Ho ho ho!

It is so hard to believe that another Christmas has come and gone already!  I was sooo in the Christmas spirit before we went to CA and while we were there, I kept forgetting it was Christmas time. I was quickly brought back into the spirit once returning home!

We got back on Thursday the 22nd at night and on Friday the 23rd, we had a little Christmas get together with my brother and his family, who were heading down to Savannah to spend Christmas with my sister-in-law's family.  Cal wasn't opening gifts, since he would get gifts from my parents on Christmas day, but he was surprised with a BIG WHEEL!  Jackson and Catherine both got them, so Cal got his early to be able to ride with them.  He LOVES it.  It is still a little big for him, but he really had fun just scooting around on it. 

My parents had a friend of theirs dress up as Santa to  come in during family Christmas.  He made a huge entry and the kids were all excited for him-- it was very cute...

My pictures from the family Christmas stop there because Cal was on my lap terrified of Santa...again.  Sigh. Oh well!  Once this Santa handed Cal a gift, Cal gave him knuckles, but wouldn't get much closer.  Side note-- Santa gave Cal and Jackson the Hess truck and car-- huge huge huge hit!  If you have a little kid in your life who loves cars/trucks/things that make noise, go to the Hess gas station to get one for them!  I couldn't believe it-- a friend of mine wanted one for her son, who got one last year, but really wanted this year's, and she couldn't find one in the whole state--!!!!  I guess our Santa got really lucky!!! Here is a link to the truck, for those curious...

So, that was the morning of the 23rd... Eddie's parents arrived that evening after the kids went to bed, so I spent the rest of the day picking up the house, unpacking, and trying to get laundry all done. 

On Christmas Eve, we spent time around the house and Eddie and his parents did some shopping for Christmas.  Eddie's sister got in around noon.  We met up with my parents for the children's service at church at 5:30.  It is a chaotic service that is totally for the children.  I love the 8:00 candlelight service at our church, but there was no way CalBoy and Andy could have made it through that and I didn't want to have them in the nursery on Christmas Eve!

Cal walking into church with Mimi and Poppy

 All of the children are invited to the front for a reading of the story of Jesus's birth.  Cal and I went up there and after about 60 seconds, Cal was over it!  My cousin was with us in church and he decided he wanted to sit with her.  So Cal and I had to get up and crawl through everyone to walk back to our seats:

family shot after church-- can't you just see the fire in Cal's eyes??

After church, we went over to my parent's house for some food and fun.  It was SUCH a wonderful night... I felt to lucky to have both of our families together like that.  I was thrilled to be with my parents, and looking at Eddie, I could tell he was so happy to be with his parents, and we were able to do it all together, which made it so nice. 

Eddie's mom used to be a choir teacher and she still can play the piano.  She sat down at my mom's piano and played some Christmas music for us, which was so much fun!

here, Mimi, let me help you with that

yayyyyyy!

Christmas Eve was really, really special.  We all really had a nice time enjoying each other and being with family, and that's what Christmas is all about!!!

Everyone was asking what time we would be starting the fun on Christmas morning and I had no idea what to tell them.  The boys were so screwed up from the time changes from San Diego and they were beyond worn out from traveling.  The first morning back, Cal didn't get up until after 8 and Andy didn't until after 9 (he was up in the night, obviously...). 

Well, Christmas morning, both boys were wide awake fairly early.  Andy was up around 6 and Cal was up before 7.  I was supposed to call my parents to tell them to come over, but we all thought that would be closer to 8ish.  I called them at 7 and told them everyone was awake and they needed to haul it if they wanted to see anything!

I brought Andy down stairs and sat him on the floor surrounded by gifts.  He was just smiling ear to ear, happy as could be!  I wanted to be downstairs with the camera when Cal came down the stairs.  I actually really wanted to get a picture of Cal at the top of the stairs waiting to come down, but there were a few people (okay, one person...and I am married to him!), that were not patient and didn't want to wait for a picture! So Eddie was a little excited and brought Cal down the stairs.

who needs toys??

coming down the stairs!

The boys got a new wagon... well, it's Andy's wagon, but Cal thinks it's pretty amazing too!  I love this picture of them in there together.  They are just going to be best buddies...either that or they are going to do their best to throw each other out of the wagon.  Let's not think about the latter. It's Christmas, after all. 

Cal's big Santa gift this year was a Lightning McQueen bike and helmet (safety first.).  He was super excited about the bike, but he can't quite pedal just yet.  He loves to sit on it though!

A few little side note funnies that I will want to look back and remember...

1. see the adorable jammies the kids are wearing?  I told my mom that I really wanted the boys to have matching jammies for Christmas morning-- whether or not you think it's cheesy, I do not care.  I think it is super sweet.  Well, my mom found some matching and gave them to me as a surprise.  When I opened them, I noticed the scalloped neckline.  I ignored it because I was excited to have jammies for the boys, but then I noticed that the little reindeer had eyelashes...like, curly q eyelashes.  Then, upon further inspection, the reindeer had on PINK collars! hahahahaha.... yup-- these were girl pajamas!!!  We didn't care!  Those boys were going to be matching, darn it!  Look above in Cal's picture-- you can see the pink...hahahaha

2. On Christmas Eve morning, I told Eddie I didn't care what he did the whole day, but during nap time, I wanted him to take some time to assemble a few gifts.  I had ordered, shopped, wrapped, EVERYTHING, and I needed some help with the wagon, the bike and the last part of the plasma car (SUPER cool, by the way).  Eddie kept saying all day that he would do it.  Welllll.... he didn't.  So he knew, once the kids were in bed, he was on a mission to assemble those darn gifts.  Eddie and his dad set up shop in the upstairs playroom while Eddie's mom and sister helped me carry gifts down from the attic.  At 10:15, Eddie's dad came downstairs and said, "go ahead and call Target and see if they have a bike already assembled that we can buy."  I told him that they were all in boxes, so he said, "go ahead and call Target to see if they are still open.  We might be needing to buy a new bike."  HUH?!?!  Well, in their efforts to attach something to the other, they stripped one of the screws so it wouldn't attach properly.  I called Target, but of course they were closed; it was Christmas Eve!!!  Eddie hopped in the car and drove over to my dad's house to locate the necessary tools and returned to fix the bike.  The whole time this was happening, he had a sheepish grin on his face because he knew he should have done all of this earlier in the day, but he chose not to.  I never said I TOLD YOU SO... didn't have to... he knew!

3. Cal is obsessed with Lightning McQueen, as we have previously established.  We also have established that he was wearing some little girl jammies (although they were realllllly cute....).  I found the most hideous Lightning McQueen t-shirt while I was out shopping and wrapped it up for Cal.  He opened it and you would have thought it was piped in gold.  He wanted it on right that very second so he put it on on top of the jammies and then got super hot so I had to peel off the jammies under the ugly t-shirt.  He wore that t-shirt the rest of the day with pride.  And I was pretty proud too, that I gave him a gift that he didn't want to take off...

After opening presents at our house, Eddie cooked a huge breakfast on his new Big Green Egg.  He's obsessed.  We then headed over to my parents house to open gifts from them...


Cal is also obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I think I posted before if you ask him what Mickey says, Cal says "Ohhhh, tooooooodles!!!!"  It's hilarious.  My parents found this gigantic Mickey Mouse several, several months ago and have been hiding it for Cal for Christmas.  We walked in the door and Cal literally gasped, ran to Mickey, and body slammed him like it was the WWE. 

please note the non-matching socks.  Also, please note that those are Andy's. 

 He LOOOOVES his new Mickey!

Momma got some new dining room chairs-- wooohoooooo!!!  I. LOVE. THEM!  We currently do not have chairs in our dining room (whatever- work in progress), and these are AMAZING!  love love love love love!  thanks, santa!!!

When Cal walked out on the back deck of my parents house, he saw his new bounce house!  He was sooo excited about it and didn't want to get out!  The best part is, this thing collapses and folds down to fit in a bin.  Also the best part is it blows up in like 10 seconds. And the other best part (apparently, there are a lot of best parts), is it will flat WEAR out your energetic kid!  again, I. LOVE. IT!

you work that tacky t-shirt and mismatched socks, boy!

 Andy got a new chair, which is just adorable.  He loved sitting it in like a big boy.  He was giving me the cheesiest, toothless smile ever-- wide open!  He is such a happy kid and I can't help but smile when he looks at me like this:

My mom also managed to find another chair for Cal, this one a tad tackier than Andy's... yes, that's right: it is Lightning McQueen! It's hard to tell in the below picture because his shirt blends in with the chair (ahem...), but the chair is McQueen, and get this-- it even makes noise! hahahaha  Cal loves it, obviously!

By the time we finished opening gifts over at mom and dad's house, everyone was exhausted.  We headed home for a little down time/nap time.  We were going to meet back over at their house after naps for dinner.

This time, Cal found this hat in the car and realllly wanted to wear it.  okayyyyy....

Cal and Mimi being silly

 After taking a little power nap and a shower, I must say, it felt awesome to brush my hair and put on some makeup.  I was a bit of a hot mess the whole morning.

My parents have a train that goes around their tree and Cal really loves it.  I like this picture below with my dad and Cal and Andy watching it go by.  Okay, well, Andy isn't really watching it so much as sucking on his fingers staring at my dad, but kinda.... you get where I'm going with it, right?

After a fabulous meal, we headed for home to get the kids (and adults) in bed.

It was a very, very, very wonderful, special and memorable Christmas.  Just to make sure we didn't forget the reason for celebrating, we did sing happy birthday to Baby Jesus-- Cal is all about Baby Jesus lately!

I hope those of you who have read this far in this disgustingly long post had wonderful holidays.  I wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and a super happy New Year (and any other this time of year holiday I might be missing)!

Poinsettia Bowl

TCU played in the San Diego Poinsettia Bowl again this year.  We flew out on Sunday the 18th and came home the day after the game, on the 22nd.

We were up and at um early on Sunday and had to wake up the boys (Andy fell back asleep at 2:45, and the alarm went off at 3:15-- but I was too awake thinking about not missing the alarm, so I just laid there staring at the clock like a loser).  They were none too happy about us waking them up, but they were over soon.  We flew through Atlanta and on the first leg, we were in the very last row of the plane, which had a TON of leg room and the seats reclined back quite a bit.  It was a quick and fairly easy flight.   Cal did not sleep, but Andy slept for about 20 minutes.

in the Atlanta airport waiting on our second flight.  Cal was attached to my leg and Andy was all smiles. 

On our second flight, the pilot came on and said the flight time was going to be about 4 hrs and 30 mins.  I wanted to cry I was so happy-- we thought it was going to be more like 5 or 5 and a half hours-- and that little bit shaved off makes allll the difference!!!

Both boys conked out on take off-- Eddie and I were suuuper excited about it- haha.

For whatever reason, Cal is very clingy to me on an airplane.  I love that he wants me to hold him, but it makes it VERY hard when I am trying to nurse Andy!  At one point, I was nursing Andy and holding Cal with my other arm while he nestled in.  My boob was fully exposed-- whatever.  I tried to cover myself, but Cal kept knocking it off trying to get closer!  In the above picture, Cal snuggled in after I nursed and passed off Andy and he was out immediately. 

Their naps only lasted about 45 minutes, but they were both good the rest of the flight, thankfully.   Cal had his moments where he was just over it, but for the most part, they did really well.  We landed at 10:30 am since we had the time change so we headed to the hotel and we were going to go to the zoo, but we were all kind of worn out.  We played in the hotel for a while and then let everyone nap before exploring later.

Eddie's family had a huge suite with a living room/kitchen area.  They had Eddie's sisters have the adjoining room to the suite and then across the hall, Eddie and I had a room.  Andy slept in our room and Cal slept in the kitchen part of the suite in a pack n play.

Monday morning, we headed to Sea World!  I was really excited about Cal going here since he loves fish (especially Nemo!).  We had a great time seeing everything there...

a whale coming to say HI!

We came home that afternoon for a late nap.  Andy did not nap very well in the hotel; rarely sleeping over an hour so he was worn out come night time. That night at dinner, Patty was feeding him and he passed out in between bites!  That is pretty tired...

these....carrots...are...sooo...gooooodzzzzzzz....

Having a baby in a hotel room can be challenging.  Andy did really well, don't get me wrong, but it is certainly not easy!  I made a little spot for Andy with a ton of toys to keep his attention and I turned around for one second and mister rolly-polly was over here...

On game day, we had the morning free so we all walked down by the water front.  Cal was CRAZY about the boats.  The weather was just perfect and we all had a nice time walking around.  Eddie played golf this morning so he missed some pictures...

gimme a kiss

tommy, me, patty and cal, tricia, carrie and andy, and big ed

big ed and his girls with the kids!

I love these kids so so much. I can't believe I am lucky enough to be their mom.

After walking around for a while, we returned to the hotel for lunch and brief naps.  We had to wake both boys to get on the bus in time to get to the game.  As we were walking out of the hotel, Lou Holtz was standing there.  Obviously, I had to get a picture with him.  And obviously, I rambled on and on about being a huge fan of his.  His reply: "okay." haha... whatever... any college football lover knows Lou and his crazy voice.  I love him.  Also- I towered over him.  Eddie's sister and I were both really bending our knees in the picture below...

We got to the game several hours before kick and our bus was parked next to the band, cheerleaders and showgirls.  The TCU showgirls are similar to the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.  They are all suuuuper sweet and complete knockouts.  I wanted to get a picture of them with Cal so we walked over there and they all started going crazy over Cal...Cal lost it.  He burst into tears! I grabbed one quick picture of him with a few of the girls-- he wouldn't let go of his cars.  Bless his heart... his lip was sticking all the way out.  It's hard to have your nap truncated only to be thrust in the middle of some screaming ladies!

the blonde next to him was beyond sweet and felt terrible when he got upset... side note: I love it when attractive people are nice too.  It just makes me happy.  Too sappy for you??

Here we are before the game... Eddie went down on the sidelines for the game so we had to grab the family shot before.  Cal had a GREAT time cheering his heart out. 

During the pregame, Andy was in the Bjorn and spit up all down my right side.  As I was wiping myself down, he projectile spit up all down my left shoulder and down my back.  Great way to start the next 5+ hours, right?  Well..... I went to feed him right before the game started and he was about to fall asleep while I was feeding him so I strapped him back into the Bjorn so he could crash.  He slept for the entire first quarter and then started stirring in the second.  It was getting cold out and I had to pee, so I went to the bathroom with him still strapped to me (I can pee with him attached-- it's a skill).  I shifted him while I "assumed the position" and realized that my shirt front was soaked and my jeans were wet all around the waist line and half way down one thigh. 

Andy wet through his jeans, the Bjorn, and my clothes.

My backpack that I brought to the game was jam packed with diapers, snacks, sippy cups, blankets, etc, but I failed to pack a change of clothes.  So I went to change Andy and was going to hold his clothes up the the dryers in the bathroom, but they only had paper towels...!  I ran to the nearest Chargers clothing store in the stadium, fully willing to spend $30 on a pair of baby sweat pants, but they did not have any children's pants. 

SO, we stripped Andy down to his diaper and his long sleeve undershirt and jersey and wrapped him up in a blanket and he hung out through the rest of the game!  haha!

After halftime, it really started to get chilly in the stadium.  I had a real light weight cardigan and I was worried about Andy.  He started to get fussy and I knew he was tired and probably cold, so I loaded him back in the Bjorn (his fave spot) and went into the stadium where I found a little bar that wasn't heated, but the walls were blocking the wind so it wasn't as cold as sitting in the stands.  Andy was out in 30 seconds and there were about 20 TVs in there so I could still watch the game:

On the bus ride home, Cal was wanting me to hold-- sometimes I wonder if he only wants me when Andy has me, or if he actually wants me to hold him regardless....-- so I had both boys in my lap on the bus.  It was a tight fit, but the guys were happy so I was happy too!

We got back to the hotel and grabbed a quick dinner with the team and took this picture of the family:

After dinner, we were all just exhausted.  We went upstairs and I packed while the boys (all 3 of them!) slept away.  We had an early flight the next morning...

We flew through Atlanta coming home and again, the boys did really well.  Cal had a few moments on the plane where he just wanted to be a two year old, but for the most part he was great!

oh-- just because it's funny.... Cal drank a ton on the first flight... we were giving him juice, but we weren't diluting it like we do at home since it was too hard to have the juice and the water and mix it, etc.  Well, he was chugging it down since I guess it tasted so good.  Well, in the Atlanta airport, I noticed he was walking kind of funny.  Eddie picked him up and he was SOAKED.  He totally filled his diaper and soaked through his jeans.  (seriously?  I am soooo over pee).  Well, learning my lesson from the night before with Andy, I packed a change of clothes for ANDY, but not Cal.  Ugh.  So, I squeezed my two year old in to my 7 month old's pants.  Oh, yes I did.  Cal was rocking some 12 month jeans.  They barely covered his knees, but he was rocking them.  He should be thankful his brother is as big as he is! HA!

Glad we were there to see the Frogs bring home another bowl win!

'Twas the week before Christmas...

WHEW!  I have some SERIOUS catching up to do!  Prepare yourself for a series of long, overly-wordy, picture-filled posts.

Okay... I posted a video before from Cal's performance at his preschool (here) but I never posted pictures.  Here are a few fun ones from that day:

once he saw us in the audience :)

That night, our Country Club held their annual dinner with Santa.  Last year, Cal was not impressed by Santa:

We thought for sure he would be better this year.  Especially since he did so well when we saw Santa at Pullen Park (here) .  Wellll..... CalBoy was not so much a fan.  At all.

with Brad, before meeting Santa

me and my sweet boys about to walk up to Santa (all smiles still)

not a fan

cal: mommmmm........

cal: i don't like this man!  andy: he doesn't seem so bad to me

andy: yeah, he isn't that bad...look at his fluffy hair

about 20 seconds after leaving Santa-- a cookie makes everything right with the world!

brad, t, jackson and cal-- loving those bar stools!

Thursday morning, Cal had a little luncheon in his school for the holidays:

That night, I had a Christmas party to go to, and then the next morning, the boys had a play date at the park with a friend of mine and her boys.  Her oldest is 11 months older than Cal, but they play soooo well together.  It's fun to see them interact and imagine how Cal will be 11 months from right now.  Her youngest is also a boy, and he is about 3 months older than Andy...Andy is almost the same size- ha!  And they look sooo much alike.  It's kind of funny, actually-- they look like they could be twins.

You know how I've written before about picking battles with a two year old?  And how some battles are just not worth fighting?  Well, getting Cal dressed every day is beyond a challenge.  It is an all out battle.  He makes it especially difficult if the jammies from the night before involve Lightning McQueen.  On this particular morning, I just didn't have it in me to fight him.  I was stressed about getting ready to leave town, had a slight head ache from a great time at the party, and frankly, I didn't care if he wanted to look ridiculous at the park.  I dare another mother to judge me.  Bring. It.

Anyway... to make him look a little less...odd... we added a polo shirt on top of the jammy top and we were good to go to the park!

oh yes-- we popped that collar. 

 And here are Andy and Charlie swinging together.  Andy thought this was too funny!

Friday night we had a great cocktail party out and Saturday we spent the day doing laundry and packing for our trip to San Diego (post coming on that tomorrow!). We flew out Sunday morning wayyyyyyy early.  I had my alarm set for 3:15 and Andy woke up at 1 and would not go back to sleep! So I just stayed up with him...! It was such a busy week, and I feel like the time flew by. 

Time to catch up on everything!