It has been, well a while.

The month of December just seems so hectic, yet flies by so fast. Let see, I turned 31 *gasp* I am officially in my 30s!  *thud* Excuse me, I just passed out a bit. LOL Seriously though, I don't care what my age. It doesn't bother me yet to tell people my age. So no, I am not 29 again, I turned 31. My Birthday this year was awesome all around and honestly one of my best birthdays ever! My awesome husband took me the night before my birthday out to eat at this fabulous restaurant by us and then to see Wicked the musical. I had seen it before and was dying to see it again, but couldn't justify spending that much money on myself. Thankfully, he thinks I'm worth it. The play was amazing and so was dinner. The next day, it was my kids' winter concert at school and their winter parties. The show was good, and Nick even participated even though he said he wouldn't.  Seeing him stand up in front of a gym full of people and singing When Christmas Comes to Town  from the Polar Express just melted my heart. Any other time there were sing-alongs at school in front of people, he would freak out and not participate. ♥ Allison's grade sang Believe from the Polar Express. I am not shy to say it made me a little misty eyed to watch them. They are growing up so fast. I swear it was just yesterday the we brought them on our local Polar Express to visit the "North Pole", when in fact it was 3 years ago.  The rest of the day went well and the kids had very minimal fighting. Yippee! 


Christmas was great and as usual went by in a whirl wind. Elvis the Elf did seem to do his job and hopefully will do an even better one next year. Unfortunately, the little booger kept forgetting to leave at night and would often be in the same spot for 2 days. I think he may be related to the tooth fairy who on occasion will forget to stop by.  ☺ We had out share of ups and downs, the past weeks with the kids out of school, but what family doesn't? The night before Christmas Eve we had to take Alexander to the ER to get 3 stitches put in his right hand at the base of this thumb. The events of what occurred upstairs in the boys room is still unclear, but I know it involved Nick wiping off a dry erase board on Alex's butt(yes you read that right) and Alex's finger getting cut on the board. I had not known the plastic was broken off the edge leaving the sharp metal exposed or it would have been tossed long ago. Alex did insist that it was an accident and Nick felt so bad that he did not go to sleep until well after Midnight when we got home from the ER. His hand has since healed well and the incident just a tiny blob in the back of our memory. Now Alex has something to hold over his big brother's head for the rest of their lives.  Christmas Eve was spent with my in-laws where the kids were spoiled ridiculously. Christmas morning the kids were spoiled just as much. Christmas dinner was spent with my family this year at my brother's and it was great. The kids had a blast and although we all missed my mom, it wasn't a big empty hole like it would have been if it was at her house. The rest of the winter break went by quickly with taking down decorations, hanging out with the kids and trying to find spots for all the new toys and clothes. I actually kind of missed seeing my kids go back to school. They have really been getting along well and it was so nice to see them playing together. 


New Year's Eve was spent at home. We had an early countdown with the kids and they were all in bed by 7:30. They were bouncing off the walls.  We went to bed and I dosed off only to wake up shortly after midnight to say Happy New Year and went right back to sleep. LOL New Year's day was a party with my extended in-law family and finding out some exciting news. My sister-in-law, Andrew's twin's wife is pregnant and due at the end of July. I am so excited, I can get my baby fix. I am really happy for them and was lucky enough to go to the first ultrasound. I got to see my new little niece or nephew (I think it is a girl) wiggle around and when I saw that little heart beating I seriously teared up. The creation of life is just truly amazing, to think something so small, the size of strawberry already has arms, legs and a heart beating. 


So that is my year end in review. Hopefully I will get back to the swing of blogging now that I don't have little ones reading over my shoulder.  I pray this year is an awesome one with great things to come. Here are some pictures I thought I would share. 

Alexander's thumb. He got to pick out the color. 

Elvis's last spot to hang out. 

Gifts, gifts, and more gifts.