Parents, a princess and a pirate

Hello 2010!

We survived and managed to really enjoy our Christmas and New Years this year, which we always do. We started off with Christmas Eve at our house. I swear that I didn't sit down most of that day - cooking, cleaning, final wrapping, keeping the kids busy, laundry..... all that stuff that my mom did every year - don't know how she did it! Brett got home about 1:00 but had to work from home the afternoon. Dick and Sharon came over about 4:00 so we started opening presents about then. The kids enjoyed it, Matthew really liked opening the presents but wanted to play with everything in between opening. Kylie got a lot of things for her AG doll, which is good because she really plays a lot with Kirsten. I got a new heart rate monitor watch, socks, and some money from D&S. Brett surprised me with 2 pairs of boots, socks and we bought each other a new laptop (!!). Kylie made me a beautiful blue and silver bracelet (Thanks Mrs. Moore!) that she was so proud of. I will treasure it always. She made Brett a penguin snow measuring stick.

After presents, we ate dinner. Tonya and her two sons, Cody and Casey, joined us. We had too much food, but that's to be expected for us. After dinner, we headed up to church for Christmas Eve service, which was a little disappointing - downer music. Then home and put the kids to bed. We got to bed late ourselves.

Christmas morning was memorable and special. Kids got up about 8:00, Kylie first who wanted to come right downstairs but I sent her back up to get Brett and Matthew. Matthew loved his Batcave, that could have been his only present and he would have been fine with it. Kylie kept saying "I got a million presents!!" She was surprised by her MP3 player, loved her clothes and other gifts. We enjoyed some monkey bread for brunch. Kylie had been acting a little off, said her stomach was hurting because she slept on it all night (??). And just like I would have at her age, once she ate a sugary breakfast, she got sick. But after that, she was fine, just worried that we wouldn't go to Chicago since she was sick - nah, we just grabbed some bags and head out.

The drive was quick until the last 30 mins but we arrived safely and that's the main thing. Josh and Tracy had gotten there on Wednesday, GG had been there for a week or so already too. Sarah and Mike weren't able to join us this year but we missed them for sure. We ate a yummy dinner and then opened tons of presents. Matthew took a break from opening presents to pee, in the training potty which was in the living room (!!) so we got a laugh from that. Mom and Dad gave GG a piece of artwork that had her entire family's name spelled out using Scrabble letters. So perfect for her. Mom and dad were very generous by giving me a check to start my racing bike fund. They also got me a necklace and earring set of a woman running - love it.

Matthew got several new Wii games so everyone enjoyed playing those. GG is quite the bowler, she beat me a few times and Kylie likes playing with her as well. We did some sledding, Matthew didn't like the snow much, it was so deep that he couldn't walk easily in it. There was a good 4 inches on the ground but the snow kept coming - about 10-12 inches in total. Kylie really enjoyed the snow. Brett and I got in a good 5 mile run outside in the snow. We were early in the morning, plows hadn't made it through yet. It was actually a lot of fun - slow going only 10 min miles but enjoyable to run together. We actually got turned around and lost but found our footprints and followed those home. Good thing we found them, another 10 mins and they would have been either covered by the snow or by the snow plow!

We stayed until Monday morning and then drove home. It was good to get back in the early afternoon so we could unwind, unpack. We were all pretty worn out but enjoyed our Christmas. So worn out that Matthew fell asleep at the table at Texas Roadhouse on Tuesday evening.

New Year's Eve is Sharon's b-day so we met up with her for lunch. That afternoon we met up with Lynk, Nancy and Alex at the Embassy Suites hotel for our NYE celebration. The hotel really did it up well - balloon drop and free champagne at midnight, open bar and munchies for 2 hours in the evening, DJ and dancing till 2:00. Everyone around us was friendly so we talked to many people. The kids ran laps around the floor - it was an open 8 story atrium so they could run in circles while we watched. Brett and Lynk enjoyed the sauce a little too much, Brett passed out about 10:30 followed by Lynk at 11:15 or so. Nancy and I took care of them and then took the kids downstairs to watch the balloon drop, which was pretty neat, very, very crowded on the floor area. We finally got up to the room, got everyone to bed and probably fell asleep about 2:00. But everyone slept in until 10 so it was ok. Breakfast was included too.

Next we head to the Children's Museum for a few hours of fun. Lynk and Nancy joined us as well. The kids play well together even with the age difference. After the CM, we headed home for much needed naps! Kylie is spending the night at our neighbor, Marissa's house, this evening.

Can't believe it's 2010. See ya, 2009. I'm ready to see what the new year will bring for us!