simplify

I have a word for 2014...

Doesn’t need much explanation does it?

 

It simply means, if you come to my kid’s birthday party, you might get store bought cupcakes.

If I give you a gift, it might not be handmade.

If you ask me to do something, I might say no.

Things like that.

 

If you know me at all, you know that I like to have the best parties, the best gifts, be involved in everything, etc.  And it’s finally caught up with me.  I have been really sick twice in the past six weeks and I chalk that up to simply not getting enough sleep. 

 

I can say that I almost never sacrifice time with my family to do all these projects, I do them after the kids have gone to bed. 

Did I mention that we have two night owls who stay up until around 10 o’clock most every night. 

And I get up at 5AM to exercise before work.  

So by the time I get my projects done, that often times puts me at 4-5 hours of sleep a night. 

My body is speaking up and I am finally listening.

 

Plus, I’m looking forward to a simpler, dare I say it, slower paced, year!

Like yesterday, I finished a book…that I started six months ago.

 

So, I’m just telling you all this because, well, I don’t know…my blog may get really boring while I’m busy being simple!

 

Happy 2014 friends!

Christmas!!!

Christmas morning was really fun at our house this year!

We finally woke our little sleepy heads up at 9AM!!! and told them that Santa had came.

{It worked out awesome, gave the guys a chance to get chores done and me a chance to get myself ready and breakfast made, all before presents!}

The Little Lady got her beloved Saige.  The American Girl Doll that she has been wanting for the past six months.  Santa really wanted to get GW something cool, but wasn't sure what GW would like this year.  Then he remembered this cattle truck that his elves had made and thought that was just the thing since GW loves to watch the trucks come and go. 

John Wayne and I decided on one big present for each of the kiddos this year.

T got her "iPad" {LeapPad Ultra} which has been a big hit and GW got his brand belt buckle.

Gaga and Papa came up to watch the kids open their presents from Santa and us.  Then we all opened our stockings and after breakfast headed to "the Greats" {my Grandpa and Grandma's} house for lunch with my aunts, uncles and cousins.

 

This is the best we got as far as a family Christmas photo this year : )

And it seems as though this is always were my camera gets pushed aside and I quit taking pictures.

After lunch and presents with my Dad's family, we all loaded up in the Suburban for a 100 mile trip to my other Grandparent's house for Christmas dinner with my Mom's family.

A busy, busy day, but so blessed to celebrate the birth of our Savior with all of our family.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was great!  

The kids and I slept in and then the kids had their farewell breakfast from Cowboy the Elf {I'll post on Cowboy soon}.

I got the pot of green chili started.

When John Wayne and my Dad got in from chores, we had green chili for lunch and watched some John Wayne.

Green chili and The Duke, that means it's Christmas Eve at the Golding's.

That evening, we mixed up our "normal" Christmas schedule and opened presents at Gaga and Papa's.

My mom fixed us a great meal and then we opened presents.

We usually open presents Christmas morning at my Mom and Dad's, but with the kids and Santa at our house, then rushing down to my Mom and Dad's, hurrying to get to my Grandparent's by lunch, it was all too much.  Opening presents with Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve worked great, made for a much more relaxed and enjoyable time!

The Little Lady decided we should wear our fancy clothes.

 

T's favorite present from Gaga and Papa was her new Rapunzel dress.  

The one they got her last year is literally in rags, because she wears it every.single.day all.day.long.

GW loves his Mickey Mouse that Gaga and Papa got him.

Mickey sings the "hot dog, hot dog..." song, to which GW repeated "hot dog!"

A little post present opening fun!

 

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After Gaga and Papa's, it was time to head home and get ready for Santa Claus.

Another tradition at our house is the kids get to open one present -- new pajamas, an ornament for their collection, a book and this year a movie, too.

Once they were in their new Christmas jammies, we got Santa and his reindeer's milk, cookies and carrots ready and then read our new book and watched our new movie.  It was a really fun night!

Christmas {Part 1 & 2}

I'm finally getting around to posting about our Christmas festivities!

The Sunday before Christmas, we had lunch at Justin's Grandma's house in Colorado Springs. The kids were very excited to go to Gigi's and play with their cousins.

The Little Lady was so excited to wear her fancy new Christmas dress, but then we had a major disaster. The shoes that I had bought for her to wear just like six short weeks ago {can you say growth spurt?!?} didn't fit, so in this little diva's eyes, "Christmas was ruined." Luckily this is the one Christmas that we had to go to the city for, so disaster adverted, we detoured to Kohls on the way to Gigi's house for new shoes and Christmas was no longer ruined. Although, her Daddy saw absolutely nothing wrong with these boots with this dress. Which really there wasn't. But, the Little Lady needed pink shoes!

The Little Lady just adores her big cousin Morgan. They got new dollies from Gigi.

Monday {the 23rd}, we hosted Justin's Dad and brother and family at our house for Christmas. I made a big Christmas meal and we all enjoyed the evening together.

Love this pic of big sis literally holding onto little brother.

And of course T and GW both just adore their big cousins who are so good to them.

Lots more Christmas pictures to come!

Merry Christmas from the Goldings

We hope that you have a very Merry Christmas! 

 {We of course have lots of pictures from festivities in December...

hopefully I'll get them posted once things slow down a little!}

Santa!!!

The Little Lady was very excited to see Santa this year to tell him that she wants Saige {an American Girl doll} for Christmas.  Her little brother on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled.

 

We went to see Santa at Harding's Nursery.

I was impressed with their decorations and their Santa.

 

Since GW wasn't too excited about Santa, Mom and Dad got to jump in on the pictures too.

This pic did turn out pretty cute!

The Little Lady was thrilled with her Santa experience.
GW was thrilled because we got him a cookie at their open house after pictures : )

Black Friday...My Happy Day

I seriously LOVE Black Friday.

This year was extra awesome.  

The Little Lady was all into "girls day."

We headed into the city late Thursday afternoon.  Gaga and I surprised the Little Lady and took her to see Frozen.  Such a cute movie.  Then we headed to the new Holiday Inn Express right in the middle of all the good shopping.  My aunt and cousins met us there and we had a slumber party, complete with swimming and not much sleep : )

We'll all tell you that our Black Friday shopping is more about our time together, not the deals.  Sure, we all love a good deal, but we "slept in" and didn't start shopping until 5AM.  We all refuse to shop on Thanksgiving, we hate how they've ruined Black Friday by opening on Thanksgiving.

We started with two of my favorite things...Target and Starbucks.

I LOVE this picture!!!

After Target, we met up with my Grandparents {where T informed my Grandpa that, "there are no boys allowed on girl's day" but later said it was ok if just he came} and my great aunt and several more cousins, at Kneaders for breakfast.  

At Kneaders, T was the first kid of the day to find their Elf, so not only did she get a sucker, but she also got to choose his new hiding place for the day.

After some more shopping, it was time to head back to the hotel for a nap for one tired little lady.
Then our boys came and picked us up and we headed to see Santa!!!