Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Today's post isn't even close to Wordless, so I'm not even trying to play it off as such.

Our Christmas holiday is a whirlwind. Good times though. The Barnes side of the fam celebrates everything on Christmas Eve, so we went over there at 6 that day. They do a traditional slovak dinner and we're not really fans, so we stopped at in & out on the way. After gifts are opened, we typically head to midnight mass, but since connor is, well connor, we've skipped it the last two years! Here are a few pics of our Christmas with Jeffrey's side of the fam.

The pretty tree before all the chaos of 19 people opening gifts all at once.

Al loving his new Brett Favre jersey

this $10 magna doodle was prob connor's fav toy of all

jalen and his iPod

connor cleverly opening his gift through osmosis

so many toys and he plays with the remotes-typical

connor adores his cousin jalen

connor got this piggy bank with coins from Sarah, Chuck, Jalen & CJ

chuck got heroes and was pretty pleased with that

Kaden, Jacob & Robert all got light sabres

Christmas day with my side of the fam is a bit more low key since including my parents, there are only 6 of us there. We do breakfast, gifts and then the big meal. We all said we were going to really cut back on gifts this year and while it really doesn't look like we did, we really did manage to spend nearly 1/2 of what we spent last year so that's a victory!

Here's our tree this year

given his obsession with mickey mouse, we were sure these would be a hit. not so much.

The table and chairs set for his new playroom was connor's big gift this year. He loves it. He plays with his new leggos, eats snack and sits and colors at his new table!

fun new easel or animal crackers??? easy choice apparently

Jeffrey trying to get connor excited for his very first Dbacks jersey

connor got new legos and then destroyed them with a bat

Once Christmas at our house is done, we head to an annual open house at our friend Carroll's house. Then dad and Corliss came by and we had another Christmas. Friday, Katy's mom and Rick hosted an open house for she and Scott and Saturday, Dawn and Chris had a bbq. Good times, totally exhausted...and since tonight is New Years Eve and we're heading to Ashley's doesn't look like it's slowing yet!

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well!

Crockpot Tuesday

Ok, I already have Nearly Wordless Wednesday and Friday's Dose of Brilliance...so this week i'm starting Crockpot Tuesday.

I've recently started a love affair with my crockpot. I just love it. Dump a bunch of stuff in and when we get home it smells lover-ly in the house and dinner is ready. The thing I don't love about crockpot recipes is that there are always like 15 ingredients. That kinda defeats the purpose for me. I wanted a few cookbooks for easy crockpot recipes that only use like 3-5 ingredients. Jackpot---on Christmas mom & dad came through for me, with this book and this one too. I'm loving it.

ugh, this post makes me sound so wifey. I'm really not like that, I just like the idea of that:)

so anyway, here is the first Crockpot Tuesday post...

Italian Chicken and Veggies

3 chicken breasts, halved

3/4 c. italian dressing

bag of frozen veggies, partially thawed

Place chicken breasts in crockpot. pour dressing over chicken and close up shop. Heat on HI for 3-4 hours, LOW for 5-7 hoursWhen there are about 1.5 hours left, add veggies and stir. The longer you wait to add the veggies, the crisper they will be. You can also add salt, pepper, oregano, and other italian spices you have around.

So, overall it was great. Chicken was really tender and had great flavor. Next time, I'll put the veggies in later so they don't get quite so soggy. Yum-we'll def have this again.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday-Catch up time!

I've had lots and lots of opportunities for photos over the last couple of weeks so I need to get several posted before all the Christmas photo hoopla begins...enjoy! :)

Here are some pics from the Vow Renewal last weekend. Connor was overall really well behaved. We did have to drag him down from the alter on occasion, but hey. Some of the pics are from the church and ceremony and the others are from the reception after.

after being told twenty times to stay off the altar...the kid just can't ignore the stairs

Al & Diane with all 4 kids

Grandma & Grandpa with all 4 grandsons

Here are a few more pics of Connor. Most are in his new playroom we just set up. He loves it.

brand new playroom and he plays with the laundry basket. lovely.

Jeffrey and I at the Dbacks Christmas party this year...possibly the best pic we've taken in forever. hint hint...next years holiday card perhaps? :)

Happy Holidays

Here's our holiday card for this year. if you didn't get one, it's not because i don't adore you and wish you happy holidays...i swear. it's simply because. just because.

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

Friday's Dose of Brilliance

Stains suck, and I just saw this Interactive Stain Removing Tool on Real Simple. (I love real simple btw.) Anyway, you can search through nature stains, food, makeup, etc. and it will tell you the best way to treat and remove the stain. Loving it.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Our fam celebrates St. Nick every year. It's supposed to be the morning of the 6th, but I hosted bunco on the 5th so we def didn't have our crap together for the actual day. anyway, we finally did it this weekend and connor got a Mickey Mouse ornament and Ramone from Cars.

He actually unwrapped the gifts this year, which is a huge step up from last year...high hopes for xmas!!

This one next is of Connor making his penpal a christmas card. my mom's group assigns each kid a penpal so that the kiddos each get their very own card each year. Connor made a reindeer with his footprints and handprints.