I meant to sit down and upload a mess of photos from Christmas. I really did. I managed to get them onto Facebook but never quite made time to load them onto the blog. So, you will have to settle for a quick description of our holidays.
Carlos, took the week prior to Christmas off. It was nice to have him home. I managed to get lots of stuff done around the house and I was able to check off several errands that had been waiting for me. I also got to take lots of naps, which was wonderful! This pregnancy really knocked me flat with morning sickness and exhaustion, so it was so nice to curl up each afternoon and snooze for an hour or so. It didn't make the sickies go away but it did make me feel a bit more able to handle the rest of the day.
One thing I had wanted to accomplish was to bake and decorate cookies with the kids. We have made sugar cookies and decorated them every year and it's a memory I really treasure. I was on the look out for a new sugar cookie recipe since our old stand by was failing to impress anyone anymore. I found one that sounded good so we went with it. I made lots of dough because my girls always want to decorate lots of cookies. We ran into two problems....the first problem was that the girls weren't really interested in decorating more than a half dozen cookies each! What? Annie and Megan have, I guess, become too old to really enjoy cookie decorating. Lily worked like a trooper but even she got bored after awhile. In the end, it ended up being Carlos and I decorating umpteen cookies with sprinkles and sugar crystals. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I started the whole cookie experience that morning. The second problem we ran into was that in the end, the cookies weren't that great. What a bummer! So, we had tons of blah tasting cookies that the kids didn't even really enjoy decorating. I learned my lesson though. Next year I am going with the old stand by recipe and only making a dozen or so cookies.
Christmas Day was actually quite relaxing in our house. The kids all loved the toys they received and they stayed busy on their own for most of the day. Carlos and I lolled around on the couch and watched holiday movies while munching on blah cookies. :) I made roast beef for dinner and that was that. So, what did the kids end up getting?
Annie ~ Lego sets, Zoobles, Squinkies and some board games.
Meg ~ Barbies, Rollerblades, Shrinky Dinks and some board games.
Lily ~ Princess & the Frog items, My Little Pony Mermaid castle, Melissa & Doug mailbox and some DVDs.
Noah ~ Tonka truck, Sing-a-ma-jigs, Race track for his cars and some new books to chew on.
There were more gifts from family and friends as well. So, our kids were quite blessed this year and we are very grateful.
We spent New Year's Eve at home this year. It was just our family. I had been upset because I was concerned about watching the ball drop in NYC, which I have done every year of my life! You see, we no longer have TV....that means we didn't get to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, any of my beloved Steelers games and things aren't looking so hot for watching the Super Bowl either! I did a bit of internet research and found a live webcast of NYC and the festivities so I did manage to watch the ball drop at midnight! The girls watched it with me. They were fairly grossed out by all the kissing happening on the TV. :)
Our family is looking forward to 2011! We are excited to celebrate Noah's 2nd birthday, Lily's 4th birthday, Meg's 7th birthday and Annie's 9th birthday! We are biting our nails in anticipation of welcoming Baby #5 sometime in July! We have several little projects around the house we are planning to tackle and we are just looking forward to being together as a family. So, we wish you and your's a wonderful 2011!
**By the way, I apologize for not sending out Christmas cards this year. It is the first year since we have been married that I didn't. However, I spent most of December feeling lousy and I just wasn't up to it. I hope you understand. We did LOVE receiving cards from all of you though and I promise to send out cards in 2011!
