Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. For some reason it seemed a bit more relaxed and not as rushed as years past. Since Jason and I have 4 sets of parents (both of ours are divorced and remarried) that can make for some crazy times around the holidays. Luckily, our moms and step dads are good friends so we can often combine celebrating with all of them. Jason had several days off and we were able to spend some time as a family just staying home and hanging out. Christmas Eve was spent baking and doing some last minute things to get ready for Christmas day. On Christmas Eve night, we went to my family annual Christmas party. It's always huge and always fun.....even if we do spend most of our time chasing our kids around. The tradition has always been that "Santa" comes to visit and that each child gets one gift delivered to them. It was this way even when I was a child and I have some great memories of these parties. You can only imagine the pure joy when the boys heard the knock on the door and saw Santa come in.

The pictures below speak for themselves. This was Hudson's reaction when he realized that Santa brought the infamous "red switch"

There you have it. The red switch. Christmas could have now been over and Hudson would have not at all felt jipped if this had been the only gift he received. It cracks me up how low maintenance he is and how he is happy with the simplest things.

We got home that night (notice red switch in hand) and set out our goodies for Santa.

This year we stayed at home on Christmas morning. Our families were SO great about coming over here to celebrate with us. Everyone came around 6:30 in the morning so that the boys could go see what Santa brought them.

Cooper rounding the corner and spotting something he likes.

Santa brought Cooper a plasma car

....and a Gears workstation for Hudson.

They are going to have fun on their matching Big Wheels.

One other thing that Hudson did mention was a solar panel. He was pumped when he opened it up......

....and he spent some time putting it together. He stuck it near the window and was able to get a small radio to work. Later that day we went to see Poppy and CeCe but I wasn't good at taking many pictures. I'm waiting for CeCe to email them to me and I'll add those.

We are so blessed to live close to our families and are thankful that we could spend some good quality time with them. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

Tagged: 8 Things

My friend Angie tagged me so here it goes.

8 things I did today: (it's just now 10am so not too exciting!)

1. Brushed my teeth

2. Made breakfast for the boys and myself

3. Took Rudy out and gave him his pain meds (our dog has 2 messed up discs in his back)

4. Opened several boxes that contain new toys the boys got last night

5. Played with the new toys

6. Made a list of a few things I need to get at the grocery store for tomorrow

7. Checked my email/blog/Facebook

8. Started a load of laundry

8 favorite restaurants:

1. Olive Garden

2. Macaroni Grill

3. PF Changs/Pei Wei

4. Los Mocajetes

5. Cheddars

6. La Madeline

7. Pappasitos

8. Chick-fil-A

8 shows I watch:

1. Greys

2. Lost

3. Priviledged

4. Real Housewives of Orange County

5. Bachelorette/Bachelor (when it's on)

6. Any forensic show- 48 Hours Mystery, Forensic Files, Dr. G Medical Examiner

7. Private Practice

8. Lipstick Jungle

8 Things I wish for:

1. My family to stay healthy and safe

2. My boys to grow into wonderful Christian men

3. My boys to marry wonderful Christian girls that love me....so that I can get my "daughter" fix

4. The economy to get better

5. The boys to play together without the screaming

6. A vacation

7. My house to be clean all the time

8. Being able to fit into my skinny jeans

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Cooper being potty trained and being diaper-free

2. Christmas with our family tomorrow

3. Our next family vacation (whereever that may be)

4. See my boys learn and grow

5. getting my hair cut and higlighted

6. Jason coming home from work each day

7. traveling once the boys are grown and gone

8. Heaven

Now I tag Stacey, Fischer, Laura, Lynley, Tammie, and Laura.

Polar Express

Yesterday we went to ride the Polar Express with some of our friends from small group.

Waiting in the tentOn the train with Brayden, Tammie, Scott, and Bryce

Our familyLaurie, Logan, Collin, Jay, and Brady

Bryce, Hudson and Brady

Santa came to visit. When Hudson spotted him down the way he looked at me and in a very nervous voice and said "mom, have I been good this year?" In some ways I felt kind of bad for him that he was questioning it and I could sense some panic in his voice (now the truth is that he has been HORRIBLE with his brother and fights constantly with him but overall he's a super sweet kid! I'm praying its a stage and just a normal "brotherly" thing) Once Santa got to us, he asked Hudson what he wanted. He began to talk but Santa noticed that Hudson's 2 front teeth were gone. Santa interrupted him and said "I bet you want your 2 front teeth this year." That caused him to lose his concentration so it took him a second to figure out what he was trying to tell him. He said, "I want......" and then Santa just walked off. In Santa's defense, it was really crazy in there but poor Hudson looked at me and said "what just happened?" I felt horrible for him! We assured him that after the train ride he would have a chance to sit on his lap and tell him what he wanted. So, after the train ride we walked through Santa's workshop and let the boys sit on his lap for a picture. Santa asked them what they wanted and Hudson got his chance. He looked at Santa and said "I want a switch with a red light.......it's from Lowes" and we were cracking up! We knew all along that this is what he wanted to tell him but the fact that he told Santa where this could be found was too funny. (in case you are wondering about the switch- a month or so ago Hudson and I were in Lowes looking around and he found this neat light switch with a red sensor on it. It was love at first sight and he's been asking for it ever since. Of course, one of Santa's little helpers picked one up a couple of weeks ago and Hudson is going to be SO excited when he finds it in his stocking!)

Towards the end the boys got restless and started arguing over the smallest things. We were ready to get off by this point.

After the train ride we went back to Jay and Laurie's house and ate dinner and then let the boys decorate cookies. They played great together and we stayed WAY too late......sorry guys for staying so long! We enjoyed hanging out with everyone!

What a Day!

Wednesday (my birthday) was a great day! I'm a little behind in blogging about it but figured better late than never, right? My fabulous hubby surprised me and took off that day. He sent me away to the spa for several hours and it was perfect! I loved getting pampered and it was nice to not play "mommy" for several hours. He took the kids to school and ran the house while I was gone. Thanks honey!

My mom asked me where I wanted to eat this year for my birthday. I decided that just staying in was what I wanted this year so we headed over to Mimi's house and they cooked a nice meal for everyone. It was relaxed and the kids could play after they finished (instead of us wrestling them at a table) and it was perfect! Thanks mom and Faye for all the hard work you put into it.

My sister, Julie, and me

With Jason

With my mom and sister

Julie, mom, Faye (my mother-in-law) and me. Pearl we missed you!

With cousins- McKenzie and Colton

My sister's family- Brad, McKenzie, Julie and Colton

The kids were entertained with LOTS of Legos!

Thanks to everyone that helped make the big 3-3 special by calling, emailing, or sending a message on Facebook. It really meant a lot!

Bunco

Last night was our final Bunco game of the year. We had a great time playing and as always, we had lots of laughs. After the game we did a little gift exchange. Poor thing, she kept getting all her gifts taken from her! What bad MP's!Who's that under the tissue?

Laurie opening her fabulous lip balm. Bunco 2008

With our "pucker" lips.

As always, we remembered Megann and we talked about how thankful we are that she started this group. I wish so much that she could have been there.....I can still hear her funny laugh and I know that she would have had so much fun!

Dates with Daddy and Getting our Living Room Back

On Friday night, Jason took Hudson to Casa to see Rudolph. They had a good time together!

Of course, Cooper had to get in a picture too!

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On Saturday night, Jason's dad had a Christmas party for his salon. We spent a few kid-free hours there and enjoyed the adult conversation (me, probably more than Jason).

Once again, Cooper was wanting in the picture and was running around saying "cheese- cheese" until we let him in. I love that he's actually wanting to smile for the camera.

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This weekend we managed to sell 2 of our very large kid pieces on Craigslist. Our living room has housed the world's largest Little Tikes plastic playhouse and Step 2 plastic kitchen for about 4 years now. Suddenly, I've started feeling quite claustrophobic in my own home and the thought of adding new things this holiday season just about sent me over the edge. So, we took a few pics, created an ad, and had both large pieces sold within an hour of posting them. Yea! Both are now gone from our living room (although I do feel a tad sad.....) While Jason was taking the house apart, the boys had fun playing under the roof. Now, we have plenty of room for new things and thank goodness we are not replacing them with anything quite so big.

Gingerbread House and Annual Christmas Dinner

This week my mom spent a couple of nights with us. Of course the boys LOVED having her here. Even though she only lives about 25 minutes from here there is just something about having someone stay overnight. Hudson gets to pull his trundle bed out and his Grammy gets to sleep on his bed while he's on the bottom. He would have her move in with us if he had his way. (and he'd also request that his Mimi move in too!) While here, she and Hudson made a gingerbread house. It turned out really cute.

Once he saw that Grammy had a UT shirt on, he ran into his room to put his on. He kept hugging her and talking about how they had on matching shirts. He's been really sweet and affectionate lately!

Good job Grammy and Hudson!

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Last night, I had my annual Christmas dinner with my college friends. We do this each year and I SOOO look forward to it. We get together often throughout the year but we usually have the kids with us. We love spending time together then and allowing our kids to play and hang out. But, there is something about our Christmas dinner that is special. We catch up. We share. We laugh. I'm so blessed to have them as friends!

We met at Posados around 6:15 and by 10:30 they were kicking us out! Can't wait until next year girls!