Sunday Funday

It's the last day of vacation before we head back to work (and school, respectively) in our house. We put the tree up yesterday, went to visit the Winchester Mansion (the kids + M - I did some returns in my own version of hell - aka the mall). We wrapped a few gifts this morning (both boys were very excited to wrap), but we can't do much of it, as we're bringing gifts in our suitcases for Christmas, & adding boxes makes them too hard to transport.

M & I only exchange a few small tokens, so I've wrapped his gifts & they are now under the tree. :-)

Unfortunately, when we were unpacking the Christmas decorations, we discovered that the movers did a really terrible job packing the items, & my favorite Christmas decoration (an advent house monogramed with our name), is substantially damaged after the move. This is especially sad because they don't make them anymore. :-(

As for today, we plan to hike up to the Stanford Dish, which will complete all of the things the boys asked to do on our long weekend:

• Santa Cruz Boardwalk (we did this on Friday)
• Put up the Christmas tree (yesterday)
• Visit the Winchester Mansion (yesterday)
• Hike up to the Stanford Dish (today)

We also bought the game Clue, & have been having a great time teaching the boys how to play. :-)

Here's what else I'm hoping to accomplish today:

1. Wrap a couple of bigger items that we're not taking on the plane (the boys are getting scooters, but we will give them to them the day we fly out).
2. Pick all remaining persimmons, as the crows & squirrels are making a giant mess in our yard.
3. Do yoga
4. Finish my November goals summary.
5. Write up December goals.
6. Make a menu plan.
7. See if our babysitter is available for a party in two weeks.
8. Deal with an IRS drama. Oh my. Way back last year, we had to pay back part of an advance from 2011 that was miscategorized as a bonus. We did all of this, paid back the bonus, and eventually had to refile our 2011 taxes, and received a return. Apparently, M's employer at the time, did not file his revised W2, so the refund is due back to the IRS, unless we fill out a mountain of paperwork. I'm so tired of this situation & want it to go away.

I think that will about cover it!

Here's a picture of the view from Thanksgiving. We were invited to join M's cousin's wife's family (got that? :-)) at their home on Thursday, & suffice it to say, the house was amazing. As Nick said, "it's a mansion!" It was pretty terrifying to have my two boys roaming around in a home filled with extremely expensive antiques, but we did make it out without damaging anything!

Hope your Sunday is relaxing! What are your plans for today?