Holidays 2010

Well Christmas has come and gone.  I can never believe how quickly it passes.  Our Christmas began Christmas Eve morning.  I let the boys open their presents from me since they were going to their dad's house for the night and Christmas morning.  Bryden had asked Santa for a nintendo DS and I had already gotten it for him, so I didn't want him to be crushed that Santa didn't bring it so I thought we would do gifts Christmas Eve.  I got one for both boys and they were so excited!

Alex and I had already done our gifts for each other, but I got him a certificate to go to Benihana and be a "chef for the day".  He will take a little cooking lesson and then we will all go up there one day for him to cook dinner for the family!  Ha!  I was excited about it, although I'm not sure how he feels about it.  ;)

After we opened gifts we went to my parents house to have Christmas over there.  We had the usual prime rib for lunch, which was yummy, and opened our gifts.

After that the kids went to their dad's and Alex and I went to spend Christmas Eve with his family.  This was a first for me and it was quite the experience.  They have an Italian Christmas dinner which apparently is seafood.  I swear we sat down to eat and 5:30 and proceeded to eat for probably about 4 hours.  They basically were cooking one course at a time.  It was fun, although I don't really eat seafood.  I wish my kids could have gone over there as well.

Christmas day was a little more low-key - or least you would have thought it would be.  We got the boys back and headed to my grandmother's for a late lunch.  First of all I would like to say that Alex and I seem to have this ongoing debate on who's family is crazier.  I'm pretty sure my family tipped the scale that day.  Lets just say there is lots of people, a sweet grandmother, people being told they shouldn't be there because there wasn't enough chairs, and people leaving in anger.  Ahhh..it just wouldn't be Christmas without some sort of crazy drama!  :)

New Years Eve is now upon us and of course I have been trying to decide what my resolutions should be.  Basically, as usual, I am going to try to live a little bit more healthier lifestyle.  I am generally good about working out, but I eat like crap.  I have a wedding to get in shape for so at least I have some motivation!  I probably won't actively begin this eating healthier thing until we get back from our cruise this next week or so.  Oh yes - that should be an interesting post when we get back from that.  Remember the crazy family I was just speaking of?  Yep - we are all going on that cruise.  Yes, ALL of us...well most of us anyway.
New Year's Eve tonight should be fairly calm for us. We are going to have dinner with Alex's family and we may stay up 'till midnight - but that is stretching it.  I never understood the crazy partying that goes with New Years.  Everyone is resolving to have a "fresh start" but how can you possibly have a "fresh start" with a nasty hang over?

With that being said, I hope everyone has a great New Years and be safe out there tonight!

Eat, Drink, and I'm getting married!!

This post is almost 2 weeks over due, but I have some exciting news to share!  Alex and I are getting married!  Thursday, December 2nd he decided to "pop the question"!  Ok, so it wasn't a HUGE surprise.  I knew it was coming of course.  Either way it was probably one of the best moments of my life behind my kids of course.  I was so happy that he didn't do anything cheesy and embarrassing, which is just his style.  I, on the other hand, prefer to not have the spot light on me and was a nervous wreck that he was going to stand up in a restaurant and propose in front of a whole room of strangers.  Actually, that might have been the case for all I know, but I supposedly ruined his proposal idea.  Luke was supposed to have the kids that weekend and Alex and I had plans for dinner, but Luke decided to go hunting and I kept the kids.  My mom offered to babysit and Alex said we should still go to dinner, but I was pretty adamant about NOT going to dinner.  Alright, alright I was purposely being a little stubborn about the whole dinner situation..I had to have some sort of clue if it was coming or not so I could prepare for my reaction in front of the whole crowd of people I had envisioned.  Of course, Alex wasn't as persistant as I had imagined he would be if he was preparing to ask me to marry him so I assumed that it just wasn't going to happen that weekend.  We were sitting at the kitchen table with my kids when this whole discussion unraveled and I guess I was being a little grumpy, especially after I was certain there would be no engagement that weekend.  Little did I know he had hid the ring in our center piece that was sitting on the table and was just waiting for me to see it.  He managed to surprise me!!  I can honestly say I had no idea!  It was very simple and sweet.  I am so happy he did it that way.  I loved that my kids were there as well.  They both seemed so excited, which made the moment even better.  After seeing the excitement in my kids eyes I knew that this was the way life was meant to be and it can only get better from here.  :)

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving was a great day and I was grateful to have four days off with my boys.  This year I had them all to myself and enjoyed every minute of it!  Bryden was practicing his prayer to say before dinner for a few days, but got stage fright when it was time to eat.  He is so funny.  He gets so excited about thing and works so hard and then his nerves get the best of him.  I can't say I blame him!  I have probably passed him that gene.  We attempted to take some Christmas pictures with Alex's camera, but the kids weren't being too cooperative.  I have decided to make our own Christmas cards this year and I am a little bummed we didn't get an awesome picture, but I will have to make do!  Thanksgiving night we decorated the house for Christmas.  I had ordered a new tree this year and was so excited to get it out of the box and put it up.  To my surprise, it is the tiniest tree EVER!  A little depressing, but it is a pretty little tree.  Bryden wasn't too happy about it either.  Once it was all up (which took about 5 minutes) he said "that is the tiniest tree I have EVER seen!!"  I think he got over it once I told him maybe we could get a bigger one next year and he could put that one up in his room.  After the house was decorated we had an amazing night.  I had promised Bryden for months that we could have a "sleepover" in the living room, so we got out blankets and pillows and made a pallet for the floor.  We watched some christmas shows and ate popcorn.  Bryden was asleep by 10:30 but my little man was determined to stay up all night I think.  He kept his eyes wide open until I finally couldn't take it anymore and had to turn off the movies.  Friday we went to Mckinney with my mom and neice, Sydney, to the Dickens Christmas.  They had quite a few activities for the kids, but I think that is something I will save for myself next year so maybe I can actually go into the shops. 
Saturday Alex and I decided to take the kids to Grapevine to the Polar Express.  It was so much fun!  We rode the "polar express" and had hot chocolate and sang Christmas carols.  They even provided us with snow as we boarded the train!  I might have been a little more excited than the kids about that!  Santa even made an appearance on the train ride.  Once we got off the train, we went to see Santa to give him our Christmas lists.  We couldn't help laugh as he rattled off the items on Bryden's list which included:  DSi, football goal, basketball goal, Ipod, and a little kitchen just to name a few.  Aeson's list was a little more straight forward.  He will be completely happy with choo choos, airplanes, hot dogs, and bread.  :)