Christmas Morning 2012

Christmas morning was pretty much perfect in my book. Slept in a little, watched the boys open their gifts with glee, enjoyed some delicious breakfast and settled in for a few hours of trying out new toys. 

The best part about Christmas is how the whole world seems to stand still for everyone to enjoy this magical time together with their family.  On one hand, you never want it to end. On the other, you know that in a week or two it will all seem so far away until another Christmas sends us into a frenzy of baking, shopping, wrapping and gluttony. 

This Christmas was precious, even more so than usual.  I couldn't help but think of all the families in Connecticut who didn't have their precious children with them to open gifts, hug them and nestle in their arms as they relished in the joy together.  This Christmas, we were all reminded to hold our kids more tightly than usual and treasure the moments.  I said a little prayer in my head as I held my two boys, and felt so lucky that we have each other.  Life is truly a blessing. No matter how hard it can be at times, every single second is a gift.  The best gift in the world.

 

 

 

The big gifts this year were a laptop for Dylan, and a Kinect for the XBox..

 

And bb guns for each boy, which was a total surprise for them.  They were overjoyed!

 

Look at that grin..

This was the BEST french toast casserole ever.  It will  not be a Christmas only recipe!

 



 

The sausage egg casserole was a winner too...

And of course, another wearing of the Madagascar 3 rainbow afro wig!

 



Christmas Eve 2012

With two sets of parents on my side to celebrate Christmas, we have a tradition of spending Christmas Eve with my Dad and Stepmom, Christmas morning at our house, and Christmas Day/Evening at my Mom's with my Stepdad and all of my stepsisters and their spouses/kids.   I'm pretty sure that sentence was a serious run-on full of grammatical errors but I'm too tired from all the holiday hub-bub to think of another way to word it.

We hosted  Christmas Eve at our house this year, with my Dad and Stepmom arriving on Sunday the 23rd, and Chris, Jessica and the twins arriving early Christmas Eve afternoon.   Lots and lots of yummy food, drinks and gift opening.  But the biggest gift of all was an unexpected snowfall!  Not a lot but just enough for the kids to have a snowball fight and get their taste of the first snow of this season.

 

My Dad and Stepmom

 

 

My bro and Jess

 

 

Maya cuddled with Dylan..

 

 

 

 

 

 

My two favorite boys, right before bedtime.

 

 

 

 

 

partying at school

We're enjoying a nice, mostly quiet and relaxing holiday vacation at home with the boys.  A good mix of family time, parties, quiet time and together time.  Many more photos to come, but for now I thought I'd share photos of the boys each at their school holiday parties December 21st before the winter break.

Hope you're having a wonderful holiday!

 

 

illuminating!

Yesterday was a rare day around these parts lately.  Andrew was home from work early, the boys didn't have much homework, and there was no Odyssey of the Mind, taekwondo or Webelos keeping us busy in the evening.  It wasn't very cold out, either, so we decided to hop in the car and check out a new walk thru holiday lights exhibit at a beautiful park in Vienna called Meadowlark Gardens.

These photos don't do it justice.  Trust me, its spectacular in person! And at the end, they have a giant bonfire where you can make s'mores!

Meadowlark Gardens Winter Walk of Lights turned out to be fantastic.  We all enjoyed it, and I highly recommend it to local friends!

 

 

 

I loved the purple lights the most, it reminded me of the Magic Kingdom at Disney last holiday season.

 

 

 

I don't know...maybe the blue ones were my favorite.  So pretty!

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

games and puzzles for sale

 

All pieces are there for all of these games, and everying is in great shape.  Perfect for gift giving!  I'm in Ashburn Farm, near the library. Cash only please.

 

For Kids:

 

Sequence for Kids $10

 

 

 

Star Wars 3' Floor Puzzle, 46 pieces

$4

 

Star Wars 500 piece puzzle in metal tin.  $4

 

 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Cheese Touch board game

$10

 

Learning Resources learning games for 4+.  One is addition, one is matching animals to their names.  Sturdy cardboard pieces.   $4 each game.

 

 

For Adults (or older kids)

 

500 piece vintage surf scene puzzle in metal tin.   $4

 

750 piece vintage carnival scene puzzle, $4

 

1,000 piece puzzle.  $4

we all need the magic

December 12, 2012

Dear Dylan,

You asked me today if Santa is real.  You’ve asked a few times this month and I asked you in return “what do you think?”  You didn’t push it any further until today, and now it seems like you really want to know the truth.

The answer is no.  Santa is not real. There no single “one” Santa.

Dad and I are the people who fill your stockings with treats.  We choose the gifts we think you’ll love,  and wrap them and place them under the tree.  It’s the same way my mom did for me, and the same way her mom did for her.

I know someday you will do this for your children too, when you are an adult with a family of your own.  You will love the anticipation of seeing your children’s excitement and wonder as they open the gifts you’ve chosen for them.  You will keep this special secret from them as long as you can, and explain that  Santa is magic.

This won’t make you Santa, though.

Santa is bigger than any one person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived.  What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to believe in something they can’t see or touch.  He also keeps magic alive in all of our hearts as we grow into adults.

It’s a big job, and it’s important one. Throughout your life, you will need this capacity to believe: in yourself, in your friends, in your talents and in your family. You’ll also need to believe in things you can’t measure or even hold in your hand.  Here, I am talking about love, the great power that will light your life from the inside out.

Santa is a teacher, and I have been his student.  Now you know the secret of how he gets down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve: he has help from all the people whose hearts he’s filled with joy.  With full hearts, people like Daddy and me take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible.

So no, I am not Santa.  Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness.  I’m on his team, and now you are too.

I love you and I always will.  Please don’t tell Logan or talk  about this with any other children.  Every kid deserves to ask their own parents and find out about Santa when the time is right for them.

Love,

Mom

shootin' turkeys

No, we didn't shoot our own turkeys for Thanksgiving but we could have.  Any visit to Grandpa Joe's these days is all about the main event for the boys - shooting guns.  See, Grandpa has a whole safe full of weaponry and we have absolutely none at our house.  Last summer, Grandpa gave the boys a lesson in Gun Safety 101.

I don't know how two boys born of my gun-hating flesh and blood can love guns so much, but at least if they are going to love them, let them learn safety from someone who is practically an expert.

We pulled up last Wednesday around lunch time and I don't think I had the car in park before the boys were already in the backyard checking out the pellet gun shooting range Grandpa had set up.

 

He had all sorts of containers filled with water, and as the boys shot and made contact, they shouted with excitement.  Dylan is actually a very good shot.  He and Andrew went with Grandpa and Uncle Chris to the real shooting range on Saturday to shoot real guns.  I stayed behind, but I heard he had a lot of fun.

 

 

My Dad had driven to Ohio and picked up Grandma Williams from her assisted living facility so she could spend the holiday with all of us.  I think it really did her well to be around all the great grandkids, although I'm sure she turned down her hearing aid more than once.

 

 

My Dad and Josh carved up one of the turkeys.

 

 

While Uncle Chris made his famous cranberry orange relish.

 

 

I whipped up my sweet potato souffle.

 

 

Grandma Bobbie sat down once the entire time we were there, I think. She has endless energy!

 

 

Another favorite for the boys each trip is helping Grandpa make chocolate chip pancakes.

 

 

 

Friday was a beautiful day, and I got Grandma Williams to sit outside with me for a bit.

 

 

And it must have worked up her appetite because later she had two pieces of pie!

 

 

Josh and Logan colored.

 

 

And we all did what we're so lucky to do ... spend time together, drinking a lot, laughing a lot and making memories.

 

 

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too!

 

 

 

 

Air and Space Museum

We're so lucky to live 15 minutes from one of the absolute best museums ever - the Udvar Hazy Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  We've been there many times through the years, but each time we see something new.  And as the boys get older, they appreciate it more as well. 

This past Sunday we needed to get out of the house for a few hours, and it was too chilly to be outside for long.  So we headed to Udvar and with great timing, stumbled upon a free guided tour with the most amazing tour guide.  I don't remember his last name, but Steve was his first name and he was so full of information and fascinating stories, he held our attention for almost two full hours. Great guy!  The museum has tons of docents who volunteer their time touring people around, many of them are veterans and have served in the military themselves.

We  hadn't seen the Space Shuttle Discovery since it arrived on top of an airplane this past spring.  Logan and I were lucky that day in April to be driving near the museum and saw the amazing sight of Discovery attached to the top of an airplane as it was flown into the Udvar Hazy museum for retirement.  You just can't believe how massive it is in person, and its just amazing it was attached to top of an airplane...how heavy that must have been!  You can see how they attached it here.

 

 

We brought along Midnight, the 1st grade mascot from Logan's class.  Logan kept a journal all weekend to share with his class about all the adventures we had with Midnight last weekend.

 

 

 

These are so big, I bet an Andrew and a half could stand up inside them.

 

 

 

Udvar Hazy also houses the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber used to drop the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

 

 

Also, since the museum sits adjacent to Dulles Airport, you can ride the elevator up and get a 360 degree view of the planes taking off and landing.  Midnight thought it was cool too.