A Weekend in Review

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! Our Christmas was very nice and we had a good time with all of our time spent with family.

We spent Christmas Eve with David's parents and the kids had a good time opening their presents. Zach got some money in a maze box and he wasn't too thrilled to know he had to solve the maze to get his money out. It was quite humorous to watch him work at it - but in the end, we ended up prying the money out as noone could get it solved. I think everyone had a good time.

When we got home from our Christmas Eve celebrations, I decided that I would go ahead and get the presents wrapped before I headed to Midnight Mass. This is something that I normally do when I get home, but didn't want to be up much later than I needed to be. Zach, Hunter, Peyton and I went to Midnight Mass and I think both the little ones were asleep before the end of the second readings. Anyone who has been around Peyton when he sleeps knows that he snores - and it's not a little snore either - he snores loudly! Luckily, there was a lot of singing and that helped. Aubrey and Tanner stayed home with David and he had them both asleep by the time we got back. I was glad I had been proactive in the wrapping of gifts, because I was quite tired and still was close to 2 by the time we got the stockings all stuffed and presents all arranged under the tree.

The kids got up around 9 on Christmas morning, which was quite nice after the late night. I put some cinnamon rolls in the oven and we spent time checking out what Santa brought us. I think they all had a great time and enjoyed their presents. Zachary is quite excited about attending a catchers camp next weekend and improving his baseball skills. Hunter got a couple of playstation games and was very happy about that, as he normally has to fight Zach over his games, so to have his own was quite exciting for him. Peyton got some new monster trucks and he was on cloud nine! Aubrey got a princess dress and I don't think she has taken it off much since Christmas! I got a couple pictures of her, but she wasn't cooperating too well and at one point she looked at me, pointed her finger and said "No More Pictures, Momma"! Point taken! Tanner enjoyed his new little remote control puppy and was really into the opening presents this year. It was a nice day for all of us. We spent the day at home and I didn't even get out of my pj's, how nice! I laid down around 12:30 to take a small nap with Tanner & David while the kids were playing and I think I ended up sleeping for 4 hours!

I had to work on Friday, but that wasn't too bad. There was only a couple of us there, which was very nice and productive. It's always good when there isn't anyone there for me to visit with all day - I got so much work done!

Saturday morning I got up and headed to Smithville to take some family photos for a friend of mine at work. They turned out very nice and I'm very excited to show them off to her tomorrow. After I got home from pictures, the kids and I got all packed up and headed down to my parents to celebrate Christmas with my family. The kids were all excited because their cousins were also at Grandma's and they had a good time playing. I spent some time with Brian shopping at WalMart for some things for Sunday's get together. We had a good time and was able to spend some quality brother-sister time together.

The kids and I attended Mass with Grandma & Grandpa on Sunday morning before heading to the Harris Family Christmas with my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. It was a nice time and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Then we headed out to my parents to have our Christmas with my parents and siblings and the kids all had a good time.

The best present came Sunday evening while unwrapping gifts at my parents. My mom opened a card with a picture of some baby feet and the date July 17, 2009 on the card. It took her a moment, but not too long for us to all figure out that my brother Matt and his wife Megan are expecting their first child in July. We are all very excited about this new arrival and I can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew. This will be my parents 12th grandchild - our family events are loud and chaotic, but fun - I can't imagine it any other way!

I hope to have some pictures put on here or Flickr soon of the weekend events - but I'll put a note on here when they are ready.

Until next time...

Dawn