An O'Hare Christmas

  

I know I have said this before but I love reliving my childhood through my own children.  I love starting traditions and remembering the old ones. My mom's house is complete chaos Christmas morning. My sister and her family come over, and one person hands out presents. In about 10 minutes everyone is happy and hyper with large stacks of unopened or opened gifts in front of them. It makes me smile thinking of how happy this must have made my mom feel every year having so many children in her home every year. After the mad chaos of unwrapping all the gifts we would have homemade cinnamon rolls, sausage and orange juice then a BIG dinner again that night with everyone usually with ham or turkey. Kevin's house is completely different than what mine was. Less chaotic and the present opening is usually done in the late afternoon and it is usually very peaceful. I'm sure when Kevin was a child it was a little bit more like the chaos in my own house, but as adults this is what its like. I love that everyone has a different way they like to do things, and that is why for me I want to take a little bit of my family and a little bit of Kevin's family and make our very own.

The days leading up till Christmas were almost unbearable for me. I kept asking Kevin if the kids could open up one present, and his answer the same every time....no, no, no. He is such a scrooge. We spent Christmas Eve getting ready for dinner and for Christmas Day so we wouldn't have to do anything but play with the kids. After Jack woke up from his nap we opened 2 presents from Mom and Dad. Brecken got a Little Tykes mailbox and Jackson 6 cars from the Cars 2 movie and the DVD. We watched the movie, fed Santa's reindeer, and set out milk and cookies. It wasn't exactly as magical as I dreamed up in my head, but I'm sure the subsequent years will have a little bit more excitement. After the kids were asleep and dreaming of sugar plums I'm sure, Kevin and I ate the most amazing meal I have ever had. Prime rib, balsamic and bacon glazed asparagus, potatoes Au gratin and trifle for dessert. It was all from scratch and the best part about it was it took less then 30 minutes to prepare and make. Okay the trifle took a little bit longer, and poor Kevin sat over a stove for about 45 minutes stirring the custard that morning!!  We opened a bottle of wine that we purchased in Italy a few years ago.  It was the FIRST time I had ever tasted wine that we bought from there because as some may remember I was 7 months pregnant when we went. We had a pleasant night being "Sansa" (as Jack calls him) and remembering what it was like for me as a child on Christmas Eve. 

Christmas morning was sweet. Jack woke up around 7:30AM and the first things out of his mouth were Santa eat cookies and milk? Buddy bye byes?  (Buddy is our elf and he went back to the North Pole until next Christmas). We went downstairs and when he saw the 60 inch bear sitting in front of the Christmas tree he immediately got down and sat on him but then got right back up because he wanted his snack and milk. But once we got him opening presents we were finished in about 1 1/2 hours. It was not overwhelming as I thought it was going to be for Jackson, however Brecken was INTO everything. I'm afraid we have another paper eater on our hands. My favorite memory of the morning was Kevin singing into Jackson's stand up microphone Blue Christmas by Elvis and Jackson laying on the bear with his hands under his chin watching Kevin lovingly. Kevin and I were laughing so hard we were crying and before I could get the camera Jack got up and started running in circles and falling. But Kevin and I both will remember that look forever. I'm so happy to have made such great memories such as that one. He was so in love and in awe with Kevin singing. It was the best CHRISTMAS ever.

We ended our beautiful day with our friends Michelle and Brian who were sweet enough to have us over for a feast (I had two helpings of EVERYTHING) and the best cocktail that has ever laid on my lips. Cherry mojitos!!! Yum yum!

All in all we had such an amazing day but I will say there is something to be said about your extended family. We so missed our families. It would have been really nice to share our day with the ones we love the most but we made the best of what we had in front of us as we always do.



Jackson singing lollipop lollipop on his new microphone.
(if you get this via email you will not be able to view the videos unless you go directly to the blog!)





Boxing day came, and I went shopping for some more Christmas decorations (like I need more)... It was SO MUCH FUN and I found amazing deals. I'm so excited to decorate for next Christmas. When I finally returned home I put all the new stuff in boxes and well one thing lead to another and my whole house was packed up. Kevin was annoyed that I put everything away so quickly. Jackson cried when he saw that the tree was gone, and he just kept pointed to where it had been and crying "back mama, back".  I guess I know what NOT to do next year. So now my house is naked and I am feeling refreshed as we enjoy the last few days of 2011. What a year it has been and I can't wait to reach my goals for the next year. As always I know that this year will be better than the year before.

Jackson playing with Brecken's new toy and singing his ABC's!!



                Brecken needs corrective lenses so we decided to try out couple different styles.....



Creating stress

This kid makes my morning, day and night.

About 4 years ago my girlfriend Holly had hosted a ornament exchange, and even though I knew no one at the party I had a ton of fun. Since then I have always wanted to host one of my own, and this year I finally buckled down and did it. We had a cookie and ornament exchange, and to my surprise even though it was in the middle of the week I had a full house. Kevin and I perfected my candy cane martini,  nailed out the menu and made up our left/right game for the ornament exchange by personalizing it  with who was going to be at the party.  That Kevin..he sure is a big help and a great poet. :)  I was fortunate enough to have my girlfriend Melissa come over a few hours early to help me. I was thinking that she would be helping me drink some martinis before the party, but what actually happened is I put her to work. I swear I would have never gotten any food served if it was not for her. Thank you Mel!  Getting ready for any kind of party with two children is almost impossible, and in the midst of it I wonder why I do this to myself. It is so stressful!! Kevin sat upstairs with the boys, but once Jack heard the commotion downstairs there was no way he was hiding out. He is such a charmer and wanted to be in the middle of the action, which I can't blame him with all the pretty ladies that were around.  So we  had bungee corded the doors shut so he would stay up there with Kevin, and the look of his face was a bit heartbreaking that I almost changed my mind. But as you ladies know sometimes we all just need some GIRL time.  But when everything was said and done I had a blast laughing and being silly with my girlfriends, eating way too many sweets and taking straight vodka shots (whose idea was that anyway???)  that I hope to do this every year!!

This was the ornament I exchanged. I made it out of sparkly modge podge and newspaper (obviously) . I loved it but when I showed it to Kevin he thought it was hideous. So lucky or unlucky for Lindsay, she is the one who ended up with it. :)

Last year we had a progressive dinner with our friends here in the neighborhood. At the 1st house we did drinks and appetizers, 2nd house was the main course dinner and 3rd house was desserts and after dinner drinks. It was so much fun we decided to do it again this year but with a little bit of a twist. We added one more house AND decided just to do an appetizer, drink and dessert at each house. We started at 3PM, and it ended about 11PM. It went by so quickly, and even though I had some (or a lot of )  alcohol I did not even get a buzz... I guess that it what happens when you finally get the kids settled and yourself at one house then to turn around and get everyone back into the car to the next house. Exhausting but exciting. With my love for Christmas and Holiday decor one of my favorite things  to do is see everyone's houses all decorated. Everyone has a different style, but its all very beautifully done. I feel like Christmas just makes everything a little bit more cozy. We were the last house this year, and we really got to try out our new bar that Kevin built. It was the first time that we had all the adults in one room and the toddlers in the playroom and they actually stayed there. There was no fighting, no whining, no nothing. They just played hard while we drank and laughed.  We succeeded in what we wanted this tradition to be about.  Getting friends together over the Holiday and really enjoying ourselves. We left this year's annual get together with some inside jokes and well some more inside jokes. Thank you Jack for your never ending bathroom drama and for Caleb's accomplice in it, Brian for not knowing how to pour his own drink out of the keg or make it stop and Natasha's absolute LOVE for some homemade cranberry lime vodka.....I guess you had to be there for any of this to be funny but I assure you I will be laughing about all of these for years.  Thank you Michelle for all these wonderful pictures you took!!

Brian, Scott and Kevin at Bar O'Hare

Jack, Lera and Teagan...Lucky guy.

Here we go! All the toddlers.

One of my all time favorite pictures of Isla and Michelle. Both stunning!

Scott, Brian, Kevin and Dave

Shanna, Natasha, Michelle and Me

Natasha and sweet Brecki.

You may think these are burgers but you would be wrong. They are all dessert. I can not tell you exactly what is what but I am still amazed about these wonderful treats that Dave and Shanna whipped up. I know for sure the "bun" is sugar cookie.

Tired Brecki.

This week we ventured out to see the spectacular singing bears. I have heard so much about them, and I thought Jack would LOVE it.  It was an  animatronic orchestra (robotic bears). We left thinking we would get there a bit early maybe to get a coffee and not be rushed. Needless to say it was an absolute disaster trying to get there. Driving there was not the issue for me which is unusual because this is why these sorts of events are usually a disaster for me.  The problem was that the building I wanted to get to was connected to about 5 other buildings and I had NO clue where to go AND I had my mega monster double stroller AND there were no elevators, just stairs. At one point I called Kevin and yelled at him. Why? I don't know.  It makes me feel better to act like its his fault that I'm stressed out and lost. He must really love me because I wonder what I would do if the tables were turned. Probably not answer the phone. :) I have to tell you this because its actually quite funny now.  When I got to my first set of stairs I was completely dumbfounded.  #1.  I couldn't believe I was going to be late and  #2. How was I going to get my sit and stand stroller down these stairs. I asked two elderly ladies how to work a handicap elevator that was next to the stairs. They had no clue, but luckily one of the nice ladies offered and helped me carry my stroller down the first flight of stairs. I was really very nervous that she was going to fall backwards and 911 would be called. So at my second flight of stairs I decided to take Jack and Brecken out...fold up my stroller carry Brecken in one arm and my stroller in the other and have Jack running in front or behind me while we went up and down probably 3 more flights of stairs. I was so overwhelmed and stressed when I got to my friends at the singing bears I wanted to cry but instead I swore I would NEVER be doing this again. But after seeing Jack, Molly, Bethany, Breck and Landon love on this absolutely unforgettable orchestra I know I will be doing this again and again..I will just be better prepared and without a stroller.

Me and Brecki

Leah and Landon!

I LOVE this hat of his.

My sweet little Molly.

Jackson made a girlfriend...well he actually made a few friends up there. This kid is NOT shy.

THE SINGING BEARS!!

Its begining to look a lot like Christmas!

Santa Baby

Our house has been transformed. There is nothing like a string of Christmas lights to make your house instantly feel cozy and warm. I LOVE sitting on the sofa with all the lights off, drinking hot cocoa/tea or a glass of wine and taking it all in. It's one of my happiest times of the year. Since Thanksgiving came and went I have been busy on pinterest getting plenty of NEW decorating ideas for the house, and I love what I have found!

Here are some of my favorite things that I have created, and I must add these pictures just do not do any of them justice!

I have four of these going up my staircase! I used real holly in there. :)

Kitchen island.

My dining room. I used the same centerpiece as I did for Thanksgiving.

Christmas Card holder! Yes I made this. Plywood, paint, burlap, clothespins and a decal.

My breakfast table. I loved this centerpiece. Mason jars and candles with salt. Love it!

To start the month off we were invited to an Elves Breakfast! My friend Michelle did an amazing job on such a memorable event for our children. The idea behind all of it was introducing the "Elf on the Shelf." She hosted the breakfast, and the kids played their little hearts out. Everyone got to wear their pajamas, and the children had hot cocoa and the adults mimosas along with a unforgettable delicious breakfast! Michelle sent the kids home with a cute reindeer cup that was like a snow globe, reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve and cute little socks. It was a sweet morning to introduce our Elf, Buddy (Thanks Aunt Dumpy!) and ever since then he has been watching over Jackson and Brecken and making sure they have been nice and magically moving from place to place during the night.

Buddy

The next generation of playmates! Liam, Isla and Breck.

Isn't my friend Shanna gorgeous!! I think so!

This weekend we made a special trip for Jackson and Breck to see Santa. We went to the winery that is close to our house, and a friend of ours was actually the one in the Santa suit!! Jackson was unsure of him, but to our surprise he sat there for about 5 minutes without looking at Santa once but we at least got some proof that he did actually sit there. When you ask Jackson what he would like for Christmas his response is "Money's!!" Does he even know what money's is?? :) What a crack up.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus! Our friends Brandi and Mike.

Sweetest picture ever! I love this and will treasure forEVER!

This is our first family picture with the four of us. Sad I know. Its too bad Kevin has a blanket strapped on and the Bjorn, and we all have our jackets on!! But I still love it.

We ended our weekend with a Christmas brunch at our friends house that has been much over due! My girlfriend Melissa and I have been through a lot together. We used to carpool and work together, got pregnant at the same time, got laid off at the same time and we lived just minutes from each other. In the last year and a half we moved and then she moved a little bit further away. So we are now living 35-40 minutes away from each other and on top of  the kids in school, we barely see each other :(...So the kids reunited today and played hard and the adults drank, ate and talked about everything and nothing at all. I can't believe how much all the kids have grown. I've known her children since they were born and now Kaden is starting Kindergarten next year! Crazy how fast life can be.

This makes my heart melt.

Our first year with putting lights on the house. Nothing specatular by any means and I understand why some people just DON'T go through the trouble. What a chore!

My beautiful Brecken. I love him so much I had to sneak this picture in.

Thanks for reading!! 

Lets talk Milestones.

Jackson and Brecken have been giving us many surprises these past few months. We are now having conversations with Jack, and we really get to see what is going on in that little mind of his. It's so much fun to talk to him. Kevin and I are laughing a lot these days. He says things like "I eat eat babies. Nooooo... I eat eat mamas....Noooo....I eat eat lollipops".  It's like he is telling a joke. 

Conversation example:   Mommy "Jackson, Santa is watching you." Jackson "I nice. I hit. I hit Santa." Mommy "No Jackson that is not nice. We don't hit." Jackson "I hit mama". He is such a nut. We have this exact conversation 1005 times a day. 

He is also such a great mimic. Jackson had the pleasure of helping daddy with cleaning up the leaves in our yard and came across 3 black snakes hidden in them. The first one Kevin did nothing about but the next two he decided he should get rid of. He of course took a rock and did the deed....But it was right in front of my innocent Jack. Now its burned into his memory and he is scarred for life because most days he wakes up and tells me about it. He says snake...rock...unn unnn (sounds of smashing the snake). Pleasant I know. 

I am happy to report he is starting to learn his ABC's and counting to 10.  He will even sing along with us as we sing the ABC song.  He usually gets sidetracked after C, but he may chime in with a P, S, or X later in the song if he feels like it.  He always gets Z though and follows it up with a clap and a "yay".  Getting a puzzel of the ABC's from his grandma has been a big help. Thanks G-ma! No surprise that he is repeating EVERYTHING we say like a parrot. Sometimes it's good, other times it is not so good. I'm working on correcting my "not so good" language as we speak.  In the car today he non-stopped talked all the way home about the playdate he had just had. SO cute!  He is talking so much, and it makes us very happy to see all this progress. His speech therapist said he reached his goals 2 months ago but we will probably ride out the entire six months of him going. We should be done in February. I can't wait. It will be nice to have Monday and Friday's not to get out of the house at a certain time.

He also is now potty trained!! Or is at least most definitely not wearing diapers anymore. Not to say he does not have an accident here or there, but we can even leave the house and not have any accidents. BIG step. He only wears them for naps and bedtime.  He does not like to wear underwear because I think it feels to much like a diaper, and he will mess them immediatley and the first time he went to school without anything on the teacher was shocked and thought they lost his underwear. :) YIKES! Our little commando boy. They also mentioned to me that he just took his pants off because he had to go and well I guess the class saw his goods! Oops. :) My friend Barb did the exact same process of potty training, and it worked really well for them. So far so good for us too. Thank you Barb and Leyton for paving the way to this new crazy world of potties. The accidents he does have are always a little humorous. For example....while on dad's shoulders he has peed....Or he has pooed in front of several friends and since Jackson does not wear underwear at this point, it litterly rolled down his pants and onto the floor. Not once, not twice but three times. The very same day Jackson had these two accidents Brecken had a major blowout to were his daddy had to give him a bath. Poor Kevin. Three times in one day. But the best thing about it all is Kevin did not complain at all. He is so great. But let me tell you....you would think that I would have less clean up with no more diapers. Yeah right. The toilet's are completely covered in pee as well as the floor, the wall and my furniture that is in the bathroom. I definitely have more work to do to keep the house clean now. But I'm not complaining...really I am not. Jackson is so good now I don't even have to ask him if he has to go at home. He uses the potty by himself. Although I now have to check the toliet and the floor before I can use the bathroom...I wonder if this will ever change though. :)

Baby Brecken is also reaching some milestones! Lets talk about milestone #1, crawling. The last TWO months this boy has miraculously been getting around. He was sort of crawling and sort of just falling on his face while doing the plank and sort of grabbing the carpet and pulling himself around. Now he is full force crawling. Just yesterday I noticed that he is really trying to pull himself up, and twice today he pulled himself up on toys. Ahhhh....Here we go. It won't be long before he is running circles around the house with his big brother.

Milestone #2....TALKING...Brecken's first word is Da da. He says it all day long. I love hearing this little voice come out. Except for that lately is been a little less vocal since he lost his voice which will lead me into us working on milestone #3...

Milestone #3....Sleep training. YUCK YUCK YUCK!! I hate this so much. It makes me sick to my stomach listening to my babies cry. The ferber method is what we try to use and it worked with Jackson eventually. We started Brecken on Monday and its just getting worse....Not better. Which leads me to believe that not all methods are for every baby. We will see where this weeks leads me and hopefully not just to the liquor cabinet.

Illness, 1/2 marathon and Thanksgiving OH MY!

Croup....Wisdom teeth extraction.....1/2 marathon......Thanksgiving....... This is what the month of November looked like and in a blink of an eye here we are on December 4th watching the elf in our home move to a different place to each night. I can not believe Brecken is 6 months. I can not believe that Jackson is somewhat potty trained and I can not believe that I STILL after working like a mad woman on laundry this week have 4 loads left to do. How is it possible to go through this many clothes in a few days??? Oh wait.  Maybe because Brecken and Jackson both have wet the bed 3 times this week. I feel like they are in cahoot's together. Brecken pees or poos through every single PJ we have. We will never get to sell them to a consignment store. Jackson is still having accidents so that there explains itself. I have a never-ending fight with the laundry and I lose every single time. It just doesn't seem fair.

Isn't Davis just the cutest!! BFF's!

Helping daddy

Jackson came down with croup, which seems like forever ago except we are all still having the after affects of a cough/cold/runny nose. Those of you who have seen your kids have croup or even RSV know the scary feeling of your child struggling to breathe. Its horrible and I hope that I will never have to do this again. Jack woke up from his nap one afternoon and he couldn't breathe. He was grasping for air and grabbing his throat. Me always being calm and collective when something is wrong hysterically call my friend Shanna who lives in my neighborhood and I have never seen anyone move so fast. I think she was at my house scooping Brecken up in her car before I hung up the phone with her. It was a relief to know I have that kind of support. I truly have amazing friends. I rushed Jack to the Urgent Care for them to tell me they couldn't do anything for him and that I would have to wait this awful thing out. But the very next day Jackson had to have a steroid shot and after about 12 hours he almost got it all out of his system. I was just happy he wasn't waking up every hour during the night because he couldn't breathe. I would run to his room as fast as I could, hold him, settle him down, take him to by bedroom bathroom and turn on the shower and steam us in there. When he was somewhat sleeping again I put him back into his bed where he would say "bye bye mommy". It all just tore me up.  Thankfully Brecken just got a cold, but unfortunately he still has it.

Well no surprise here that I was not such a warrior getting my wisdom teeth taken out. I know that its really about 50/50 if you have a good experience or not. I was not able to take my pain killers because I am still nursing Brecken. The day I got home it was kind of comical because Jack knew I was in the bedroom resting and I would hear him try to open the door (but it was locked) and say mama..mama...mama...and then Kevin took a picture of him laying by the door just waiting for me. Silly kid. And of course this had to happen the same week that Jack got croup. It was eventful that is for sure. I was most definitely in a lot of pain but am happy to report that I feel pretty good now. It literally took over 3 weeks for me to feel better.

Of course 2 days after my wisdom teeth was Kevin's big race. He runs this half marathon every year since I've lived here and I have actually run it twice. I had really wanted to go to watch Kevin but also to watch my friend B who was also running and who had never run a 1/2 marathon. I was bummed when I really did not feel up to much of anything and dealing with two children for 2 hours while the race went on was something that did not appeal to me in my state of mind so I opted to stay home. Kevin ran great. It was not his best time, but definitely not his worst. B also did an amazing job and I am so proud of her because I know what a big accomplishment it is. Maybe someday I will be running this race with them.

Thanksgiving was a very memorable time. Kevin and I were so excited when just a few weeks before Thanksgiving we heard that Kevin's sister, parents and family from Wales were all going to be here sharing the holiday with us and the boys. The moment I heard this I tried to stock up on pumpkins. I didn't realize that if you didn't buy your pumpkins in October you will probably be S.O.L once November gets here. Really I could not find any pumpkins or gourds anywhere... I wanted to make it so special and beautiful for Kevin's entire family so I got to work pinteresting collecting millions of decorating ideas.



 Loved my pine cone turkeys!! My acorns were a big hit too. I also loved that we had mason jars as our water glasses.

(Mini vanilla wafer, Hersey's kiss and butterscotch chocolate chip = acorn)

 Jackson made this for us at school. Too too cute!!

Kid's table!

They all came in on Monday/Tuesday and the kegs were gone by Wednesday. Okay only one keg was gone but that is still an accomplishment. I got to witness one of the absolute most beautiful reunions between Kevin's dad and his cousin Teresa. The joy and tears on their faces is burned into my memory. Family is so important to them and they don't even need to say it to have it be known.  I love that I was there to share in it all. Jackson has never met Bill and Teresa before because they live in Wales and Kevin and I have actually not seen them since our wedding over 5 years ago. When they finally arrived on Tuesday evening we geared up Jackson and we were all sitting on our front porch waiting for them. It was chilly and Jack of course had no shoes on or jacket for that matter. We told him to run down and get them when they pulled up and when he did I heard a blood curdling scream come out of his mouth. He was frightened by Bill. He ran around the car excited but the moment he caught a glimpse of Bill he was so scared!!  I'm assuming he thought he was going to see someone familiar. It was hilarious. We were all sick from laughing so hard. He warmed up to Bill quickly though and became the best of friends as they both have a love for soccer or Jack says "kick the ball".  It warms my heart when I see a grown man trulyy love on my baby. Bill and Teresa are some of the most friendly, sweet, loving people I have ever met and I was so sad to see them go. They have promised to come back in May when they go on "holiday" again. We are counting the days down.

Thanksgiving morning Kevin slaved in the kitchen all morning. Colleen jumped into help at about 11 and the food was ridiculously delicious. My mouth is salivating thinking of the world famous brussels sprouts Colleen made and the sausage stuffing that Kevin whipped up. I married into the right family for food that is for sure!!  We had SO. MUCH. FOOD!! We had the pleasure of one of our favorite family's join us. Brain and Michelle are just so sweet and so much fun and their daughters Teagan and Isla are some of the prettiest little girls I have ever laid eyes on and we are so happy to have them in our lives and to share this holiday with us. Teagan and Jackson of course act like siblings but we did manage to get a few drinks in between refereeing. Unfortunately our evening ended with Kevin becoming sick with pure exhaustion and finishing that keg possibly catching up to him.  So to end our Thanksgiving thankfulness it took almost 2 hours to clean up but lucky for me my mother-in-law was there to help me (I think Kevin faked being sick to get out of helping). 

We shared our Christmas with Kevin's family before they left as we won't be spending Christmas Day together. I caught a glimpse of what it was going to be like Christmas morning. One completely overwhelmed 2-year-old is what I will have. It was very sweet as it always is when we have Christmas together except I did not get a chance to sit and drink my wine since I was corralling Jackson. I will definitely miss them this year as I will miss my very own family. One of the downfalls for living 100's of miles away.

As my laundry is still piled high and my carpets still stained with the goodness that Jackson spills on them I am thankful for having laundry to pile high and food to stain my carpet with. There was a point in my life where I didn't have much of either of those things but how quickly I forget that. I promise to try to be less stressed about those little things in life and remember how lucky I am to be where I am and be loved by so many. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and will be having stress-free holiday season ahead!!

Baby Brecken and Pa Pa (This is what Jackson started calling him)

 Hi baby Brecki!!

One of my favorites memories was Jack all cuddled up with his grandparents! Look at baby Ziki...

Teresa and Richard



 Aunt Colleen and Brecki! She could not get enough of him and I can not blame her.

Too cute!