Simply Put, "December"

My goodness, this has been a crazy month! At the beginning of the month, the Craft Bazaar (which was an immense blessing for me!) and getting through several commission projects (also an immense blessing) then on to Christmas and soon New Years. It's been a very exhausting month and we are all feeling it. So thankful to be done with most of it! Just need to finish/start our families' Christmas gifts (sorry guys!) and I'll be done for awhile. But my crochet was much more popular than I anticipated this year. Nine commission projects in just this season alone. And I already have paid projects waiting for me at the end of January, plus another photo shoot booked. Crazy! But, like I said, it's a blessing. January is the hardest month for us financially, so the extra cash will be quite welcome. As long as I don't have to make any more bearded beanies or sock monkey cup cozies, I'll be just peachy.

On to the pictures. This is going to be quite the lengthy post, so sit tight.

Here is my table at the bazaar on the first day. About the bunting in the front - yes, I know it looks like a bikini top. I was well informed...by everyone who came up the stairs (behind me in this shot) what it looked it. I later dropped the middle and it was agreed that it looked less risque. Sheesh. Anywho, like I said, the bazaar was a success for me, at least. I really didn't know what to expect going into it, being my very first time at a craft fair, but I ended up selling atleast half of the items on this table and was able to afford to buy myself my Nexus 7 tablet (that I've been drooling over ever since they came out), with some to spare. God was incredibly kind! I also had a great time chatting with people, including one of my besties, Lark, who was in a booth across from me. I would definitely do it again!

Christmas Eve. I let the boys open two gifts each: clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Campbell (my folks) and jammies from us.

The boys' new outfits that they wore to Candlelight Service. My dad would be proud, I'm sure.

Angry Bird jammies!

Drew has this habit..well, mild obsession...concerning cheeseburgers. Not that he wants to constantly eat them, per se. He just loves saying the word "cheeseburger". Or "cheegerger", to him. To quote Robby, "You talk about them all day, Drew!" So, I made the boy his dream Christmas gift: a cheeseburger hat. I went to the extent of adding extra cheese for my lactose-intolerant boy, even. The picture says it all.

There's cheegerger boy, opening one of his gifts. This one happens to be a giant firetruck puzzle.

Rob opening his Shake 'N Go Car.

Each boy got one big, special gift. This year, I did all my shopping online and scored an Alphie and a new Furby for really great prices. My frugal side is extremely proud.

The Furby was a huge hit with everyone. We all took turns playing with it. The most amusing was Matt, who enjoyed shaking it until it went into crazy mode. A grown man and his Furby, sharing quality bonding time together. Aww.

Rob playing with the Transformers they got from Grandma and Grandpa Marshall.

Drew playing with the helicopter he picked out for Rob. He had to test it out, right? This was our first year encouraging the boys to buy gifts for others. I think they really enjoyed it.

The boys playing Rob's Angry Birds Game...as the smoke from breakfast still lingered in the air. Bacon, I swear!

And only a little bit of flame. Grease on the burner. Oops.

Despite his strict instructions NOT to buy me anything else, Matt got me this gorgeous jewelry tree to hang my plentiful Paparazzi bling on.

I had an Alphie when I was about Drew's age, so I'm thrilled to see him enjoying his so much.

Like I said, Furby was a hit. There's a free app you can download that allows you to translate Furbish to English, feed your Furby random foods, and even build him custom (sometimes disgusting) sandwiches. We had a lot of fun with this little critter!

Here's Rob feeding Furby some garlic. Mmm.

Christmas night, we all went to Cher's to open gifts and be treated to a tasty (eventually) prime rib dinner. We as a family received a $100 Costco card from my grandparents (can always use that!) and the boys received awesome Spider-Man sheets from Aunt Janice and Cousin Emily and this: a Thomas train set from Nana! They were THRILLED! They've wanted one forever and despite it being about ten years old, it was in great shape. The little train, however, only lasted for a couple hours. Years of use and then neglect left its gears worn out and it's batteries corroded, but thankfully we were able to find a replacement. So, Thomas zooms around the track once more, much to the delight of two little boys.