our holiday and my awesome book title

after you see all these iphone pics on this post, you're gonna be like, "holy cow, maggie may, you are a photo wizard.  you went from no pics to like 50. your inconsistency enthralls me." 

you are welcome.

i've been away for far too long and it makes me sad. above is a photo of a beautiful blooming plant my mom grows. it's spelled with a b and i know the name but no idea how to spell it. isn't it lovely. 

if you saw my parents' greenhouses you'd be all in shock and awe at the lovely plants. 

below is a Christmas cactus. she has like 70. 

we had an awesome Christmas dear friends. awesome. the traveling was a kick in the pants, but we are home now and after a few days of cleaning and laundry, we'll be back to normal. 

i'm just gonna jump all over the place just to keep you on your toes. ready?

these are the boys on the mule at my parents' farm. my sister lives there and when we visit, we get really dirty, don't brush our teeth, and eat more s'mores than should be legal. it's awesome.

while visiting my side of the family (we really don't have "sides" but more like a big blend. the hubs and i both have awesome families so we don't discriminate) i got to see all sorts of wonderful friends. below is amanda jo...who happens to be the best accountability partner of all time. i brought her apple cider and in exchange she let my banshee boys run wild at her house for several hours while we showed each other blogs we love and threw matches in the fire. hard core. 

Christmas day we were traveling. we ended up at my parents' house where judah and asher got to see their first snow! exciting! don't you love elijah's hat with all your heart? we do hats---norwegian style.

below is uncle sandor trying to help gabe figure out stilts. he's on his way to joining the circus as we speak. we had an awesome time visiting the hubs' hometown and getting to see all our family and friends. 

a boy and his dog. need i say more?

my dad picks up things around the farm that he thinks i'll like. this is a tobacco tin. and what do you know? i love it. if it's vintage and has bright colors, i'm pretty much in. thanks, dad!

 right before Christmas, my friend allison and i went shopping for a girls' night. she found this table cloth for me along with some bedding that is gorgeous. this tablecloth looks so friendly in my dining room and matches the plates. good find, al, good find.

but wait, there's more. i arrived home today to find that, as never before in history, i have blooms and blossoms on my violets. do not wet yourself. it is true. like bunches of them. and i shrieked with glee.

 -sadly i'm not kidding. 

 and since we've been out of town, we finished up advent tonight. because that's how we roll. and while every other advent lighting night has been really special, this one was a bit rushed because the boys wanted to watch scooby-doo. i tried to tell them they were heathens who should love Jesus more than scooby-doo, but they wouldn't listen...because they're heathens. (i jest)

 this last leg of the trip i was alone with the kids. the hubs came back early to work. he works hard for the money so we treat him right.

so these banshee children i have referred to...um...they drove me nuts. they had been so wild and free for so long that they simply COULD NOT calm down these last few days. so a 5 hour drive home alone with all of them? not great. in fact at one point i called the hubs to inform him that when i write my parenting book, i will be calling it "awful little humans." 

and it'll be all about when little men can't calm down and are loud and rebellious and sing "happy birthday ninja turtle" to their aunt on her birthday, which actually is just plain hilarious.

don't lie, you would totally buy my book. and i would too. just look at that title. 

it's under copyright so you can't steal it. 

here's our wee tree. i have never seen so many ornaments with names on them before. the kids' schools went crazy this year with awesome ornaments. and i shall hang them on my tree and fill it full of pictures of cute little men. they're not really awful after all, just a bunch of wild and crazy guys. 

whew. was that a post or what? man. there's like two weeks of info in there. hope you're not overwhelmed. i just missed yah and wanted to share our holiday with you. 

 happy new year, peeps. catch yah on the flip side.