able to go to Bob Evans since it is closed on Christmas Day. That is a real bummer! I know Waffle House is open on Christmas but YUCK! We did that a few years ago. We enjoyed the company but the food... well, sorry but no thanks! I am sure we will work something out.

I thought I was done shopping, but I have one more to buy and I want to get stocking stuffers. I would love to go right now (early a.m.) but I have to wait for the bank to open.

One thing I can say that is really thrilling is that we paid cash for all of our gifts this year. No credit cards were used! Yeah!!! Sorry visa and mastercard, not interest from me! lol

Merry Christmas, everyone!

A few pictures...

We had family pictures taken and also some senior pictures of JM (finally!!!) Here are a few of them. Not the best ones but a few.

Cavs Game

Just thought I would share a picture of JB. He went to a Cavs game on Friday night and they were handing out Ben Wallace wigs. Here he is with it on. I thought it was funny.

Vacation!

We are officially on Christmas vacation. The kids got a lot of work done last week and we are taking the next 3 weeks of school off. I wanted to get more math completed, but that is okay. If they are too bored I could have them do some. Actually it is just Joshua that needs to get a little farther. We will get where I want to be in time and be finished by May.

We got a little more shopping completed this weekend. Not as much as I would have liked though. I want to be all done. lol I am pretty sure we know what we are buying for everyone so that is helpful. We do have one that we aren't sure what to get. Hopefully we will get some ideas. I love shopping for other people. I wish I had more money to do so but I don't.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Mike's Place with JB's mom and her friend. We had a nice time and the food was good. They played the wii for a bit before we left. We had fun. His mom hasn't been to our house for a long time. They don't live too far but far enough that we don't see each other very often anymore.

We are having Christmas with my family on Saturday, Christmas with JB's family on Christmas night, and I am not sure what we will be doing with my kids yet as we have to work Christmas Eve which is when we usually celebrate.We will find a good day to do it.

I did move my living room around as I said in my one post. I did it the next day. I could not handle it looking like it did. I am so glad that I did. It is much more homey and my hubby was happy.

Christmas decorations

Here are a few of our decorations. Our tree, the stockings, then some decorations.

Bah humbug!

I say that more about the snow than Christmas. Saturday night hubby was making a delivery, the last one for the night before he was going home, and he got stuck in the snow. That was around midnight. Thankfully we have AAA and he was able to be towed but that tow didn't happen until around 3:30 am. So my husband did not get home until 4:00 in the morning. I felt so bad for him. Thankfully I drove myself to work so I didn't have to wait for him. I did try to stay up waiting but dozed off around 3:00 ish. I did hear him come in and once I knew he was home I actually went to sleep. I hate snow. I don't know why I live in Ohio because one thing you can count on is snow. There is always at least one bad snow storm but usually more. This wasn't even a bad snow storm. We haven't had that yet! UGH!

We decided to put up the tree this weekend. It is always such a chore at our house. We don't have a lot of room and we have to rearrange to find the spot. That gets my dh grabbing his tape measure out and every idea we come up with he measures it and NOPE! Won't work. GRRR! By the time we actuall find a spot I want to shove that tape measure down his throat! It looks like it will work. My living room is ugly as all get out right now. I hate it. I hate it!!!!!!! If I can do it by myself, I might rearrange it better. My hubby was a touch off on his measuring this time I think. The tree said it was 50 inches in girth, but I don't think it is that much. It really isn't. So I am going to do some of my own measuring and see if I can making it work better. I just cannot deal with it like this. I am not going to make my life miserable over a dumb Christmas tree. We used to put up all the lites and then the Hallmark ornaments. It was a huge chore that took the entire day. We would have to put the lights on then find the missing bulbs to make sure out light up ornaments went to that spot. Of course that didn't help when trying to make sure the lights worked before putting them on the tree. Then you had to take the ornaments and divide them up as to whose ornaments they were. Take them out of their boxes and hang them up. Of course they are Hallmark so they can be heavy so some would really hang low. It was always so pretty when it was done but it was just a pain. The year before last we went to Wal-Mart the day after Christmas and got a new tree. This is a pre-lit tree. We don't have to mess with the lights anymore. We also made decorating a little easier and did not bring out the Hallmark ornaments. We are keeping it simple with a blue and silver garland and silver bows. It is pretty, basic, and less stressful. The most stressful part was finding a place to put it and trying to figure dinner out at the same time. I say every year we aren't putting up a tree but we do.

School and Christmas

I found out today that co-op is only the first two Fridays in December. We have almost of month of no co-op. Yeah! I love co-op don't get me wrong, but it will be a nice break to be off from that and concentrate on other stuff. I was planning on taking off two weeks, but if the boys don't have a lot going on with school we might take off three. I probably shouldn't but I find it so hard to do school work with the holidays. I am not actually doing the work but teaching. It is just hard to concentrate it seems.

I haven't put up my tree yet. I have to find a spot for the tree. I am excited about Seth and JM's presents and want to have a tree. I am also hoping to get family pictures taken. One last picture before JM leaves in the summer. I got a coupon from Portrait Innovations in the mail. I think we will go there. Can't beat the deal they have. Check under their "special offers" area to see the coupon. Anyway, I am starting to get into the Christmas mood and am hoping to make it special one for the family.

We got all the Boy Scout popcorn delivered and paid for, thanfully. Now I have to figure out who gets what financially in the scout accounts. Then it will be time to recharter and for it all to be spent again. Never ends...hard to get and easy to go. LOL

Enjoy your day!

Nice Weekend...

It was really a nice weekend. JB was off all weekend except when we worked on Saturday night. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner and nice company. Friday morning around 9:00 we got up and went shopping. They had a really good deal at Sears. I cannot tell you what I bought just in case he reads this, but I will say we have JM almost finished. We basically have Seth finished too. We know what we are going to do to finish up on JM's gift. The hard part is going to be shopping for Joshua. I am not sure what we are going to get him and he doesn't know what he wants either. We have my mom taken care of already, so we will have to get for his parents, which is usually gift cards. Christmas shopping was pretty easy this year. Or at least so far it has been. I want to buy something for my hubby but I am not sure I will be able too.

We are jumping back into school this week. I am going to buckel down and get as much done as I can in the next few weeks. I am planning on taking off Dec. 22 to Jan. 5. Hubby will be off for part of that too. It is hard to get school done when he is home.

I worked 2o hours this week. Wow! When I started this job I was thinking I would work about 12 hours tops. This week we were so busy on Tuesday and Wednesday I had to work more. I actually closed two of those days. The money will help but I don't want to do it on a regular basis. I hope I don't have to.

Time to wake up the kids and get them moving for the day. I have to get the mind set of school so it will go smoothly. I hope I don't have to run to the library today. I hope it can wait until tomorrow. I want to stay home today.

Have a good day!