More Christmas!

These pictures are courtesy of my sister Jennifer! She and Drew have been in town for several weeks and it has been so fun.

Isaac has an obsession with sports and fitness. Everyone enjoyed coming up with crazy excercises for Isaac to do. Here he is laughing his way through some wall sits.

 

 

He also got out the shovel and helped clear the driveway of snow on Christmas Eve.

As a Christmas present they took Isaac out for a day.  They started out with breakfast at the Waffle House.

 

 

Then they took him to a rock gym!

He is rocking his new Christmas clothes and hat.

 

 

They said he got a little nervous when he looked down and saw how far up the wall he had climbed, but overall, he did great.

 

 

Thanks Drew and Jen for a great Christmas present!

 

Favorite Holiday

We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you did too.  Ryan, Isaac and I spent Christmas Eve with my family.  Jenny and Drew have been here for several weeks and Joe slept over.  Tom and Kelly Ann joined us later during the day on Christmas.

My mom has so many fun Christmas decorations.  She collects Nativities and has tons of them.  It is always comforting to go home and see all of the familiar holiday decorations.  Here are a small sampling of her collection.

Christmas Eve was a low key night.  We were going to do the light show at Hershey, but there was actually too much snow falling.  We set off but turned around after a few miles, since the roads were quite slippery.

Isaac did a great job waiting until 7:00 until her got up (despite a false alarm when he misread the clock at 1:00 in the morning). Isaac got me so many thoughtful presents and it was adorable because he could barely wait to give them to me.  I had to beg him to wait until Christmas.  This stamped coaster was my favorite gift from him:

 

Isaac made himself photographer for a while and here are the blurry results:

Ryan liked all of his gifts, but especially his tortilla pan set:

My parents got us a zoo membership and Ryan got me the Up fitness band, a beautiful pearl necklace and a bunch of Lush products.  Isaac was spoiled with helmets, jerseys, sports posters, and books. 

I also forgot to take pictures, but a few days after Christmas we had Ryan's kids over to open their presents from us.  His kids surprised me and Isaac with really sweet, thoughtful presents.  Ryan's parents and sister Katherine ended up dropping by and then later on his brother and his wife Patrick stopped by.  Patrick's present to Ryan was converting some hilarious home movies from VHS to DVD.  Ryan's siblings and cousins put together some hilarious "mystery" movies complete with soundtracks and previews.  We watched the movies together and it was HILARIOUS.  It was a really fun night with his family.

We are so lucky and so blessed!  Merry Christmas!!

here we go...

I have been so busy spending time with family (Drew and Jenny are here-- hurray!), preparing for the holidays, trying to keep on top of a mountain of IEPs and other work stuff, and just feeling sad and depressed after the Sandy Hook thing. 

Sorry to neglect you little blog. I have posted like two times in December. 

Ryan, Isaac and I went to Washington D.C. with my parents and Jenny and Drew.  We went to the Smithsonian for a little bit (the Museum of American History).  We only saw a little bit of what there is to see there but we really enjoyed it. 

A highlight for Ryan was seeing Julia Child's kitchen which is everything from her home reassembled in the Smithsonian.  He was a little starstruck.

A highlight of the trip for me was when Isaac recognized the Washington Monument and then said to me "Mom, are we near the place where Martin Luther King gave his speech?" I welled up a little with mom pride.  There is so much to see and of course we only had time to do a little, so Ryan and I are already trying to schedule a return trip.  After dinner we went to the Washington D.C. Temple to see the Nativity Display and check out the lights.  As usual, the temple looked magical.

 The visitor's center was more crowded than I have ever seen it.  Hundreds and hundreds of people crammed in there.  We did manage to get tickets to hear a free Christmas concert that we all enjoyed.  This is the second year we have done a Christmas time trip to D.C.  It is becoming a nice little tradition. 

We made it through the end of the school year and now we can breathe a sigh of relief that we are on vacation.  Isaac has been rocking a lot of sports gear (including batting gloves to school, see evidence below).  His class had a secret santa gift exchange and he made out pretty well.  His new thing is that I "keep treating him like he is four".  I am trying to remember that he is growing up, but it's hard.  He will always be my baby.

I enjoyed my first Christmas at my new school.  This is what our principal gave us for Christmas:

 

So that was pretty cool.

Another Christmas tradition my family has is we all go to People's Light and Theater Company and see the Christmas Panto.  It is always hilarious with cross dressing, singing, candy, audience participation and local references.  My brother Joe wasn't able to make it, so my mom invited Ryan's daughter Gabby to come with us, since it happened to be her sixth birthday.  She did a great job and she really loved it (even declaring she wanted to it again for her birthday next year).  Check out her sequined Kelly Kitty shoes.  Pretty stylish.

Oh yeah, and my sister got me this super cute purse for my birthday.

 

I think that's the update.  Happy Christmas!

 

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

So I had a ridiculously productive weekend.  Unfortuneatly, I am so behind on blogging, that these pictures are from TWO weekends ago, when we got all Christmas-y up in here.

My sister and brother in law were passing through town.  We had a nice family dinner and helped get the tree up at my parent's house. 

Dad played the piano and we all sung Christmas songs.  Drew and Ryan even busted out some falsetto.  It was a nice night.

We got a tree up at my house as well.  Typically, my tree buying tradition is going to Lowe's and looking for a tree that can be stuffed in my trunk.  Then I drive along at about 30 miles an house with Isaac twisted around in the back seat to ensure that the tree doesn't fall out between Lowe's and my house. 

Ryan was unimpressed with this tradition, and insisted that we go to Varner's a local tree farm..

and cut down our own tree!

Good times were had by all, and I am sensing a new Christmas tradition on our hands.

Linking up with Molly

Thankful

Thanksgiving was quiet and lovely. Ryan had to work in the morning, but Isaac and I spent a few hours with my parents.  My brother and future sister in law Kelly Ann came out too.  I did a little bit of baking, and also helped my mom make lunches for church volunteers who are driving into Jersey to help clean up from Hurricane Sandy. 

Source: heartsonit.com via ERenee on Pinterest

Ryan's family had invited Isaac and I to join them for Thanksgiving.  At the last minute, Deb and Patrick decided to host.  Deb's family is from Puerto Rico, so in addition to the usual stuffing and potatoes, there was also rice and beans and a baked banana side dish.  I made those ridiculously easy pumpkin muffins and they were a big hit.  Sunday we went to Ryan's parent's house for another family dinner. I am so lucky because I really enjoy his family and spending time with them. 

I have been thinking a lot about "things" and being grateful.  I am not going to make a list of things I am grateful for, but there is so much.  

This quote has been rattling around in my head for the past few weeks:

 

I have boxed up about four huge bags of stuff for charity. Living in a townhouse, it seems that storage and space is always at a premium. Especially when Ryan and his kids are here-- that is six people in this little house. I think my attitude is sometimes "Well I need a bigger closet/garage/house" so keep all of this *stuff* in, when really, I just need less stuff.

I love Pinterest and lifestyle blogs as much as the next girl, but, for me personally, I have to make sure that I am not allowing those websites to make me feel like what I have isn't enough.  Sometimes I have to conciously remind myself that I won't die if I can't have at least five of the the top ten "Must Have" items for [insert season here].   And it doesn't really matter how much the four adorable Target clearance shirts were marked down if I really, truly don't have the money left in my budget for them.  I don't know why it is so hard for me to learn that lesson.  I guess I am terrifically stubborn and hard headed.

And Pinterest?  I think it is is a double edged sword. I love the recipes, crafts, tips and tricks.  But I get a sort of sick feeling in my stomach whenever I see people with "dream home" type boards on Pinterest.  How can you feel happy with your own home and entryway, when you have seen this and pinned it to your "for the future" board?

Source: houzz.com via Alisha on Pinterest

How can you feel satisfied with your yard when your kids don't have a tree house like this for the kiddies to play in:

 

 

 

 

 

Source: poppytalk.blogspot.com via Takakuni on Pinterest

Anyways, I am grateful for all of the people and friendships and love that I have in my life.  And I am conciously trying to worry about "things" and more focus more on experiences. 

Source: Uploaded by user via Jamie on Pinterest