Breck 2013

Although I need to be doing about a million other things right now, I wanted to stop and blog about our family ski trip to Breckenridge!  John Cole did not make the trip--I sure do miss him!--but I know he has been having a BLAST with Gran-Gran and Grandfather AND Nana and Pop.

This trip saw a lot of firsts for Preston.  His first commercial airplane ride.  His first trip to the mountains and most importantly his first time on skis.  Jeff and I love to ski.  Something about being on a ski lift looking at the wonder of God's creation really does feel like 'getting away from it all.' AND, I will admit (and I know Jeff agrees) whizzing down the mountain with the wind in your face and your skis ripping through the snow is pretty fun too!  So, we really wanted to take P this year so he could try it out and he did GREAT!  I was telling my Mom today I am kinda bummed we didn't get to stay one more day because P was doing exponentially better every day but I can only hope he has some muscle memory for next time :)

We had a great trip and P was actually quite fun to travel with.  You KNOW he never meets a stranger and he came home with not one but TWO sets of Delta wings and a trinket from the Pennsylvania national guard from an older gentlemen he struck up a convo with.  He always took time to speak to the kids he knew on the slopes--yes while skiing--because he just isn't going to let someone go by without speaking :)  He also now knows you can ask for extra cookies when the snack cart is brought down the aisle....

More later...but prolly not for a few days because moving day is SATURDAY!!

Fairy Tale Day

I will say that Fairy Tale character dress up day kinda caught me off-guard.....not a lot of EASY choices for little boys :)  However, I think the Mad Hatter may be one of my favorites and Preston REALLY liked it!  He was scolding me in the car this morning for "driving too fast and messing up his hat."  Love this precious age....and his school and teacher.

Hope all is well in your world.  Lots of packing/moving/selling/organizing still going on around here...but we for sure have a place to live after 1/26 so that's a REAL relief.  We will live in one of the finished Orchards homes while ours is being built.  We haven't even STARTED...and that could still be another month because the landscape architect is working on the irrigation plan, etc right now and wants to do another topography study on the our lot and the lots around it to make sure we get the slab/drainage right.  Soooo, we wait but I know it will be so worth it....

More later....headed to Breck early in the morning with Preston...can't WAIT!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

What a wonderful few days we have had!  I have done my best to enjoy every minute and I KNOW the boys have :)  I feel so blessed.  Hope you have all had a wonderful CHRISTMAS!!

Mrs. Donna's Christmas Party

I know I am a little partial, but I think Mrs. Donna's class Christmas party this morning was a HUGE success!  When I found out today was going to be Polar Express day and the kids would be in their jammies, I thought it would be cute for the kids to have a breakfast party in the morning.  (AND, selfishly I was hoping they could NAP this afternoon....) So, first thing this morning we started off with an ornament craft that I think turned out well.  The HIGHLIGHT of the party came next:  Elf Snowflake came all the way from the North Pole to read "Elf on the Shelf" and "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell"  (P's fav) to the kids. Snowflake also handed out goodie bags and took last minute requests to Santa.  Lastly, the kids enjoyed their party fare and were ready to watch the Polar Express when I left.  Preston gave me a HUGE kiss on the cheek when it was time for me to go--don't get these that much anymore--so I think that means he had fun.  Many thanks to Nana for coming to help out and to April McGuirt for coordinating "Snowflake."  More Christmas fun later....don't blow away!

Let the celebrations begin!

Well our Christmas celebrations have officially begun!  We got together with Resa this afternoon/evening to enjoy some family time and holiday cheer.  Resa took us to the "Taffeta Christmas" performance at the Strauss this afternoon and I am proud to say the boys made it to the intermission :)  My favorite part of the show was the piano solos...beautiful!  We then headed to the mall for Preston to ride on the carousel and to go see Santa.  He was all about the carousel--but, Santa not so much.  There was a long line and he was just not interested.  Fine with me!  So we all just looked around the mall for a bit then headed to Olive Garden for another EARLY dinner.  John Cole must be going through a growth spurt or something because by about 4:30nowadays he is usually STARVING. So, we were back home by 6 or so and opened our gifts to each other.  The pic of P in his #WEARELATECH sunglasses Resa got him may just be my fav pic of him ever.....

More later.....

Fun Friday

I have had just the best Friday with my little guys!  John Cole and I had a great day at home and out and about...he even let me hold him while I got my eyebrows waxed!!!  Now, that's a good baby :)  After we picked P up from school we headed home for a change into festive attire and then attended the press conference for Tech's new head coach.  I was not able to hear the entire thing--because John Cole was quite talkative so I had to walk out with him--but what I do know is that some people were sort of giving him a hard time being that we hired him after he was fired by another University.  My thoughts on that are this--we've got to get behind him and look forward!  Go DAWGS!  We said goodbye to Daddy then as he was heading to MerRouge.

After that my two main squeezes accompanied me to Wendy's for a quick (EARLY, ha!) dinner then we headed to Railroad Park to hear the LPECC sing Christmas songs.  It was sprinkling and we parked pretty far away so it was an adventure but so much fun.  Preston did a great job and was really into it--sometimes I could hear just his little voice in the sea of all of these children.  John Cole very much enjoyed the performance and was entertaining the audience with his stroller rocking to the beat.  Love this picture of Preston and his friends Remy and Max.  I got this picture by bribing Preston with candy.  Yep, I did that.....

Hope you all have a great weekend!  

Breakfast with Santa 2012

Well, I am the only person awake around here right now after getting home from what has become a yearly tradition--Breakfast with Santa at Squire Creek!  Mommy and Daddy went out with some friends last night and the boys stayed with their Grandfather and Gran-Gran (THANKS!) so after this fun morning we are all pretty tired...but it is so worth it to make these precious memories!!

Santa was running a little late this morning so my plan of being WAY early (shocker!!) kinda backfired as John Cole had to spend time  in the stroller while we waited #3 in line for Santa but he did ok...especially considering he's been up since 4am.  The boys did GREAT with Santa...quite frankly I think John Cole was too tired to fuss and Preston was all about giving him his NEW requests.  We asked him why he didn't tell him the things he's asked for previously and he said, "Well, I already told him those things."  Good point.

I think P had already had a good breakfast but he made room for a little more and John Cole was loving his pancake.  Mommy and Daddy went all out with a big breakfast and I probably won't eat much more today...but it was fun!  Preston then got to coloring and also did some cupcake decorating.  As you know that is right up his alley.  Lastly, we visited with the Dugdales for a while and I think this pic of P and Georgia is priceless :)

It was a great time.  Hope you and yours are enjoying this season.  More later...

PS--You may notice the medal P is wearing in most pis.  He got that yesterday at a birthday party and will not take it off.....