Our Saturday

Today was a wonderful day for everyone in my opinion. I had the opportunity to spend most of the day at a women's retreat at our church. We had a great speaker, a preacher's wife from a local church, come in to talk to us about the Kingdom and a little bit about what that means in our world. She was very lively, knowledgeable and made us laugh, made us cry and most of all made us think. It was so nice to be in the presence of such wonderful women in our church and just have a day to be filled with the Spirit. We all thouroughly enjoyed it and had a yummy lunch to boot. Now, if I can just put what I learned into practice that would be great. I arrived home a little before 3 to an empty house. This was quite enjoyable for the time I had complete silence, but perplexing at the same time since normally Joshua would be napping at this time. Hmm....so, here is what the boys were doing.....

While I was away Burt and the boys had an adventure. They started out by playing at the house and taking baths before heading out to pick up my consignment check. Apparently Joshua slept on the way there, which helped get him through the rest of the day. They then headed to Target to pick up a few things, enjoyed lunch in the food court and people watched. Somehow talk of going to the bookstore where the trains are ensued and Joshua would not give up on going so Burt decided since it was almost past naptime anyway, that what the heck, might as well go on another adventure. So, on to the bookstore they went. The boys played with trains and they read a few books before getting a cookie and coffee and heading outside to sit on the bench. After they ate their treat they ran around some, ventured into Gap where Burt let the boys run wild, returned outside again to run and then packed back up to head to Costco. They got the needed essentials from there, ran around a bit more before finally returning home around 4pm. They had started on their adventure around 10:30am.

The boys had a great time and I was very impressed with Burt taking them to so many places in one day. I can barely do one errand with the two of them these days. Nicholas was sad they only went on four adventures, he wanted to go on 10. Fun times. When they got home the weather was still nice so they played outside while I continued to lay on the couch and enjoy my "day off". They started to get cranky by 5ish so I got their dinner ready and we put on a show for them and had a picnic. The boys weren't much into eating, but they did get something in before we got them ready for bed. That was a fight of course since they were so worn out, but we go them into bed around 7ish and they were out by 7:30. They could have fallen asleep earlier, but we were afraid of what time they would wake up. It was so nice to have sleeping boys so early. Burt and I actually had time to spend together before we got too tired. What a novel thing. I say it was a great day for everyone. The boys love spending time with their daddy and Burt enjoyed just being able to do whatever they wanted on a beautiful day and I enjoyed having me time. Yeah for a great Saturday.

What would you say if.....

your two year old grabs a napkin, says sauce, and goes to wipe your chin after eating pizza??? I am sure your initial thought would be, oh, how sweet. What a darling little boy. And you would be correct, except that the spot that Joshua thought was pizza sauce is actually a huge red pimple on mommy's chin. Fun times.

Christmas in CA cont. finally

Okay, so here we go finally with the last half our Christmas vacation in California. It is a lot, but hey, it is basically like a scrapbook of our vacation. I don't even have pictures on here from my step-dad or Jaci (my brother's fiance) so you can be grateful for that at least :-)

Friday- Nicholas wakes up early and helps Grammy with getting food out. Apparently he was very excited about all the presents he saw under the tree that my mom possibly bribed him with some candy not to open them, but to wait until everyone else woke up. It is Christmas afterall. I don't really remember what time we all got up, but it was still fairly early. The boys jumped right into opening presents. They couldn't stand it. We tried to get some adult unwrapping mixed in there, but that was hard to do. By the time all was said and done I think we were finished under an hour, maybe even less. The boys helped everyone unwrap their gifts and loved everything they received. They wanted to open everything right away. Most things we let them, but since we were going to ship the gifts back some things remained closed. The adults enjoyed their gifts too by the way. In between gifts we ate some breakfast and then did the stockings. It was so much fun to watch the boys this year as they were both so interested and excited about everything that was going on. We did, however, have to explain to Nicholas that the presents are not endless and that Christmas is not just about him or the presents, but about the birth of Jesus. He didn't seem too interested in that. Guess Burt and I didn't emphasize that enough. We definitely need to work on that.

Look at all the presents!

Traditional family pose in front of the tree.

Richard and Jaci

Me and my bro. We haven't taken one of these pictures in over five years I think it is. He is a goofball.

Friday evening- We headed to my step-dad's sisters house for Christmas dinner with the family. I wasn't feeling that great so I ended up sitting or laying on the couch most of the evening. I couldn't even enjoy the dinner or dessert, so sad. Everyone had to come to me if they wanted to catch up and chat. Fun times. The boys loved being able to run around in their big backyard and play with the old video games in the house. Mike also has a train set in the attic that is really cool. Nicholas could not get over that. He would have stayed up there all night if we would have let him. We had another round of opening gifts, then dessert and games. Mom and Jeff took the boys home with them and we went home with Richard and Jaci. It was nice to see everyone and how much the kids have grown up in the past three years I think it is. Crazy. I just wish I was feeling better, but everyone understood.

Saturday- Time to visit my dad and step-mom. We left around noon to head to their house hoping Joshua would nap along the way, but that didn't happen and he didn't want to nap there so we just let him stay up. We took some trains with us to keep them occupied some. My dad has horseshoes in his backyard so that was fun to watch the boys try to do and Burt too. We ate some yummy cheese and crackers and talked for awhile and then let the boys open their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. More trains and a truck. That entertained them a little longer. We then ate dinner, with a little drama, but not much. Then we let the boys watch a little tv to settle them down. I was able to talk to Dad some by myself which was nice and then we had ice cream. Of course the boys jumped at a chance for that. After ice cream we played and talked a little more and then got the boys ready for bed since neither had had a nap and were getting pretty cranky. We left around 7pm I think. It was nice to see them and for the boys to see them again. We had a nice day. The boys passed out in the car and went right to bed when we got home. Burt and I stayed up a little longer and chatted with Richard and Jaci when they got home.

Nice ringer.

Nicholas liked to put dirt on top of the stand much better than playing horseshoes I think.

Uncle Richard helping Nicholas with his new puzzle.

At least Nicholas was trying to get a picture with Grandpa. Joshua wouldn't even do that.

Tuckered out from not taking a nap. He was beyond sleepy.

Sunday- Family picture day! No need to explain that. It did go pretty well though. The kids had lots of room to run around outside so that helped a lot. (A few pics are below. We have a ton more, but here are some teasers since this post is already way too long.) We then ate lunch at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) and then took the boys home. They both passed out on the way home so we all got to nap. I am not really sure what we did after that. Probably just hung out and played.

The whole family.

Trying to get the four of us.

The sweetest two boys in the world. I wonder what they were talking about.

Monday- We went out to breakfast at the Egg Plantation. They have hundreds of omelets to choose from among other things. It is really good and way too much food. The boys were a little restless, but did okay considering. While Joshua napped Burt took Nicholas to the park. He had been wanting to go back all week so this was his last chance. He had fun playing on the playground and playing with Thomas in the sand. After Joshua woke up Burt made them some hot chocolate. Fun times. Then for dinner we all met up and had yummy chicken and noodles. We were still all kind of full from brunch, but we weren't going to pass up the chance to eat this meal. It was delicious. After dinner we sat around and talked and enjoyed our last night together. It was a good day.

A pre birthday cupcake.
Thomas looks happy in the sand.

Loving them some hot chocolate.

Our little stacker.

Tuesday- Day to go back to Montgomery. We ate breakfast, played a little bit and then said our goodbyes. We left around 9am I think and headed to the airport. Once we got there we found out our plane from Dallas to MGM had been cancelled due to "snow" in Dallas. We then had to figure out how to get back home. The next available flight was two days later. The boys were ready to get home and I didn't want to have to do this all over again so we found a flight into BHM instead. This meant trying to figure out how to get back to MGM from there, but we would work that out later. We finally got checked in and headed on our way. Then there was more waiting. Our flight kept getting pushed back and the boys were getting restless for sure. Our flight was suppose to leave at 1pm, but we didn't leave until almost 4pm I think. Thankfully the flight to BHM got delayed too. We made it in time to catch that flight only to find out it would be delayed longer due to maintenance problems. Great. It was almost 10pm by this time. We did find a ride from a co-worker of Burt's which was a blessing, but we felt bad it was going to be so late. He didn't seem to mind. Thank you for that saving grace. We finally left Dallas around 11:30pm and made it to BHM around 1am I guess and finally home to our beds close to 4am. It was a long day that's for sure, but thankfully the boys weren't too crazy and we made it home in one piece. It was a wonderful vacation for sure, but not the best way to end it. Oh well, guess there always has to be some drama right......

So, there you have it, our Christmas vacation in a nutshell, haha. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. It was wonderful to be home for an extended period of time with all the family there together. We were able to spend a lot of quality time. What a blessing.

Night Out

Yesterday was Burt's birthday and thanks to our generous friends, Laura and Justin, Burt and I were able to spend a night and morning away by ourselves. They so kindly offered to watch the kids and spend the night with them also. How great is that!!!! It is amazing to have friends that would give up their time to spend time with our kids when they don't even have any. It is especially nice since we don't have family in town and don't get many nights away. What a luxury this was.

Before I tell of the night away I have to tell a funny story. Burt brought home cupcakes to celebrate his birthday with the boys before we left. Nicholas sang to him and then dived into the frosting. Then, Burt and Nicholas were talking about something, don't remember what, and Burt told him that he is getting so big to which is response was, well you are getting old. Hahaha. Burt died laughing and so did I.

After showing Laura and Justin the ropes for the evening and morning Burt were on our way. We went to dinner at Wintzell's downtown first. It was yummy. I ate and ate and ate. Fried food and steak. What better meal when you are pregnant. Then we went to the Alley Bar to meet up with Chad and Krystal and Matt and Sharon. It is an interesting, cool, little place with music and some youngsters of course, at least to me they are, but there were also older working crowds there too so I didn't feel as out of place as I thought I would have (besides the fact that I am pregnant and was in a bar). We sat around on the couches and talked and people watched and just had a good time getting to know each other better. It was fun, but certainly not something I will do again until after the baby comes. It was just too weird to be there pregnant, drinking my shirley temple, and having people look confused as I walked by. It is nice how they are revitalizing downtown though. We ended up staying until 11pm or so, can you believe it. It was definitely past my bedtime and snacktime, heehee. We then went to Laura and Justin's and passed out. We switched homes for the evening. Cut down on costs for sure which is always a plus. We slept till almost 9am!!!! It was so wonderful not having kids wake us up. We took our time getting up and ready and then headed back home around 11:30. It was such a treat.

So, that is it in a nutshell. Burt and I enjoyed our date night and being able to catch up with each other and hang out with friends. Thank you so much to Laura and Justin for taking such good care of our boys and for generously giving us a night away. We really appreciated it. You are a blessing.