Happy New Year

After the madness of Christmas calms down there is always the excitement of New Year's Eve.  This year we stayed home with the kids and had a few friends over.

I was thrilled to set my table.  I can remember my mother having New Year's every year.  She would spend hours setting the table and getting everything ready and I would just follow her around and watch.  Now I was setting up my own table, I felt like such a grown up.

 I think my mother would be proud.  It's not nearly as fancy as my mother would have done, but I am still learning.

The men prepared the meal for us.

While the big kids snacked on the appetizers.

 And the babies napped.

I must say, the boys did a great job with dinner!  Everyone brought something and the meal was delicious.  

After dinner we all just relaxed and enjoyed visiting.

The kids had a blast running and playing like maniacs.

I love them.

The Balko Family.  Brendan and I had some wonderful dinner conversations!  I think he enjoyed his first New Year's Eve.

The Cappelli Family. Our second year was better than our first.

  The Komosinski Family.  We enjoyed spending this evening with our friends and their kids.  The best part of the night was seeing my children enjoy themselves.  I can remember my parents having parties and me playing with my "fake cousins".  We would stay up late and play all night.  Then we would be really really quiet and hope that our parents wouldn't make us go home. I can't believe that I am now on the other end of the parties.  Better yet, I can't believe that I have kids that are old enough to stay up late, play all night, and be really quiet hoping we don't hear them and make everyone go home.

As we toasted to ring in the New Year I did not have my silver change in my pocket (for those of you that know me this is a big deal.  The superstition goes that if you have silver in your hand/pocket you will be happy in money in the new year) but I did hold the person I love and I held glass in my hand.  Which means I may be broke this year but I will be lucky in love and happiness.  And that sounds pretty good to me.

On New Year's Eve I always spend more time reflecting on the previous year than making resolutions for the upcoming year.  I like to think of all that has taken place and what I would like to make better or do differently.  I do not make resolutions.  I stopped that years ago.  Too much pressure.  I found that I spent more time being upset that I didn't fulfill my resolutions than I did trying to better myself.  So instead of making a resolution this year I will make a vow.  I vow to be happy.  Simply that....happy.  I will do whatever it takes to be happy.  And you know what they say..."If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.".  I know this may sound like a selfish goal but here is the thing, OTHER things make me happy.  My children experiencing life and learning makes me happy.  Therefore I will do whatever it takes to have them experience everything that they possibly can.  My husband achieving his goals makes me happy.  Therefore I will do anything that I can to help him achieve his goals.  Get the point?  

That being said, I hope that everyone has a wonderful New Year and does whatever it takes to make them happy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christmas Day!

"HE CAME!!  HE CAME!!!!  SANTA CAME!!"  The magical words heard across the world on Christmas morning.  When I was young I couldn't wait to run down the stairs and yell those words myself.  Now I couldn't wait for my children to run downstairs and scream those words.  And on Christmas morning they did just that.

Claire couldn't wait to rip through all of her presents!  She was thrilled when she got her Cabbage Patch Doll that had matching hair.

Oliver was beyond ecstatic when he got his dinosaur megapark with 100 dinosaurs.

Then he loved his Thomas tent.  So much so that he took the rest of his presents into the tent to open them.

When he was finished opening his presents he went into the front room and got his dinosaurs from Nana and Papa to play with.  He was so awesome this Christmas.  He really got the whole thing this year.  He couldn't get over the fact that Santa came and brought him tons of presents!!

Claire was so happy with her new MP3 player.  The only problem was that it broke within an hour.  My heart broke for her.  I totally remember wanting that one special gift and then it breaking.  Mark went to Rite Aid and bought her another one while Santa fixed her original and that broke too! So the day after Christmas Santa dropped a brand new pink iPod Nano in the mailbox for her.  Fully equipped with Justin Bieber music and pictures of her friends.  She was thrilled and the MP3 player mishap was soon forgotten.  And I got a fancy new flash!!  I love it but as you can see I have a little work to do with it :)

We all had fun playing with the remote control cars and trains that Oliver got.

After a much needed nap we headed over to Nana and Papa's for dinner.  Oliver loved playing with GG.

Claire loved chatting with her favorite friend Leah.

My favorite guys (minus Oliver).

Then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for some more presents!!  And some cousin time with Owen.  Here are the kids having a blast.

Oliver was ready with his pile.

And Claire was ready with her tower of presents.

Claire LOVED her new sleeping bag.  She has slept with it every night since Christmas.

Uncle Brian borrowed Owen's snazzy hat.

My buddies.

Then I decided it would be a great idea to get a picture of the kids in their matching Christmas jammies.  This was a brilliant idea to do this at the END of a long Christmas day.

They look so happy.

Not exactly sure what happened here.

Still working out my flash!  

This one is my favorite.  I love these kids!!!!!!

It was another great Christmas!  I am so sad it is over!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Christmas Eve!

It was another magical Christmas Eve.  We had a wonderful evening celebrating with our family!

Everyone came her and we spent the night talking, laughing, and watching the kids enjoy every second of this holiday!

After dinner Santa surprised us and stopped over!!  The kids were thrilled!

Claire was first to tell Santa that she wanted an MP3 player, Doc McStuffins, Easy Bake Oven, and Cabbage Patch Kid.

Oliver couldn't wait to get on Santa's lap to tell him that he wanted dinosaurs, Thomas, and a microphone.

My babies with Santa.

Then Santa passed out some presents.  Oliver was beyond thrilled when he got a big T Rex!

Claire was amazed when Santa gave her the Doc McStuffins doctor set that she just asked for!!

The Komos with Santa.

Then Santa hung out for a little while and played with the kids. Oliver was amazed!  He kept saying "You hang out at my house!!"

Then Oliver got out his other dinosaurs and showed them all to Santa.

And he loved hugging him up.

Claire had to get some hugs in there too.

The kids loved playing with Santa's bells!  They really enjoyed Santa.  He was wonderful and hung out with the kids for a while.  It was perfect!

After the kids getting 4,000 presents from the family it was time to get their Christmas jammies on and jump all over Uncle John.

Then they all chatted and caught up.

Goofballs.

 After things settled down, it was time to put out the milk and cookies for Santa with Uncle Greg.  Someone asked Claire if she put out milk and cookies for Santa and she was very quick to explain that she does this with Uncle Greg and Aunt Sue every year. 

The Popp family.

It was another great Christmas Eve.  Oliver was so into it this year and Claire was thrilled to have a partner in crime.  They both couldn't wait to see what Santa was going to bring!!!!