OK, I Lied [About Being DONE]

It's true. I think I may have overstated myself yesterday when I said that we'd finished all things Christmas. This has now become a nearly 3-week affair for us, but I'm not complaining! ;)

First came the work day: The girls and I came in full force at the office today, and seemed to all have the same idea: NEW YEAR, NEW EVERYTHING. Our first order of business was cleaning and rearranging each of our spaces, something that kind of speaks for itself in ushering in the aura of new. It's refreshing to switch things up, de-clutter and in a way just re-calibrate the zen for the space we occupy for 45+ hours each week.

So there's that... and to round it off, we ordered a supply trip to Office Depot & lunch at Fresh Thyme.

fun times at fresh thyme! |  cincinnati, oh

^^ You know you're an adult when office & market itineraries can actually excite you. Hah :p.

Anyway, today was a progressive lineup of awesomeness; once work was finished, I picked up Sydni and we headed home to get started on dinner. More specifically, Sydni's mission statement for dinner:

"Mommy, I wanna surprise Mister Rob with dinner
because he is always doing stuff for us." 

Say what, little heartstring?! Of course we will.
I gave Sydni reign of the recipe book, and she decided on chili. Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?

Chili it was!

chili! ♥

Sydni's chili recipe hit the nail on the head, and with bellies full, we dialed in for the highlight of the night: MORE Christmas presents!

That's right, Santa made a stop over Christmas to Rob's mom's house, specifically for Sydni. Now that she and the presents were both here, we wanted to share that with his mom.

it continues..... 

Here are the spoils of that adventure:

skype! 

fuzzy coats!! 

the coats not being hugged ;) 

dresses

and of course, shoes! 

All presents aside, I am so grateful for Rob's family. His mom & stepdad are continuously thoughtful and have a blast thinking of things and places that Sydni would enjoy. His dad & stepmom are the same, and his step-niece Ella now has a new friend with Sydni. There are a lot of families that clash against the choices of their son or daughter, but I'm fortunate not to have that problem. My parents love Rob, and vice versa, and that alone is enough for me :)

And NOW.. I think Christmas is complete. I'll keep ya posted if I'm wrong... again. ;)

xo | cmd

Office Christmas!

I seriously hope Santa gets a Caribbean vacation after all the work he's putting in this year ;)

@ express, feelin' the festive Christmas love!! ♥

Sheesh, Santa! 

dave. "the twins" [elisa. cori]. carri

In spite of our sometimes [truly] dysfunctional conversations and wading through the sometimes messy gunk that our jobs here can produce, I love my little office family and am thankful to have shared a Christmas celebration with them! 

The rest of the day went by at a grueling pace; as I sat and dialed out the last few calls, I multitasked to pass the time.. Don't worry; everything is done and I even managed to make some headway on things scheduled for next week... Carri would say that's the Sagittarius in me, somehow accomplishing more when I'm overloaded. I can't explain it, so I just roll with it :) 

talking & knitting.
multitasking! 

At home, Sydni and I got busy preparing dinner for our incredible head of the house; Sydni so sweetly explained to me that we "needed to do this because he does so much for us." I may or may not have cried a little when she said that..... ^_^

my own little cooking show! ♥

Rob finally made it home, and while he and Sydni were finishing dinner, I spent some much overdue time with the pups, which I think went over well. Would you agree? ;) 

♥ pibbles! 

And to round out the night, our own little Lila was spotted inching her way closer and closer to Christmas Day: 

sneaky girl! 

^ Oh, and I spy the ornament Elisa gifted me for my birthday [thank you!] 

TWO. MORE. DAYS!!! :D

xo | cmd 

It's ELF Season!

THIS:

photo cred: kena betancur

^^
Yes, guys, we are one of the households that has its own Elf on a Shelf, sent from Santa himself to grace our home when we're not looking. No, it's not the size of a parade balloon, but she's big in her own special way around here..

yep. 

I am well aware of the nay-sayers out there who don't participate in this fun little holiday tradition; we are however SO excited to have our own little gal elf, Lila, who finds her way back and forth between our house & the North Pole when the rest of us have gone to bed. She made her first appearance tonight and brought with her a book for Sydni [which went over perfectly]; thanks, Lila!

We'll get some pictures of Lila up here soon; for now, it's back to mama-daughter knitting. I know I posted a few shots yesterday of finished products, but I'm nowhere near done; they'll keep comin'!

knittin' fools over here :) 

See ya on the flipside, blogbots!

xo | cmd

Elf'in Around (:

We started off the day by finding our little Lila perched on top of Mrs. Ladybug in the living room. Last night, Sydni asked Lila to have Santa remove her tags from her dress; if you look closely, Santa was clearly listening, and Lila must've thought to bring them back, just to show Sydni that she is in fact listening to what we do and say. To say I have a believer in my house now is an understatement. Mama apparently needs to write Santa a letter to see if he has any off-season helpers available for the other 11 months, because the smile count and politeness around here is certainly improving (:

lila with her tags, perched on mrs. ladybug

I managed a few must-do's by the time the business day was over; once I got home, we settled in for a night watching Elf with our own elf, together nestled up on the couch. I finished the final phases of the coasters, and tomorrow I'll get the backings on and pack them all up for delivery! Thankfully I have my own personal elflet here, who was more than willing to do anything Mama needed her to do this evening, including clean up her room and identify which toys can now be passed on to other little girls who will love them.

of course ♥

From us to you, good night!

xo | cmd

Introducing Lila, The Elf.

Today was a very special day in our house. You see, today, SANTA sent one of his favorite assistants to stay at our house for the holidays. We may be a few weeks behind the rest of the world celebrating their elves, but our little girl made a pitstop at Nana & Pappy's house before coming here, so ... we are better late than never!

It's just the beginning of our Christmas experience with Lila; here are just a couple of captures from our introduction and naming of Miss Lila! 

special delivery!
from...... santa, of course. ;)

meeting her for the first time - sydni named her lila!

reading the story of lila the elf ♥

She was so excited to have an elf; back home in my parents' neck of the woods, a few of our friends have them already and so Lila's arrival here could not have been more celebrated than it was tonight. She decided right away where Lila would spend her time [at least for now] while she's here:

"let me do it! she'll go right here, by me from when i was a baby."

.. Of course, Sydni :) My girl is so sweet; she even removed the nightlight from her room to be placed in the outlet right next to the bookshelf, because Lila is "brand new here and she said she's afraid of the dark." I told her that that was very sweet and that I was certain Lila would report that immediately to Santa when she heads back to the North Pole tonight. ♥♥

sleep tight, lila!

And so Lila is the newest addition to our little home, and we're excited to see what kind of adventures she can get herself and us into.

So to us, Lila and to you: good night!

xo | cmd