Christmas 2016

IT'S BEEN SO LONG.

But every year my friend records her Christmas because we get "mom brain" and can't remember details. I thought it was such a good idea, I'm following suit. Because this year was my FAVORITE CHRISTMAS EVER in the history of Christmases.

Christmas 2016
what we did... where we went... what we gave... what we got... and what we don't want to forget!!

I must say that my life in general is typically a tad unorganized and mostly me scrambling last minute to get things done and eventually just crossing off the list all the things that I couldn't get to that I'll have to live without. Things like cleaning my house so that when I come back from vacation, I don't come home to a hot mess. Or leaving presents to be wrapped on Christmas Eve and resorting to a plastic bag for Zach's gifts because I'm too tired. But THIS year, I'm not sure how, but I was ON TOP OF IT.

I decided to throw Georgie a Poppy party based on the new movie Trolls, since she is so so so so freaking obsessed with her. I said I wasn't going to, but it was the first time she asked me for a party and wanted a theme so I just gave in like the big caver I am. I have to say, somehow I managed to cross off everything on my list and stick to a timeline so that all was taken care of prior to the day of the party and everything went smoothly despite the fact that I had planned a psychedelic outdoor glitter, bubbles, magical rainbow party banking on the sunny weather of Southern California and it rained for DAYS before and after!! Our yard was soaked and I had to move everything inside and cross off glitter and bubbles :( but thanks to Zach, he was a trooper and helped me arrange the house so that there was plenty of room for a little indoor dance party to none other than the Trolls Soundtrack! It really was an enjoyable day and made me so happy to see her dreams coming true as she opened gift after gift of Troll swag. Lucky girl! She made it known that all she wanted was Trolls, and boy did friends and family deliver.  Tips I remembered from the last party: make the cake the day before & don't leave set-up to the day of. One tip I have to remember for future parties: get extra food, drinks, and dessert!!!! I did run out of all those things this time.... better to have extras than not enough!

Since Georgia's birthday is on the 23rd, I made sure to prep christmas and wrap all the presents several days before. Literally a MIRACLE. I'm still not sure how I managed to do that since I have never done it in the past. I even managed to participate in normal holiday activities, like taking the kids to see Christmas lights at the park, busting out our Elf on Shelf for the first time this year (a HUGE hit, I'm not sure why I put that off so long...) and making my Mom's HOMEMADE EGGNOG FOR MY HUSBAND?!? Literally have never ever ever ever considered that in years past!! I'm usually too busy/exhausted to enjoy this kind of Christmas Spirit... but this year was straight up magical. Dash (our elf) was both thrilling and terrifying to Georgia. Every morning she woke up and couldn't wait to see where he had moved to in the night, but she also was terrified during the time it took to find him. I blame this in part on Zach who liked to take her slowly around the dark house whispering "where is he? where is he?!" and freaking her out on purpose. But every time they found him, they laughed and shrieked and thought it was hilarious. Also, Georgia, who is TERRIBLE with names, asked me 27 times the first day (and many days after that) what his name was, often 2 or three times in a row "Mommy my elf!! *whispering - what's his name??" "Dash." "Dash! Dash is so silly and I have to find - *whispers again - what his name Mommy??" "Dashhhh." "Dash!! So silly..." Eventually I could hear her repeating whenever Boston was throwing a tantrum "Dash is WATCHEEN. Bossie not being a good boy..." One night as we explained again that Dash only moves at night after Georgia goes night night because he's magic, Zach said "Maybe he'll hide in Georgia's room?!" Her eyes got big and she shook her head "No, I scared!" haha silly girl. Boston surprised me by loving Dash SO much. Multiple times a day he would ask if he could go see Dash and then every time would say "Daaaaash! Silly Dash!!" in the cutest voice ever. Dash, the cute/scary elf, will officially be appearing every year going forward, yay for traditions since we haven't established very many yet!

I knew that we were going to spend Christmas in Camarillo this year with my family and I wanted to make sure that we weren't destroyed after Georgia's party so that we could just pack up and start celebrating. No rushing, scrambling, or giving up. We did just that!! We even got to spend time with Jordan and Sarah visiting from Utah and Frank and Cathy on Christmas Eve. We went to Fashion Island to see the biggest Christmas tree ever, looks as if it's reaching the sky (I love seeing this every year, its so cool, although I bet the Disneyland tree is bigger...) and eat a super yummy lunch at Yard House. And we absolutely froze our butts off. It has been SO SO cold in California this winter... windy, rainy, and overcast. I know it's good for our state but it just makes me sad!! I've forgotten what the beach looks like! I miss the sun.

That night we made it to Camarillo in good time, no traffic, and even managed to get Georgia some prescription meds before leaving town (my sickie babe came down with croup of course) so that she could enjoy this Christmas in FULL (last year was so miserable when everyone got the flu for weeks in Utah). It felt so good to leave my house clean and organized and know that it was waiting for us when all the festivities were done. And that our fish would be waiting for us too!! Yes we have a fish tank now... an early Christmas gift to the kids. We killed 3 of the 4 in the first 3 weeks but we had some friends feed our one lonely fish while we were gone.

One thing that I want to remember about this Christmas was the love and peace I felt this year. Zach and I already got our christmas presents for each other on Thanksgiving Day - apple watches from Target with their Black Friday deal and not only do I LOVE the watch, but I LOVED not doing extra gifts for each other this year. Zach is usually stressed about getting me a gift I probably won't even appreciate (sorry babe) and I'm usually also shopping for myself (sorry again babe) and stressing about finding him some mediocre gifts that won't ever amount to how much I love him anyway. So much of the Christmas Spirit is taken away in worrying too much about worldly gifts and part of me wondered on Black Friday if I might be sad on Christmas to not get anything, but it actually was the best feeling ever. I had no expectations, wanted for nothing, and therefore focused all my attention on my children and extended family. It was more than ever before about giving and not receiving and my heart was seriously happy! Never have I ever been so at peace during Christmas. I have spent past years being selfishly disappointed or over indulged, rude, and spoiled and I remember wondering if I'll ever be able to not spend my "Christmas money" before actual Christmas. Well, I DID IT!! What's up 2017, Kaari is KILLIN IT ;)

Even more special and fitting this year, Christmas was on Sunday!! I've never been happier to go to church on Christmas Day!

Christmas Morning:
Woke up and let the kids open their presents from Santa! Georgia and Boston got the Trolls edition of the game Operation :) here's to our first family game together...
Boston got a modern light bright (pretty cool, I saw him playing with one at a friends house) and a Magic Tracks glow in the dark race car set which has yet to come :( back-ordered.
Georgia got a Minnie Mouse lego set and cutest Minnie Mouse blanket, white black, and gold.

We ate a big DELICIOUS breakfast made by my wonderful mom - famous cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole. We were stuffed! Then time to get ready for a special 1 hour church service at 11:00am. After church, all the siblings and cousins came together at the Blick home to exchange the rest of the gifts.

What we gave:
- Shopkins to Finnie
- Classic Alligator teeth game for Madden
- Minnie Bop-It for Cutter (he brought it to San Diego with him, so I think he liked it :)
- Two Scoops of Candy Crush nitrogen ice cream frozen the night before and brought all the way from Orange County in my cooler for Kelly (my favorite ice cream ever, it has this caramel/toffee-ish chocolate candy that the owner gets from the south and crushes it in and it is crunchy and chewy and AMAZING)
- Be Still My Soul print and Unstoppable laundry beads for Kris
- Sweater for Booch
- LulaRoe lace vest for Mom Winger
- Christopher Columbus history book for Dad Winger
- Bop It and church toys for Cam & Chandice's family
- Our testimonies recorded for our posterity for Mom & Dad Blick (specially requested by them)

Gifts we received:
- Elsa blanket and church dress from NaNa & Grampus for Georgia
- Dinosaurs for Boston from NaNa & Grampus
- Monster Trucks and Mickey Mouse sweatshirts from Nana & Papa
- Minnie Mouse skating doll and sweatshirt from Nana & Papa
- Christmas socks & candy from Auntie Kris
- Cutest pajamas for Georgia & Boston from Auntie Kell - they never have enough jammies!!
- Crate & Barrel salsa and chips serving bowls from Kris
- Gold tassle keychain from Kell
- Body back trigger point self massager from Booch (best present yet)
- Trip to San Diego, Sea World, and two night stay in the Embassy Suites from Mom & Dad Blick
- Phone soap and memory book of our Caribbean Cruise Winger family vacation from Mom & Dad Winger
- Martinelli's & New years party bag and Hot Chocolate set from Cam & Channie's family

Such a good Christmas!!!! My kids loved ALL their gifts, they were so happy. That night we had another delicious meal - my dad made his famous Tri Tip that is to die for - happy for me since I don't love the traditional turkey. And their was garlic bread, salad, artichoke dip, bacon creamed corn, oven baked smashed potatoes, and much more.

That night we went to Kelly's and watched The Martian - I good movie!!

The next day we had yet ANOTHER Christmas dinner with Aunts, uncles and cousins and great grandma. It was DELICIOUS but we are getting fat. That night, Booch, Kade, Mom, Zach and I, stayed up WAY too late playing Word Up on the app Psych! and laughing our heads off. We love spending time with those newlyweds :)

San Diego:
Somehow we packed up all our toys and belongings and were among the first out the door to begin our trip to San Diego!! Still killin it ;)

The hotel was awesome and after getting settled in, we walked across the street to Cheesecake Factory and had a delicious dinner all together - even Jake & Jacky were able to come!!
We spent next day at Sea World seeing the various shows, animals, and discovering the amazing ride of MANTA - a hidden gem that far exceeds any ride at Disneyland!! Blasphemy, I know. But it was so unexpected, fast, smooth, and stomach flipping, I absolutely loved it. The food there is actually good - we got half of a roasted chicken and waffle fries and loved it. I'm really glad that Zach and I took the kids there a couple of months ago and enjoyed less crowds, warmer weather and were able to go with the flow when there for Christmas. The only downside was that it was stinking cold and Boston got whatever Georgia had and both were sad and sick at the very end of the night. Luckily we were able relax that night and enjoy our last night together in suites. The next morning we walked across the street to the bay and visited the Unconditional Surrender (famous kissing statue) in what turned out to be some pretty warm sunshine, then said goodbye to all our family and headed back to Orange County. What a Christmas to remember. I'm so so grateful for all our family (Winger and Blicks), our bonds, our love, our time spent together, and our wonderful parents who have set the ultimate examples. They brings us so much joy!!

I highly doubt next year can top this year!!

Bossie Boo Boos

This post is dedicated to Bossie. My favorite little boy in the whole darn world!!!!! He is pure fun (when chillin at home in our comfort zone) and his personality is killing me lately. He gets super excited about socks and if he finds one, he will run up to you so you can put it on him. Then he gets the biggest happiest grin and it makes you instantly laugh. He also loves shoes. And with a super high voice (probably because I encourage it haha) will run up to you and say "outside?? Shoes???" And lift his leg up for you to put them on. And the same when we get home "shoes off!!" Leg up. 

Note the hangers. Every darn day, he runs into my room and fishes around for hangers and comes out to sword fight us. EVERY DAY. ALL DAY. And he's not limited to hangers. Plastic bags, leaves, and forks also work. The trees outside our house have really long big leaves and he is obsessed with using them to sword fight us, but also teeny tiny leaves will not go unnoticed haha. He loves them all :) 

trying to get Goergia to sword fight him:  

He loves to go into Georgia's room and climb into her bed and play "nigh nigh". He'll get under the covers and wait for my say "nigh nigh Bossie!" And then the lights off and close the door and then he screams "NIGH NIGH!" And I pretend to run in flustered and confused and he hides under the covers and kicks his legs and laughs so hard. He could do it over and over forever. He's so darn cute, it's hard to stop playing!! He also still thinks he needs help getting off her bed every single time and will whine and complain until I help him down those few scary inches. Silly boy. 

He also loved to count and run across the room. We go "one...." then he says "TWO!!" And squats down to the floor and then "FWEEEE" and launches into running to the opposite wall. He could also do that forever. So tiring! 

He loves to get riled up and swing his arms at you, play fighting, and kick you with his little leggies super fast. He loves to bother Georgia when watching a show in our bed and she yells "no kickeen Bossie, no kickeen!!! Sop it!!!" As he kicks her like a little punching bag at his feet with the biggest grin on his face. Such a stinker. I always have to separate them :)  

He is the best sleeper lately. Funny how they go through grueling stages of crappy naps where you want to pull all your hair out and cry after a 20 minute nap and you think it'll never end and then all of a sudden he's 18 months and you realize he's been sleeping great for weeks and you just love him to death. I can steal in to take pictures of him sleeping or even wake him up for snuggles and giggles and then he'll happily go back down to sleep. He is obsessed with that there brown and white blankie and never goes to bed without it. 

My favorite is when we get home from date night and Bossie will either be awake and whining in his crib or sleeping and then wake up as soon as I enter the house. I know he waits for me to cuddle him and kiss me goodnight. I love tossing him in bed after a good date night!! He's just the sweetest. 

He gives such good kisses, especially to Georgia. He loves her. And he's a pretty good eater. He loves his stinkin tomatoes (a personal hatred of my own) and fruits like grapes, blueberries, apples, and yogurt. Doesn't like soda, pizza or bread really, but likes chicken nuggets and grilled chicken, and if I cut up hot dog for him, he will spend 30 minutes just mashing them onto all his fingertips like people do with black olives. And then he doesn't eat it. Whenever we go to In-N-Out, Zach and I eat burgers, Bossie eats our tomatoes and Georgia eats French fries dipped in chocolate shake (Zach shows her all the important things in life, so he says) and we all leave happy :) haha! Ok, Bossie loves the chocolate shakes too - here he is just waiting for that spoonful to drop. With stickers on his forehead thanks to daddy. 

In the last 3 months, he has become such a little cuddle bug, and I'm totally obsessed with it. I love to watch him watch a show and sit so quietly and content in my arms after a nap or in the early morning. It's become quite our thing. We cuddle just the two of us and wait for Georgia to wake up and drink chocolate milk. He loves to be right in my arms and sometimes lay his head on my chest and play with my silky shirt or twist his blankie around his fingers and give me kisses. If I try to get up, he whines. I kind of love it :) and sometimes I look over and he has his hand tucked in the front of his diaper like such a BOY haha!!! Grosses me out but it's also kinda funny and doesn't happen that often. Cuddling with daddy: 

He just got acclimated to nursery at church and I'm kind of extremely sad about it. I've been looking forward to it for weeks now - because every week looked like this: 

Literally just laying in the middle of the floor waiting for people to step on him. Crying. Throwing things. Throwing himself to the floor. So dramatic. So tired. 

But when we finally took him into nursery see how he would do, he was nervous and had a meltdown if he realized I had snuck out. Maybe I secretly loved it. Cause my heart broke a little when I made it through all of third hour without any interruptions last week and then today they said he did great :(((. My babies make me ADD and now I just have to focus all of a sudden and learn something?? I feel so empty without chasing them through the halls ;) but also love the freedom. Bittersweet :) 

I love my beautiful boy. He's just the cutest, smallest, but yummiest little thing. He has the softest skin ever, way softer than Georgia's skin, and I can't stop myself from kissing him all day long!!! We love you Bossie!!!! 

Rand a Rand

We went to Disneyland tonight!!!!  Woohooooooooooo

Georgia calls it Rand a Rand... naturally. We met up with Ryan & Julie tonight with their cutest kids. And we even got to ride a big kid ride!

Lovely pictures from California Screamin. You're welcome. 

The carousel is always a must. That is The Pheebs there on the right and she is just to DIE for that Phoebe. She adores Georgia & Georgia loves her right back!! They are so cute holding hands and hugging in line. Going everywhere together. I love them. 

Thinking they were about to ride the Gold Zephyr:

Wrong. They made us wait 5 minutes then decided it wasn't working so they kicked us off. Boo! 

And not shockingly my kids hardly ate ANYTHING tonight, but shockingly, they were into Greek couscous & tziki sauce. Ok.... This is Boston digging in moments before he took a HUGE digger and landed a massive bump on the back of his head :((((( 

He cried pretty dang hard, poor thing. He's so sweet. And Georgia spilled an entire soda on herself, Zach, and the table. Sweet. 

We finished up the night with Ariel of course. Surpringly only made that ride twice instead of the usual 23. ;) 

Also got to meet up with these love birds for a few before they called it a night (since he's a sad boring doctor now and he has to wake up early). 

Their passes expire this week and I'm sad about it. 

Nikki Said Yes

Nikki is getting married!!! At last, my childhood best friend that I have known since the age of 6, has found the guy!! And lucky me, I moved back in time to throw her a proper bachelorette party :) 

I was so lucky to have help from a old high school friend, Ashley Cook, who messaged me out of the blue to ask if she could offer any and ALL help, and my goodness, she blew me out of the water. I was constantly in awe of how unusual this was and how she just fell into my lap and completely made this a success. Without her, this would have been a sad party :) her in laws own a party rental store so she was able to help with the tables, dinnerware, etc, which was perfect! It left me to decorate to my hearts content and figure out the yummy food, games, invites, theme... So much fun! 

We came up with this cutest combo of neon pink, black, white, and gold 😍 and holy moly I loved it. 

Thanks to my trusty cricut (my newest craft obsession), I was able to make those gold glitter rings & print out the invitations, handmade with love. 

I also knew we HAD to have Ryan Gosling there. I mean 😍😍😍 drooling. 

Thanks to my friend Emily, this engineer print & poster board cost me all of $3! So easy and cost effective! 

And Target for the win, always. Zach helped me put up these twinkly lights over our back porch & im in love! It totally set the mood. 

Finally the day came to set up and I was so excited! I couldn't wait to sweep my kids out the door & just make this party happen. Ashley was a trooper, she came all the way from Ventura, dropped her baby girl off in Torrence with her sister in law, and made it to my house by 3:30 to help me all the way till the party started at 7:00. And she is a perfectionist like me, so we totally mesh 100% :). By 6:30 I was starting to get the jitters and feel weak!!! I'd never had the party jitters before... Maybe cause I'd thrown a party for anyone other than my babies... But it was nerve racking. Also... We all spent the entire night SWEATING TO DEATH and I'm shiny & disgusting is all of these pictures, THANK YOU California heat wave. We carried on. 

The food table & main table I guess: 

The incredible tables via Ashley. Yes those are gold rimmed plates & gold flatware 😍😍😍. Amazing! 

Details. 

The food was so yummy, just a light dinner of Asian salad, New York pull apart rolls, fresh watermelon, chips & artichoke dip (the spinach parm kind from Costco, I'm obsessed) and lemonade with fresh puréed strawberries! 

The tiny and perfect tables: 

Everything was perfect & for once I was on time! With even some room to take pictures with my Canon camera before the sun went down. 

Nikki soon-to-be Geiss there in the middle & Ashley on the right: 

Ryan. 

Plant the Lips on Ryan Gosling in action: 

The party attendees: 

The dinner table trivia, printed on white gold shimmer paper! I love the details. 

I was dying over those questions & memories of my Nikki! 

Good old banana ring toss among other fun games. 

And at last it was time to relax & open gifts. 

Every one needs a good muumuu haha!! 

It was such a fun night, small & intimate with just a few friends, just enough food, good conversation, and a chance to celebrate love :) 

We love you Nikki!!! 

Love is exhausting. ;) 

Date Night

Most morning, I spend my time being a human pillow. Every morning Zach brings Bos to my bed and he drinks chocolate milk while we cuddle and watch a show and wait for Georgia to wake up so we can make breakfast. Bos loves to crawl over and lay his head right on my chest, play with my neckline, wrapping it around his numb, letting me tickle him, or getting right up in my face and giving me kisses. He is the sweetest. I love my mornings with him. 

Then we went to Target & stocked up on muddy buddies 😜 (and the essentials) and came home to a surprise visit from Nana!! I was a little horrified. I was just finishing up laundry and getting started on cleaning, our home was a DISASTER. 

But she wanted to see Georgie's new room. 

After lunch, I stopped mid-project to play with Georgie outside in the sprinklers for a few minutes (yes I know we are in a drought) while Bos napped. I try to stop myself when my first instinct is to say no just because I don't feel like whatever she wants to do. So I dropped everything and let her play. She had a BLAST. 

Tears ensued immediately after when it was times for naps. But luckily she was tired and fell asleep quickly. Sometimes I feel guilty about what Bos misses out on when he's asleep :) 

Then for tonight, we left early for a 5:00 date night with friends!! We went out with our new friends, the Palick's. 

They are super fun. Sadly, they are only around till October, then they get to sail overseas all across Europe to play music on cruise ships!! Super cool. Tonight, we did a 90 minute Sunset cruise through Newport out of Balboa Harbor. 

We picked up Cafe Rio salads and ate it out on the deck with that view. It was beautiful and there were tons of Dolphins swimming beside the boat of course!

Then walked through balboa and ended the night with arcade games where we scored a nice couple's handful of tickets they were giving away. So we got some candy and toys for G & Bos. Then splurged on a photo booth op 😂 

And hula hooped our hearts out to some beats!!

 I felt like a kid again :) 

When we got home I was happy to hear the sitter putting Georgia to bed so I snuck in there and watched her face light up. I was so happy to get to snuggle her before bed time. I took the sitter home & when I walked through the door, I was even happier to see both babes awake in Zach's arms and eating corn of all things, just happy as can be and beaming at me. 

So we played & made Bossy laugh - he has the best laugh ever!!!! 

And then I tossed him in bed with ease & he was happy as a clam. He is so ease to put to bed these days. Just a binky and his stuffed zebra and a blanket & he's the sweetest happiest boy!! We love our babies!!!

Balboa Island

We took our kiddies to see one my all-time favorite OC spot - good old fashioned Balboa Island! I hadn't visited there for a couple of years!! I love the atmosphere. I wish I could window shop there all day :). First stop, of course was the Balboa Candy shop!! That salt water taffy is real business... :) 

The expert candy beggar:

I just want to give her handfuls and handfuls of candy!!!! And then not take care of the sugar high. 

Candy dance. 

Littlest Bos from afar 😍😘

He's so independent these days. Next stop was the toy store. They loved that launch dater toy outside!! Bos was cracking up every time Georgia launched it.

Heading to the harbor to see the ocean. 

On the way back I spotted this bougainvillea flower bush and had to steal a smooch in front of it. They always always remind me of my Camarillo home ❤️ where they grew up the front of the house. Love them!! 

On our way back, we poked around for some ice cream, but traded in the extra sugar and overpriced weird flavors for the cutest book shop tucked away behind some other stores. 

Bos was loving all this freedom and making a mess till I plopped him down on the bench. Which he loved. And I loved. And so did the lady next to me. She came over to say just how cute and adorable he is, and he did NOT like it one bit 😂

That pouty face scowl kills me!!! Every once in awhile he reacts to something or someone with that face and I die. 

Ending the afternoon in Newport with chili cheese fries & a rootbeer freeze from Jane's Corndogs of course, and a walk on the pier. 

Days like today are dreamy & I couldn't love them more.