he ate the cookies, so we knew he came.

 santa came.

AND

after 3 years of trying,

i FINALLY

got the egg casserole right.

truly,

a christmas miracle.

and brennan only got a small peek at his presents.

i made sean carry two dining room chairs to block our upstairs hall.

knowing he would have to bang the chairs on the wall to our room to get by.

therefore waking us up.

i

um,

sean 

was out of bed like the house was on fire to catch him before he made it past the landing.

my kids ate only reese's peanut butter cups and meatballs.

i ate mostly baked bri.

my mother in law helped me set and serve 8 for the first time from my very own table.

in my very own house.

with her crystal goblets,

and my very own red chipped plates.

it was wonderful.

every shocking face,

ooo,

and awe.

the hours spent entertaining one toy {nano bugs win the prize},

and the phone calls to the family we wish could have been in their jammies on our couch with us. 

and then after we said goodbye to all of our guests,

we put the kids to bed,

and

completely 

collapsed

on the couch.

in front of the glowing lit Christmas tree.

no other lights about.

surrounded by snippings of wrapping paper.

the sounds of the dishwasher running.

and piles of our loot strewn about.

declaring it THE MOST exhausting.

and MOST WONDERFUL

christmas

in our entire lives.

:)

extravaganza review {the end}

<br /><center><a href="http://www.emmymom2.com/"><img src="http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab115/Emmymom/2011%20Blog%20Pictures/2011buttonblue200.jpg" /></a></center><br />

it's week 4!
THE FINALE FOLKS!

and just so there's no confusion,

here's a link to the rules.

for the nitty gritty,

if you want to win a prize.

8 prizes!

from 8 lovely ladies,

including yours truly;)

don't forget to include the button code above with your post,

...

AND NOW,

i

give

you..........

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER,

and,

DECEMBER!

{i dare say, the most festive part of the year}

i spent the better part of october eating only processed garbage.

we are talking

sodium, boxed, processed anything.

you name it.

it was what i wanted.

i went through a taco bell phase.

a chick filet phase.

and a cafe rio phase.

not in that order.

but hallelujah,

by halloween,

i was feeling fantastic.

and back to normal again.

i did manage to make applesauce with my cousins,

chased with pasta rice a roni of course.

followed by a lovely conference weekend.

full of scones, raspberry butter, and hot chocolate.

an electric toothbrush changed my life.

i'm not kidding.

i no longer have sensitive teeth.

AMAZING.

sean turned

30!!!

i surprised him with a surprise party,

that he told me later he knew i was doing.

and an ipad 2,

that he told me later he thought i was doing.

the man is impossible to surprise.

sigh.

we harvested our pumpkins {and sunflowers}.

it was a lot of fun.

pumpkins are my favorite thing to grow.

low maintenance.

great results.

WINNING!

no really, go back and click on that link.

we saw BENTLY from the bachelorette.

at his jump place.

he drank diet coke.

and looked super scrawny.

i decided i wanted brennan to stay in preschool forever.

there is no greater time in life.

i am convinced.

and max is super strong.

we went to see

the witches.

and then to

silverlake.

breathtaking.

to say the least.

when the aspens are peaking.

october became my mistress.

here.

brennan and i went on a witch date.

then we began the two day halloween festivities.

trunk or treat first.

and

then

the real

halloween day

ensued.

best halloween to date.

i dare say.

i may have had more fun than anyone.

must have been the green face paint.

or maybe it was the kids.

it was probably the kids;)

it snowed for the second time.

the morning after my most strange pregnancy dream ever.

but the first time where it really stuck.

the snow.

not the dream.

thank heavens.

little did we know,

it was one of the only times it would stick.

and it still has not really stuck since.

setting an all time record LOW for snow fall in December for the salt lake valley.

pity.

i found

KALE.

and fell

in

love.

fall was bountiful.

and beautiful.

and brennan grew ears.

i started listening to christmas music too soon.

the nesting organization hormones kicked in.

they are still fully pumping.

my pantry, closets, and basement thank me:)

and so does sean.

and i repeat.

i want brennan to stay in preschool forever.

it is

THE BEST.

we found out

we were

having

a...

it snowed in celebration:)

we drove to california.

for thanksgiving.

and my 10 year high school reunion.

here

here

here

here

here

HERE

here

and

HERE

and then christmas began.

with the train.

and my birthday.

we reviewed max's love for santa.

decked our halls.

during which time

the baby

grew.

or i did.

whichever.

i learned about mary and jospeh and taxes.

duh.

max fell in love with carousels.

and blake almost died on the roller coaster.

then we almost killed ourselves with the longest saturday to do list known to man.

i don't know if i've ever felt so accomplished in one day ever.

i reached my happy belly place.

which i am still fully enjoying:)

and i killed the cat.

or not.

i snowed for the 2nd to last time this year.

unless saturday brings the last snow of the year that the weatherman is promising.

"letters to beth"

began.

we started getting really christmas-ie with our festivities.

then came the most beautiful frost i have ever seen.

i thought it was snow at first.

possibly my favorite christmas-ie festivities here.

or maybe my favorite was here.

tough call.

planning.

prepping.

grocery shopping.

wrapping.
more grocery shopping.
and one last trip for the three things i forgot.

eating.

unwrapping.

eating.

eating.

eating.

collapsing.

cleaning.

and then it was over.

for another year.

all of it.

{THE END.}

UP

UP

and

AWAY

to 2011

bring on 2012.

and the 3rd little gibson.

her-ray!

as in hoor-ay!

or his-ray.

if you want to get technical.

whichever.

:)

...

so link up,

for one last chance!

to win!

8 presents!

from 8 lovely ladies!

the stuff you wished you got,

or the stuff you never knew you wanted.

either way,

it's free.

and this week for me,

free is even better than any other time of year.

b/c heaven knows,

my budget was totally blown last week.

her-ray.

i hope you win.

finger's crossed:)