How we spent our Christmas...

***I will post pictures later. My camera and cords are in the room that Carver is sleeping in.***

I have to admit, it was a little nice to have a break from blogging. We're still out of town but the dust has settled on all the excitement so I have a little time to sit down and update you on what we've been doing.

My brother and his girlfriend flew in on the 16th and we all went to my mom's on the 17th for the weekend. I was the only one (plus Chris and Carver) that hadn't met Ash so that was great to finally get to meet her. Mom's birthday was on the 18th. On the 19th, we had dinner at my grandma's house and did Christmas with her, my dad, my uncle and cousin. I was in a mad dash on the 17th, finishing up presents before we left. Everyone LOVED their presents and Carver made out. He got some jammies, clothes and a tonka truck from his GG Axthelm (aka. great-grandma), an awesome winter coat from his Grandpa and all three of us got hats from my dad (along with a Target GC). Monday morning (the 20th) I had a dentist appt to have a crown prep. Did I ever tell you that I had a root canal last month? Yeah, fun stuff. When they do a root canal, you have to get a crown on that tooth since it's lost it's stability from having a hole drilled through it. After my appt we came home.

Tuesday Charlie flew in. Mom called and asked what I was doing and I said nothing. Charlie had missed his shuttle and mom was wondering if I could pick him up from the airport and meet her in North Bend. I, of course, say yes. So I loaded up Carver, picked up Josh (Chris's 10yr old brother who I said I'd watch while my MIL had a dentist appt) and headed up to the airport. Everything was going perfectly until we were sitting in the parking lot in North Bend waiting for Cody and Ash (they wanted to pick him up instead). Carver had been a little fussy and then all of a sudden, he threw up... in the car... and it smelled like Velveeta! So I jumped out of the car and gingerly pulled Carver out of his seat. Thankfully Charlie was there and he was a BIG help. He helped me strip Carver and then put his back up clothes on and got in the front seat with him while I cleaned up the carseat as best as possible. The only thing I can think of that caused it was either the fishie crackers that he pounded down or the two bites of a quesadilla from Taco Time that he ate. Once that was over, we went into Starbucks to get Carver a water and we waited in there until Cody and Ash showed up.

I put Carver on the BRAT diet but for some reason decided to give him some yogurt on Thursday... it came back up. But other than that, he's felt fine since that little incident.

On Wednesday, my Christmas Fairy (aka Gramma Pat) came over and wrapped all my presents for me! I was feeling a little overwhelmed and she offered to come wrap my presents. We got everything wrapped that was ready. I still needed to finish a couple presents and buy a gift card but I got caught up. Thanks Gramma!!!

On Friday, my friend Mallorie was planning on spending the day with us but she texted around 9am saying she'd just left the doctor and she has bronchitis. :( Its hard for us to find time to get together as it is, and then when we do find a day to get together something always seems to pop up. Get better Mallorie!!! We'll try again later!

Later that night, we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. We've made it a tradition and I love how it checks your mind into what Christmas is all about. We seem to get caught up in the gift giving and running around and 'forget' what the true meaning really is. It was a great service. The only thing I would've changed was that they didn't have the nursery open. So Carver sat with us and was a little squirmy but we made it to the end and he thought the candlelit part was pretty cool.

Christmas morning was the three of us. We got up, made coffee and opened presents. Carver was having a blast opening everything. I was feeling bad that I hadn't put very much in Chris's stocking, when I saw the how packed mine was. But that was short lived when I realized that everything in my stocking was CANDY!!!!! and a Starbucks GC. haha

Carver is IN LOVE with his work bench. He even 'helped' Chris put together my Scrapbook cart thing. We definitely chose the perfect gift for him.

We headed to Chris's parents house around 4pm and opened gifts and had dinner. We usually do it the other way around - open gifts after dinner - but this way worked out way better. There was no meltdowns and we were able to leave after dinner so Carver got to bed on time.

Sunday morning (the 26th) we got up, finished packing and headed to Ellensburg. We stopped at Target to restock on fishies for the car (I threw away the pack that made him puke) and I found a MICKEY MOUSE HOODED PONCHO TOWEL!!!!!! So I texted my brother's girlfriend, Sarah and told her she could give it to Carver. Carver hasn't exactly warmed up to her yet (no reason why) so we thought that would help. Then we went to Starbucks so I could use my new burlap travel mug. :) It's the burlap from the coffee bean bags. Yes, I know I'm obsessed. :D

When everyone got to Mom's house (us, Gramma, and Sarah) we opened presents. Ash had already flown to her family's house in Ohio so she wasn't there. It's always really laid back and we just take our time. There's no rush. We got some gift cards, Ticket to Ride game, Jake got me a camo sweatshirt from Cabelas that has a pink liner in the hood, and some other stuff. Carver got the toys that my mom bought him awhile ago. There's more but some are hard to explain.

Then yesterday (Monday), Chris, Carver and I went down to Yakima to use some of my gift cards. I figured that I spent about $80, paying $20 (I didn't have a GC for that store), and I still have about $40 in gift cards! I could've saved another $8 but my phone died right as I was going to give the code to the cashier. Did you know that you can get coupons for JoAnns on your phone? So cool! You just put the coupons in your 'wallet' and then pull them up and the cashier types in the code. I'm definitely going to be taking advantage of that more! I always forget coupons at home. Anyways, the one thing I bought that I'm the most proud of is a gingerbread hooded towel for Carver. It was regularly priced at $25 and I got it for $7.50! Yay for 70% Christmas!

Today, Gramma headed home. We're all going to head into town around 2pm (when Mom gets off work) and go to this gift store in town that always has great sales after Christmas.

NOW.... If you made it this far, let's do a giveaway! Leave me a comment and you'll be in the drawing for a $10 Starbucks card! I'll leave it open until Sunday January 2, 2011. Good luck!!!