Christmas 2010

It's hard to believe Christmas is over already. It always goes by way too fast for me! We always alternate where we are for Christmas and Thanksgiving between our 2 families. This was the year that we headed to Iowa to be with Kyle's family.

After arriving on Thursday night I had to make a run to the store for fever reducer meds for Macalan. He was running a temp and the next morning both the boys had temps and were coughing pretty bad. We decided we had better make the trek to Davenport to the urgent care. It was a wasted trip when we found out what they had was viral and there was nothing we could do other than let it run its course. Thankfully they both were in pretty good spirits throughout the weekend. I guess it's better to be safe that sorry.

During the Christmas Eve church service Macalan decided to be a stinker and in his loudest voice demand a snack, which of course I forgot. He wouldn't let it go so I had to escort him from the pew to the back of the church. While we were walking he said to me "don't put me in time out!" Everyone who heard (which I guess was a lot of people) thought he said "don't tell me to calm down!" Apparently everyone got a good kick out that. After hanging out in the back we were able to eventually rejoin our family in the pew. :)

Grandma Mary was able to pull some strings and get Santa to stop by for a quick visit on his way to deliver toys. Macalan was a little unsure but when Santa pulled out that first present he was excited! Sutton had no idea what to think and was having a hard time staying awake. When it was his turn to open presents he just laid his head in my lap and yawned. It was pretty darn cute! We did the fast version of opening gifts and then he went to bed.

Christmas day was pretty lazy. We opened more gifts and spent the day lounging around and playing with all the new toys. Kyle and I had high hopes of taking the boys sledding, but with them being sick we didn't get a chance to do that.

We have spent some time reflecting on this past year. Although we are blessed in so many ways, especially with our two wonderful kids, this really was a pretty yucky year in many ways and we are happy to ring in the New Year with hopes for a better year ahead. We keep the memory of Jake, Kyle's best friend, in our hearts and continue to pray for his family. We are very grateful for the amazing family and friends we have! We couldn't have gotten through the year without you!

Happy New Year everyone!

Gingerbread House

Today was my first official day of being on Christmas break! Macalan and I attempted to make a gingerbread house. It turned out pretty cute, but was not nearly as fancy as it could have been. Macalan had a great time eating the candy! By the end it was smeared all over his face.

We are looking forward to Christmas. Hopefully we can beat the snow tomorrow as we try to make it to Iowa to spend Christmas with Kyle's family. A little elf told me Santa might be making an early appearance at Grandma's house! :) Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Cookies and a Snowball Fight!

This past weekend while we were snowed in Macalan "helped" me bake and decorate sugar cookies. I use the term helped loosely. He seems to think he's the next Top Chef, but he is mostly really good at making a bigger mess than what I anticipated. It is very cute though to see how excited he gets when he "helps." I don't know why he couldn't give me a normal smile, but every picture I have of him he is making some weird face! For anyone who might eat these cookies: yes he did frequently stick his fingers in the dough and frosting, but I promise I had a rag nearby to constantly clean his hands! :) Maybe we should keep these cookies for our family and make a different batch for others!

For anyone who thinks Sutton no longer exists: I purposely took pictures of him this weekend to prove his existence! Poor baby never gets in any of the pics because he is still so little he can't really help or do the things I am doing with Mac right now. Because we couldn't get outside I had the boys have a snowball fight with cotton balls. It was fun for about 2-3 minutes and then Sutton tried eating the cotton balls and Macalan just wanted to dance to Christmas music. I made sure to snap a picture of Sutton enjoying one of the cookies Macalan and I made. He wasted no time gobbling it up!

While I was making/feeding/cleaning the boys up from dinner tonight I couldn't help but think about the part in the movie A Christmas Story when the family is sitting down to eat. Ralphie says something along the lines of "My mom hadn't had a hot meal to herself in seven years." Every time I sat down to attempt to eat my dinner one of the boys would ask for something or squeal a demand! I cherish the nights when Kyle is home for the obvious reasons of having our family time, but more importantly so there is someone else to take orders from our little men! :) Just kidding Kyle, I really love having you home so we can spend time as a family.

We are trying to find the time to squeeze in all these fun holiday activities, as well as finish up a little shopping. I am looking forward to having some time off to relax and enjoy my boys!

I WILL POST PICS WITH THIS ENTRY SOON! BLOGGER WON'T LET ME UPLOAD RIGHT NOW. ANNOYING!

A Message From Santa!

Kyle spent a little time last night creating a special message for Macalan from Santa. I had Macalan watch it tonight. He thought it was great that Santa was talking to him! He kept saying "Hi Santa!" At one point he asked me why Santa wasn't answering him :)

I highly suggest creating your own for the little ones in your life. It was just too cute!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/bYuYVp_QJ17nnDH5YtXrbg

It's Christmastime!

I LOVE Christmas! I am the annoying person who wants to start listening to Christmas music right around October! I don't do this of course because I want to stay married! :) Kyle can be kind of a scrooge when it comes to Christmas music.

I decided to break out the decorations a little at a time over the last week or so. I have started decorating before Thanksgiving only because we are always gone for Thanksgiving. I feel like once we get back I never have enough time to decorate and enjoy it before it's time to put it all away again.

Macalan and I had fun decorating a little tree in his room this year. He has been really good about not touching it, so far! When we were all done he said, "You did a good job mom!" :) Since Sutton still doesn't know the difference I thought he could handle not having any decorations this year, especially since he's still at the Curious George stage when EVERYTHING he's not supposed to touch gets touched!

This is the first Christmas that Macalan seems to get what Santa is. He has heard the "Santa won't bring you presents if you throw a fit and take toys from your brother" speech a million times in the last couple of weeks. Last night I heard him repeating his own little version of this speech to Sutton. It went something like this: "Sutton, Santa not bring you presents if you're not a good boy!" Now you have to imagine him saying it in a high pitched "baby-talk" voice that he reserves only for when he's speaking to Sutton!

On a side note- Today as we were driving home from S.D. Sutton got a hold of one of Macalan's favorite stuffed animals. Macalan freaked out and demanded that Sutton give it back. Of course they were both strapped tightly into their car seats so neither one could move much. Sutton started to hand it back and just as Macalan went to grab it Sutton snatched it back and giggled! I think he'll be able to hold his own pretty well! Kyle and I couldn't help but laugh and Macalan told us to "Stop being silly at him!" This is what he says anytime we laugh at him. He's our sensitive child. We've tried to explain that we're not laughing at him, we're laughing with him, but that goes over the head of a two year old!

Well I need to go find my copy of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. It seems to be missing and it's one of my favorite movies to watch this time of year. Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving

On Thursday we traveled to South Dakota to be with my family for Thanksgiving. Technically, we didn't celebrate until Friday because it was difficult trying to get everyone together. The boys had lots of fun playing with their grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins! It is so cute seeing them develop their relationships with our families. It is especially neat to see how my dad interacts with the boys. He was such a tough guy when I was growing up and he has become such a softy with them. :)

Saturday Kyle, my dad, and I took Macalan to see a train show. He thought it was great seeing all the little model trains race around the track. I got some practice taking pictures of my niece while we were downtown. They turned out so cute! She is growing up so fast!

Later in the day I went to see The Nutcracker Ballet. This is a production I was involved in for many years while I was in dance. It was fun to see all the great changes they've made, yet it was still so much the same. While I was at that, Kyle and my dad took Macalan to a "Cowboy Christmas" (right up my dad's alley). I missed seeing Macalan sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wants for Christmas! He even gave him a hug! This is very different from the experience we had a couple of weeks ago when we had pictures taken with Santa. Sutton of course didn't mind at all sitting on Santa's lap, but Macalan screamed and cried the whole time. The pictures are pretty funny. I really should scan them and post them.

The car rides there and back are always challenging, but it is worth giving our boys lots of fun family memories!

Thirty???

Whether I was ready or not today I turned 30! I can't believe how that just snuck up on me. I don't feel old or anything like that, but it's a little weird saying I'm 30 years old. I brought cupcakes to school for my kids today and they had a great time guessing my age. Most of them were pretty close, but of course I had to have someone guess 80!
I feel like I have been celebrating all week. On Saturday Kyle and our families surprised me after the ISU-Nebraska game at the hotel. His mom and our nieces spent the afternoon decorating the hotel room and my sister snuck out of the game early to go pick up a cake for me! It was a nice and fun surprise. My mom has been here this week watching the boys since we don't have daycare so on Tuesday we all went out to eat at Red Lobster. This is a rare occurence because Red Lobster brings out the devil child in Macalan. Don't ask my why or how, but every time we go there he becomes loud and crabby and I feel like one of "those" people who interrupt the dinner of everyone else. Thankfully he was pretty well behaved.
Besides all the birthday celebrating I've been exhausted this week with getting ready for conferences, reading and writing a paper for my grad class, and dealing with Macalan's nightmares. Every night this week he has woken up screaming and crying and climbs into our bed. I know I should just take him back to his bed because I am creating a monster, but I am sooo tired I don't care. It's funny how all of a sudden he has started to realize that there are things that scare him. He mostly complains about either a monster or dinosaur that's going to get him. It's so sad! I wish I could take that scared feeling away from him. Sutton continues to be a champ when it comes to sleeping! He is such a laid back kid!
On top of all of this I am trying to get my photography business started. I am starting slow and very basic, but I'm so very excited about this! I was lucky enough to get my lighting for my birthday so my goal for the weekend is to figure out how everything works and take some practice pictures. Anyone who reads my blog please keep me in mind for taking pictures of your family and little ones! I hope to start a new blog for my business as soon as I get a few more details figured out. I have the urge to jump in and do a million different things with this, but I have to remember how much I have on my plate and to take everything one day at a time. I would sincerely appreciate good thoughts as I begin this new adventure! :)