thank you, santa!

so...christmas 2017.  it was certainly a good one, i must say.  christmas eve day was pretty chill, with the old lady at work for part of the day and the rest of us hanging out at home just kind of bracing ourselves for the whirlwind that was to come.  i actually got to spend most of the day at the sewing machine, working on projects and something to wear to dinner that night with my folks.  oh, and taking silly pictures like this:

the bean decided to make some fresh cookies for santa (because she wanted to give him a variety to pick from, adding to the mint chocolate meringues and the hot cocoa cookies that were already waiting to be plated for him).

and then when the old lady and her special friend arrived, we all got cleaned up and hopped into the car to head to pasadena for dinner at green street tavern.

it was around 10 or so by the time we got home that night, and the bean made a beeline for the kitchen to set out her cookies for santa before she went to bed.  christmas eve is one of those few nights a year that it's not a struggle to get her to go to bed...because santa can't come if you're awake, right?  and because she'd run out of time to mail him a letter this year, she left it for him with the plate of cookies.  he left her a little message after enjoying some of the cookies:

and even though the majority of the christmas stuff had been done the day before, i still managed to somehow stay up till midnight finishing off the last of the details.  i was happy to collapse into bed next to the hub, who was already watching the pope's christmas mass on tv.  kinda odd since we aren't catholic, but it's something we seem to watch every year without fail.  heh.

the bean was up bright and early on christmas morning, as most kids usually are.  she went door to door, waking everyone up in the most gentle, non-obnoxious way possible, and i popped up to get our annual christmas casserole ready and in the oven to bake while we opened presents.  everyone waited anxiously for me to be done before diving into stockings and stuff, and we were having so much fun opening presents that i didn't really take a ton of pictures.  this is one of my favorite gifts to the old lady though, because look:

the hub did his usual job, handing out presents to everyone to open before sitting down to rip through the ones with his name on them.

the pile of wrapping paper and boxes grew and grew, but the old lady had the forethought to gather it all up in one spot to make cleanup a little easier.

of course, we had the yule log going the whole time.

when all the paper had been ripped off, all the bags opened and every present out from under the tree, we set up for our annual family photo.  i'd discovered the beauty of using the camera remote from my watch, and this was my test shot:

and the official family christmas pajamas photo.

the bean's new shih tzu stuffy looks pretty realistic, yes?

and her new scooter was a hit with everyone.

the timing was perfect, because just as we were finishing up the timer went off and breakfast was ready.  the casserole isn't very picturesque, but it was tasty...as were the cinnamon rolls we enjoyed afterwards.

i'd used the frosting container to scrape the bacon grease in for disposal, and realized that it looked like a pretty fantastic (if not incredibly disgusting) april fool's prank.

as for my big gift this year?  well...my wish from last year finally came true:

kate spade was prominently featured in my haul too.

i was most definitely one happy camper, despite the gigantic mess that needed to be cleaned up.

the bean was quickly engrossed in the new nintendo DS3 she'd received.

and then much later, with the old lady and her special friend out making the rounds with her dad and his family, we enjoyed our traditional homemade prime rib spread.

such a wonderful day, with lots of love and laughter and sweet moments.  hard to believe another christmas is over and done with.  and they just keep getting better and better.

the balloon fairy strikes again

it was noon by the time the bean finally got home after her friend's birthday sleepover.  i'm not gonna lie, it was really weird not to have her wake up in her own room on her actual birthday.  and we'd discussed it earlier that week when she realized that she wasn't going to see the handiwork of the "birthday balloon fairy" this time around.

"mom, can we still have the balloon fairy come this year even though i won't be there?  pleeeeeeaaaaasssseeeee?"

i mean, who could resist that?  certainly not me.

being the procrastinator that i am, i hadn't wrapped a single one of the gifts we'd bought for her.  i'd started gathering things to give her and tucked them away in our room, and so that morning i pulled it all out and started wrapping them all using the rainbows and unicorns paper i'd bought at target along with the few party decorations we'd used at the go-karting place.  and you know what's kinda awesome about having the party the day before her birthday + waiting till the last minute to wrap presents?  you get to reuse the gift bags...and even some of the tissue.  heh.

she was a little bummed to leave her friends after they'd spent the morning swimming and hanging out in the jacuzzi, but she was excited to see what was in store for her back at home.  she walked in the door, squealed when she saw the pile of presents on the table, and headed right for her room.

after changing into some dry clothes, she emerged from her room ready to get started on the business of opening presents.  i gave her the birthday medal we'd gotten the day before:

and then she tore into the first little package.

as she went through all of the gifts, she had quite the adoring audience.

there was even a bit of cheering happening behind the scenes.

the rainbow poop emoji reverse sequined t-shirt was a big hit.

so was the giant bag containing a couple of new huggable friends that she'd been coveting for weeks.

there was pusheen the cat EVERYTHING.

strangely enough, the item at the top of her birthday wish list this year was a zen garden.  she was pretty excited when she opened it, and promptly handed it to her sister to get it set up.

the piece de resistance was a stack of ten birthday cards from her beloved grandparents, each containing a handwritten sentiment and some cold, hard cash.  the last one was a fun pull-out card that featured the birthday song...sung by cats.  hilarious.

this year's haul (not including gifts from her friends at the party):

after that, it was time to head out and have some birthday lunch at the neighborhood olive garden.  she's obsessed with eating here for some reason, while the rest of us groaned inwardly and went with the flow.  for some reason the joint is always crazy packed, and we were quoted an hour-long wait when we got there.  oy vey.  although the complimentary glass of wine we were served once we were seated helped a little.

we followed that up with a pitcher of their green apple sangria, which smelled and tasted like a jolly rancher.

we were joined by one of her BFFs, and they were super excited to hang out again.

she also made sure to sit next to the old lady's special friend, who she adores.

birthday sweets:

as soon as we got home, we got started on a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies to take to cheer practice.  the first sunday practice of the year happened to fall on her birthday, and she was excited to bring some treats to share with her teammates.  she did pretty much everything from measuring to mixing to scooping, and all i did was put the sheets into the oven and take them back out again.

we rounded out the day with dinner at the local teppan grill restaurant.  she couldn't decide between sushi and steak for her birthday dinner, and i suggested it thinking that she could get both in the same place.  she was a pretty happy camper at the idea.

we all giggled at the chef's cart for the table next to us:

ever had a coconut martini?  i hadn't either, until just then.  i gotta say, it was pretty darn tasty.

there was the usual show - volcano + "fireworks," the "egg roll," and of course the beating heart of fried rice:

which then turned into a cross between mickey mouse and deadmau.

mmmmm, meat.

and of course, what's a birthday dinner without a silly hat?

birthday dessert was tempura-fried green tea ice cream and a green tea ice cream macaron sandwich.

one last group pic:

and then we went home, tucked her into bed and that was that.  birthday princess 2017 is officially over, for all of us.  whew!