A Merry Little Christmas

I always love this time of year and celebrating Christmas with family and friends. Besides keeping up with my roles of wifey and Blake's mommy I tend to take on extra projects and activities during this time of year. They are never a burden and I enjoy each moment and the busyness. I realize others may not care for being busy and how hectic this time of year can be, but I guess the extrovert part of me thrives on it.

At the beginning of the month I was able to attend the Christmas party at my former school where I taught for four years. I have also made it a tradition to bring by cookies to my former coworkers before Christmas break. The first thing the music teacher said the year I announced I was not returning after having my baby was, "Who is going to make us cookies?" So far I have kept up the tradition of bringing them cookies for two years. Plus it is a good reason to come by, visit, and catch up with everyone.

 A few days before Christmas Blake got the cutest set of tiny books in the mail from a relative. I don't have much else to say about that, but I had to post the picture. I just love my little book worm!

 

 I was a little bit late getting Blake in to see Santa this year. I knew he wasn't going to like it, so here is my unhappy baby taking his picture with Santa.

This year I decided to take on a project to make something for my grandmother. During the spring I saw a pin on Pinterest around Mother's day showing how this lady made a present for her mother who had several grandchildren. I pinned the pin and was determined to make one as a Christmas gift for my grandmother of all her great grandchildren. Here is how that turned out.

 

Christmas Eve was spent with my grandmother, her five children plus spouses, her twelve grandchildren plus spouses, along with most of the great grandchildren.  We had to reserve the Family Life Center at our church in order to accommodate that many people. I failed to take any pictures, but I had a good time visiting with everyone, played Dirty Santa and won a Starbucks gift card.

Christmas morning was a little more exciting this year since Blake seemed to understand that there were (presents) new books for him to look at and read.

Two hours later he eventually tore off the wrapping paper on the box which is next to him on the couch :) I look forward to him comprehending more and being more involved as he gets older.

My sister and I along with our families went over to my parent's house for Christmas lunch and more presents. Yet again, I did a poor job remembering to take pictures, but here is a nice Christmas picture of my sister and me plus the hubbies and children.

 I really try to not make a habit of showing off my presents on the Internet, but at least this isn't on Facebook. Here is an unexpected gift from my hubby: A Snow White Cookie Jar. She is simply gorgeous! Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has to be one of my favorite classic Disney animated films. I also have a ceramic figurine set that I hope to display in a china  cabinet one day. For now I will just have to settle for staring at this gorgeous piece every day in my kitchen.

That has been most of our activities thus far for the Christmas season. We still have more relatives to visit and presents to give which will probably leak over into the new year. For now I am probably signing off for the remainder of 2013. Happy New Year and God bless!

Happy 2013

Happy New Year!

Then end of 2012 really got away from me. I really meant to squeeze in a post before 2013. Oh well, so on to our Christmas recap.

We got to open presents with our little man for the first time which was a lot of fun (for me especially). I really enjoy buying things for Blake, but at the same time I know he has two grandma's who are very willing to buy him things as well, so I almost don't have to buy him stuff, but it's still fun to do.

Here he is with his presents, stocking, and daddy.

Daddy may have been more excited about the super hero stocking stuffers than Blake.

 

We also had a White Christmas on Christmas day, so I took our baby outside only for the sole purpose of getting his first picture in the snow. I put him in that thick cozy sleeper with a hood and we were not even out there for two minutes and then we hurried back inside!

 

We also went to my Grandma's Christmas Eve party with about 35 people of my extended family.
Then two days after Christmas we went to a cabin and spent time with Bob's family and visited his grand parents.

Then before the end of 2012 our 4 month old started rolling over for us. We are looking forward to 2013. Life will never be the same, especially with a baby that is becoming more mobile!

Thanksgiving weekend

This year we have yet another reason to be thankful. God has blessed more abundantly than we could ever imagine and now one of those blessings is our baby boy!

With our newest blessing I was hesitant to leave or travel on Thanksgiving day. Luckily both of our families were very flexible and let us host Thanksgiving lunch at our house. When I told people my plans of hosting Thanksgiving they thought it was more work than just going somewhere. However, you'd be surprised at all the food that shows up when you tell people you are providing a turkey. We had more than enough food for our group of 8 adults (both sets of our parents and my sister & brother-in-law) and 2 children (my nieces). Hopefully Aunt Rachel and Uncle Eric can join us in the future.

Our first Thanksgiving with Blake!

We did not participate in black Friday shopping.
But we did hit the road to visit some great grandparents that Blake has not had the chance to meet yet.
We made some special visits to Pryor and Moodys, OK.

Here is a four generation picture on Bob's dad's side of the family.

 Then Saturday was the extremely dramatic bedlam football game. Here are my boys rocking their OU threads.

 All in all it was a laid back Thanksgiving holiday, just like we prefer things around here. No big deals, just great times with family.

Happy Halloween/Two Months

Our baby boy celebrated being two months old the same week as Halloween.

Even though I did not feel compelled to dress him up, I did anyway. I especially felt guilty when the pediatrician asked what he was going to be and I said, "that" meaning himself. I had a feeling of "bad mommy" guilt. So we managed to find a pumpkin costume at Target on the day of Halloween.

So here we are rocking the two Halloween outfits.

Our boy is growing so quickly. Happy 2 months!

What are you going to do next?

Although it is a bit delayed. Happy 2010! We are very excited about the coming year and I will mention all of what that will entail at the end of the post. First things first.

I thought I would take this moment to catch everybody up on our Christmas festivities.

The grand total count of Christmas gatherings with family was supposed to be 4.

Christmas #1
Should have been on Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house, however as most people know there was a massive blizzard in the OKC metro that day, so that party was canceled. Luckily, my sister and I visited my grandmother the day before and brought her these lovely flowers.


Christmas #2
We went out on Christmas day and drove through roads that for the most part have not seen a snow plow. We had Christmas day at my parent's house. We had a fun time and got to play with
my nieces and we ate yummy food.
Christmas #3
We met up with my husband's family at the Great Cedar Lodge near Branson, MO. We left the day after Christmas. We got to see Silver Dollar City, the new shopping area called the Landing, and we just relaxed and ate wonderful food.





Eating some s'mores

Mother and Son


The fun ones!


Christmas #4
We went to my brother's house on the 2nd day of the new year. This is usually when my dad gets to have Christmas with all four of his children plus grandchildren. We had drawn names to exchange gifts, and of course enjoyed some more wonderful food.

So now that the new year is here we still have a lot to do!

Did you hear up above that we enjoyed lots of wonderful food? Well, now we think we should probably cut back a bit and get our bodies into better shape. We'll see how that goes. Getting into smaller clothes is always a good motivator for me, we'll see what motivates the hubby! Here is something we purchased to help motivate us.

Also, I am now into the more intense part of applying for national certification. All of my portfolio/videos must be post marked by March 31st. As a result, I will continue to neglect our blog for a while. Hopefully I can get back into it come April. Until next time...

what a wondrous time of year

Christmas Break is officially here. (Man, I love my job!) We had a class party at school last Friday. The day of a class party is a true test of your classroom management skills. How long can you keep 24 fourth graders distracted and doing something on task until the final hour of school? Luckily, I have some good students. Then I discovered how to get them quiet and perfectly still during the party. Tell them you are going to take a picture!


Looks like I survived and they had an incredible time. And while I was having all of this wonderful fun, my husband was finishing up his finals for pharmacy school. He survived as well!

I always have so much fun during Christmas. Over the years I have collected quite the collection of Christmas socks. This year I got this pair from my secret pal at school. I think these might top all of the Christmas socks that ever were!

The day I got them I was wearing a skirt, so I thought it would be fun to put them on over my tights. That in turn got so many comments for the rest of the day from my co-workers.

As long as I'm posting about Christmas, now would be an appropriate time to share a picture of our tree...




And the mantle...

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays! May the calendar keep bringing, Happy Holiday to you!

the leaves are rustling gustily

Last week I got to enjoy one of my teacher holidays that seems "unfair" to the rest of the working world. FALL BREAK!!! And might I say that I for one have been enjoying our premature fall weather here in OK. I thought for the one week anniversary of fall break being past us, that it was time for a recap.

First, I came home Wednesday night and did all of my grading so I could enjoy the long weekend.

Then, Thursday morning I got to be a fun aunt and I had Audrey come over to the house and watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with me. I must admit that was probably mostly for me, but she enjoyed it too. I bought the new DVD this month and I just haven't had time to watch it. What better excuse is there than to watch it with my niece. Our movie was followed up with lunch at Chuck E Cheese.

Thursday evening Bob and I helped serve a meal at the Lighthouse and then we headed home to chill out and watch "The Office".

Friday, was just one big date day/night. My dear husband accompanied me to the mall and I actually got to go to several stores, bought a new black jacket, and some make-up.

We then had a late lunch at the Elephant Bar

Yea for late lunches and having the restaurant to our selves!


Later that evening we had a big night out in Bricktown. Since this was the evening before the OU/Texas game it was not overly crowded for a Friday night, but not deserted either.

Me in my new jacket.

The husband cruising Bricktown
We ate dinner at the Bricktown Brewery and enjoyed the nice crisp fall evening as we walked outside. Finally, we got to check out the new Michael Murphy's Dueling Piano bar. Since it was not a very busy night we got to walk right in without having to wait, like we've been hearing about from several people. The piano players were a hoot, but I would not recommend this type of entertainment in the midst of company such as your grandma.

Overall I would declare Fall Break a success! Luckily this week of school so far has gone well, except that I have been getting hungry before lunch time. Sounds like I have gotten myself accustomed to eating more often during my time off. Oh well, time to get back into my routines.

your mother and mine

Happy Mother's Day!

For Mother's day I had my mom and dad over for dinner Saturday night. I've spent most of my life eating fabulous food from my mother's kitchen. So I felt that it was about time that I reciprocate that to her. My wonderful husband cooked tilapia for us and I baked a lime cheesecake. It was lots of fun taking care of my mom for a change. She has dedicated her life to taking care of me, my sister, and now her grandchildren. So, Happy Mother's Day Mom! You're the greatest!

little April showers

Drip drop. Drip drop. I woke up this morning and it had just finished raining. We got our rain on Easter, just like the weathermen had been predicting. Which I am not going to complain because hopefully that will decrease our state's chances for grass fires this week (it's been so devastating seeing all of the damage that happened last Thursday on the news).

Easter is one of those great holidays right up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving. I enjoy going to church, spending time with my family, and getting to dress up.

After church we went over to my parents house with my sister's family and had an Easter lunch. It was very delicious. My mom out did herself and made three different pies! I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful family to celebrate with.


Hope everyone else had a lovely Easter as well.