Christmas Is Here 2011!

This was so awesome and is still set up to play with!

Zach the night before getting all the last touches finished.

The Harajuku Perfume I snuck in my stocking! I got it for pennies at CVS!

A New Wii because our old one sucks and buying two new remotes would of cost the same, so I did the evil deed and agreed! I really wanted to play super Mario brothers all day and that is what we did in the evening. I can say I like Nintendo because of the non-violent games. I'm not to hip on the games in my home but I've had to compromise a little. I figured Mario  didn't rot my brain to bad so I think the kids will be okay.. Key word there, "I think".

Harujuka Girls I am your biggest fan! Anyone that knows me knows I'm a huge Gwenabee!!!

A new Book!

A new Double barrel .12g Shot gun! My hubby got me a few weeks before Christmas! I'm a terrible aim with a .22 so he said with this I would have a hard time missing!

I was seriously surprised when I opened this. I really thought that my Harajuku perfume that I bought for myself was the only thing I would be opening. My Mom and Zach schemed this one and I can say I love it so much! It was a bonus having over 500 books already downloaded to upload to it! Gotta love those coupon blogs!

Christmas Day was amazing this year! The first year Zach and I decided to stay home with each other and the kids! Let me say that again we decided to stay home with the kids and start our own family traditions! The first year in 12 years where we didn't have to arrive somewhere else. We all got to relax and play with our new toys. We plan on doing this next year and every year after that.

 The kids were over due for new bikes! They had no idea and they were pretty excited running out in the morning yelling Bikes, bikes,bikes!  I would of loved to hid them in the forest but we had a wet(or should I say muddy) Christmas so we decided to just leave them under the tree.

 Next year we want to make Christmas more about giving our time to the less fortunate. I figure the kids will be old enough to do soup kitchens. Maybe we can create our own food drive?? I just feel the need to show them a giving heart and not in the form of material stuff.  I hated giving in to the corporatism of the Holiday this year. It is really against a lot of our standards these days.  Zach and I discussed giving gifts to the kids through out the year when they least expect it. I tend to not purchase anyhting all year and then I get clothes and a few toys for Christmas. Even though I feel that we spoiled them, I mostly got them stuff they needed, only a few random toys. I don't think we over did it but I want my boys to know the true meaning of Christmas and not to expect gifts during this time of year. We kind of feel that we've shot ourselves in the foot by the last few years doing the whole gift thing. WE defiantly had a few lessons taught on Christmas  this year when Ayden was opening up gifts that were mostly cloths. He got mad and said, "this sucks Mom all we are getting is cloths". Well we reminded him that Mom needs cloths for them and Grandpa(and all my side of the family) send clothes because they know you need them. Of course there was more of a lecture then that but you get the drift.

The Parenting from here on out is sure going to get tough. We want to instill all we can within our boys. Sometimes its hard to know how to approach things. That's why I will admit I have every self help book out there(well maybe not all of them,he,he) I want to be my best and teach my best. Sometimes I  don't know what my best is until I really start to delve into my standards. Zach and I hope to continue to ask questions and seek the best possible answers, to know our standards and live by them. Which we do but a few standards have changed over the years.. Some have stayed the same with different reasoning behind them.

These pics are from our i-phone(which I have to note was cancelled and is now only an i-pod). I really want to practice what we preach and having an i-phone when you are poor is just silly! I have a bunch more pictures of course that I hope to post but I'm not making any promises.. I'm so behind on the blog and well a lot of other aspects of my life. I hope to catch up if only the time would freeze for a good few months!

I hope everyone who is reading this had a great Christmas! I'm grateful to know that my Savior was born and I am grateful for Mary's example. What a miracle Christ's birth is. I'm glad to know and share a personal relationship with Jesus and I'm glad that he shares every bright light in my life and every dark corner!