...Busy, busy, busy...

I love this time of year! There is so much to do and being so busy has certainly made the days fly by this month. Yay! We are that much closer to Donnie's homecoming. Of course, with so much going on I have gotten a little behind on my blog. I keep telling myself it is okay, because I want my time blogging to be enjoyable and not another thing to check off of my list of to do's.

The kids had their Christmas concert earlier this month. This year Luke's Pre-K class performed a song in the concert too! I love having all of the kids at one school performing together. Katie did a pom pom routine with the band as well as singing with her class and playing the recorder!







 In the midst of the hustle and bustle of Christmas we've taken time to be thankful for good friends. Spending time together while enjoying good food and a glass of wine.

I love hearing the kids playing so nicely together while I chit chat! A little bit of peace and holiday cheer!









....and when we weren't taking time to slow down with friends, we were busy, busy, busy...christmas parties, shopping, baking, wrapping, and packing...





...and the kids favorite, opening a present

each day before flying to Texas...









...this also makes mom happy...when the kids are playing and I have a few minutes to myself...





...to sit back and relax...to see my babes being silly, to hear them laughing...I'm reminded of just how lucky I am. I know that like many other mommas, my thoughts and prayers are with those from Newtown, CT. We are reminded to hold those we love close and be thankful for everyday...







...cherish the little things..

...hold those moments close to our hearts...





...remember the true meaning of Christmas...

..And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ The Lord....

Luke 2:10-11





Merry Christmas!

...the weekend...

...I have started to type and

have retyped this post multiple times...

 

....the original title was going to be panic stricken...

 

A long story about how I lost/thought my wallet was possibly stolen....and while for about 10 hours I was truly distraught and panicked...that disaster is almost behind me...I should have new credit and debit cards in a few days, and I now have a new military id and drivers license...all that is left will be to update our online services with our new information (such a pain).  And oh by the way, I found my wallet!!  Too late bad it was after I had cancelled everything!

...The highlight of our weekend was getting a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer book delivered to us by our elf Twinkle.  He flew all the way to Afghanistan to have Donnie record this book for the kids!  We all loved it! It was wonderful to hear his voice reading to the kids! I think they listened to the book 3 times in a row before taking a break to do something else.  What a wonderful Christmas surprise!!!


 ...We continued our holiday fun with Katie's Christmas Dance Recital.  I only managed to snap this one quick picture because I was recording the dance for Donnie.  However, I only managed to record the first 4 seconds of the dance, so that didn't really go as planned... 

 ...Thankfully my friend, Jen Ulasiewicz,

takes beautiful photos...

http://www.jenu-photography.com/

...Christmas is such a joyful time of year! I love that there are so many fun things surrounding the holiday season.  We had a little more holiday fun seeing The Littlest Elf at the Lake Ontario Playhouse.  An adorable little play about the newest elf trying to find a Christmas song to sing for Santa! 

The Christmas Countdown is on...

...and it won't be long until we will be turning these blocks around and counting down the days until Daddy's home! Thank you, Heather for the perfect gift!

 

Two Hundred

...it has been 200 days since Donnie deployed...200 days since my kids (I) have got to hug their daddy...and 200 days without my best friend around...

 

I thought we would decorate our gingerbread house with exactly 200 pieces of candy to celebrate the fact the we've made it this far! That was a great idea in theory, but not so easy to do when making a gingerbread house with 3 little jokers!!!



We decorate a gingerbread house every year, and I think this is the best one yet! The kids are getting really good at putting on the icing and the candy! They even worked together on the design of the house. Too bad they already want to eat it!! 


...Christmas Spirit...

Is it really December? The weather sure didn't fell like it today! It was warm and sunny, you didn't even need a jacket with a high of 67 degrees! That never happens here!

So I took advantage of the day and decided to put up Christmas lights, because after all it IS December and we are expecting SNOW tomorrow!

I'm so of proud of myself! It was MUCH more work than it looks like from the finished picture! The kids love it and that makes it worth all my effort!


The kids were feeling the Christmas spirit too! Katie and John did a little shopping at Secret Santa's Workshop at school today. They spent the afternoon wrapping the presents they bought for each other. Of course, they didn't want to wait until Christmas to open them! So we opened a few of them before bedtime!

They were so excited for each other to open the special presents they picked out. The best part was watching the look on their faces while the other person opened the gift! They put so much thought into the little gifts they picked out. My heart was so happy and full watching my kids enjoy giving to one another!


I can feel the Christmas spirit in the air!!

...decorating...

We usually decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year was different. Like the rest of the year nothing is quite the same without Donnie.

We have always had a fake tree, but last year our pre-lit tree wouldn't light. So after stringing lights onto the tree, I decided it was time to put that tree out on the curb after Christmas. Too bad, I didn't get a new one for this year at the post Christmas sales like I planned too. And buying a new big tree just seemed like more than I can handle, so this year we will have three small trees. Katie, John, and Luke each decorated their own tree with their own ornaments, and some ornaments they made special this year. 


I tried to set back and just let them decorate their trees how they wanted. It was so very hard, and anything I suggested they didn't want to do anyway! Perhaps, I should have used some reverse psychology on them.

The finished Christmas trees...


These halls are decked, December is here,

so look who decided to come back to visit this year!

...TWINKLE...

Let it snow...

There are A LOT of things that I don't like about the snow, but I do LOVE how freshly fallen snow looks in the morning.


And I LOVE the looks on the kids faces when they are in the snow!!

 

They couldn't wait to get home from school and play in the snow! They didn't care that there wasn't enough snow to really go sledding, they found new uses for their sleds.

Lucky for them it has snowed a little everyday this week. So they have been able to spend a few afternoons in the snow before it gets too dark to play outside. It is pitch black outside by 4:45pm. Another perk of winter!

 



...all good things...

...must come to an end...and thanksgiving break did...

...but not before we got in another swim at the hotel...

...and made a quick trip to Utica's Children's Museum...

...in the first snow of the year...

...checking out really cool old toys...

...and old beds that must have been

very uncomfortable to sleep on...

...playing some light up dodge ball...



...and making a few quick flights

to Afghanistan to pick up Dad...





...and last but not least...

...a stop at the mall for a ride on the carousel...

...before heading back home...