Merry Christmas Eve

Hi all! I'm back! So crazy right! I'm just popping in to give you a little update on Christmas life. We have had lots of fun decorating, baking cookies, visiting Santa and family, and prepping for C-Day that the month flew by! It is crazy.

We took little miss back into town to visit Santa. The same one from last year. While we hoped for a good outcome, we even brought the photo of him and her with so she would look at it, we prepared ourselves mentally that she would scream and cry. We went and had lunch first and she had a mini nap on the drive over so she was in a relatively good mood because we let her run off a little energy through the mall on the walk over. Once inside Santa asked that we not show her his face and I just plopped her in his lap. I backed up and started making faces and being silly and we got a huge smile. She even looked at Santa with a big grin and shed not a single tear (the same could not be said for the poor, yet creepy, Easter Bunny.) We were in shock. He said "don't expect that next year," but we thought the same thing about this year. It was totally awesome!

We are getting to have Christmas Eve dinner at our house for the first time ever and D and I are SO EXCITED. We bought some nice dishes and some accessories so I cannot wait to set the table. Tonight is cleaning and making cranberry sauce in preparation, while tomorrow I will be cooking up a storm all day (with my mom's assistance since I have never made a turkey before.) There will be a fire, various liquors and wine, and of course family and opening of our Christmas Eve gift (pajama's.) I cannot wait to spend the first Christmas in our own home. Here is the menu:

Turkey
Cranberry Pear Sauce
Cranberry Apple Sausage Stuffing (My dear friends recipe)
Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
and of course Starlight Sugar Twists, Sugar, Scotcharoos and chocolate chip cookies.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends. This is a time for giving, for families, and for love. Merry Merry Christmas!

Love The Kimball's

Thanksgiving 2014 (with Halloween thrown in also!)

Hi all! Oy vey! November was a whirlwind month. So sorry I didn't post more, but our external hard drive with ALL of our photos on it decided to die.....insert mommy panic attack. It's still being repaired but I hope to get back all of the photos, especially the ones from the hospital and our baby's first moments. Although my photo Christmas ideas now have to be rethought since we wont be getting our data back until after the new year.....SOBS!

Anyways, I thought that I would do a little recapping of Emma's first Thanksgiving and a teeny recap of her Halloween as well....since I missed it! Oopsies! Let's start with TG since it was the most recent. It was a very low key holiday at my parent's house. We arrived Tuesday evening late and grandma played with Emma while we unloaded the car. The crazies dogs decided that 10pm was bark and playtime since they hadn't seen each other in so long.

Wednesday morning, Emma had playtime with her G.G. and daddy, then I helped my grandmother make pies, six in total for 13 people.....a bit excessive. We made cranberry sauce, sweet potato's, and various other things. I helped my mom hang artwork, and clean as well. Thanksgiving day Emma woke we all awoke at 730 to finish prepping, cleaning and cooking. Lil miss protested her naps like usual and we entertained her on her jumper, bouncer, with toys....just to keep her happy. She managed to get an hour in before the commotion started but that was pretty much it. She didn't want to miss any excitement. My aunts and cousins arrived in the midst of the craziness and were put to work setting the table, which I had to finish! I guess I can do a cornucopia like nobody's business. Emma was entertained by all her aunties and had a marvelous time laughing and munching on anything she could get in her mouth, that tooth coming in is really bugging her.

The rest of the weekend was filled with relaxing, my grandfather taught Darin and I how to play cribbage....and now D is obsessed. We ate leftover turkey sandwiches, pie and turkey soup. We also managed to get my mom's Christmas decor up before she was struck with the stomach flu. Poor thing. We headed home early Sunday and just chilled out on our couch catching up on some snoozing. It was a warm and fun filled weekend. And now a photo dump:

Halloween was just as fun, but I have far less photo's to share. If you remember my mom and I made Emma's Halloween costume. I was so excited to parade her around in it too! We realized that afternoon that it was going to be a wet Halloween, a first in California in many years. D brought little miss into my work for our office party dressed in her Sleeping Beauty costume from Grandma L and everyone oohed and ahhed her cuteness. We even won some prizes! Pup got a bath at the groomer next door also. Once I got home from work we tried to get her to nap, but she wasn't having it.

We dressed her up, got pup ready and loaded in the car to T.O.T. in D's parents neighborhood. We hit up about 5 houses, but most were still getting ready. Grandma had a grab bag with teething goodies for Emma and full sized candies for mommy and daddy! SCORE! We hung around for a little bit before heading off to our little party.

Our good friend lives in a neighborhood that goes all out for Halloween. It was the perfect place to take Emma for her first Halloween. We took her around to about 6 houses, just to hear people say how cute she is, I mean she was! Then went and relaxed by the firepit and passed out candy.....we went through 10+ bags of candy, just at our house alone! That's how many kids were around. We had great conversations and Emma enjoyed just people watching....her favorite thing. Around 9pm we headed home, just as the rain started coming down. It was a great holiday!

Me as the Cheshire Cat

Getting ready to T.O.T.

Doesn't she look thrilled?!

Stay tuned I have a lot to update you on with regards to moving and getting our own place, a sneak peek into Emma's nursery and much more!

Christmas Traditions

Every year the hubby and I try to accomplish Christmas traditions to be able to share with our growing family. With our big announcement that we posted yesterday we have kind of fallen off the tradition wagon. I get home and by the time dinner is made all I want to do is sleep. I have been desperately trying to keep the holiday spirit alive.  In true holiday tradition the hubby lugged all our holiday decor up to our apartment the weekend after Thanksgiving. It seems like we are getting gypped on a week here and maybe the tree will stay up until after the new year. Honestly it most likely will. Haha. We took our bokeh shots and even made a GIF of us putting up the tree. We always have such fun decorating together. Then we had dinner and watched both of the Home Alone movies.....only the ones with Maculay Culkin count people! Our pup laid on her bed pouting because of the cone of shame the entire time. Poor thing.

Poor conehead pup!

We took a break for the week because I was wiped after doing just the tree so we finished the rest of our decor the next weekend. We had an unusual cold spell last week and it made me feel incredibly bad for our pup. So I decided to put her in a t-shirt to "attempt" to keep her insulated. The dog hates clothes which is why she doesn't have a sweater, but I think she might get one this year from Santa.

Also every year, with the exception of last year....the hubby and I paint a craft. We usually go to a ceramic pottery place like Color Me Mine but this year we decided to make something at home. It's going to be a little special Christmas gift that you should stay tuned for!

The Bear was our holiday craft from 2008

I think that it's wonderful that the hubby wants to make something together every year with me as a reminder of each year we are together. I love that we can continue this tradition with our children as well! What kind of Holiday traditions do you have?

A post about our Thanksgiving (Late...I know)

You guys.....its five days into December and I haven't posted anything about Thanksgiving!!!! :-/ Its been quite a busy last couple of weeks and I have been left in the house dealing with an injured pup. It's really a long story, and one that I have no idea where to begin with it either! Let's just say she spent 12 hours at the 24 hour emergency vet, went to our vet and has been bandaged up for two weeks. She's healing...but has to wear the cone of shame.

I started Thanksgiving week making our cranberry pear sauce. I also made a cherry pie and two pumpkin pies for the first time ever! Granted I bought the dough, but it still tasted pretty yummy if I do say so myself.

We awoke early on TG to get ready. We needed to drop off all the sweets and the pup at my in-laws before heading out Thousand Oaks to visit my grandfather, who got to spend the holiday in the hospital because of heart complications....all is well now with him thank goodness. We swung by my grandmother's house on the way back to give a quick squeeze to all the family there as well. Once back to my in-laws....the grazing began. We watched football and Christmas movies all afternoon, in between naps, and enjoyed the small but cozy Thanksgiving with D's family and grandparents. After all the yumminess was eaten we called it a night because D had to work the craziness over the weekend.

Black Friday I shopped the sales from my phone and babysat our little fur invalid. We watched television and cuddled on the couch under my electric blanket all day. Saturday was more of the same. Sunday D's grandparents and mom came over to asses the crate situation. My mom swung by on her way home and we all chatted for a bit. It was a really nice afternoon. After a quick visit to hell Costco, D pulled down all the decor while I made french toast. We put up the tree and started to decorate the apartment. More on our festive decor later!

I hope you all had some wonderful food and family and all were thankful for the many things that life brings! Happy December!

Red, White and Blueberry - Holiday Weekend Recap

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend, and those of you that had a four day, or more, weekend let me just say that I was super jealous! Here's a recap of what went down this weekend.

Thursday (Independence Day):
We didn't really do very much during the day. I edited the new blog layout that you see before you and it went live. We had some relaxing us time, but didn't lay out by the pool because it was a zoo. I played with my new hair tools and got ready to meet with D's family at the club for a buffet and some yummy Sangria. Close friends also joined, and they are the ONLY reason I have pictures from the holiday! Thanks Amanda! We ate yummy food, listened to music and people watched (also enjoyed the weather) while chatting. We made it home before fireworks so that pup would not panic! Then we watched Independence Day and passed out for work. Side note: I lost a bet with the hubs....I didn't remember owning ID and since I never bet I was sure I would win....well needless to say he found the dvd and I have to pay up!

The ladies

The hubs and fam

Friends!

Friday:
We both had to work! We were oh so jealous of all you people that got to go and play!

Saturday:
D had to work AGAIN! So I slept in a bit and puttered around the house. Then I went and did a little shopping with my birthday cash. I got a couple new shirts and hope to go get a couple more things later on. There was some really great stuff! I went and surprised D and took him to lunch. Then went home to prep for our dear friends joint 30th bday party, I used my new styling wand for the first time and I love it! At the party we snuggled with all the babies, laughed and told many stories. I ended up getting caught in the midst of a water fight. We had some vodka infused watermelon and D tried blueberry moonshine with lemonade. (the store bought kind, still needing to try the real stuff!) I took a sip and realized how strong it was...it was yummy to me though. Apparently those blueberries pack quite a punch, so be warned! Then after most everyone had left both set of A's and us went inside and discussed our dreams of leaving this state....where we would go, and joked about building a compound. D would be the financial adviser, we would have enough teachers to get the kids completely through to college, I would design all the houses and we would have our own private security with Mr. A (the 2nd.) Sounds like a perfect plan to me! Where to go....Massachusetts? Georgia? Texas? The Carolina's? Let's make a decision! At 11pm we made our way out the door, saying good night to everyone and all the kiddos.

First time with the styling wand! I love it!

Sunday:
I got up early and went to the store to get all the fixin's for my family pasta sauce. I haven't made it in almost a year and was craving some carbs big time. I mixed all that together and got it on the stove before 10am. I put some laundry in and did some light cleaning while D went shopping with his dad for some new suits. Once he got home we conked out under the a.c. for a bit and the got ready for our neighbors to join in on the yumminess. We conversed and had some good laughter and hit the hay relatively early. This heat is totally zonking my energy.....or is it the 35 days and counting of no caffeine? I think its a mixture of both!

Yup, that's scratch sauce and meatballs!

Hope you all had a great holiday and made some wonderful memories along the way!

25 Days of Xmas Photo Challenge Complete

Here it is. The completion of my 25 Days of Christmas photo challenge. If you want to know what the categories were click here. I have to say that It was really fun doing this Christmas inspired photo challenge. It got me to really appreciate the people I have around me and appreciate the things that are traditions too. This time of year can be stressful for most, but I made the best of it. Shopping wasn't bad, and I only made one purchase online. Even though I went out on the busiest weekend of the year, I made sure to keep my people anxiety in check and just enjoyed the company of the people I was shopping with. Some of our traditions fell to the wayside; we didn't paint a ceramic piece, but I think all the crocheting I did made up for that. I also didn't bake any cookies since my Kitchenaid mixer is in need of service, however we did make Scotcheroos.

Our holiday was spent with our wonderful families, telling stories and sharing memories. It was the perfect holiday season! New Years is going to be very low key for us. Just D and I and little miss Shelbydoo. It's not because of a lack of invitations, just because we need time for ourselves and just we time! Every couple needs that every now and then! What are your NYE plans?

Merry Christmas from the Kimball's

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas! Today is the last day of my photo challenge. Day 24 was Christmas Eve and I took a good photo with my love at our Christmas Eve party at D's parents house.

Today, day 25, the theme was unwrapped. I took a photo of our dog who successfully unwrapped her toy in 3.5 seconds. I got a new Coach purse and some vintage tees from Victoria's Secret to add to my collection. I have almost an entire rainbow of v-neck comfy soft tees! I am in love with those shirts.

I got D a new compact video camera and a video game for his play station. He keeps telling me how he wants a new video camera for when we do have kids, so I thought a little pocket camera would be perfect!

I hope Santa was good to all of you and you all had a wonderful holiday with your families!

Update: After visiting my in-laws and opening gifts with them, D got a great leather jacket and I got some great comfy clothes as well....I love scarfs and boots, and pjs! We surprised my folks at my Grandma's house in Simi. My mom made me a beautiful bag, and crocheted me a cowl scarf and a head band. She also made us a wonderful Christmas scrapbook and inside it was a trip to Catalina Island for our 11 year anniversary from my folks!!! The bucket list looks like its going to have some checks next year already!! Thanks to everyone for making our Christmas so special! We love you all!

Day Twenty Two/Twenty Three - Cookies/Sparkle

Day 22 was cookies. Knowing that the hubby was going to make his family Scotcheroos to take to work I decided to wait until they were made to take the photo. Not technically cookies, but still a holiday treat that we don't go a year without making!

Day 23 (today) is sparkle. Now we had glitter and lights already over the course of this photo challenge, but I thought I would take inspiration from the Bokeh trend and take a whirl at my own shot. Taking the "sparkle" of our Christmas tree and making it unique, in a way. Figuring out how to do it on our DSLR was interesting, but I finally got a couple of cool shots! Whoop!

Holiday's with my work family

Yesterday was our final day of the 12 days of Christmas at the office. Our office manager brought in stockings for us all and there were lots of goodies in them. Tons of chocolate (including a chocolate orange) some little toys and a giant bar of peppermint soap. It smelled so good and I can't wait to use it. We also had a craft to accomplish. She bought mini 3x3" canvases and we had to create our own artwork. The joke is that next year she is going to give us a theme. My boss' son participated also. We had a desert Christmas scene, Jerusalem, a reindeer, a fireplace scene and I did an abstract version of a bokeh photograph. Essentially it's the look of Christmas lights that are out of focus. It was really fun.

The best news though was that D's gift came. In the final hour I was starting to panic that it wasn't going to arrive on time! Whew! I dodged a bullet. I came home and wrapped it immediately and included it under the tree. I am glad to know that all my shopping is done and wrapped. Now all I have to do us relax and wait for the festivities! Yay! I hope you all are ready for the season, and if you have to shop still, I hope that the crowds are kind to you! Have a wonderful weekend!

Day Twenty One - Bells

Day 21 was bells. If you have ever read The Polar Express you know what the role sleigh bells play in the spirit of Christmas. This little guy is a door hanger and gladly chimes every time we open our front door!

Hilarity Ensues at TWG

Every year at our office we do fun Christmas crafts and contests to keep the spirit alive. On Friday we all decorated foam snowmen, and its funny to see how different each one turned out with the supplies that we were given. We sit, listen to music, and converse while we get glitter all over ourselves.

Mine is on the left!

This year, our boss gave us the Ugly Christmas Sweater task. I really did not want to buy a sweater that I would never wear again, so I went to the dollar store/big lots to get stick-on bows, then 'designed' my own sweater. Safety pinning those bad boys on took some time, but I thought it was worth it. I was joined by a tape Christmas Tree with battery operated lights, cut poinsettia's, bells, and pins. I am sure we would have all had some raised eyebrows if we walked out in public like that!

Next item is to decorate holiday inspired bird houses. Stay tuned for those! I love being creative!