Getting ready for Christmas

We have established some holiday traditions in our house, and this year we were able to do several of them, despite the nasty weather and constant rain.  We didn't get to do some of the things I wanted to do because of the weather (namely Peacock Lane and maybe Zoo Lights), but we did have a lot of fun.

One Saturday, Trey, Randy, and I went over to Curt and Ana's house to decorate gingerbread houses.  The kids and dads did a great job while I sat back and enjoyed the festivities.

Trey's roof broke in half.  I was worried that he was going to freak out, but he didn't seem to care (thank god) and just decorated the inside of the house.

Cute kids with their cute houses 

One weekend we had a few different birthday parties.  On a Saturday night I went to Mindy's 40th birthday party, and then on Sunday we went to Silas's birthday party at Out of This World Pizza.  The kids had fun running around, and I enjoyed chatting with Sara and Ted.

Me and Mindy

Trey and Silas, now both 5 years old 

When we got our Christmas tree, which this year meant Randy picked one out at the grocery store, Trey was super excited to decorate it.  He pulled out all of my ornaments and laid them out, one by one, on the couch.  He was super cute as he unwrapped each one and exclaimed, "I love this one!" over and over again.

What is hard to tell from this picture is that the ornaments Trey hung were all clustered together in one row.

We had our staff holiday party at our principal's house, and while most of the teachers chose not to go, my entire LRC team was there.  These ladies keep our program going on a daily basis, and I don't know how I could do it without them.

Marcelle, Tanya, me, and Maryellen 

Trey's karate school had a holiday extravaganza (well, I don't know if it was really an extravaganza because Trey didn't want to stay) where we saw Santa.  It was cool that the school had a Santa to see, but the man behind the beard was so clearly not meant to be Santa.  After we left, Trey said quietly in the backseat, "I think that was one of Santa's helpers."

Later that day, we went back to karate for Trey's belt test.  Randy and I are really enjoying the karate classes and the lessons they are teaching Trey.  Not only is he learning how to be a stealth ninja, but he is also practicing focus and following directions.

Christmas break started, and I have relished every possible moment of sleeping in, relaxing on the couch, and just being stress free.  It has been amazing, and I have caught up on a lot of the sleep that I have missed out on since September.  Monday morning is looming, and I am not looking forward to the early wake-up call.  Over break I have done a lot of reading, and this was my stack of library books to get through.  I didn't get through all of them (some I had to return and some I didn't like), but I have been reading a lot and it has been wonderful.

Our local grocery store also had a Santa visit, so we decided to check it out after karate one day.  Now, this Santa looked like Santa.  It was also really cool that he spent time talking to Trey before climbing in his sleigh to take pictures.  He told Case that the reindeer were up on the roof, so when we drove away, Trey was adamant that he wanted to see the reindeer.  That was fun.  I ended up telling him that the reindeer weren't really there, but that Santa had just said that to Case.  He said, "Well, then how did he get here?  Airplane?"  "Yes," I said,  "Probably."

Another of our holiday traditions is to bake and decorate sugar cookies.  Trey and I have a lot of fun doing this, and the cookies are pretty delish, in my opinion.

No idea why he's on the counter...

One night Randy and I went out to dinner with Kris and John for our holiday gift to each other.  We started with drinks at the Victory Bar on SE Division and then had dinner at an Italian place (I can't remember the name).  It was fun to have a night out with good friends.

One day over break, Curt and I took the kids to see the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.  We convinced Randy to go with us, and he watched Star Wars in the next theater over.  What I thought was the best part was that Curt has a choice to see Chipmunks or Star Wars, and he chose Chipmunks.  What???

A little air hockey before the movie 

Getting ready for the best movie of the year (not)