week 51-52 wrap up and 2012 finale

we’re here! it’s the end of the year guys!

this is the last of twenty twelve…the beginning of a new calendar…woot!

so how did we spend the last 2 weeks of the year?

it’s thrilling…i’m kidding…it was pretty normal. ya know, if normal means sick with colds and flus and being half miserable, then yah, it was pretty normal.

saturday | december 22:

first day of my 5-day break. i have been looking forward to this since um, the summer, when i took 10 days off. my work life is hell, uh, i mean hectic during this time of year so it’s difficult to enjoy the month of december, let alone get a good chunk of time off. but i managed it and here we are. with a full 5 days ahead of us. sweet!

when marsh took a nap, gibson and i decided to watch forrest gump. he’s been asking and i’ve been contemplating. knowing i could skip through the questionable scenes made my yes into a heck yes! he loved it! i had opportunities to explain things to him and i thought he was very mature about it all.

marking this one off my list!

my lovely and sweet office pal ashley got me these amazingly cozy cashmere socks and they are divine! perfect for a night of super wrapping.

and speaking of super wrapping…matt and i stayed up until after midnight and finished ALL the wrapping…even the santa stuff. having it done made the next two days so much more enjoyable!

sunday | december 23:

a busy morning ahead! i made these cute tags to hang around my homemade granola.

a little string and a mason jar and we’ve got gifts!

and on the topic of gifts, i stumbled upon this amazing (and FREE!) app that makes greeting cards the size of and iphone screen that are ready to save and send via text.

i ended up doing all my birthday thank you cards with this app and even made some birthday cards for some upcoming birthdays. there are soooo many templates and colors to choose from, i LOVE this app!

drew a tree in the sweat of our crappy sliding glass door. clearly the windows are doing a fabulous job.

monday | december 24: CHRISTMAS EVE!

6:30am: matt leaves to pick up the ham from the honey baked ham store. it’s our tradition.and matt’s favorite part. for him, this is when christmas begins.

broke out my old friend. we had some fun together.

the sun crept up as i cleaned up the house, prepared food to bring to the in-laws for the annual eve gathering.

just some handsome boy who lives here. 🙂

this was my almost christmas eve outfit. i ended up putting on black boots and a gray cardi instead. felt better, more cozy. but i WILL wear this soon. love the different patterns!

some family snapshots were a must before we left…

here’s the good one.

here’s the fun one.

and the naughty one. (my fave)

this is how marshall stayed almost the entire night at matt’s parent’s house. in the little fold out sleeping bag/chair thing, in the playroom, watching thomas. poor guy had a bad allergy attack yesterday but seems to be coming down with something else. wasn’t sick…but just wanted to relax. even with all of his cousins playing around him, he just wanted to chill.

we left the party early, to get marsh home and to bed. matt had a good buzz going and we both hated to leave. other than the ham, THIS is the night he looks forward to most. christmas eve at his dad’s. family. drinks. chopino. tons of food. fire place. classic christmas music. good times.

but we had stuff to do to prepare for the morning. we got marsh straight to bed with gibson following shortly after. visions of video games and trains danced in their heads.

it was a chilly night but santa came!

tuesday | december 25: CHRISTMAS DAY

marsh woke us up at 4:30am. yes folks, that’s not a typo. otherwise known as 0’dark:30

but the excitement and patience he displayed made me give in and get up. we snuggled in bed until gibson stumbled out of bed at 5:10. by 5:15 we were settled in the family room.

half way through presents, marshall came and layed with me on the couch and asked if he could go back to my bed and lay down. the kid was so sick, he passed up presents for sleep. we carried on and let gibson finish his gifts until marshall woke up from his little snooze. he was absolutely miserable.

among some awesome gifts like an ipod touch for gibson and some sonic and transformers action stuff for marshall, this gift was quite the hit. this is my mom’s guitar that she gave to gibson. he said he wanted to learn and they don’t play anymore. he’s super excited!

we spent the rest of the morning napping, picking up, assembling toys, downloading apps, watching a christmas story and eating. but once the afternoon hit, matt realized he was coming down with something too.

and it was decided that dinner at matt’s sister’s house wasn’t going to happen. such a bummer. but we had gifts to exchange and i made turkey chili and mini apple pies. it was decided that gibson and i would go and represent the gray household while marsh and matt stayed home.

it wasn’t the same, or very christmassy, but we made the 30 minute drive while it poured buckets on the highway.

we are never at a loss for jokes, good food and superb company when we hang with our family. missing the boys though, so we ate and did gifts and said our goodbyes.

loved seeing the lights that lead us home.

more snuggling with a sick coughing little dude when we got home, but after he opened all his gifts that we brought back with us. he was in better spirits but it totally wore him out.

a christmas we’d have liked to be a bit different, but one that we’re grateful for, nonetheless.

wednesday | december 26:

this is THE only mess i am happy to see. scattered piles of gift and toys that haven’t made it to their homes yet. empty boxes and scraps of paper and tape. it’s a beautiful sight.

gibson and i took a quick trip to target to pick up some plastic tubs. marshall’s room needs a serious re-org.

in the middle of all the sorting and stacking, marshall crashed out. so i let him sleep. poor little dude.

thursday | december 27:

back to work for a couple days. i did my nails with some of my new jamberry stickers…used grey and white lace on 4 nails and a white chevron on clear, over a nail i painted grey. sooo cute!

i also got new grey chucks that i’ve been dying for.

another gift from matt. can’t wait to watch it again!

friday | december 28:

now we’re all feeling a little something, but fighting it with all we have!

matt and i watched tv until late and gibson wanted to watch tv in my room until we came to bed. so i texted him…from the couch. so much of this cracks me up. he’s been obsessed with cosby and full house lately. last month he finished watching all the episodes of alf so we’re good there. i love this kid.

saturday | december 29:

woke up with swollen glands and a sore throat but felt good enough to run a few errands with gibson. the sky was littered with a blanket of clouds. the sun struggled to get through but couldn’t quite make it.

flipping through channels with matt and he stops on this. the significance of this movie is the name of the ship. not only is it my first name, but it’s also my middle name. no joke. my name is andrea gail. cool huh? the boat survives the storem, i’ve always like to think it’s a cool parallel.

my one little word has been decided. if you missed that post, see it here.

sunday | december 30:

did a little organizing in my closet…maybe going to make a fancy little things post out of it.

monday | december 31:

love my new blender! it makes smoothies from frozen fruit a breeze!

just a quick selfie before we run out of light and run a few errands.

i was in the mood for doodling. making my new goal poster for my office.

part of our errands were to pick up junk food for new years night in. we were supposed to go to be with friends and do family games and fun stuff but i got full blown sick and marshall still had a cough and matt was still trying to get over his cold.