A Clarke Christmas

     We had a great Christmas over here, hope all you guys did as well. The boys received lots of wonderful gifts from family and good, old Santa. Now we have just been opening toys, putting them together, and trying to find places for all their things. Luckily we bought an extra shelf from IKEA a couple of months ago just for this purpose. Our house seems to be slowly getting back to normal, and I can finally see the floor instead of a mass of boxes and toys. Next step is to go through old clothes that don't fit and put new ones away.
     We were lucky enough to have the kids sleep in a couple of time this week too (one day till 9am). I'm sure it was due to the lack of sleep they got on Christmas Eve and Day. They even all napped a few times, which was like a Christmas present to me since I can not begin to tell you how much I enjoy napping myself or an hour to relax. Usually I try to run around and clean when they sleep, but lately I've been trying to relax.
     My husband got hurt at work about a couple weeks ago, nothing serious he just needs a couple of weeks to recover. Getting hurt of course is not a good thing, but it's been nice seeing more of him and having him around. I know the kids love it. He goes back Monday and I'll be sad to be doing this all alone again.
   Instead of getting each other gift this year we just bought an IPad to share. I love it so far even though he's been hogging it most of the time. I have this Jamie Oliver recipe app and it has this Sausage and zucchini carbonara on it, it was amazing. I wish I took pictures, but it was gone before I thought of it. I tried looking for the recipe online to have a link for it, but this is the closest one I could find all you do is add two chopped zucchini to it and use bacon instead of pancetta. If you have an Ipad or Iphone definitely try it it's part of the free taster pack app, I've actually debated buying the full app after eating that, which for me is a big deal since I prefer not to spend money on apps.
    Starting next week I should be posting like usual, I've just been taking a small blogging vacation of sorts. In the meantime here are a few Christmas pictures.

         Declan did not like Santa, but this was awesome a guy does this for free at his house two weeks   before Christmas every year. The whole garage and lawn is decorated it was incredible

     Poor guy was sick and threw up twice Christmas Eve, but didn't want to miss anything

Christmas Ramblings

     With Christmas almost here I finally feel like I have a majority of my stuff done. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do everything I wanted, but for the most part I did at the last minute. I thought I wouldn't get a Christmas card done this year, but thanks to Walgreens one day cards those were done and mailed a couple days ago. They even turned out pretty cute.

Did some baking for gifts for neighbors. A little disappointed in  Martha's jam cookie recipe. Mental note do not try new recipes for gifts, stick to ones I know.  The pretzels and smores chocolate bark were delicious and both only take like 10 minutes if you are looking for something simple to do. Trust me every time I bring the pretzels to any party they are gone in like 5 minutes. All you do is place rolos on pretzels bake for five minutes at 250 then push an M&M in the middle to keep it in place and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Super easy to do and bring to any Christmas parties. My pictures are horrible, done quickly with my phone but they taste much better then they may look.

     Things I failed to do: I wanted to make grandparents a mug and photo calender, but decided too late and now must scramble to think of something else. There are a few other cookies I'd like to make we'll see if that happens. I need to go get  grab bag gifts tomorrow for this dirty Santa (not what you may be thinking) game we play with my family. Any ideas besides gift cards would be welcome.I really don't want to go shopping tomorrow but it looks like I have no choice.
     We did wrap all the kids gifts tonight, which I'm happy about.
     Overall I'm happy with what I got done. I was so wrapped up with everything else going on, you can read about it here that I wasn't sure I would do much this Christmas. Now I'm over it for the most part, I know it wasn't meant to be and we could be stuck in a situation much worse then just living in a small house I just need to find more ways to make it work.
     I hope to get some sleep tonight Liam has been up all night crying saying his side hurts, and we've been taking turns laying with him and now I think my husband fell asleep with him while up there, hopefully Liam's not getting sick.
     So, I'm thinking tomorrow after facing some last minute shopping and maybe a doctor's visit, we will come home and enjoy some hot cocoa and a Christmas movie. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas:)

Tis the Season to be Busy

     I know I have been lacking in the post department, but life has been busy with Christmas and the many other things going on (which I will post about in the next couple of days). I am almost done shopping for the kids. Tomorrow I need to go pick up a couple more things so I can make gifts for Liam's teachers and finish those by Thursday since that's his last day before Christmas break.  I still need to make our Christmas card and calender for grandparents which I hope to do very soon before it's too late. For now I thought I would share a couple pictures with you guys.

     Over the weekend we had breakfast with Santa. Liam and Rory sat on his lap, but Declan was too scared. We didn't really get a great picture since Liam always makes silly faces and Rory was having a blast clapping, waving, and playing with Santa's beard. Oh well, here's one of them.

What are your Black Friday Plans?

     With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I've been seeing many posts about Black Friday deals and shopping locally.  I love the idea of shopping locally I try to do so whenever possible to support our community, but I will not be out shopping on Black Friday. I know some people love it, but I can't handle big crowds and long lines I don't even like going to the grocery store when it's busy. I have friends who go to the store at 4am, I for one enjoy my sleep too much to be up at that time by choice, but to each their own. I have never been out shopping on Black Friday, and probably never will. My mom loves it though and all the deals out there, I know many people do.
   I will be at home with these guys, putting up our Christmas decorations because it takes all my will power not to put them up before Thanksgiving. I can't wait!

Christmas Gifts for the Kids

  


   Although my kids are all still young (3 and under). It seems like they have so much stuff already and we have no place to put it, and I'm scared to see what my house will look like after Christmas. For Liam's first Christmas we only got him a few presents since he was only 10 months old and didn't know the difference. Then when I had Declan I didn't even know what to get him his first Christmas since we had alot of toys from Liam, but I felt bad since Liam was getting so much so I bought him more then I should have. With three boys it's hard to think of things to get when they are little since we have a lot of baby toys already. Now Declan is starting to have things he likes, so it will be easier to think of a few things for him. For Rory I saw a little walker that looked cute and we don't have one and I'm pretty sure by then he may be able to push one, so I think I'll get him that, but not much else.
     This year I decided I'm not going to go overboard. Last year I  kept feeling like maybe I didn't get them enough, and then just kept buying more because I felt guilty like they should have a million presents.  Then on Christmas day it seemed to take all of 5 minutes to open all the gifts and I was still stuck thinking, was that enough, but it was and I know it. I think if you give them 10 gifts or 30 they can open them in only a few minutes.
     My friend was telling me the other day how her aunt used to get their kids 4 gifts every year: Something they want, need, wear, and read. I looked it up online and came across this website here if you want more info or ideas. I thought that it was a super cute idea and to be honest I started my shopping already and think my kids may be too young to understand it this year, but I may try it next year. I think it sounds like a great way to not go overboard, plus your kids know what to expect. No matter what it seems like they end up with too much, half of our kids toys are at their grandparents already because we have no room for them, so  this year I'm thinking less is better and I am going to focus on the few things I know my oldest one really wants and get my younger two a couple of things they will like. What do you guys do at your house for Christmas?

The Elf on the Shelf

     My aunt told me about this idea last year and I never heard of it before, maybe it's just me. There is an elf you can buy and the story is he is Santa's helper and is going to watch and make sure everyone is being good then report back to Santa. You are suppose to move him around every night, so when your children wake up he's in a new spot. When you are a child you believe anything is possible and a cute little elf who runs around and watches you would have seemed like fun to me as a kid.
     I was telling Liam about the elf and how Santa was going to send him to our house after Thanksgiving to make sure he's being good.  His response was I don't want that elf at my house and if he comes here I will take him and throw him in the garbage. I guess he probably realizes he can't be good for a whole month and still wants toys. Smart kid I tell you. A few days later he decided he was ok with this idea.
     I know some people don't believe in telling their kids there is a Santa or Easter bunny because then it is like lying to your children and to each his or her own, but I feel it is all part of the magic that is childhood. When you are a child you believe anything is possible and I think that's a great thing and at times wish I still had that quality. When I was little Santa always wrote me a letter back and would leave me a small gift before Christmas and I remember how excited I was for these things and how magical Christmas always seemed. I also remember being told at night my toys came to life and played together and I always would wish that I could see them and would try to catch them playing. I love how children believe that anything can happen and those are some of my best memories as a child. So, I hope this will be a fun new tradition for our family. I'll let you know how it goes.