Christmas 2014

We hosted Christmas at our house this year, and we had my Mom and Dad, brother Tyler, and grandparents in town.  It was a full house, but it was wonderful to be surrounded by family.  Frank took off two entire weeks from work, and I was off Dec. 24-27 and Dec. 31-January 4, so we got in A LOT of great quality family time and time with the kids.  Frank built lots of fires in our "wood room" fireplace.  I never realized that a wood-burning fireplace was important to me, but it is one of my favorite features of our new house.  

On Christmas Eve, about 30 minutes before my family was scheduled to arrive, Frankie was riding his bike outside when he crashed into one of our iron gates and hurt his privates.  It was purple and bleeding, and Frankie was screaming in pain, so Frank decided to take him to the ER.  I took Lily to church with my family, and we met Frank and Frankie back at the house afterward.  Luckily, he was okay.  We all headed to Allison and Steve's house after church for a big lasagna feast.  We let the kids open a couple of presents over there, and they had a great time.  I continued the tradition of giving the kids Christmas pjs, a new Christmas book, and a Christmas movie on Christmas eve.  We headed home to put some cookies and milk out for Santa and sprinkle some reindeer food on the front lawn.  Frankie was SO EXCITED for Santa this year, and I was very nervous that he was going to wake up and hear us setting out the gifts.  But, he was out like a light and did not wake up until after 7:00 the next morning.  I actually woke up at 6:00 a.m. and could not go back to sleep, so I made myself a cup of coffee and sat out in the living room, just enjoying the magic of our beautiful tree on Christmas morning.

We opened all the presents--play dough and frozen stuff for Frankie and baby dolls and accessories for Lily.  Both kids also got new ipads.  Frank and I didn't get each other anything big this year, because we had just bought a new sectional, coffee table, and big TV for our living room.  We did give ourselves a new gym membership, and I bought Frank some rainbow colored George Bush socks he wanted!  He and my parents both gave me yoga pants, and they were both the wrong size.  But luckily I was able to exchange them both without any trouble.  

Frank and I decided to change things up and cooked a beef tenderloin and ham this year instead of turkey.  The beef was so amazing.  Frank is truly an amazing cook, and he did such a great job with the beef and ham.  I cooked all the side dishes, and his entrees were far superior to mine :)  I am much better at dessert than the main course.  But this year, I managed to mess up dessert too.  I had ordered a cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes for our dessert, and then I forgot to go pick it up on Christmas Eve!  So, we got it for my birthday instead.  

I love Christmas for the time spent with family.  I love the decorating, the anticipation, and I especially love experiencing Christmas through the eyes of our children.  I am hoping they appreciate the true meaning of Christmas more than the material nature of it.  We are so blessed to be able to give our children so much, but I don't ever want them to take any of it for granted.  

Thanksgiving blessings

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Houston, and Frankie led off the Thanksgiving feast with a wonderful prayer song.  This Thanksgiving, I am so blessed and so thankful for my wonderful family, my gorgeous, sweet, and sassy children, my amazing new home, my wonderful job and fantastic boss and co-workers, and the health of everyone in my family.  We get so bogged down in the day-to-day stress of life, kids, work, and bills, and sometimes it is hard to remember how truly blessed we are.  I am going to try to make a specific effort each and every day to take time to remember how lucky and grateful I am.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving:

Dallas Half Marathon

In case you were wondering, no I have not abandoned my blog!  I have just been so busy living life that I have not had time or energy to document it.  Back in the beginning of December, my Dad and I ran the Dallas half marathon.  We had trained for it in 2013, and I trained super diligently, only to have the race cancelled at the last minute due to ice.  I was so bummed, because I was really ready for that race.  This year, with the move, job change, and other life craziness, I never got into training.  In fact, I had only run a handful of times ALL YEAR.  My Dad and I went on a "long run" of 5.5 miles over Thanksgiving, and it was pretty easy, so I was hoping I could manage the half marathon.  And I did!  I am amazed that I was able to finish.  We ran pretty slow, but we beat our goal of 2 hours and 30 minutes (I think we finished in 2:28).  Last year when I trained my goal was 2 hours, but I knew there was no way that was going to happen this year.  It was really nice running with my Dad, and we pushed each other to do better.  I wanted to quit and walk around miles 7-8, and he pulled me through.  When he was exhausted around mile 10, I told him we had to get it together and run the rest of the way.  And we did!  I was exhausted and my legs/feet were so so so super sore the next few days, but I was really proud that we ran and finished!  It was a very cool father/daughter accomplishment.