Archive for the ‘I love the Holidays’ Category

  • A Family Visit

    Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

    This past Sunday we visited Chris’ sister and her family at their house which is about a two hour drive away. It was our first time visiting them at their new and gorgeous house.  We had snacks, gave presents to the kids, went to dinner, it was a nice visit!

    The kids were thrilled with their gifts- Ryan got the ROFLcopter t-shirt from ThinkGeek and a Nuttin’ But Stringz CD, Nathan got the Star Wars game for his Leapfrog Didj, and Kaitlyn got a cute MegaBlocks piano and a “Come to the Dark Side, We Have Cookies” shirt from ThinkGeek.  My SIL also made us a wonderful gift basket with homemade Organic Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread, two mugs, a jar of her homemade hot cocoa mix, and two framed photos of her and Chris dancing at her wedding. I forgot to take a picture of it!  I did take photos of everyone while we were there though:

    Nathan, J., and Ryan. J. doesn’t usually look so serious!

    boys

    SIL, Chris, and MoMo the cat.

    chris-and-alisa

    My brother-in-law:

    chris-c

    Beautiful Holly the Golden Retriever. She’s a really good dog.

    holly

    Kaitlyn really likes this MegaBloks piano!

    kaitlyn

    My super-cute nephew “P”. Kaitlyn barely remembered him but loved playing with him (and all his toys!):

    parker

    Me and my nephews, who I was going to hug whether they liked it or not:

    me-and-boys

    Kaitlyn asked me several times today if we could please go back, I told her that her Aunt would love it if the next time we went, Kaitlyn was potty trained. So at the dinner table, Kaitlyn announced that we were going to see Auntie (SIL’s  name), but that she had to be potty trained first. Hey, whatever works!

    10 Comments » Filed under: Family, I love the Holidays

  • Happy New Year!

    Thursday, January 1st, 2009

    Photobucket

    May this new year bring us all health, happiness, prosperity, and love!

    signature

    5 Comments » Filed under: I love the Holidays, Personal, Photos

  • I Survived Christmas 2008!

    Saturday, December 27th, 2008

    You know what doesn’t seem fair? That stores can start putting out Christmas decorations in October, that we can spend months buying and wrapping and decorating and baking, but then Christmas itself is over in a snap. Shouldn’t Christmas itself last about a week for all the work we put into it?

    My husband deserves a medal for going to Meijers (our big grocery store) on Christmas Eve morning to get groceries for dinner that night plus food for Christmas Day. He called me while standing in front of the refrigerated case that normally holds all the Pillsbury products to report that there was not a single can of Grands! Cinnamon Rolls left in the entire store. And that every one of the 25 checkout lanes was being used with people lined up waiting. This is a man who hates crowds, so he got major brownie points for that.

    We went to my Dad and Stepmom’s on Christmas Eve, where we were showered with new clothes from Macy’s and Kaitlyn got this ginormous, super-soft teddy bear from my stepsister Lori:

    giant-teddy-bear

    Christmas morning was lots of fun, highlighted by our big family gift:

    rockband-2

    I guess I dropped enough hints, because I got the gift I wanted!

    nintendo-ds

    Plus a pink carrying case and the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass game. It was so sweet of Chris and the boys to brave the crowds at Best Buy to surprise me with it!

    Box art for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
    Image via Wikipedia

    Amazingly, our Christmas tree is holding up, even though it stopped taking water a week ago. We only turn the lights on at night and only for a few hours at a time. And as soon as Waste Management starts picking up trees we’ll put it out for them. Don’t want to have any fires now.

    Today we are headed to Macy’s to exchange most of the clothes, hopefully we will get through it without killing each other or anyone else. I’m glad we don’t do anything specific for New Year’s, I don’t think I could handle making any more plans right now. I’m working on getting reviews done and attempting to clear out my inboxes, and here at home I’m trying to figure out where the heck to put all the new toys.

    Chris says I have to stop now, so I’ll catch up with you all later!

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    4 Comments » Filed under: I love the Holidays

  • Kmart Layaway-The Easy Way To Pay

    Thursday, November 6th, 2008

    I can remember when I was first out on my own and using my own money to buy Christmas gifts, it seemed like every department store had a Layaway plan.  If you aren’t familiar with it, layaway means the store holds your item for you with you leaving a deposit and then making payments on the remaining balance, usually every two weeks, until the item is paid for at which time you can take it home. I used layaway at a downtown East Lansing clothing store to buy a beautiful wool jacket when I was in college, and for a Valentine’s Day surprise, Chris (my now husband who was my boyfriend at the time) made the final payment and surprised me with the coat. It was so sweet!

    But, I digress. The point is that the only national department store that still offers layaway is Kmart. Kmart Lay-Away is a terrific option for purchasing higher priced items without having to shell out the whole purchase price all at once.  The Layaway Program info page has a box where you enter your zip code to find the stores near you that offer layaway; both of the Kmart stores near my house have it. Which got me thinking, what could I put on layaway now that I won’t need for another month but costs more money than I currently have available to spend?

    The answer came to me pretty quickly- a new artificial Christmas tree! The one we have is about five years old and wasn’t great quality when we bought it in the first place. I browsed the Kmart site and found this beautiful GE 7 foot Spruce Tree with 600 Multicolor Lights- perfect! I’ll have to go to the store to see whether they are offering the same sale price as the website, which means it will either be $259.99 or $207.99.  I can put down $50 or $60 now and pay the balance in two installments and have a beautiful new tree in time for Christmas decorating! And look how pretty it is:

    artificial christmas tree

    The Kmart Layaway plan is a great way for budget-conscious shoppers to purchase the items they want without having to use credit cards or loans to pay for them. Check the site to see if there is a Kmart store near you that offers layaway!

    8 Comments » Filed under: I love the Holidays, Shopping

  • Happy Halloween!

    Friday, October 31st, 2008

    Happy Halloween! For those of you with kids, are you ready for today? My kids each have a costume, I bought some candy, and my friend Kelly is taking the kids out at 6:00 when trick or treating starts in case Chris isn’t home by then. They got a trial run last week when our grocery store had a Halloween Walk:

    halloween costumes

    That’s Antonio on the right, he’s my next door neighbor’s great grandson, then Nathan as Superman, Ryan as, um, Scary Guy with Axe (?), Nathan’s best friend Forrest as Batman (we couldn’t find the mask), and then in front, Kaitlyn as a bundled-up-for-the-cold princess ballerina. The wearing of the Prissy Poofs tutu and the crown I bought at Disneyland was her idea, the turtleneck, sweatshirt and sweatpants were my idea. It gets COLD here when the sun goes down! I still think she looks cute :)

    I hope all of you have a safe and happy Halloween!

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    4 Comments » Filed under: I love the Holidays