The Boones: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Putting up the Christmas Tree

We normally put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving and put our new ornaments up before any other ornaments. Well, this year was a little different. My good camera wasn't working anymore and taking pictures and having those memories is probably one of the most important things for me. So, we waited until the next day when I got the new camera and could take the pictures that I wanted. I was so excited this year because Maddie is big enough to help with the tree and placing the ornaments on. Well, I was a little bummed that she didn't care to really dig in and help with it all. She did help with things, but it was only a few moments at a time. It was getting to be dinner time by this point and knew she was hungry, so we stopped for dinner and returned with a full stomach. Then we couldn't stop her! She got to look at all of the pretty ornaments and help put them on. She was putting like two or three ornaments on one branch. We couldn't keep enough ornaments on hand for her. She really admired the tree and all of the ornaments that it has on it. I am always catching her playing with the pooh bear ones and taking several off. No matter how often I explain that they need to get left on, she still takes them down to play with. Since she was putting them all on the lower half, we kept a few aside to put on top after she went to bed. We decided to save some additional ones that she could add to her tree. She was thrilled when we showed her bag of ornaments. She ran right to her tree and started adding. I love having all of these memories with her and being able to look back at these pictures and see how much fun we all had. Family memories are so important and should never be taken for granted. Enjoy the pictures.

putting the tree together

it's a tree. now the fluffing and lights

assisting daddy

helping mom fluff

she wanted to put the topper on

that's our tree

the ornament he got from my parents

the ornament I got from my parents

Maddie wanted in the picture too

Maddie putting her first ornament on

This was the first ornament she chose

The look because daddy was taking some ornaments

She was loving the tigger ornament

Ta-da!

Lori

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

More Ornaments...

Madison is going to be just like me about the holidays. She just can't get enough of all of the ornaments and decorating. She loves riding her Rudolf the red nose reindeer, playing with the ornaments, admiring the trees, and her carousel. When Jeff and I finished putting the ornaments on the top half of the tree, I decided to save a few for Maddie and her tree. She was so excited to have a 'bag full' of ornaments. I don't think she could get them on quick enough. Anyway, Here are some of the pictures that I got. Enjoy!

Lori

no more?!

She kept wanting pictures with her tree

...so she got them. :)

maddie's Christmas tree

Maddie got her Christmas tree last year from Mimi and PopPop. She loves it and is so excited to put her own ornaments on it herself. The branches are really thick, so sometimes she needs help getting the smaller hooks on. She literally sits in front of her tree and looks at her tree and carousel. She's done it the past two nights so far! Each year at Thanksgiving we give each other ornaments to add to our tree. I grew up with that traditional and it's something that I carried on to our family. Since Maddie is so big into Elmo or 'melmo' right now, her ornaments were Elmo and Sesame Street. She was really excited to get the ornaments. She loved getting to put them on herself (for the most part). I took more pictures tonight with her putting on additional ornaments, so I'll upload those later. Enjoy!

Maddie and Daddy admiring the tree!

It's so bright!

Her ornament from Mommy and Daddy

She was insistent on putting it on herself!

Proud that she got it on herself!

Can you see the pride?

Putting the ornaments that Mimi and PopPop-Sesame Street set

Abby and Elmo


Her tree :)

The Holiday Season is here!!

   IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!!! Christmas is here! LOVE is a complete understatement for this time of year! I love Thanksgiving and all that it entails. I love getting to cook way too many items, making things homemade that I normally don't get to make on any given day, and bake way too many things at once. It was just the three of us this year. Mom went down to spend Thanksgiving with Dad.

   I made as much of the food the day before because I wanted to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Maddie. Jeff had to make mashed potatoes and gravy for the 50 of the marine students that morning. The night before I made homemade bread, Jeff's jello salad thing with mandarins and cool whip, Jeff's peach pie that is traditional to holidays for him, pumpkin cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting for the marines, cheesecake for me and Maddie, homemade strawberry puree (which I have fallen in love with), and blueberry lemonade. On Thanksgiving day, we did the potatoes, sweet potatoes, turkey with the stuffing inside and carrots underneath, broccoli, salad, homemade spinach dip, and gravy. Jeff kept trying to convince me to prepare less since it was just the three of us, but that would be breaking tradition. I just couldn't do it. I would rather eat on the meal for days than to have a regular small meal. We did eat on it for a few days, but can I just say that the turkey was BEYOND moist! Jeff went to pick it up out of the bag and it broke in half. It was still moist by the third day into it. It was a really good day with good food and family. It was sad that we didn't have family to spend it with though.

Of course the day after Thanksgiving is black Friday, but more importantly the day we put up the Christmas decor!! :) This is the day that I break out my NSYNC (YES, NSYNC) Christmas CD along with all of my other CD's, the Christmas tree goes up, all of my garland and lights, and decor goes up! I get all giddy and can't wait for this time of year! I'll post pictures of putting the trees (yes, Maddie has her own tree) up in another post because I have some great pictures!

    Jeff and I didn't plan on going out for Black Friday. He had a few things he had wanted to get, but we didn't see them in any ads and wasn't going to voluntarily go to a crazy store to see if they had them on sale. I had been wanting a food processor for years. As you know by now, I love to cook and bake! I am always trying new recipes, but couldn't try some because I didn't have a food processor. I found one for a great price and it was a food processor/blender duet! Which was exactly what I wanted because my blender is about to go out of commission. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE it? Jeff found a wet/dry vac at a good price that he has been looking for. We didn't leave the house until 11 and just hoped that they still had what we wanted. To our surprise, they still had a lot of things left at the store. Merry Christmas to us!

Be on the lookout for another post about our Christmas trees. Until then, enjoy the pictures!