It came, we conquered...

Christmas of 2009 that is!  It came so fast, I don't know that we were truly ready for it, but then again, is anyone ever truly ready for Christmas?  It's all about the kids, that's what I had to tell myself during a few stressful moments.  Did I buy enough gifts for my kids? did I ship everything that had to be shipped on time?  I'm cooking dinner, did I buy everything that I needed?  The list went on and on, but in the end I think everyone had a really nice day.  We went to Rhode Island to visit my Grandmother on Christmas Eve, and then went to a chinese restaurant with my brothers family and my Mother.  We used to go to that very restaurant as kids on Christmas Eve, and it was fun to do it with some of the family again this year.

The kids got dressed up and I snapped a few pictures of them before we left:

After dinner and the visit we headed home to get ready for Santa.  Both kids fell asleep in the car but only Juliana woke up when we got home.  She was anxious to check online and see where Santa was.

Meanwhile Tyler took a little nap on the couch:

Christmas morning the kids were very excited.  Juliana was awake first and came to snuggle with us why we waited for Tyler to wake up.  As soon as we were all up we headed downstairs to see if Santa had come.  They checked the plate of cookies that was left for him, and sure enough he ate the cookies (which included a fortune cookie) and took the carrots for the reindeer.  He left two glitter balls for them, they are very cool.  Then we went through our overstuffed stockings and then moved onto the presents under the tree.

It was a fabulous morning full of excited and squeals of delight.  It was the kind of morning that made you thank your lucky stars that you have two amazing and loving children.  It's the kind of morning that makes everything else so totally worth it.

Once all the presents were opened and I was working diligently at cleaning up the mess it was time to think about round two.  The kids played their new wii games while I started cooking.

My sister and her family, my brother and his family, and my Mother all came over at 3:00.  We loaded up all the presents that had yet to be unwrapped under the tree and the chaos of opening them began.  It was all over in a flash, but it was fun while it lasted.

It was then time for dinner and dessert.  The kids all played, Steve, Brett, and Tyler parked in front of the wii.  Grandma Pickles played games with Juliana and Erin.  And Jared, Christine, and Becky played in the playroom with Grant, Jesse, & Gavin.

It really was a great day, it just left me utterly exhausted.  Thankfully I had new bubble bath, a good book, and new jammies to end my night with.

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas, everywhere I go!

We've decorated the house for the holidays, although this year there seem to be less decorations than years past, I think it's just because of the short time we have between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  The way I look at it, if it's not up by now, then it's waiting until next year.  Every year since the first year Steve and I were dating we've bought ornaments for each other, it's always fun to look back at them.  One year we even got each other identical ones, it was a complete coincidence.  We also like to buy ornaments when we travel to a new place, although many times we forget, but we still have a bunch on our tree from many of the places we've been.  I got out my camera this morning and took some pictures of some of my favorites, although it was hard to choose, as I love them all!

Our Jamaican Santa, he always makes me giggle:

Snowman from the Bahama's:

The first year we started, 1997:

I love this one, it's from our best family vacation:

Of course our wedding picture, 1999!

This is another favorite, one year Steve and I volunteered at PetSmart, for Christmas he dressed like Santa and I was the photographer, we even brought our own cats:

Our first cruise, this is the one Steve proposed to me on:

We have an ornament for every house we've had together, this is for our most recent:

And of course the best ornaments ever, the handmade one by the kids:

This is on our mantel, I just think it's a beautiful saying, I always think it should mean to believe in all the wonders and magic of Christmas.

Snow day? Let's make a gingerbread house!

We started the tradition of making a gingerbread house every year for Christmas when the kids were both very young.   Steve used to be in charge of it, but he always had issues, and after the year of the duct taped walls (yes, you really can use duct tape for everything), we've decided I would take over.  So for the past few years the kids and I have been decorating the gingerbread house, this year however, the kids really did most of it themselves.  There were so many different candies and they couldn't believe I just let them eat whatever they wanted as they decorated.  I think in the end they ate as many as they used to decorate.  It's a great tradition that they look forward to every year.  This year we did it on our first school canceled snow day.
Here is the beginning:

This picture just cracks me up:

A birds eye view:

Almost done:

All done:

Turkey Day and Travel.

We spent our Thanksgiving this year traveling to Florida.  We couldn't get a direct flight and had to fly out of Boston.  When we got to Boston we found out our connecting flight was delayed, so we hopped on a small plane to NYC.  We had just driven a distance that would of been the same for us to go to NYC.  Luckily the kids are the best travelers and just go with the flow.  From NYC we  flew into Miami and rented a car to drive to Steve's parents in Naples.  On the way we were starving and stopped at one of the only open places, Miami Chicken.  I was worried about the food, but it was delicious!  We arrived safely and a little tired in Naples at about 8:30 pm and were happy to be at our destination.

We celebrated Thanksgiving the next day (Friday) and had a delicious meal.  Juliana helped set the table.

The kids spent some time in the hot tub while dinner was being cooked.

The next night we headed to downtown naples to look at all the Christmas decorations.  We had done the same thing a couple of years ago and the kids had fond memories of it.  We tried to pose for pictures when we had the chance, here we are with Papa and Grandma Chris.

On Sunday we left Steve's parents and headed to Orlando.  We had a nice easy drive and checked into our hotel and headed out for dinner.  The next morning we got up bright and early and went to Disney Hollywood Studios.  Grandma Pickles and Grammy met us there and we spent the day going on rides and to shows.  They had a parade that was just so full of energy and fun to watch.  Here we are waiting for it to begin, we found out where the best seats were and got there early.

They had the most amazing Christmas light display we have ever seen.  There were lights running up and down every single building and they all worked with the music.  It was something I don't think any of us will soon forget, it was just stunning.

Grammy spent the night with us, then Steve got up the next morning and drove her back.  Once he returned we had breakfast and headed to Epcot.  It was such a beautiful day and the weather was just perfect!  We went on many rides (some a little scary for the kids) but we all had so much fun.  It was just such a nice family day for the four of us, and something else to store in our memory banks.

The kids got to color masks.

Our last day we spent the day hanging out by the pool.  After breakfast Steve had some work to do, so the kids and I went and did some shopping.  As soon as we got back to the hotel the kids were ready to go in the pool.  They spent 4 straight hours in it and had a blast.  Steve and I both went in for a bit with them, but most of the time we just sat out by the pool while they were swimming.  It was amazing to us that we've come so far and we are able to sit back and watch our kids play.

That night we went to Downtown Disney.  We went to Planet Hollywood for an early birthday dinner for Steve and walked around enjoying the night.  The kids loved the big Lego store and all the lights.

On Thursday, Steve's birthday we headed home.  It was another long day of travel (12 hours door to door) but again, our kids did great.  Not one complaint from either one of them, amazing.  It was a fabulous trip and we know we are so blessed.

That was fun.

Tyler had been complaining of that his throat hurts since last spring.  After having his pediatrician try a few different meds and tests we were sent to Children's Medical Center in Hartford.  His doctor decided to do an endoscopy to rule out several things and all tests were clear.  Tyler did very well at the hospital and actually said it was fun when we left.

Here's a picture of our brave boy, he was so proud of his IV.