christmas and new year recap

apparently, i have a lot to fill you in on.

because accountability does a body good.

or milk.

or whatever.

anyway.

so let's see. where did i last leave off? all of my goodies. um, yeah, the christmas cookies i MADE FROM SCRATCH? yeah, they rocked the casbah. i was so impressed. they were so delicious. seriously. big h and i rolled the dough, used flour with a ROLLING PIN. (never mind the fact that i wasn't even sure we had one. sad. my mom would be so disappointed.) baked them to perfection. iced them. sprinkled them. and just marveled at our work. we're humble like that.

we headed to the christmas eve service. where both of my children cried as they walked into their classrooms. because they were different. with different teachers.

and here is where i would like to give my kiddos props. week in and week out, they go to church where they kind of don't know anyone (even though we've been going there since before they were born). and have a great time. and adapt. and adjust.

high five, big h and goo. you're my heroes.

we set out the cookies for santa.

christmas morning brought fun and surprises. big h is a *tad* obsessed with batman. and basically santa and everyone else brought batman paraphernalia ad nauseum.

goo went more with a wonder pet theme. however, she did get one of these. and i'm pleased to inform you that it was less than $700.

and then, my two children got to open the window to the backyard. and see their present from my in-laws.

um, yeah. my kids almost passed out.

such a fun time. my parents came over that afternoon just to play for a while. we put our kids to bed, and buz and i watched a movie and snuggled.

then, friday we headed out to my parents' house to wait for my brother and his family to arrive from alabama. my son ADORES his cousins. he could. not. wait. for their arrival. he and goo spent the night at nana and papa's with all of the cousins and my brother and his wife. and buz and i headed home to pack and spend the night at our house.

alone.

without any children.

in our own house.

alone.

dude. it was so quiet.

we packed and went straight to sleep. and didn't wake up the entire night. oh my.

i took the longest shower the next morning. and we stopped at starbucks on the way back to my parents' house. so much fun to enjoy a hot cup of coffee and one hour of uninterrupted conversation with my spouse. poor buz didn't know what hit him. i talked the entire. hour. :)

then, the whole gang headed to our first destination. put our stuff away and headed straight for the water park. in december. do you know how fun it is to put on a swimsuit in december? i just reminded myself that i was going to have a great time with my family. and fun, we had. we wore ourselves out.

had some pizza for dinner. we so thought we would put goo down, put the other four kids in one of the hotel rooms with nana, and the four of us grownups would head downstairs for a nightcap.

except goo decided to cry bloody murder and proceeded to crawl out of her pack and play.

good times.

so instead, we all watched star wars the clone wars in that little hotel room. being parents changes things, huh?

the next day, we headed to destination #2. dropped our stuff off in our room and headed straight for the ice. luckily, buz had prepared me that goo might not have much fun at the ice exhibit. yeah, he was right. you wear these huge parkas and walk through this freezing tour of ice sculptures. it's awesome. totally up my alley. apparently, not up goo's. she cried the entire time.

good times.

but big h loved it. there was even a slide made out of ice, and buz, my brother, my nephew, big h, my dad, and i all did the slide, and it was so much fun.

we finished and sat down to have some hot chocolate. and big h spilled his. and burned his tongue. bless his heart.

had dinner and let the kiddos run around the hotel conference center, where no one was. so much fun to play duck duck goose with my little nieces and nephew.

and goo and i slept in a bed together. oh my. i am so not ready for her to grow up. and definitely not ready for her to be in a big girl bed. we'll keep her in the crib for as long as possible.

and then, it was time for them to drive back to alabama. and big h cried a lot. he loves the heck out of those cousins.

and now it's new years eve. we had some friends over for dinner. put our kids in jammies. and they were gone by 10. goo was asleep in about 6.2 seconds. big h was maybe 10 minutes, which is huge.

and buz and i are about ready to watch a movie and then turn over to the new york ball. i know. we live on the edge.

but there is nowhere i'd rather be. than hearing the faint sound of sleeping children down the hall. and cuddling with my best buddy, ringing in 2009.

praying for a wonderful new year to each and every one of you.

updated: since i started, buz has since fallen asleep. guess i'll watch a movie by myself. :)