Best Christmas Present...

Ever.

Yep, I'm pretty sure this is my favorite Christmas present ever.

Each year, after opening all our presents, my mom asks us to pick our favorite. This year it was tough, between the new pots and pans and the fancy chinks that I have so desperately been wanting.

Then this arrived (a day late because it was a custom order):

And it won hands down. It has every one of the kiddos on it.

All five of them. Our names wouldn't fit because five is the limit. Leave it to us to max out even Christmas ornaments.

Did anyone else have a hand's down, no butts about it, absolutely favorite gift this year?

No Butts About It

This was one fabulous Christmas!

Email me Paint Girl! You get an 8 x 10!

My little brother got a rifle for shooting squirrels, so most of the morning the boys were doing this:

My dad


Cowboy H


My bro

The pups also got their own Christmas presents. Hank took extra special care picking out just which one he wanted.

I think this is the one!


Hurry, Dad. Open it!

Don't worry. We didn't leave Huey out. He got is very own also.

I hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas (it sure seems that way from the recent postings)!

I'll have a post on why Christmas on the Central Coast of California isn't so bad, even if its not white, coming up!

Christmas Card, 2009

We wish everyone peace, joy, love and lots of time spent with family this holiday season.


Merry Christmas!



Love,

Oz, Hank, Indy, Olivia and Huey

The First Day

The first day in our home was surreal. Most likely due to lack of sleep, but also joy and excitement and the fact that it was Christmas Eve. This didn't hurt much either:

This was the view from our driveway, looking above the house directly across the street. I love that our For Sale sign is still there, since I never thought to take a picture with it until it was gone.

Another surprise: Our first mail!

Unfortunately, it was from the insurance company.

Overnight, the cats had fully inspected the entire house, and left all the cupboards open for us.

Cowboy H took all the doors of their hinges and began painting them (to cover graffiti)

And also put our bed together, so we could sleep in our actual bedroom!

And I started cooking our "Christmas Dinner".

Since we were both working the next day, Christmas, we stuffed our faces a day early.

And that was the end to the most perfect first day in our new home ever. One that will be remembered a long long time.

One Year Ago Today

We packed up all these boxes,

Watched as they were loaded into the moving van,

Arrived at our new address,

Checked out all the rooms,

Living Room


Kitchen


Hallway to Bedrooms


Master Bedroom

Waited for the moving van to arrive,

And started putting things in their new, proper places.

Check out the too small curtains!


Oh, there they are. The old couches.





Walk in closet!

Eventually, the cats came out of hiding from the litter boxes,

The unpacking began,

One down, about 11 hundred more to go.


Look at all my cupboards! I think I died and went to Heaven!


Where, oh where, do I want everything to go?

And empty boxes slowly stacked up,

Um, yes, this was before we had the dogs.

All while Cowboy H painted away.

Finally, at about 3 am, we called it a night,

IN OUR HOME, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.

The Little Things

Quite often these days, I find this when I come home from work.

Cowboy H goes out of his way between doing yardwork and homework, getting ready for normal work and taking care of the dogs, to get this ready for me.

Then, all I have to do is this.

And watch as this happens.

Within 10 minutes of walking in the door I have this.

It may not be all about the little things, but they sure do help.