Finally catching up...

I have been so behind with updating on our life....It has been a little bit crazy around here. We have both been working so hard up until this weekend. I have wanted all spare time to be spent with the kids and friends. But...I really wanted to finish out the year updated on at least this! :) So....here is the last 2 months of our lives....

Christmas...Eve...

We had a great Christmas.Eve this year. How could we not with the kids! :) It was a little different. Normally, my parents come down to spend the night with us on Christmas.Eve. We all go to mass and then I make dinner. This year, it was just the 4 of us. We met up with our close friends at church...which was awesome! We then came home for a nice dinner of soup. Then we put the kids in their pj's, made hot chocolate and drove around to look at Christmas lights. It was a great night!

Gotta do pictures before church!

I don't know how much longer I have to coordinate their outfits. I will do it as long as they will let me though. My guess is they did not realize I coordinated them this year though :)
This was before heading out to look at lights...we were tracking the Big Red Guys progress....I love that website each year! Such great motivation to go to bed :)

Yes, they let me do matching pj's too! Hoping I can get a few more years out of this tradition as well!

Setting out our treats...My favorite tradition...each Christmas.Eve right before bed I read The Night Before Christmas. I love doing this. It feels like it makes the night complete. Again, I am really hoping the kids let me hold onto these traditions as long as possible. They mean so much to me. Each thing we do brings us back to what is important. This holiday is not about the greed...about how much we can get. It is about what we do for each other, family and friends. As long as we keep that in mind...we are good.

The kids went to sleep so nicely without many peeps. They were so tired from running around for 2 days that is helped! They were super excited for the morning though...

A cute show

The thing that I love about Critter's preschool is that it is a Christian school. So...at Christmas time, they celebrate Christmas! His class put on a little Christmas show. All the kids are 3 or just turned 4. Since he only goes to school 2 days a week, I was not sure how he would do with the performance. He is not the most outgoing in new situations, but he did great! I was amazed at how well he knew the songs. Some of these kids go 5 days a week so they have a lot more time to memorize the songs.

This last one is my absolute favorite!

This show just made my Christmas season....

Critter is four...

I have no idea how his birthday came around again. I have no idea how he turned four! Each year is going faster and faster. He was so excited about his birthday. This was the year where everything made sense to him. He was involved in everything and it all held meaning for him. He is such a joy in our lives. He is my book loving, cuddling, growing too fast, shy and reserved in new sitations and fun loving and crazy when he is comfortable...kid.

We love you Critter. You have made this family balanced and complete. I can not see what you do in this next year. As long as you still stay my boy! :)

Walking a parade...

All 4 of us walked in a great parade earlier this month. It was during a spell of rain...we were just hoping it held off. Which, it almost did! As we were walking it started raining more and more. By the time we finished the parade it started pouring! We had parked a bit away from the downtown area. So...we had to walk awhile. But, we had no traffic getting out of there! It was great fun. These are some of my close friends and the kids friends. It was so cute to see the crowd react to them. We had decorated their bikes and scooters...

Yes, I wore those ears on my head the whole time! You can't see the glow sticks around the ears. I will do anything to make my kids smile! It really was a great event, a new tradition for my group. Plus, the kids really liked being in a parade. They were so excited and could not stop talking about it. This was just one more holiday event we could enjoy with the kids. Really, this time of year is about family and fun!

Holiday fun...

Both Hubby and I were working like crazy this holiday season. But, it was super important to me to do fun things with the kids. They should not have to sit at home and not do these fun things! We started with a fun parade where Daddy was working. It was a little hard because we were sitting right where he was working. The kids kept wanting to talk with him and be with him, they did not understand that he was working. But, it was fun to experience the parade "with Daddy"

Enjoying hot chocolate and popcorn before the parade started :)

My boy was happy to pose for a picture. My girl...not so much!
They loved all the floats and people walking. It was also perfect since we were going to be in a parade the next weekend. It gave them an idea what we were going to be doing. It was a little loud for Pumpkin though...she kept plugging her ears...

We got to see the man in the red suit twice! We were walking back to the car and happened to see the end of the parade again. The kids though it was super cool. Plus, they saw him get off of the truck and get on a golf cart. He was going to another area where kids to talk with him. However, when this mommy saw the line and the time....we decided to talk with him another time! :)

Taking the leap...on a bike...

We decided the weekend after Thanksgiving to try to take the training wheels off of Critter's bike. He has been riding like a fiend and thought he was ready. It was so interesting to see how different the kids were. With Pumpkin we put her on the top of a hill and let her go...she just went! She had little fear and just tackled the challenge. Critter was much more reserved. He wanted nothing to do with the hill...at all. But, he also had so much more control of his bike. He started off and could pretty much stop without falling.

We had to put the training wheels back on for a parade we were in...but they are coming off again this weekend. He is so ready....I just don't know if I am! This just means he is growing up. Just one more indication of it anyway. I remember like it was yesterday when Pumpkin was learning to ride her bike without training wheels. Seems like Critter is growing up way to fast!

Turkey...Day...

We had an interesting Turkey.Day this year. Poor Hubby got sick during the night. The problem was that he was going to take the kids to Turkey.Bowl with our friends. He was going to take the kids while I stayed home and cooked all the food. He had been prepping the kids to go with him for about two weeks. So...the cute kids looked at me after I put the turkey in the oven and asked me "are we going to go see oru friends now?" What else could I say to them. I took the break from cooking and took them. The grown up boys played flag football, the ladies chatted and the kids played. They had a blast!

Critter does not play football much. If he does play, it is with Daddy or his sister. So, it was cute to see him play with his friends. He did not quite get the tackling thing...he would just tackle anyone he could, not necessarily the one with the ball!

I love his pose in this one! He was trying to not let Grandma R get him....it worked! :)
He wanted the leg. He actually ate a fair amount of it...

We did the perfect thing after eating....we played more football outside. It was so much fun. Luckily, Hubby was feeling better by this point. He was able to be among the family and hang out a bit.

Turkey.Day is one of my favorite holidays. It is about family and friends...nothing too commercial about it! It is simply enjoying a day. I love hosting the day. Not much makes me happier than putting out a bunch of food and having a house full of family. Hope I get to host again next year :)

My 3rd Half Marathon...

I decided to be crazy and run my 3rd Half Marathon back in early November. I was able to train nicely this time, with Jacob in school....that is what I thought anyway! A very good friend of mine was running as well. We had a GREAT pace up to mile 4. My right knee decided it wanted to go out on me. She ran ahead and I walked/limped/jogged/struggled for the next 9.1 miles. It was absolutely crazy.

Hubby and the kids were at mile 8 to cheer me on. You know you are in pain when your husband sees your face and then puts down the camera.
I did not realize how in pain I looked until I saw these pictures. It was a tough go...

My girl with my medal...

Critter was super sweet. He leaned over to Hubby when he saw me and said "See, Mommy won the race...she has a medal!"

I really appreciate the support of my family and my mom. They came out to support me on a chilly November day. Next year, I will run another one...but hoping the knee decides to cooperate with me!

A little late...but...

Better late than never...here is Hall.oween!

The kids had a great time this Hall.oween. They ate dinner and then wanted to go trick.or.treating right away. It was hard to explain that we had to wait for people to turn on their lights and then we could go. Then we had a few issues with them wanting to only go with Hubby or myself. But...we got it worked out in the end!

He was super excited to wear his costume! I have a rule that we don't wear out costumes until the actual day. That way, they don't get ruined beforehand. But, after they can wear them whenever they want to. He wears this quite often :)
I was so excited that she still wanted to be a princess this year. I did not think I would get another year from her. I know she is growing up and will grow out of princesses one day. I am glad we don't have to grow up too fast yet!

Just about to go out...

At the last minute they wanted me to dress up....not too much to choose from! At least I had a shirt to make them happy....even though they did not listen to it! They did not give me their candy :)

It is hard to see...but Critter is soaked! He was so sweaty with the mask and the padded costume. Luckily he did not care too much!

This was actually the first year we carved pumpkins. We have always painted them in the past. I have slight issues digging out all the guts of the pumpkin. But, Hubby was home more this year....so he did it! :)

I LOVED Critter's face when he went to reach in. He decided it was not his cup of tea! :) What can I say, he looks like Hubby....but he is Momma's Boy!

The finished products. It was a really great (and busy) Fall. I can not believe that Thanksgiving is next week. I know there is so much I need to catch up on. I will get there at some point!

Our girl is growing up...

I have no idea how this child is 7. She has grown into such an amazing young lady. She is no longer a little girl...even though I do not want to admit that! She is still her fiesty, independent, strong-willed child. She has a mind of her own and is not afraid to use it. Yet, when she is scared or hurt...she still wants her momma. I can not complain about that! She is the light of my life. She made me a momma and I would not change a thing about her.

Happy Birthday sweet girl. We love you so much. You made us parents and we celebrate you everyday!

Last Day...

To best describe our trip....

This is how we found the kids when we woke up on Friday morning....

I have no idea how they were sleeping like that, but they were exhausted!
Saying by to the hotel...

We could not have asked for a more perfect vacation. It was beyond our expectations. The fact that we were able to surprise the kids with something like this was beyond awesome! After three days in the park....I am not ready to go back anytime soon! But, they are memories we will all cherish for a lifetime :)

Disney Day 3

I can not believe we were still standing by the time Thursday came around. We were exhausted! Luckily, we had scheduled a character breakfast that morning. It was so much fun and some great food :) After cold cereal for breakfast for days in the hotel room, it was nice to have hot food! :)

Pumpkin was super excited and awestruck to see Jasmine. She is one of her favorites and it was great that she was there. We had the choice to do the princess meal, but decided for Critter's sake we would do the other one. At least this time he got her autograph, but still would not take a picture with the princess!
They were both looking forward to this guy!

The nice thing about the last day was that we all just did the rides again that we wanted to. We didn't do a bunch of new stuff. But....they both wanted to see the Star.wars show again. Both really wanted to be picked to be Jedi/in/training. Pumpkin was excited, but shy. She was not picked...but Critter was...

He has a tendency to be a little shy, but was super excited. He took it very seriously and listed to what he was supposed to do.

Here he is waiting to fight....

The Dark/.Side! I think it was his favorite part of the trip. I know it is a memory that will last forever for me! :)

I realize since I have the camera so much, I don't have many pictures of myself with the kids. I want to make sure they know I was actually around for all these fun things when they were kids. I was courageous enough to have this child drive me around again! Man, she is going to need good driving lessons :)

This was the only day where we stayed late for a night show. I knew the kids would get way to tired early in the trip if we did it earlier. But, this way we got to do some more relaxing things in the evening.

Nothing better than a sword fight while waiting for a show :)

This is how he left the park that night. I don't know how Hubby carried him! It is hard enough to carry him when he helps hold on. He was passed out and he is HEAVY! He made it for the light show, but was passed out by the time we walked to the front of the park.