The Christmas season starts off with our family Christmas party.   We welcomed over 50 people to our house and just had a terrific time with everyone.  Plenty of food, friends and fellowship. 

 Brett and his Fulton Wrestlers

 Guinness was perfect all night, wore her shirt and laid on the couch, waiting to be petted.

 Our family Christmas card picture

Some of the kids at our party.

Christmas Eve was celebrated with Brett's family, as has become our tradition.  We had Tonya and her family join us for dinner and then went to the early service at church.  Brett's parents came back to our house and we took our time opening presents.  The kids got some great gifts as did Brett and I.  Brett was very sweet and made sure to get nearly everything I had on my list, everything from coffee to a blender.  No jewelery, we're getting more practical now!  Sharon said she loved her Vera Bradley purse that we got her so that was a big bonus.

I had the kids call Norad's Santa Tracker throughout the day.  I could have kissed the soldier who told Matthew that kids needed to be in bed by 8:30 or it would put Santa behind on his schedule.  Well, our little man put himself to bed at 8:27 and was yelling for Kylie to get to bed too!  Brett and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and went to bed ourselves.

Christmas morning arrived early when Kylie came into our room, wide away at 5:23.  I wanted her to go back to bed but Brett, the softy that he is, let her get Matthew up so we were all downstairs by 5:30!  The kids got some great presents, they each got a DSi XL, which was their main gift.

Matthew really wanted Criss-Cross Crash. 

 Think Kylie was excited about this gift??  It's her DSi XL.

 Matthew also got a DSi XL.  These kids must have been good.

Lots of AG stuff too, Santa knows what 7 year old girls like.

After presents were opened, I made my traditional monkey bread - yummy!!  Brett and I helped open and put together the presents.  And we had plenty of time for the kids to just relax and play.  Brett even got in a run! We drove up to my parent's new house about 11:30.  I can't even explain how nice it was to only drive 20 mins on Christmas day. And to sleep in our beds every night. But still see my parents, GG and sister nearly every day. It really was ideal for our family.  

Sarah and GG were both at mom's so it was really special to spend so much time with them.  We had a delicious Christmas meal, mom outdid herself, as usual.  Then we opened some presents.  Everyone enjoyed their gifts!

 This is the look you get when you say something ridiculous.  Brett knows this look well.

Grandpa Mathews learning how to use Matthew's new toy.

 Guinness came over to Grandma's and did very well with staying off the couch.  Helped that she had a new blanket and toys.

 Sure is a lot of presents for poor people!

 Aunt Sarah is a glowing soon-to-be bride

Matthew got a new Star Wars shirt.  "Judge me by my size, do you?"

Kylie made the switch, she enjoyed getting clothes just as much as toys this year.  Sniff.

I finally got her cross-stitch finished!  Only took 18 months!

Grandma loved her  new Vera!

Matthew and Brett reading his new book from Aunt Tracy and Uncle Josh (who couldn't join us this year but were there in spirit)

GG enjoyed spending time with us and beating us in Scrabble and Wii Bowling.

Sunday morning we were back over to Kingfisher Drive for more good times.  Jack and Brenda drove up for the day/night so we had fun catching up with them.  We played some Guessitures, which Kylie loved and was pretty good at!

Kylie and Matthew got an old-school Snoopy Sno-cone Machine from Tracy and Josh.  We used it right away!

Matthew, Brett and Grandpa putting together Matthew's new Lego set from Aunt Sarah and Mike.  Matthew lost interest, Grandpa got called away so I stepped in.  It took several hours but we got it put together!

Uncle Josh helped Kylie with Guessitures.  I think this was "Afraid".

Aunt Brenda helped too.

Grandma did a good Frankenstein.

Jack and Kylie acting out "Dance".

Matthew enjoyed showing Grandpa all the cool things his DS can do.  The kid put it down only when it had to re-charge.  We now had time limits in place.

GG, Kylie and Aunt Sarah after their sleep-over on Sunday  night.

I took Mom and Sarah for a trail run on Tuesday afternoon.  We went 5 miles, a new record for Mom!

We also went shopping for flower girl and Matron of Honor dresses on Monday.  It took some time but we found the perfect dress for both Kylie and I.  Mom found a dress as well.  We'll be some good looking ladies on April 9th.

I surprised Sarah with tickets to see "Wicked" on her last night.  We had dinner at BARcelona Tapas, which was super-yummy.  Then we enjoyed a nice walk up to the theater, enjoyed the awesome show and headed home.  It was a really nice way to spend some one-on-one time with Sarah before she needed to fly home.

So, it really was a terrific Christmas season.  We got to spend time with all our loved ones, which made it very special. 



My Tiny Dancer!

Kylie danced in The Nutcracker this weekend.  It was put on by her dance studio, Curtain Call Dance Academy.  This was their 5th year.  Kylie had two parts - she was a mouse in the Battle Scene and a nymph in the Lemonade Sea. 
Practice started in September and was nearly every Saturday for several hours.  Kylie really put a lot of time into it but never complained.  She seemed to love every minute of it.  And it showed in her performance. 
I was working backstage during the second show and wearing headphones which allowed me to get directions from the director and stage hands.  While Kylie was finishing her Battle Scene, I heard the owner of the company who was working in the sound booth tell the director how cute Kylie was.  And the director said "Yes, she is.  And she's a good listener and hard worker.  She's the perfect triple play."  So nice to hear other people talk about how great your kid is!

I think Kylie's eyes were really opened to how much goes into putting on a show like this.  On our way home, she remarked that the dancers are just a little part of the show, that the director, backstage crew, parents, sound and lighting people do so much too.  It was nice to see her start to understand the bigger picture and appreciate what others are doing to make it such a good show. 
Well, enought writing about it, here are the videos!

Battle Scene

Lemonade Sea

Nutcracker Finale

Age Group Awards for me AND mom!!

Yup, couldn't be more proud of my mom. She started running this summer to lose weight and improve her cardio health.  She got hooked and let me talk her into running this small 5k today. 126 people ran/walked/rolled it (it was a fundraiser for the Indianapolis wheelchair rugby team).

Weather was perfect, low 50's and sunny. Mom took my advice and wore short sleeves and capris but was complaining at the start that she was cold. I kept assuring her that she would warm up fast. Countdown started and we were off. She wanted me to run my race and then double back to bring her in. So I did that. I can tell that I have raced in months because I was struggling pretty fast at my normal 5k RP of 7:30. So I slowed it down to 8:00 and held on to that. Finished with my worst 5k time ever, 25:18. Oh well, not bad for only putting in about 20 miles TOTAL since my marathon in September.

I turned around and jogged back up the course to find mom. Found her about 1/2 mile away and ran back with her. She was hold on to a steady pace but was working really hard, didn't want to chat at all! She finished strong with a time of 39:30! Her goal was to break 45:00!

We cooled down and enjoyed some post race apples and cookies while we waited for the awards to start. I figured I was out of awards contention since I bonked so bad and saw a few ladies pass me. Last year I had a 3rd place overall finish here and the year before won my age group so I was feeling a little bummed. But I knew there was a chance that mom could pull out an award.

So I was surprised when they called my name for 2nd place in my AG (got a key chain). But the thrill of my day was when they called my mom's name! She was so shocked that she actually jumped out of her seat. She won a pumpkin pie. But the huge smile on her face was the prize for us all.

As we were walking through the parking lot, mom was proudly holding her pie. And she asked me "Do they have 5k's in December?? Because I want to do another one right away." So I think we're doing a Jingle Bell run next month together. She's hooked.

Proud of you mom!!!