12.26.2013

december daily:

no words needed.

the dirty santa tradition lives on!

lots of laughs, lots of steals and a couple frozen ice cubes!

12.26.2013

december daily:

road trip north to celebrate christmas with the hudsons.

we decided to check out the george w. bush presidential library

on the campus of smu.

had lunch at cafe 43 right next door.

no better combo than friends, history, cocktails and cheeseburgers!

12.25.2013

december daily:

christmas morning officially began at 8:30am this year.

much debate went into picking this time!

iphones, xbox one, legos & video games filled our piles.

brunch, walks & facetime screens filled our afternoon.

30 for 30 episodes and deck the halls kept the blu-ray busy today.

merry christmas & happy birthday jesus!

12.24.2013

december daily:

traditions live on this afternoon.

candlelight service at 3pm at church.

decorated mantle & front door photos with the boys.

not sure how this tradition started but i'm glad we have it!

-

new tradition started?

after church tonight, we went to flix brewhouse

for dinner and a movie.

cheeseburgers and katniss everdeen 

filled our christmas eve this year.

hohoho 

off to wait for santa!

12.24.2013

december daily:

traditions live on this holiday season.

moms world famous lemon cut out cookies!

love the cookies - despise the fragile dough - 

but worth the effort.

my elves helped decorate  pour sprinkles on the cookies

and on the floor.

nothing better than a cutout christmas cookie

and a cup of coffee on christmas morning.

12.22.2013

december daily:

another quick read.

this memoir is filled with recipes, words of encouragement, personal losses

mixed with spiritual strength.

i really enjoyed this book and found

 myself xeroxing many recipes to try in the new year!

perfect book to read in front of the fireplace!

4 out of 5 stars.

12.22.2013

december daily:

christmas made easy.

time for upgrades for justin & nathan.

any guesses what they wanted for christmas?

one trip to sprint store.

3 new phones - one for justin, one for nathan & one for me.

hohoho - easy shopping and easy wrapping.

hello new iphones x 3 !

we are ready to facetime, play words with friends and 

capture those holiday photos!

-

dirty santa gifts are purchased and wrapped and ready to

travel to dallas.

we are ready for laughs and steals!

we are almost ready for santa to drop down our chimney!

just the cookies left to bake!

12.21.2013

december daily:

early morning rain gave way to afternoon sun and 75 degrees.

last minute christmas errands at william sonoma and barnes & noble.

a quick run to the post office, the library, the liquor store and rudys for take out BBQ.

college bowl games squeezed in between our holiday errands.

finished up the wrapping - couldn't survive without my scotch tape wrist bracelet!

the best 2.99 ever spent.

hohoho...

christmas we are almost ready for you!

12.20.2013

december daily:

last day of school & last day of exams.

last morning with early alarm clocks buzzing.

its 5pm and we are in holiday mode.

nothing like a friday night basketball game at stony point,

mighty fine burgers to-go and

christmas with the kranks to start the vacation!

hohoho....

we are counting down the days!

12.19.2013

december daily:

the 2006 project life is on hold for the holidays.

my book reading appears to be on hold for the holidays also.

did manage to finish this quick soul seaching memoir between

christmas cards and wrapping.

makes me want to write my own memoir

(in my spare time!)

3.5 stars out of 5.0

loved her first book more

but this was a cute followup.

one more day of school for the boys.

they are excited for christmas break.

can't wait to fill our days with nothing -

no schedules, no homework, no alarm clocks!

12.18.2013

december daily:

the teachers gift card basket.

earlier this month, the boys filled out their gift card wish list for each teacher.

then i ran around town stocking up on gift cards like crazy.

so tonight the boys sat down with pen in hand

and wrote each teacher a holiday wish &

stuffed the envelopes with treats.

check - check - check.

teacher gifts are ready for delivery!

12.17.2013

                               

december daily:

amazon boxes filling our front porch last night.

award ceremonies at hopewell middle school today.

finding that little christmas present & its the last one on the shelf.

sunny and seventy degrees.

wrapping christmas presents with holiday music filling the house.

blessings are everywhere today!

12.16.2013

december daily:

i love this time of the year for so many reasons.

i love waking colin up at 630am and then plugging in the tree lights.

i love the soft light that fills the first floor as i turn on the coffee pot.

i love looking at each special ornament hanging on the tree.

i love that colin was sitting on the stairs this morning putting

on his sneakers and called to me, "hey mom if you sit right here,

the candle looks like it is lit on the tree."

i love starting my day with such cute observations.

i love the holiday everyday memories!

-

so fast forward.

its exactly 445pm and nathan walks in the front door from school.

"hey mom, i finally put together a wish list on amazon that you've been asking for."

zoom.

well, its not on our family account.

quick, find nathans email address - done.

finally found his list.

smile.

item one: preorder book  - available june 10th, 2014 !

REALLY NATE!

you couldn't even find something 'in stock'

item two: add to cart, checkout, express shipping fees, done.

(don't worry, he doesn't read this blog)

hohoho - thank you amazon!

12.15.2013

december daily:

keeping traditions alive 202.3 miles apart.

our annual gingerbread contest  decorating event was held tonight

via facetime.

the cocktails were poured, the icing was made and the candy was unwrapped.

the miles didn't keep the laughs from coming or the sprinkles from spilling.

heres to our wonderful hudson traditions !

hohoho

12.14.2013

december daily:

finally!

colin jotted down this christmas list

somewhere between fruit loops and packing his backpack yesterday morning.

i finally have a couple ideas to send to santa.

rubber band ball?

really?

12.13.2013

december daily:

a quick break from the holidays to enjoy this book from the library.

nothing brings me more joy than finding a boy hanging on his bed with a good book 

in his hand!

one guess who was reading this one today.

cocktails and queso at jack allens.

the original anchorman on dvd tonight from redbox -

family laughs for $1.29.

"they've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time"

12.12.2013

december daily:

inbox photo treats today.

i can hear finn singing this if i listen closely.

" all i want for christmas is my two front teeth!"
how cool is this.
real time photos.
real time christmas plums dancing.
real time memories in the making.

-

todays goal was to continue our family tree decorating tradition.

the tree has been up since sunday.

the branches have been positioned and repositioned.

the fake needles have been vacuumed up.

the train is running around in a circle - complete with horn.

being proactive for tonites event,

i spent an hour this afternoon carefully unboxing all the lenox

holiday ornaments and placed them gently on the couch.

i put new hangers on the bent ones.

i arranged them by size and weight.

i checked with colin to make sure we owned "the grinch" dvd

because i had visions of hot chocolate and whoville combined tonight.

the camera was charged.

the tree was lit.

i was ready for our everyday 'planned' memory.

-

and this was how it went in reality.

4 dudes + 6 minutes = 1 decorated tree.

no hot cocoa.

no grinch sewing antlers in the background.

no stringing fresh popcorn with a needle & thread.

and thats the best kind of everyday memory!

12.11.2013

december daily:

so the short story behind the picture.

tonight was justins national honor society holiday party.

4 dozen cookies - check

1 holiday gift wrapped - check

1 tacky sweater for contest - check

-

well, it really wasn't a jingle bells, light up tree, singing caroler kinda

sweater but it was a sweater dug out of moth balls for him to wear.

it was a sweater older than i have known steve.

it has survived longer than 23 years and

moved half way across the country.

it paid off.

justin was the winner of the ugly/tacky sweater contest!

so glad i grabbed this photo before he left for the party.

not sure steve will ever wear this sweater again.

-

my favorite two words on amazon.com today-

"in stock"

hohoho santa is back in business!

12.10.2013

december daily:

10 minutes in mircosoft word +

3 sheets of paper = 

1 completed teacher christmas shopping list !

i love the thought each boy put into the list.

i loved nathan saying to colin:

"if you cant decide what gift card to get a teacher, just pick target - 

everybody can find something they want at target."

i loved this little everyday holiday memory.

i'm off to do some holiday shopping for

some very special teachers!

12.9.2013

december daily:

working on the christmas gift list.

i remember years past when the boys christmas wish list would

mysteriously appear on the refridge one morning in october.

now i am begging them for ideas.

now i am begging them to make wish lists at amazon.com.

now i am having to guess what they want for christmas.

go figure...

i've had my list hanging for weeks!

12.8.2013

december daily:

its beginning to look a lot like christmas.

the tree is up.

the lights are on.

the train is running.

the decorations are out.

the holiday cards are looking for addresses.

hohoho.

we are getting ready!

12.7.2013

december daily:

instead of addressing holiday cards.

instead of finding the boxed tree.

instead of wrapping the christmas presents.

instead of decorating the outside.

instead of working on my to-do list,

i worked on my to-read list this weekend.

quick, easy read.

2.5 out of 5.0

12.7.2012

                               

december daily:

in & out burgers opened this week up the street.

steve and i decided to check it out as our quest

for the best cheeseburger in central texas continues.

love the palm trees as we pulled up.

did not love the 70 - yes seventy - cars in front of us at the drive in line.

no burger is worth that wait -

well, maybe 

but not today!

we'll be back when the line is shorter!