New Years Eve

We had a great New Years Eve.  We started off with a pizza dinner with friends and their kids.  We then headed to another friend's house for drinks and played Cards Of Humanity for 3 hours.  At 10:00 pm we watched the ball drop on TV and had a balloon drop (thanks Pinterest) for the kids.  There were poppers, balloons, sparkling apple cider.......the kids LOVED IT!!  Fantastic time had by all.  Happy New Year!

Christmas in Tulsa

I am going to make the commentary short and sweet as the amazing pictures from our trip to Tulsa speak for themselves.  We had such a great time with the Jurbala clan.  Denise threw a fantastic Christmas Eve Party and Christmas Day was a relaxing pajama day.  The kids were spoiled beyond belief by both the grandparents and Santa.  They were so well behaved and cute on the flights and at their grandparents house. We are very blessed and our time in Tulsa showed what the Christmas Spirit is all about!

The Nutcracker

Gwen and I had a great Girls Day today.  We went out for pizza (I had 2 glasses of wine and she was concerned at how small the pizza was.......it was seriously super small) and then saw the Nutcracker.  She seemed very interested in the 1st half but seemed really bored in the 2nd half.   She is very excited to go again next year and bring grandma.

Santa Visit 2013

Each year we head to the mall to see Santa.  We normally have to wait over an hour and you can only buy packages which are super expensive.  You can't buy just one and you definitely can't take your own pictures. This year we decided to try another Santa.  It was free!  We only waited in line for 30 minutes!  We took our own pictures!  The Santa was wonderful too!!  Not some ghetto 1980's Sangertown Mall Santa!!

I was a little nervous as to how Leo would do meeting Santa.  He loved him. He ran right up to him and gave him hugs. Afterwards he kept saying "bye" and "thank you".  SO CUTE!   Both kids were super excited which was wonderful.

After Santa we went out to dinner.  It is getting so much easier to eat dinner with them in public. They love it which is great.  Mike and I can actually enjoy ourselves and have conversations!!  Once dinner was over we headed to Hudson Gardens to see the lights.  We accidentally snuck in.  We weren't quite sure where to go and ended up just walking right in without paying.  Oops.  It's actually a good thing since Gwen was miserable in the cold and informed us that "she didn't have any fun at all."  Leo's eyes were huge looking at the lights, but he got pretty tired.

It was a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday season as a family.  It made my heart happy.

Wordless Wednesday

Ornament Making and Hot Cocoa

I hope you are all sitting down while you read this.  I am afraid once I tell you the BIG news, you will all faint in shock.  I MADE ORNAMENTS WITH MY KIDS!  That's right, I'm a real Martha Stewart!!  We had pipe cleaners, beads, and ribbon. We made candy canes, snowflakes, and wreaths.

After craft time hour was over (actually I think Gwen only lasted 30 minutes until boredom sat in) the kiddos played outside briefly.  By that I mean Mike took Kaiser and Gwen on a walk.  Leo and I made Oreo Fudge Brownies and then he went outside.  Leo and I stood outside waiting for them.  I had to wipe the snow off his boots, every time he stepped in it,  because he is not the biggest fan.  Weenie.  Afterwards we had hot cocoa.  Gwen had to drink it by the fire.  I think she may listen to too many Christmas songs.  Leo kept calling it coffee, but seemed to like it!

We are enjoying our holiday season.  The only downfall is that I have been sick for over a week now (tested for Whooping Cough of all things), but feel a lot better today.  Maybe I'll go all Martha on them again and we'll make cookies or candy next weekend.  I'll leave the Gingerbread House making for Denise :-)

Seriously, don't freak out about how old Gwen looks in these pictures!!!!

Christmas Tree 2013!