Canton at Christmastime...

We took the boys to Canton last night. Chad and I had not been in 9 or 10 years. It was before our children came along. It's a really neat place, and last night, the week of Christmas it was so crowded. We still had fun.

Chad said we should use this as our Christmas card next year.... both boys were cooperating. I said, "Helloooo! Next year there may be a new addition and the boys will have hit a growth spurt by then!"

Riding the cars with daddy for the first time.

Now it's time again. This time it's Mama's turn.

I love this picture!

Brennan's Rudolph cupcake...

So, this lady stopped to talk to the boys and Ethan fell in love with her. He just let her hold him and he ate it up! You would think the kid didn't get any attention at home.

Chad knew I was having a bad week and haven't been feeling well, so he sent me this as a surprise today at work. I normally only work 2 days a week, but my coworker is out sick, so I have been filling in (no pun intended!---okay, bad dental humor). It has been a crazy week at work and I feel like I'm trying to get sick. Don't I have the best husband?! AND he went shopping for my mom today. What more could you ask for in a guy?

Sunday school party......

Last night was the last eventful night of the season for us! (Hallelujah!) I love my friends, but now that the parties and celebrations are over I don't want to go anywhere or do anything but look at Christmas lights and sit at home watching Christmas classics with my kids in our pajamas.

I found a cute jingle bell ring at Pier One (one of my favorite stores) and I got the most compliments on it!

Our Sunday school party at the Hearn's house. So much fun. They all keep me laughing hysterically. Love all of them very much.

Kelly is going over the rules to the Dirty Santa game. (And let the record state that I HATE playing Dirty Santa. It stresses me out.)

Brande, Mrs. Sharon, and Valerie.

This is Angela opening her FIRST gift. She had number ONE out of 29 numbers, so she kept getting her gift stolen over and over.

David opening his ornament.

Angela and her SECOND gift.

Marsha

Cornelius and his cute stocking.

Laura.

So I was #7 out of 29, which means there was a pile of presents unopened. I went for one hidden underneath the stack and wrapped in shiny red paper. Apparently my Elvis-loving radar honed in on this present for a reason. As I opened it I squealed with utter delight! Out of all the packages, I chose this one. And obviously no one has good taste like me, because no one attempted to steal it from me. Well, except for Brad, but thanks to my partner in crime, Greg, we came up with a plan to steal it back and trade. Shelley did pick it out just for me, after all. Oh, and it plays "Blue Christmas" and lights up.

Angela opening up ANOTHER gift.

And another. This time she got Darth Vader.

Adam.

Shelley

Mrs. Sharon got a great present, but I didn't get a pic of it. Someone stole it from her, of course, but then her husband won it back.

The second year the bulldog has shown up to the party. You can't tell, but Valerie is actually a State fan. I don't know why she wouldn't like this officially licensed bulldog hat.

Allison.

There's Angela again.

Mr. Fields came to our party, and he stole the hat!

Jamie looks serious about his dragonfly and butterfly.

Ashley. She had her gift stolen a few times, too.

Kim. She opened her present and it was a broken ornament. She thought she had broken it by shaking it around, but it was a dirty Santa TRICK. It was funny.

Phyllis.

There's my Hunka-Hunka Burnin' love....

Two Elvis gifts in one night! Doesn't get much better than that!

And yes, Elvis is hanging on my tree. I am working at having an Elvis tree in the future. But for now, he hangs on the family tree in the living room.

The boys actually fought over the ornament. Ethan is a serious Elvis fan. He already asks for Elvis every time we get in the van. He is not happy unless Elvis is singing.

Brennan playing the guitar.

I had so much fun last night. Thanks everyone for making me laugh and being such great friends!

My bathroom: the finished project

It's FINALLY done!!!! My bathroom is finished. I mean, after all, we only STARTED in APRIL. We bought our house 5 years ago, and when we bought it, I made it clear that I wanted the wallpaper in BOTH bathrooms to go. Who puts wallpaper in bathrooms anyway? The moisture makes it curl and peel. We did the boy's bathroom (or should I say STARTED it) when I was first pregnant with Ethan and too sick to do anything but watch HGTV all weekend. Well, you know what happens when you watch HGTV...... Chad came home from Wal-Mart one Saturday night at 10:00 and found me in the bathroom stripping the paper. He almost had a small duck. Well, it only took us a year to finish that project.

So, back to my bathroom.... I love it and have been so excited about the finished project. And after Christmas I am going to buy a television to mount in one of the corners. Yes, I said television. My bathroom becomes my sanctuary of relaxation after the boys go to bed at night. I've waited all year for my bathroom to be finished and now I am going to ENJOY it!!!!

The beginning of painting. I wish I had a before picture of the bathroom before the wallpaper was stripped. I didn't think to do it, but it was some UGLY stuff. It was obvious a man must have chosen the wallpaper.

Brennan drove Chad crazy because he wanted to help SOOO bad.

My candles.... siiigh.

Soak, relax, and enjoy. Yes, I plan to.

Before we had those cheap, ugly Hollywood type light fixtures and they were gold and cheap. You know which ones I'm talking about.... they have them at Home Depot for around $11.

We had gold knobs before, and of course those had to go.

We changed the light fixture above the potty area.

I found this for $6 at Hobby Lobby over the summer. It matched the vision I had for my bathroom.

New towel racks.

I had Brennan's teacher paint me this to match the colors of our bathroom. Our walls are gray, but it has a lot of purple in the gray. I didn't want it to look like prison walls.

The purple in the painting really stands out and matches the purple tone in the wall.

These rugs match exactly! And I was lucky to find them. They were discontinued.

We changed the door handles on our closets. I eventually want to do this throughout the house, but knobs for cabinets and doors are NOT cheap. We're going to have to save and do it a little at a time.

And there you have it. My bathroom that my husband worked so hard on!!!! Thank you, Chad!