Because I Want to Remember

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas holiday. We have been busy, busy, busy, so busy that I have not updated the blog with all the fun things we did this month. So here is a quick wrap up of some things I don't want to forget.....

*Seeing our new tree decorated for the first time, so pretty. Ryan wanting to "help" me decorate said tree, so fun.

*The Elf the boys named Frizzy coming to our house each day so that he could report to Santa how the boys were behaving. The first thing they wanted to do each day was find Frizzy and check out where he was in our house for the day.

*The boys getting to ride a camel at school, and how excited they were about it.

*The never ending shopping to get ready for Christmas.

*Chris taking the boys shopping for my Christmas presents and thinking they wouldn't tell me what he bought. They made it all the way to Christmas Eve before they told me what one of my presents was, not bad.

*Seeing the boy's faces when we went to the lights display at Santa's Wonderland, worth all the money just to watch them take it all in.

*Taking the boys ice skating for the first time. What were we thinking. But we got to hear Ryan say, "Ice is too slippery, I need a break."

*Brandon's anticipation of Christmas. It was almost painful to him waiting for the day to come.

*Taking both boys to a Christmas Eve service at church and hearing them sing "Mighty to Save" with us. Then Ryan going crazy to get to light his candle and wanting to hold it "by myself."

*Putting out Milano cookies and Gatorade for Santa because that is what the boys wanted him to eat.

*Ryan opening Christmas presents with such reckless abandon that he actually opened one of Sophie's gifts twice (the same one) because he was just that out of control.

*Seeing the boys get things that were on their list and then hugging and kissing the gifts because they were so excited.

*Getting the tiniest Crocs I have ever seen for the new baby, along with a new diaper bag and a bunch of cool baby clothes and gear.

*The boys getting to play with their cousins for 3 days straight, and hearing them have endless fun.

*Making gingerbread houses and Ryan actually having some candy left to decorate his house this year (unlinke last year when he ate every piece of candy but one before the house was even built.)

*Being with family and loving it.

So those are some of the highlights for me. I hope you all had a great Christmas and have tons of unforgetable moments as well!

SNOW!!

OK, I know all my relatives in Michigan will laugh and roll their eyes at this post, but snow here is a really big deal. The weather people had been talking about it all day, and then around 4 it finally happened. I got the boys dressed in the warmest clothes we have (still not warm enough) and we ran outside. Brandon was soooo excited. He ran around trying to catch snowflakes in his mouth and then ran inside to get a bag to catch the snow in (he thought he could keep it and take it inside). Ryan checked out the snow, declared he was turning into an icecube and then ran back in the house. So even though none of it will stick or even really make it the ground, it was quite the sight to see big white flakes falling from the sky, and I am glad that we took the ten minutes to run around and enjoy it!

Festive Weekend

We had quite the weekend, and feel like 3 days passed and we never sat down. Joey and Laurie came in town again to visit and we went to Breakfast with Santa. It is at the local country club, and it is always a huge hit. This year especially all the kids had so much fun, they visited Santa as many times as they wanted, they saw a magic show, Ryan got to eat as much bacon as he could stuff in his mouth, the adults actually had time to have a conversation. I wish they did this every weekend, we might go.

Check out my belly, I don't know that Santa was too happy to have the two of us on his lap. Oh, and yes, Laurie and I do have the same outfit on and no, it was not planned.

That night we went to Chris's work party, always fun to mingle with people you don't really know and sit with total strangers, but it still was fun. Chris showed his true competitive side and won a game that was scavenger hunt musical chairs. He did so by taking his shoes off and showing that his socks were full of holes (they had to find a sock with a hole in it, no one at his work party wanted to admit that they had holes in their socks, but not my husband, no shame I tell you). We came home to find the boys asleep like this....

Sunday we did some Christmas shopping and that night there was a Christmas parade at the outside mall, so we went and ate kettle corn and watched Santa arrive on a horse drawn carriage.

So are we Christmased out yet? No way, there is still more to come, but I will be ready for a break from the festivities come Dec. 26th, but for now we are enjoying this time and the fun we are having with the boys.

My mom made the boys these Power Ranger Stockings, they were so proud, we had to hang them up right away!! Thanks Nana!

Pacifiers

OK, does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with these things? Both of the boys were soooo attatched to them, and being the somewhat pushover mommy that I am, I let them keep them until they were both about 3 1/2 years old. So, we finally took Ryan's away last month, which was traumatic for all of us. We told him he was a big boy and he didn't need it anymore, and we took it away. He had several very hard nights and would ask for it constantly during the day. He calls it his "baby" and he was always wanting it. The requests started to come with less regularity, but he still asked for it, and then last night we were talking about what he wanted for Christmas and he looked at me and said, "My want a big boy baby, they make those for big boys." I couldn't help but laugh, he still misses it and knows he is a big boy, but he still wants his baby. Poor thing. So, the plan is with new baby, the pacifier is going away much earlier (talk to me in 4 years when he still has it and remind of this statement) but it seems like if he can make a rational thought, like "big boy baby" we waited a little too long. Love/Hate, no other way to describe it.