Sparkly Days!

The Christmas season is paradise for all of us who LOVE sparkles and glitter! These days have been sparkly in many ways here as we've wrapped up 2013 and headed into 2014.

 

I was thrilled when I was able to convince Jon to let us get "the most sparkly Christmas card ever!" ;)

 

 

I bought Jon some scratch off lottery tickets for Christmas and then forgot to put them in his stocking. I found them in my purse a few days later, tossed them to him at lunch time (after considering adding them to my dad's birthday gift instead), and he won $1000!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! Of course we already have a list of several ways to spend it.... but we'll need to just put it toward bills in the end. Still, what a great surprise windfall! 

Ray took this picture of Jon, me, and the ticket. ;)

 I got a big box of sparkly fun stuff for Christmas!

I had to invite some other sparkle fans over to play with all my new stuff! We made some glitter pictures and then painted our nails.

The moms painted the girls' nails...

 

...and the girls painted ours!

Another sparkly surprise from a dear friend! Now I can sparkle everyday.

 

We finally got to check out some of the light displays around the city.

We spent New Year's Eve at a last-minute/impromptu party with some dear friends.

We got home around 9:30... but - for the first time - the kids insisted on staying up until midnight. I couldn't believe it, but they made it!!!

We spent New Year's Day celebrating my dad's 66th birthday. We played cards and games, ate yummy food and snow cones, completed our Christmas puzzle, and enjoyed family time together.

 

And today we enjoyed watching several inches of sparkly snow pile up outside. It's really cold out and the wind is blustery, but we're snuggled in cozy and watching the Christmas lights continue to sparkle and shine.

Our awesome snow shovel brigade!
Adam, Ray, Pappy, and Carter

Speaking of Family....

.... the Christmas celebrations go on and on!

Michigan Christmas --- With Jon's Family

Adam and Jon really enjoyed their trip to Michigan to celebrate Christmas with Jon's family. They celebrated at the new condo of one of his sisters and they tell me it's lovely! As always, there was tons of good food and a gazillion presents.

Grandma with a craft we made for her.
I made these with a girls group this fall and then the boys made several for family member Christmas gifts.

Jon's oldest sister, Kay, turned 60 today!
Happy Birthday Kay!
We love you!

 

Adam and Kelly playing in the snow at Grandma's house.
I have no idea how this picture is snowing, but it's so cool, right?

Ray and I were very excited to welcome Jon and Adam home from their trip. It was so cute to see how much the boys missed each other. They brought home a mountain of presents for Ray (celebrating his birthday as well as Christmas).

 

It was CRAZY how excited Ray was to receive the Game of Life from his Grandma. And we know when Ray REALLY likes a gift ---- he hold it over his head and screams. ;)

A remote control helicopter from Aunt Kay.
(Adam got one too and they can battle! I might need to start wearing a helmet around here.)

Did I mention that there was a MOUNTAIN of gifts for Ray?



The Game of Life is the new game of choice around here!

 

Christmas With Pappy and Mary

 

My dad and Mary arrived for a visit a few days ago.... bringing yet another mountain of gifts. We are so blessed by so many loving and generous family members.... I try really hard to keep the focus on visiting and celebrating the real reason for the season, but the gifts have been very exciting too.

 

 

Dad and Mary are going on a great trip to Hawaii this winter, so we had fun putting together a basket of Hawaiian themed gifts for them.

The boys got lots of Skylanders figures and some Skylander Mega Blocks sets from Pappy and Mary. I must have been pretty excited about those because all my pictures turned out blurry. I did, however, get a good shot of another "over-the-head" favorite of Ray's ----

I was delighted to receive an entire box of sparkly stuff!!!! I'm talking about glitter, glitter glue, glitter nail polish..... really fun stuff! I need to have a sparkle play date or something. You can see in the picture below how (non)thrilled Adam is with it. ;)

 

And so the Christmas season continues. I think we've made it through all the gift-giving. We are still enjoying our 12 days of Christmas family surprises and we've got lots of fun non-gift celebrations planned with family and friends in the next several days.

10 Years of Family Christmas Greetings

 Time flies when you're raising a family!

On this Feast of the Holy Family, may we all imitate the faith, love, patience, gentleness, and strength of THE Holy Family -- Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. May all of our families grow in holiness and proclaim with our lives the JOY of living God's Way.

We began a new tradition today for the Feast of the Holy Family. After Mass we took the boys to *Brio* for a fancy family meal. (Thankfully, we had a gift card!) We really enjoyed that time together and we had a nice discussion about what it means to be a family and what our goals are as a family.

Thank you God for my wonderful family!