it's a velvet and mikey extravaganza!!
this past weekend marked our annual velvet-pants-mikey-coco christmas celebration. the lovely lloyds showed up on our doorstep late saturday afternoon, and it was 24 hours of laughs, presents, yummies, and all-around holiday merriment.
saturday night menu:pork tenderloin
homemade baked apples
sweet potato rounds
(these were GOOD! i just baked sweet potatoes in the oven early in the day, then fridged them. once they were cold, i just cut them into thick circles, and sprinkled them with olive oil, salt, and brown sugar. then i sauteed them in a pan till the bottoms were carmelized. yum!)
steamed green beans
salad ala coco
assorted ice cream for dessert
after dins, we enjoyed the fire pants made:
and we also opened gifts.
i was SO stoked that i found
a christmas story wrapping paper with pictures of ralphie and his fam all over it! i knew mikey would love it, of course, so i gave some to him as one of his gifts. hee hee!
we also laughed A LOT.
afterwards, we tried to play a game, laughed some more, then coco and mikey and i stayed up late chit-chatting. (poor pants went upstairs to put sky to bed and never made it back down. i found him asleep on sky's pillow when i went to bed around midnight.)
sunday found us eating cinnamon french toast and bacon for breakfast, doing some last-minute shopping, getting ready for the christmas program at church (pants was playing music in it), and still laughing.
there were lots of silly random things that kept happening. like the way sharkey kept using his new 'sword' (a blunted metal knife sharpener he pulled from the silverware drawer when i wasn't looking) inappropriately:
at least he found a handy way to carry it when not in use.
(guess it runs in the family.)
and the hand weights i accidentally left on the kitchen counter were apparently popular:
we had so much fun, you guys! wish it could be christmas with the lloyds every weekend!
xoxo
velvet
we started our celebrations on the 24th with the typical christmas eve traditions...
we let the kiddos open one gift each
and even though sky doesn't believe in santa, he still left out brownies, milk, and a message reminding him of what toys to bring.
christmas morning was fun, and the kids were really excited.
of course sharkey's favorite thing was not the huge batcave, t-ball set, or other cool toys, but rather a cheap little plastic gun that was in his stocking.
(this picture reminds me of ralphie's brother in a christmas story when he falls asleep under the tree with his zeppelin toy.)
although he did really like his farm set, too.
sky's life revolves around legos, so this ship was tops on his list. and look at his darling lego pjs! he LOVES those pajamas - sometimes i even catch him wearing them under his clothes.
sky's other favorite gift was from aunt candie...
he found out the hard way that they can't actually help you fly for real off the top of your bunk bed.
everyone knows i LOVE those sweet little christmas village displays with the lights and the tiny people and the fun shops and houses...and every single year i debate about starting my own collection of them. so this year pants surprised me and got me my very own christmas village! (i think he was just tired of hearing me always talking about them.) i am totally excited about it - i can't wait to keep adding to it!
and isn't this how you always end christmas day?
xoxo
it's a velvet and mikey extravaganza!!
sweet potato rounds
and we also opened gifts. 
i was SO stoked that i found a christmas story wrapping paper with pictures of ralphie and his fam all over it! i knew mikey would love it, of course, so i gave some to him as one of his gifts. hee hee!
we also laughed A LOT.
afterwards, we tried to play a game, laughed some more, then coco and mikey and i stayed up late chit-chatting. (poor pants went upstairs to put sky to bed and never made it back down. i found him asleep on sky's pillow when i went to bed around midnight.)
at least he found a handy way to carry it when not in use.
(guess it runs in the family.)
and the hand weights i accidentally left on the kitchen counter were apparently popular:
we had so much fun, you guys! wish it could be christmas with the lloyds every weekend!
the kids and i just made some sweet little gifts for the neighbors - super easy, super cheap, and super yummy. i got some cute popcorn buckets from the dollar bin at target, then filled them with a paper bag of homemade caramel corn. throw on a jaunty ribbon, and voila! now that's my kind of holiday!
xoxo
one christmas tradition i have never ever done in my life is decorate a gingerbread house. maybe it's lame, but for some reason i have ALWAYS wanted to do it. so i told myself this was the year. besides, it was something fun i could do with the kids, right?
xoxo
