Christmas morning seen through the lens

Santa was here!

This was about 75% of the gifts opened this morning

You should have seen the faces she was making all morning

Check out Em mean mugging in the background

My favorite picture of the day

She opened her eyes and saw her bike being rolled in

Her new princess bike

Again...check out the attitude

Busy opening gifts

Darth Vader outfit for his Build a Bear

A new dance bag

The best gift ever!

Slider maker!

Opening their iPads

A Christmas Celebration

I realize that I'm almost an entire week late on Christmas posts and I probably should be working on my Year in Review post or a New Years Goals post but late is better than never, right?  I have loved reading/seeing everyone's Christmas posts!  It's definitely my favorite time of year and I enjoy seeing everyone else have a great a time as we did.

John's brother and his family spent Christmas Eve with us.  It was nice having our nephew with our kids this year.  It was also fun watching the Hubs and his brother try to build Emmy's Santa gift....priceless!!!  We hosted our entire family on Christmas morning. All 3 sets of grandparents, my brothers (and 1 of their girlfriends) as well as Jim and his family gathered in our living room to watch the kiddos open gifts.

We were all very spoiled this Christmas. Santa was very good to the kids as were their grandparents.  They got more than they could have ever wanted and I think a Lego factory has taken over my house.  There's so much pink I just might throw up.  I "bought" the Hubs some action figure he wanted (aka he bought it and said it was from me) and he got me some new Vera.  My parents got me a Keurig (YAY!!!!) The Hubs's mom got the kids mini iPads (which I love more than I thought I would).   Santa brought Em a bike and Uncle Justin won the Best Gift of the Year award by gifting Noah with his very own Slider burger maker.  I mean what 6 year old doesn't want a Slider maker?  It truly was his favorite gift.

We are so blessed to be able to share in these moments with our family surrounding us.  It's moments like these that I hope my children remember when they grow up.  I have the best memories from Christmas Eve festivities growing up.

And now to overwhelm everyone with pics of my adorable children from Christmas Eve!!!!

Excited to open her present from AJ

He was a little excited

The PA that I work with got me this for Christmas.  It's one of my favorite gifts!  She definitely  put thought into this gift and that's what means the most

Our cookies for Santa and Reindeer food that Emmy made at school

Noah and AJ (our nephew) on Christmas Eve

The Hubs and his brother in their matching shirts. I bought this shirt for the Hubs and his brother ended up wearing the same one!

Santa showed up!!!

The stockings were hung....

Our perfectly crooked Christmas tree

  

Meet Froggy

We had a house guest a few weekends ago. Noah was chosen to bring home his class mascot, Froggy.  He was super excited to have him for the weekend, especially because we had a very exciting weekend planned!  Little did I know that it would be a lot of work for me but that's totally besides the point.  The idea behind Froggy is that he gets to go everywhere with you.  Noah had to bring him everywhere we went and we captured the experiences in pictures for his journal (aka scrapbook that the parents have to make aka Momma homework).

Excited that Froggy is with us!  Froggy was definitely in the holiday spirit

Noah started the weekend off by spending a hour or so with his Grandma and PaPa (my parents).  He and Froggy played games, played catch, and Froggy even climbed to the top of their waterfall.  I don't have any pics of this but my Mom snapped a few for the scrapbook.  That night, the Hubs and I were hosting a Friends Dinner at our house.  A little combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.  While the Hubs finished up the cooking, I took the kids across the street to Winterfest with one of our friends.  Noah wanted to tube down the snow hill and play in the bounce houses for a bit.  Of course Froggy came in tow.  He went down the snow hill with Noah and had a blast.  Mindy went down with Em so I could snap a pic.  Dinner turned out to be a huge success.  I don't think I've laughed so much in a long time.  The Hubs and I are blessed with great friends (yes I sound like a broken record).  I'm thankful for my job because without it, I wouldn't have met these awesome ladies.  OK sappy part over.

On Saturday, we hung around the house for most of the day because we were headed to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens that night.  It was a cute event!  We waited for 1.5 hours to play in the "snow" for 10 minutes but it was well worth it.  My kids haven't seen snow before so they were enchanted!  Noah got to take Noah in the snow!  Froggy seemed to have a great time as did Noah and Emmy.  The Hubs and I even got into the winter spirit!

Noah, the Hubs, Froggy, and the snowman 

making snow angels

Froggy just chillin in the snow

Noah was saying "My hands are cold. My hands are cold"

The Hubs and I having a little fun in the snow

Sunday we slept in a little and then Noah took Froggy for a bike ride.  Let me tell you how hard it was to get Froggy to stay on his bike securely.  There was no way I was going to let something happen to the class mascot on my watch.  We printed out pictures, I got to work on Froggy's journal, and Noah took Froggy to bed with him one last time.  Monday morning meant Froggy and all of his things, had to return to school again.

riding with Froggy

It was really nice seeing Noah having a good time with Froggy.  He was wishing and hoping that he would be chosen to take him home this particular weekend because we had so much planned.  His teacher was planning on sending him home with us for Noah's birthday weekend but he was so excited for this weekend so we opted for this weekend instead.

 

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

We'll be up to our elbows in wrapping paper and toys in a little while and I'll secretly be loving it!  I just can't get enough of watching my kiddos on Christmas morning.  Oh too be a kid again.

I hope each and every one of you have a blessed Christmas filled with love, laughter, family, and friends.

Workout Roundup

Hi. My name is Jess and I am a workout loser.

I've been secretly jealous (and seriously mad at myself) because I haven't been able to link up with Meghan and Genna. I've had a bit of an epiphany and kicked my healthy living (or attempt at healthy living) into high gear this week.  I'm proud to sit here and have a post to share with everyone!

Sunday: Noah wanted to ride his bike to my parents house so we could print pictures of his weekend with Froggy (more on this another day).  So we tied Froggy to his bike and off we went.  My parents live about a 1/2 mile away from us so I knew it would be a quick outing.  I've failed a tad in the parenting department with Noah because he's still not riding without training wheels.  He's close but he's not there yet.  But boy, he was riding fast!  Normally I can just walk quickly but I ended up jogging to keep up with him.  So I decided to make this a little "training" run.  It was a nice run/walk/run/walk session.  It took about 20 min (I promise I can run a 1/2 mile faster than 20 min) but it let my body ease back into running.  By the end of the night, my left ankle was killing me and I wasn't sure if it was because my body was in shock that I actually ran or if my new shoes didn't agree with me.  But I woke up Monday morning feeling just fine.

Monday: I didn't get a run in.  I took a day to recover from the busy weekend we had.

Tuesday: I had a much needed reunion with my elliptical after the kiddos went to bed.  I hope the Hubs was happy since our $900 elliptical has turned into a very expensive piece of Florida room decor.  The machine itself might have been in awe that it was being used again.  But we both got over that initial shock and had a great time together.  This is where I get really embarrassed and ashamed.  I ran for a whopping 20 minutes at a resistance level of 1.  Yep.  1.  O.N.E. I wanted to push myself from the start but, for once, I was smart about it and took it easy.  I usually end up going balls to the wall and end up hurt.  So it was nice to hop off the elliptical and be able to move rather than my usual "my body hates me and refuses to bend" feeling.

Wednesday: No working out for me.  This girl passed out at 8:45.

Thursday: The kids had their Christmas concert so there was absolutely no time when I got home from work.  I did end up with the cutest bunny and the most handsome little man on the planet!  Proud Momma right here!

Friday: Work kicked my rear end today.  I usually work from 7-3:30 and I ended up working 7-6:30.  Talk about a busy day.  I need to start wearing a pedometer at work to see how many miles I end up getting in inadvertently. I'm sure I get in at least 5 miles a day.

Saturday: Does folding 7 baskets of laundry count as exercise?  It took me a LONG time and I was quite exhausted when I was finished.

So my week wasn't the greatest on the exercise front but I'm glad I got something in. I have to come up with a plan for this coming week because we'll be busy busy  busy. Anything's got to be better than nothing so I guess I'm okay with the way this week went.

Here's my burning question for all the runners/active people out there.  I need to find a great sports bra that will support a larger chest (aka my DD friends). I've always had issues in this department as long as I can remember.  I used to wear 2 sports bras at a time when I was playing volleyball.  It sucks.  So now I'm looking for a great bra with tons of support.  Any suggestions for what I should try?

When did he grow up?

I find myself asking this question more and more these days.  All of a sudden, Noah has gone from a little boy to a big boy.  I don't know when it happened but it did.  He's maturing.  His thought process is getting wiser.  It's crazy!  He's still a little kid but it's not long before he's going to be a big kid for good.  I'm not ready for that one bit. I know it's going to happen but I want to delay it as much as possible.

Here's what I mean.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  I was in the garage ironing my work clothes and he came out to see me.  The Hubs had brought down the Christmas decorations a few days earlier so we could be ready to start decorating on Black Friday.  Noah asked me if we could get our Christmas tree that day when we got home from work.  I told him (for the 300th time) that we can't start any Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.  It was a rule. He looked at me and said "Well we could buy it today to beat the crowd." He meant it with all sincerity but I couldn't help but snicker.  He was very worried about there being a rush on Christmas trees.  I mean what 5 year old thinks about that?  Very grown up if you ask me.

Fast forward to this weekend.  We were in the car heading to who knows where.  The Hubs said something along the lines of trading in Emmy for some reason.  I think because she was starting to annoy everyone in the car and the Hubs made a "trade in your little sister" reference.  Well Noah piped up with "Yeah.  We can sell her online." Really?  He was proud of himself for that one.

Me, Noah and Froggy...just hanging out!!!!

Last night at their Christmas concert, Noah was such ham up on stage.  They did a song with the 1st graders then joined the 1st-3rd graders and the drama club to sing the songs for the play.  Noah was in the front row and he spotted us.  He kept waving to us when he was done singing.  Would shoot us a thumbs up and even blew us a few kisses.  But the best part of the night.....he would look at me, smile, and wink.  I just melt!

Love this kid!!!!

It's OK

It's OK.......

~to still have last minute Christmas shopping to do
~to be stoked for the kiddos Christmas concert tonight
~to continue to be inspired to by so many bloggers to get my butt back into shape
~to love seeing my Christmas card display filled with cards from blogger turned real life friends
~to be excited about the thought of the amount of overtime I'm getting this week
~to love when my friends get together!  We had a great Friends dinner on Friday!
~to wait in line for 1.5 hours to play in "snow" for 10 minutes.  Hey...I'm a Florida girl.  We don't see snow too often!
~to be ready for a vacation

Noah and the Hubs making a snowman with Froggy during our 10 minute "snow" time