Fabulous Christmas!

What a Christmas we have had! I was of course the first one up before the crack of dawn, anxiously awaiting everyone else to rise and shine and see what Santa had delivered. We opened our presents and then had Grandpa and Grandma Coltrin over to enjoy our traditional breakfast rolls for breakfast. The kids love to show them all of the goodies that they got for Christmas, and it's always fun to sit and chat with them!

We managed to get everything cleaned up and have some lunch. We sat down to watch Toy Story 3, and then round 2 started...Uncle Mike and Sanjuana came by with their gifts. The boys absolutely adore Uncle Mike and Juana...and they absolutely adore my boys. They were here for a couple of hours, and discovered quickly that toys just are NOT the quality that they used to be...and that Mike and Casey, even with the help of pictures and instructions, still couldn't figure out how the heck to assemble the new transformers!!! Makes me feel better that I'm not the only one that can't figure those darn things out!

After a light dinner it was time for some football...my Cowboys didn't pull off a win, but I can't have it all! At least they gave me a win for my birthday!! I didn't get to watch all of the game because I had a hot date with the treadmill. I once again killed 2 birds with one stone...some much needed calorie burning, and started reading my new Patricia Cornwell book, Port Mortuary! LOVE her books, but when I have a half a million things to do, I feel guilty sitting down to read...this is the best of both worlds, and I don't have to feel even a tiny bit guilty!!

After the boys went to bed we watched the movie, Extraordinary Measures with Brendan Frasier and Harrison Ford. Really puts the important things in life into perspective for you...even on the Merriest Christmas day! I can only imagine what it would be like to have not just one, but 2 children with terminal illnesses. Makes me want to cherish my time with my boys that much more! They had such fun today, playing with all of their new stuff and sharing their excitement and innocence with all of us adults...the magic is what this is all about!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

PS, I have no idea which one of 250 pictures will make the picture of the day, but I can guarantee you that it will have one or both boys in it...demonstrating the magic of this holiday!

Christmas Eve!

I am such a lucky girl...wonderful hubby, 2 adorable, sweet boys, a nice home, many wonderful friends and family...and we got completely spoiled at the in-laws today! Doug and Trin, our family, and Casey's parents had our Christmas celebration today. Lots of gifts, food and fun were had by all! The boys have new games for the Wii, including light sabres that hold the remotes for one of the Star Wars games, which they think is the best thing ever! Casey got a kindle. I got ZUMBA clothes...a super cute tank top, jacket and cargo pants...exactly what I asked for!! Trin LOVED the sake set that Casey picked out for her. Doug loved his extra large beer glass (that holds 5 beers in one glass) and his bomb shaped shot glass. Grandma got pictures for her frames, one of which is a scrapbooked page with pictures. She also got a really cool new laptop, that totally surprised her! Grandpa got a wireless router and a very nice looking Harley Davidson jacket! Trin also got a PS3 with some singing and dancing games...she is totally a kid at heart, so Christmas with her is always a blast!!!!

We ate waaaaayyyyyy too much! But it was fun to chat with everyone. Grandma had us go around the room and tell about our favorite Christmas memory. It was fun to listen to what everyone had to say. Lucas shared a story too, about the Little Einstein's globe that he got last year, that broke VERY shortly after Christmas. It's fun that he wants to join in the conversation, and even more fun to hear the stuff that comes out of his mouth! I love that kid!!!!

I love the holidays, spending time with the family and not being in a hurry to go somewhere or do something, just sitting around chatting and eating is so much fun! Makes me miss my mom, but I know she's here with us in spirit...this is my 11th Christmas without her. Always hoping it will get easier, but it never really does! She always made the holidays so much fun, even though we didn't have money for more than a small gift for each of us kids. I can only hope that I bring at least half as much fun to the holidays for my boys!

I took like a 100 pictures of the festivities today. Including our new tradition of Christmas Eve pajamas. I think my picture of the day shall be the boys in their new Star Wars Lego jammies... they look adorable, but even more so because Zach is giving brother a hug! LOVE them to pieces! We made sure to set out cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for his reindeer, and the pictures the boys drew for him. Lucas drew a smiley face, that is his face. Zach scribbled a bunch with several different colors, but it's what he wanted for Santa (it's the thought and the effort behind it that counts, right?). Lucas and I sprinkled reindeer dust (oatmeal and glitter) out in the snow on the front lawn to attract the reindeer...or more likely the squirrels that frequent the trees in our front yard. I love starting new traditions with them, and continuing on with the others. Hoping that they find them fun and worthwhile enough to carry on with them next year too, and for many years to come!

I hope that all of my friends and family have someone special to share their holiday with! Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

Holiday spirit

The holiday officially began yesterday, since the hubby is now off work until January 4th. The boys absolutely love having Dad home with us all day! They built the Echo base with their Star Wars Legos from Lucas' birthday...and they are in love with them! Since Dad had a project with the boys I had to come up with one as well. For December's Scholastic book order we found a book about snow and crystals. It came with a book of facts and some cool 'science experiments', so we made 'snow' and grew crystals on a snowflake. The snow is pretty cool. It starts out as this little tiny bag of 'diaper dust' and when you add water it just grows and grows. Lucas had a ball with it, Zach wasn't so sure he liked the messy feeling on his hands, which is quite ironic given that he is by far and away the messiest member of our house! So my picture of the day for yesterday is the snow that we made.

Today, Christmas arrived a little early for me! The Fed Ex guy delivered the shipment of catalogs for CTMH. The new catalog releases to customers February 1st, but they pre ship the catalogs to consultants the end of December! I was quite skeptical that I'd like this catalog since the cover was smothered in pink and baby themes...but I LOVE it! I've already made out my wish list, and all I can say is, THANK GOD I'm a consultant!!!! I'd be in big trouble with the hubster otherwise! ; ) My picture of the day today, is of the two large boxes of catalogs...totally made my day! Plus, it's just a little bit more exciting that as a consultant you get to preview everything before all of the customers!!!

I made up the Tastefully Simple pound cake, and chocolate chip cookies to take to the Christmas celebration with the in-laws tomorrow! Oh, and my famous layered bean dip! It's a good thing that I ran to work and back to pick up Zach's prescription today! I'm proud of myself for that too! I had this 'brilliant' idea to run to my pharmacy today...2.71 miles...and then back home...another 2.71 miles! Next time I'll call it in to one of the Walgreens that's closer to home! But seriously, I ran the entire way there...and mailed the mortgage payment along the way. And I ran most of the way home too (only 2 minutes slower coming home than running there). So for the first time ever, I ran 5 miles in one trip! : ) I'm thinking that the half marathon in May isn't entirely out of the question for me now!!

While I was running today I was listening to some of my new downloads, and trying desperately to lose myself in the music, so that I wouldn't realize how far I still had to go, and to minimize the head games! Katy Perry's new song Firework is AWESOME! One of my favorite lyrics...just own the night, like the 4th of July...c'mon, show 'em what you're worth, make 'em go oh, oh, oh. I owned my run today...very proud of myself...because I didn't really think I could do that, but I tried anyways.

Hoping this is the best Christmas yet!!!!! Until tomorrow!

ZUMBA!!!

After another glorious day at work it sure is good to know that I've got Crystal and a stimulating Zumba class at Limelight on Tuesday's! I have to force myself to go, because I'm soooo wiped out after work on Tuesday's, but I feel so stinking good afterwards!

We've been getting tickets for going each week, and a few extra for Thanksgiving and making it despite lots of snow. Tonight was the drawing for the prizes, and for once I actually had really good luck! I won a belly dancing skirt, that makes jingle noises when you shake your booty! I cannot wait to wear it to class! So, for my picture of the day, since it brought me such great joy, is me in my new skirt!

I felt so good after Zumba that I came home and conquered the last of the scrapping projects that I'm giving as Christmas gifts. What a day, what a day I had! At least I can rest well tonight knowing that I got a lot accomplished!!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, another downloaded Black Eyed Peas song...that will be stuck in my brain for awhile now since I've listened to it at least a million times since 8pm!! Until tomorrow!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go!

Only 16 more hours of work, I think I can, I think I can! And then one billion things to still get done in time for Friday and Saturday! I love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Mother nature could be a little more cooperative on her part however. We got close to an inch of snow last night, in about an hour's time. The roads were quite nasty this morning, and we're supposed to get more tonight. We put Casey's snow tires on the BMW a couple of weeks ago, in the hopes that it would jinx us into very little or no snow since they were on the car, rather than hiding in the garage! We have been foiled!! So long as I'm able to get my Starbucks before work in the morning, then all will be well!

My picture of the day is of my Cherry Coke Zero, which may seem odd to most people. But it is seriously my lifeline. If it were possible to have an IV line of it, trust me, I'd be among the first to try it! : ) I was running critically low yesterday, but I refused to pay $4.98 for a 12 pack at Winco when I went grocery shopping...and since it was raining cats and dogs, I opted to go to Target and get it on sale today, $2.75 for a 12 pack...well worth the wait, and the crisis has been avoided!!

Now that Casey's Christmas presents are wrapped I can breathe a sigh of relief! He only has a 1/2 day at work tomorrow, and then he's off until the 4th of January...must be nice! : )

The birthday watch!

Way back in September I took my wedding ring in to Simmons to get it resized since I was pretty sure that I'd be able to keep the lost weight off for good. While I was there I did a little window shopping. I had bought Casey a citizen eco drive watch several years back, and Jay was wanting to get rid of all the watches that weren't swiss, so the citizen watches were all on clearance for 40% off! I fell in love with one, so Christa gladly added it to my wish list. I was conveniently going out of town to go scrapbooking with the girls in Lowman that same weekend, so I gave the hubby Christa's card with the watch info on it, and told him that once they were gone they wouldn't be getting anymore. And my hubby, being the GOOD hubby that he is, made his first mistake, and took the boys with him to Simmons that weekend and bought THE watch! ; ) He then painstakingly tried to cover his trail so that I wouldn't have any idea that he'd been such a good hubby! He had a talk with Lucas, who can't keep a secret for the life of him, and Lucas promised not to say a word! He changed the Discover card bill to paperless statements, and didn't put it in the budget spreadsheet until the end of the month, so I wouldn't see the purchase. He was very sneaky and had all the bases covered except for one...ZACH!

I returned to Simmons 2 weeks later to pick up my resized wedding ring, and Zach asks me as we're walking in the doors, 'why aren't you wearing your watch mommy?' I smile, and ask what watch he's talking about! Poor Casey...

Now I get to return to Simmons to have a few links removed from the band on my new watch...and perhaps a little more window shopping...Valentine's day is right around the corner you know! : )

Thanks babe, you know I love you!

All aboard!

Today was an awesome day! I managed to avoid grocery shopping, but it does have to be done tomorrow...

We ventured up to the train depot in Horseshoe Bend, and boarded the Polar Express! We took an hour train ride up to the 'North Pole'. The boys got to see Santa and Mrs Claus, and I got some adorable photos of them with Santa. They also got to sit in his sleigh, and see his workshop where all the toys are made! It was Casey's first train ride, as well as the boys. I rode on 8444 when I was a child, but we all know that has been more than just a few years ago. I think we reached a top speed of about 10 mph, but the view of the river below with snow all around us, and big ol' ice chunks flowing downstream made for some beautiful scenery! It made me think back to the days before kids when Pete and Misty would bust out the raft and we'd take a leisurely, beer filled, float down that same stretch of river! Ahhh, those were the days!!

Came home, put the exhausted children to bed, and watched the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth. Meh....not terrible, not great! I did get all of the presents for Christmas wrapped, other than a few for the hubby, which didn't get wrapped for obvious reasons!

It has been a fabulous birthday weekend thus far, can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me! : )