December 2010

Whew. The holidays have come and gone in a whirlwind as usual. It was a crazy month, but fun as always. We did some fun things. We saw Peter Pan at The Rose. We also took the boys ice skating for the first time. Doug was at work, so my friend Sherry went along with us. She took one boy and I took the other. We tried going to the Con Agra rink on a nice warm day, but the line was really long. Instead, we headed over to Moylan Ice Rink. We had a great time. At first, I didn't think it was going to go so well. Jack didn't even get a quarter of the way around the rink before declaring, in true Jack style, that he wanted to go home. That's what he does. Charlie went around the first few laps with Sherry. He was pretty shaky, but seemed to like it. After Jack said he wanted to go home, he decided that he would give it another try. I still had to hold on to him with a death grip, but he loved it. We renamed it "ice falling" and he loved to fall. Good thing, because he did a lot of it! Every time he did it, he would smile. After skating for a couple of hours and having hot cocoa, it was time to go. Jack refused to get off the ice, without going around a few more times. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera on our skating adventure. So no photos! Next time, I guess.

Christmas this year was really nice. We celebrated with the Whitney family at Pizza King on the 23rd. A santa came to see the kids and deliver gifts and of course, we ate lots of good pizza. My mom had a health scare and got the all clear that night before the party, so that was a relief.

Christmas Eve morning, Julie, the boys and I had lunch with my Grandma Gwen. I spent Christmas Eve with Doug and the boys. It was pretty low key. I made a good meal and then we had popcorn, cocoa and played Monopoly. It was a great night.

Christmas day was fantastic this year. I don't know if it's because they boys are getting older or if the stars aligned or what, but it was relaxing for once. The boys didn't get any gifts that required assembly or batteries, so there were no pleas of, "put it together now!" etc. It was great. They played with their toys and art supplies and we had breakfast and watched a few movies. Later that day, my Mom, Bob, Nate and Julie came over. We ate a TON of appetizers and ended up not hungry for the dinner we had made.

The other big event of December for us is Charlie's birthday. He turned 7 this year! I can't believe his little boys years are over! For his birthday, we had a lazy morning. He requested that I make pancakes for breakfast. We watched some movies and played in the newly organized basement! That afternoon we went to The Rose to see Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Then we met our family out for dinner at Red Robin. Charlie was so excited to open his gifts and eat his Steelers football cake. Mom and Bob gave him more coins for his collection. (one of his favorite Christmas gifts was the coin collecting book from them). Julie gave him a science experiment kit. He loved that! He got a Lego computer game and some gift cards to Scheels. He was thrilled. That night we also celebrated my mom's birthday, since hers is just a few days after Charlie's. Julie and I got her a Coach purse and some of the perfume she loves.

The big chore we completed over Christmas break was to clean out the basement. It was a lot of work, but we got it done and now our basement is livable! I am so happy we spent the time and got it done. We bought a red sectional to put down there. Doug, reluctantly (sarcasm), bought a new big screen tv for the new set up. We've spent a ton of time down there. It's cozy and fun and the boys love that we donated many of their old toys. Their toy area is completely organized and it's amazing!

New Year's Eve was spent with the Bells at their house for our third annual NYE bash. We had a great time and spent quite a lot of time laughing until we cried. The kids played well together and we were exhausted when the night was done!