It's the holiday season...

this is the post from last week that I typed up, but never posted...

I do feel like a broken record, but we had another busy and fun fun weekend. Kevin and I took off Friday from work. He had a few vacation days he needed to use up and I just needed a break and time to prepare for our big party on Saturday night. So – we started our weekend early with a family pizza night out! Our local pizza place has family night on Thursdays and we normally have our small group that night, so we have not been able to go. (our small group met on Mondays this month due to some scheduling conflicts) Kevin happened to check their website and saw that Santa was going to be there – even better!!!! The kids were excited to see him…from afar. They spent the whole meal looking for him and pointing him out, but the 2 times he came near them, they burst into tears. Oh well – at least they were excited to see him at all. They talk about “ho ho” or “santa claus” (pronounced in very distinct syllables) all the time.

Ms. Sia gave them red noses like Rudolph!

Santa is so scary when he gets close to us

it's much better to watch him from a distance
We had a perfect Friday! We dropped the kids off at school and then headed out for errands. We spent several hours buying all the food for the party and then just running a few other errands. It was SO NICE to not be rushed and just hang out together. It also was a plus that the stores were not busy. I guess Friday morning is a perfect time for running errands. After lunch we were able to sneak in a movie. We saw the new George Clooney movie “In the Air” and it was great! We both really enjoyed the day. We even picked up the kids a little early and had some great family time on Friday night!

Saturday we worked all day long getting ready for the night, but it really was a lot of fun. The house looked great and I have to say I was very proud of how the party turned out. We had 13 people over for a formal dinner party. I can’t remember the last time we pulled out the fine china and crystal. It was a blessing to have so many of our dearest friends all in one room together. The food couldn’t have been any better and then we all laughed until our sides hurt.

Sunday we were in recovery mode, but we were able to still make it to early church to keep the nursery, then to a birthday party for Paul and then to Life University to see the Christmas lights. The kids were so very excited to see the lights…it was totally worth the trip on a rainy Sunday night. I would even describe them as giddy! There was a moment when we were all singing jingle bells in the car on the way there and I had this feeling for just a moment that we were in a movie. It was truly almost laughable it was so “picture perfect”, but it was completely impromptu and that has been our experience thus far with Christmas and the kiddos – almost too good to be true! We have another busy week and I really can’t believe that Christmas is NEXT WEEK. I’ve so enjoyed this season and really don’t want it to end. The kids have had a blast and it is so much fun seeing all of this through their eyes. Usually I’m ready to take down the decorations and get the house “back in order”, but this year I’m betting I will not want it to be over. Truly Grateful!

playing with Paul at his birthday party

Sitting with the big kids!


On a side note, Riley has started saying “oh my gosh” in the funniest little voice. It’s hilarious, but we are working on changing it to “oh my goodness”. I’m just not a huge fan of “oh my gosh” and was wondering where she might have picked it up. Well – it came straight from her mother and father. Even knowing I’m not a huge fan of that phrase, Kevin and I both say it. So – we are working as a family to “change our tune”. I don’t even want to know what else I say that they are going to pick up on that isn’t quite appropriate for a 2 year old. Ugh! They have been sleeping great in their new beds and are so proud in the mornings when they get up. Usually Riley says “sleeping in big BOY bed” and then Ryan says “sleeping in big GIRL bed”. I guess we still need to work on the gender thing, but at least they know it’s big! Oh yeah – and Riley pee pee’d in her potty yesterday morning. Her diaper was dry when she woke up so Kevin put her on the potty and voila! The 2 times she’s done it have been with him, so I’m still waiting to see it. They move up to their new class the first week in January and they start potty training in there, so I guess we are heading in that direction. Totally blows my mind that we are about to head into that adventure with 2!

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20091210SantaAtStAngelos#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20091212DinnerParty#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20091213PaulS5thBirthdayParty#