patience and presents

man, 2012 has been a doozy so far. 

apparently when i asked that 2012 help me grow as a person it didn't want to waste any time.

and it has also decided that my number one strength i need to practice is patience.
which is probably one of the most annoying things to practice ever ever ever ever.
before this i thought i was a relatively patient person.
 i would wait at a restaurant for the waitress to come by without getting upset or wait for my turn on the slide without shoving the other kids.
in my mind that means i'm patient.
but there are so many things going on right now and patience is kinda getting in the way of life and it's making me grumpy and worried and ughhhh.

so here i sit, pretending to be patient while my mind goes berserk thinking about all the things i could be doing if i could just know everything right now.
my level of stress couldn't be higher.
dang you 2012 and your patience-learning ways. 

in other news...
i haven't had a chance to tell the universe about our most amazing late Christmas presents.
first...

the Kindle!!
i was lucky enough to get a large gift card to use on an item of my choosing and this is what i chose!
i'm sure most people will be surprised because i'm more the type to plop myself down in front of the tv rather than pick up a book but i seriously love this thing.
i've already read like 4 books and i've only had it a couple weeks.
i really think it makes me read faster. it has magical powers that can do that ya know.
so now anybody and everybody should give me book recommendations since i'm all smart and bookish now!

and our second amazing present...

iPhone 4s!
Matt has been begging for an iPhone since the day he found out about them and i've been the terrible grinchy wife who wouldn't let him get one.
well now i'm an angel sent from above because i bought him one!
BEST WIFE AWARD!
he got the black one and i got the white one and now we're busy iPhoning it up.
we got words with friends going on and everyone should start a game with me!
username: ohNIKKIissocool
and Matt is seriously in love with Siri. so weird.
and we finally joined the world of Instagram.
proof:

kindle time. i think Padme likes my new reading self because we get a bunch of cuddle time together.

my favorite picture of Padme ever.

close up of yours truly.

so if you put together our new iPhones and my Kindle you realize that Matt and i have gone up about 20 cool points in just the last couple weeks.
that's right!!

now i'm gonna go try my hardest to continue being patient.

so far my Google reader is testing me because it hasn't been working.

yes i know how lame that sounds but let's be honest, you would be peeved too.

Christmas Recap

Christmas was amazing!!

i'm so glad i was able to finish all my ornament making and get things out in time for Christmas and then Matt and i were able to relax and enjoy some time together.

here's a little Christmas goodness for ya.

best present everrrr! Matt knows i love me some sharks!

Padme got a new bone!

Matt is singing "hey now hey nowwww"

it may seem stupid to get a boy the lizzie mcguire movie but Matt LOVES this movie!

he went to see it at midnight with his friends way back in the day.

true story.

doesn't Matt have the best Christmas present face?? 

i love it!

i can't believe 2011 is over in just a couple days but i'm so excited for what 2012 has in store for us!

in fact, i'll be sharing some big news soon! (no i'm not pregnant)

happy almost New Years everyone!!

Christmas Card

i hope everyone had a super fantabulous Christmas!!

EEEEEEEE!

so Matt sent me a text today and told me he was scrolling through his google reader when he saw something familiar and told me to check it out.

i go to nerdapproved.com (of course Matt reads that blog right?) and i'm scrolling scrolling and then i stop dead when i see MY Dr. Who christmas ornaments staring me in the face!!

well not really because you can't stare a weeping angel in the face and live to tell about it but...

there were my ornaments NOT staring me in the face!!

this seriously made my whole day! my whole christmas! my whole boxing day! my whole next year and a half!

CHECK OUT HOW COOL I AM HERE!!

ho ho ho

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? both!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? in our house now he wraps them up but when i was growing up he didn't.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? i like colored on the tree but right now we have white lights. and the big old school colored ones go outside!

                        

4. Do you hang mistletoe? no we don't but i always wanted to hang it from a ceiling fan, gilmore girls style!

5. When do you put your decorations up? right after Thanksgiving

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? green bean casserole. or basically any dessert.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? getting donuts and hot chocolate and seeing the temple lights

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? i don't remember. probably one of my siblings told me.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?  if Matt lets me!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? with all the ornaments i got from my grandma while growing up.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? i love it!

12. Can you ice skate? i could the last time i tried...like 3 or 4 years ago.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? i loved my doodle bear! anyone remember those? they were so awesome! or my sewing machine Matt surprised me with!

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? friends and family

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?  peppermint bark

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? making cookies with Matt!

17. What tops your tree? a star

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? giving

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? yummy!

20. Favorite Christmas show? the the the THE GRINCH!

21. Saddest Christmas Song? last christmas

22. What is your favorite Christmas song?  carol of the bells

Matt makes the very best santa!

Christmas Christmas Everywhere

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

we put up all of our decorations and it looks like Santaland in here.

notice Matt's Christmas list. he loves to ask for expensive things.

and we put up our tree with all of our pretty ornaments!

my grandma has given me ornaments every year for Christmas for as long as i can remember so our tree is covered in the best, mostly penguin, ornaments.

this year Matt got the perfect one!

way to go grandma! 

i love all the penguin ones but i think my favorites are the ones with the eskimos!

i just love looking around and seeing Christmas everywhere!
i guess i need to start buying gifts now.

Weekend

this weekend we were busy little bees around this house.

i spent my time doing more ornaments and plushies which will soon be in the two peas in a space pod Etsy shop!

woot woot!

if you've been wanting a certain themed ornament or plushie for a long time but just haven't been able to find the right one you should email me and i'll make it for you! 

we're mostly beyond nerdy at the moment. 

here's a sneak peek!

coming soon are ninja turtles, dr. who, mario, more star wars (of course), calvin and hobbes, yo gabba gabba, dinosaurs and more!

if you can ignore the fact that i'm dressed up in the best early christmas present ever ever ever, A PENGUIN ONESIE, then you can see the little ornaments all hanging on the tree including angry birds ornaments!

honestly, the best part of my weekend was getting that onesie!

thank you Amy and Chase!!

i am now the proud owner of 3 onesies but this one is by far the best!

i will be sleeping in style all winter long!

Matt was busy this weekend too being the best hubsy ever and fixing up my blog!

 did you notice my blog got a makeover??

i love it!

a thousand thank yous to Matt! you're the best!

creatin'

i finished my work really early yesterday and decided to do some creatin'.

i love when that happens.

i made some cutie little ornaments like this guy!

i'm thinking about making a whole bunch more like these and opening up my etsy shop again.
hmmmmm...
making these put me in the most christmasy spirit.
i've been listening to christmas music today and begging Matt to let me put up our tree and decorations already.
he said we can't until after thanksgiving but i'm sure i'll wear him down.
also...what is it about mint M&Ms that makes them soooo delicious that i cannot stop eating them no matter how sick they make me??
somehow the bowl finds its way onto my desk and then while i'm working i just pop them in my mouth ALL THE TIME!
no bueno yet SO bueno.

Hobbes

while i'm on a roll with this Christmas gift thing i've got one more.

my husband's favorite comic of all time is Calvin and Hobbes.

he was Calvin for Halloween a few years ago, i bought him the complete comic book collection a couple years back and he says we have to name our first son Calvin.

he loves it THAT much.

so this year for Christmas i wanted to give him a Hobbes stuffed animal and since they don't make them for people to buy (which is totally lame) i had to make it myself.

it took me for-e-ver since there's not really a pattern out there to make a Hobbes stuffed animal but i did it and i'm pretty happy with how he turned out.

here's the video of Matt opening his present.

when i told him i was making him something for Christmas he thought it would be something Star Warsy so he was surprised to find Hobbes waiting for him in that box.

for about two weeks straight i would wake up super early every morning and try to get all my work done by noon so i could work on Hobbes until Matt got home around 4:00.

i was ridiculously tired those two weeks but it was worth it.

he's made with fleece for extra softness and the stripes are felt.

he's super snuggly!

and Padme loves him too!

i did take pictures to make a tutorial but those pictures are on our old computer so i'll have to wait for the hubsy to put them on the new one.

but some day i'll do it.

Mason family talent show

i have so many Christmas posts to catch up on it's embarrassing!

but i do have a good excuse.

Matt and i took our first week off in a year.

GASP!

we were able to snag the best vacation days too!

Christmas Eve through New Years Day.

best. vacation time. ever.

so i slacked off majorly and didn't write any posts because i was far too busy staying up all night, sleeping in until noon, eating junk food and watching all the tv shows i never get to watch.

all with my hubsy.

it was heaven.

but now that i have to get back to reality (sad face) i better play catch up on here.

first things first...

i never posted about the Mason family talent show!

i was originally waiting for Matt to edit the videos so let's go ahead and just blame him for this.

our talent was the best. no surprise there.

don't believe me?

see for yourself.

Matt came up to me a couple days before and told me he had the best idea in the world for our talent.

Matt: "i'm going to eat 12 krispy kreme donuts in 2 minutes."

Me: "ok let's see how that works out for ya."

as you saw, not very well.

Matt only got 3 down in those 2 minutes which his nephews were happy about because they got to eat the leftovers.

Matt says Matt-dini will be performing this same trick next year and it'll go much better because he'll be training for it.

can't wait for that.

Kim and the parents also had a great talent.

they learned the thriller dance!

which was actually what Matt and i were going to do last year before we remembered that takes time and talent,

both things we don't have.

Kim had those moves down though!

watch out world, she's the next Michael Jackson.

that video is soon to come.

again, blame Matt.

ugly christmas sweaters are my new favorite

so the rest of our seriously busy week went like this...

Sunday: Mason family dinner

Monday: Mason family talent show

Tuesday: Mason sibling dinner

Wednesday: ugly sweater party

pics and videos are definitely coming from the Mason family talent show.

we seriously blew everyone away with our talent this year!

but something that needs to be shown off even more right now are our ugly sweaters for our ugly sweater party.

we searched everywhere for those sweaters you see old ladies walking around with covered in lights and embroidery but that place must only appear when you turn age 60.

we went to the next best thing- thrift stores.

a special thank you to DI for not letting us down.

Matt's sweater was unbelievably ugsome!

ugly and awesome!

i think he looks like the cutest old man i've ever seen in this.

i went with the classic 90s puffy paint look myself.

scary santa made "pretty" with gold puffy paint drawn around everything!

LOVE IT!

i love it so much in fact i'm wearing it right now.

no joke.

it's quite cozy and obviously festive so why wouldn't i rock it every chance i get??

i think i'll be on the hunt for ugly Christmas sweaters every year now!

it's not Christmas without the tool man

now that it's december i want to do one thing and one thing only.

watch all the Home Improvement Christmas episodes.

i mean, it's not truly Christmas until you watch those right?

this is one of my faves!

(skip the first 40 seconds to get to the actual episode clip)

heart warming and funny.

classic Home Improvement.

and i gotta say every time i hear the song The First Noel i can only think

No Al No Al No Al No Al.

makes it even better.

can't wait to watch all the other episodes now!

went skiing, Brad