A Very Merry Christmas

From (most of) our family to yours!

Today couldn't have turned out to be a more perfect day. The past couple of weeks I've been feeling slightly dissatisfied with Christmas this year. There were many things that I intended and planned on doing that just never happened. Our "12 Days of Christmas" calendar never quite came together even though I did have our 12 days planned. Watching a special, new Christmas movie on Christmas Eve ended up not being feasible, besides the fact that I never was able to purchase the movie. I never got the Babka made.

Instead, my cookie press broke and I wasn't able to make Christmas tree cookies. The only time we saw Santa was at the Christmas Train. The weather turned too bitter to take the boys sledding. And money was too tight to buy the presents I wanted to get for the boys.

I had a picture in my head of how I wanted our first Christmas together as a family, and here in North Dakota to go. And it just didn't happen. It left me feeling disappointed and ready to have the not-so-jolly-season over with.

And then yesterday came along. And even though I had felt no energy or motivation earlier, I decided that it just wouldn't be Christmas Eve without pierogis and set about to making them. As the day progressed and I started getting things prepped for today's meal the 'holiday spirit' came back to me.

While its something I've always known, I really felt for the first time this year that the most important thing is having those you love and cherish close to you. Our Christmas was nothing spectacular. M worked 8-4 yesterday and then started midnight shift so went back to work at midnight and came home exhausted, just as the boys were waking up. We opened presents, M went to bed, and the boys and I watched A Very Merry Muppet Christmas on TV, and I made a big ham for supper. Other than that our day was almost like any other (besides the fact that the boys had a ton of new toys to play with and were happy almost the ENTIRE day).

It was a quiet, peaceful day. And it helped me once again see, and appreciate the most important thing in my life.

And with all that being said... M did get me the most gorgeous watch and necklace for Christmas! Thank you love, for the beautiful present, for everything you do for the boys and me.

Christmas Morning

One of the most exciting moment of their christmas morning: getting to spend time loose in the living room. And not just because the babysitter didn't know better, but Mommy and Daddy let them!

The Story of Daddy's Snack

Once upon a time, Daddy tried to eat a snack. And then there at his feet two little boys showed up. These little boys wanted to have some of Daddy's snack. But one little boy didn't like to take turns


And the other little boy thought he should just take the snack, and very swiftly grabbed the spoon (with a glob of peanut butter on it)



So then Daddy decided he'd had enough peanut butter and moved on to snacking on Life cereal.

And the little boys were very happy, because the love Life cereal

"oh yum, yum" said the little boys

"Pwease give me more Daddy"

But then Daddy was done with his snack. And he told the little boys that they were all done. And at the words "all done", one little boy had a meltdown.

And it just kept going

The other little boy was very sad, but didn't think it was worth shedding tears over

And the other little boy just couldn't be consoled.

The End.

Look At ME!

[As I was uploading these I realized what a mess the house was that day... please ignore everything you see in the background.]

"Ohhhh Mommy"

"You should never leave us alone!"

Latest Project

Here's what I've been working on the last few days


I decided this year that I wanted to give our tree a new look. After seeing these in a magazine I thought they would be just the thing we needed. They aren't exactly easy to make, but for just a few bucks I've freshed our ornaments. I just need to pick up just a few more ornaments and I believe our tree will be perfect.

Just A Little Mess

Why, oh why did I think it was a smart idea to give them a container full of cheerios?

Traditions

Now that we have a family of our own I'm excited to pass on the traditions from my childhood. As well as start some of our own.

Somethings I will never give up, and pass on to the boys, is having a Polish supper on Christmas Eve with kielbasa and pierogis. Thanksgiving should always include green bean casserole and fall fruit salad. And ham is eaten on Christmas.

This year I'm going to introduce a "12 Days of Christmas" Calender, which will give us something Christmas related to do the 12 days before Christmas. This year I plan on including making cookies, babbka, and pierogis in our calender. Another tradition that we're starting this year is getting a new Christmas movie every year and watching it on Christmas Eve.

We recently decided that we're going to have a pizza night every Wednesday.

And when the boys are a little older we are going to have a 'sleepover' night, where the boys get to watch a movie and sleep in bed with us.

I hope when G and Z are older they will look back and have happy memories of our special traditions and time spent together the same way I look back on my childhood and smile.

Thank You Nana and Papa!

For the boys' birthday Nana and Papa gave G and Z money to get some new books. A few weeks ago when we went grocery shopping we went into Barnes and Nobles and picked out some books. I had a blast reading the books to the boys in the store and seeing which ones they liked the best. It was easy to tell which ones were their favorites. Their eyes would light up when they saw the cover, and they'd giggle hysterically when I read them.

Thank you Nana and Papa for helping to expand our little book collection!

First Car

The other day we recieved our diapers, and today I finally pulled them in the house and took them out of the shipping box. I left the box in the dining room, and of course the boys found it. They started pushing it around and playing with it, so I thought I'd introduce them to the joy of a box.

(it is VERY hard to draw on a box with two-one year olds trying to grab the sharpie!)

After I took the pictures we zoomed around the house, did a few 360s, fishtailed a bit, but came out unharmed. After all, their favorite supper of peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches were waiting for them!