Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Christmas rundown

We had Christmas at our house for the first time this year. We've had a great few days. Christmas eve was busy, last minute shopping etc. Unfortunatly both boys came down sick in the past few days. Ethan on Friday, Liam on Sunday (Christmas eve! poor thing) We made reindeer food from crushed weetbix, cheerios (no one will eat them, so we used them up LOL) and glitter. Liam crushes it all in the pestle and mortar, then they sprinkled it all over the front *lawn*. (well the space that should be lawn). They layed out two carrots and a bowl of water for the reindeer, and Liam decided Santa would like a milo, 2 Oreo cookies and some BBQ shapes. Seem's Santa did like his snack. He only left a few crumbs!
Christmas Day, Liam woke me at 5am. Not to see if Santa had been, but because he needed to be sick :( As we were freshening up, he asked if Santa had been yet. I told him no, it was still the middle of the night, then told him to hop into my bed. To take him back to his room we'd have to walk straight past the tree, and I wasn't ready to get up yet. Sorry bud. He snoozed on through till about 8am! He got up after me!! He forgot all about it until he walked out into the kitchen and saw the tree, then his eyes almost popped out of his head. As for Ethan (the reason I was up)... all he wanted was his bottle. Liam kept trying to tell him, "look Ethan, Santa's been" but Ethy just said "naaaaaw, bobow" After woofing down his bottle he decided to get in on the action and see what santa had bought him. He was impressed. His favourite things so far seem to be some wooden fruit that are velcroed together, and you cut through the velcro with a wooden knife, a toaster and kettle, and mum managed to find him a little 'boyish' tea set. Mugs, spoond, plates etc with NO PINK in sight :) He loves to cook. He also loves some toy cars, and the sit and spin thingy in the picture. Santa gave that to both of them. It's for 18mths to 5.5 years. Will be perfect to put on the deck for outdoor play, when the weather isn't so nice.

Speaking about not so nice weather.... how nice is the rain! OK so some Chrissy plans may have been disrupted, but I think a fair few prayers have been answered there. A few days of constant rain is almost unheard of now. (Gem, I know, it's probably rained non stop in Wales, and you are not so excited about it LOL)
And today DH and I dropped the boys off at his mum and dads and headed off to Ikea. We couldn't take them, cos we needed all the car space we could get. One thing I learnt today, my DH can pack a car like no-body's business! Guess what he managed to fit in a Magna.....





Looks pretty full huh.








A couch! A red leather one. Looks quite pink here, but it's not, its a deep red IRL. It's for my photography studio, along with the dark brown tables. Photos are straight off the Ikea website. Not sure if thats OK.

A wall unit. Liam already has this in his room, so we bought one for Ethan's room. Couldn't get the baskets though so we got 8 of the "ugly boxes" (see next pic) ... we made up the name LOL, but they actually look OK once they are in the shelf, and it's easy to see what toys are in which box. Liam had the wicker baskets, so I've swapped him the ugly boxes for the baskets, cos the smaller unit is going on it's side in our family room, with the baskets in it.

Must admit I said a few not very good words when I opened the box to realise I'd picked up the WRONG COLOUR! Bugger! Picked up 'birch' instead of 'beech'. Grrrrr. So now DH and I have to make another trip back this week. Which is at least an hour drive, plus organising a Citylike pass. Bugger, bugger, bugger!!!! On the up side. I'm already making my second shopping list ;)



We also bought lots of nick-nacky things.
So, there goes my holiday pay... I forgot I was owed holiday pay :) Well spent I say.

I got on the Ikea website last night, made my shopping list, and added it up. Was actually shocked at how cheap it was. Re added... same. Got to love that! Did over spend from that list, but not out of the budget... and we did upgrade from a fabric couch, which I didn't like once I got there, to the leather one. I am a happy girl.

Brett and I had to laugh as we (he) was packing the car. Our house is quite minimilistic in furnishings, and I pointed out that we had more furniture in our car, than we had in our house! I love my hubby... he's so good to me :)


And finally... a wonderful Chrissy present for Megan and Andrew. So, so happy for you guys. Congratulations. I couldn't think of a better Chrissy pressie :)

Hope you all had a brilliant few days, and managed to spend it with people you love. Merry Christmas!

13 comments:

Nat said...

Happy Christmas to the Toland household. Sounds like it was a full and fun day.

Loving your trip to IKEA - yummmm... I think I'll have to 'do a shop' on the website too, coz I've only been looking through the catalogue so far...

Happy New Year to you all too!

Sarah said...

Merry Christmas to you and your family Katie, sounds like it was full of fun. i hope the boys are better now... I know all about sick kids and Christmas not much fun really...Grr

Well the shopping trip was worthwhile WOW, lots of goodies .... and all squeezed into the magna..lol..

Jess said...

Sounds like you had a great Christmas - except for poor Liam, hope he's all better now. Very jealous of your spending spree at Ikea! I'm hanging out for our renovations so I can do something similar.

Looking forward to catching up soon!

Jess

Megan said...

Sounds like you guys had a great couple of days over Christmas (bar the sickness)

And loving all your purchases from IKEA. So impressed how much stuff you got in the car. We're heading off to IKEA in the next few weeks to start looking at stuff for the babies room!! LOL!!!

Anonymous said...

sounds like all of you had a great christmas. hope the boys are feeling better now.

we saw the white storage unit at our rellies' house and we are heading to ikea tomorrow to buy that too:) it's great for books and toys. hope there are still some left. i love the red couch!

Anonymous said...

How fun!! I do love a trip to Ikea!! Glad to hear you had such a good christmas, even with sick babies to nurse!!

Happy New Year!

xoxo
Will

Sofi said...

Merry Christmas to you all Katie. Hope the boys are feeling better.

Love all your purchases from IKEA. Also love the spin "thingy", Lee has one too... great fun.

mich said...

wow!! wow!! wow!!!!!!!! I bet your house is going to look like a house out of the Ikea catalogue after this!!! BTW...what is that red nick-nacky thing you have, one with 2 handles? Can't wait till 14th to sit on the leather couch! LOL...

Lisa Le-Ray said...

Ikea is totally rockin! I love that place, but it is like an hours drive from our house! Anyway I am also planning on getting the wall unit thing in black and large for our dinning room and family room! They look really nice with cane baskets and ribbon tags! I also love the lounges there with all the funky covers! Ohhhh and some of the cushions are like scrap paper!
Thanks for sharing the xmas pics katie, love them :)
Love me xoxox

Mardi said...

Katie..sounds like you had a wonderful christmas...other than the sick kids.

Im drooling over your Ikea shopping spree...Im hanging out to get there in Adelaide one day.

Love the furniture for you studio...so bright and funky.

Mardi x

Anonymous said...

Happy Christmas to you Katie! Sounds like you had a lovely day.

Im amazed that all your ikea furniture fitted into the back of your magna!! Wow! The fun part is building it all. LOL!

I bet you're enjoying your time at home, knowing you dont have to go back to work too :D

Sarah said...

Ummm Miss katie,
You made me take a trip to IKEA today..LOL I had a ball however i didnt need a station wagon..lol. I did get the apple corer, that is sooo good...lol

umm planning my next trip already, pity it is so far.lol

Nic Wood said...

Looks like you had yourself one fun little shopping spree miss Katie!
I so have to go to IKEA, I think Im the only person on earth who hasnt been to one before.

Happy New Year to you all too.

Nic xxx