Christmas 2014

I'm officially on the last post for 2014: Christmas!  We went to Ohio the weekend before Christmas.  When we first got to Ohio we left the boys with my parents at Ron's, and Tim and I went out to have dinner and drinks with Darren and Erika.  It was such a nice visit, and the food was delicious!  The next day we went to our favorite Ohio place for watching the Redskins games, and the Shultz' all came to watch at least part of it with us!  Then we all went to Marleen's house for dinner and more visiting.

The next day we did some shopping and took Mom and Dad to the same restaurant Darren and Erika had taken us to!  Later we had dinner, visited, and opened presents with Dale, Paula, and M&M.

On Christmas Eve we attended church service at UCP, both boys chose to be shepherds this year.  I was pleased at how intently they paid attention to the service.

When we got home I started setting up cookies and milk for Santa, Timmy had the great idea to put out carrots for each reindeer and water for them, and Santa as well.

Then something really awesome happened while Timmy was getting ready for bed.


Poor Tyler was using the toilet when Timmy spotted Santa, luckily Tyler saw him on his way back up the pipestem!

On Christmas Morning we made the kiddos wait for us to go upstairs.  Timmy rushed up and checked to see how much Santa ate.  Tyler was dragging, he was not feeling very well.  They both waited, reasonably patiently, for Uncle Chris to arrive before starting to open gifts.

After presents and a delicious breakfast we went to Tim and Susan's.  The pictures do not show the extent of wrapping paper strewn about!

After present opening, Jenny and family went to see the Hedges, and Tyler and I went home for a nap!  We rallied in time to get back to Tim and Susan's for a delicious Christmas dinner.

The evening of December 26th, Mom and Dad arrived at our house from Ohio, and Joe came over too to open gifts.  (Tyler had been napping on the recliner before they arrived, but was wide awake within moments!)

The next day, we went to see VT play in the Military Bowl in Maryland, as part of our Christmas gift from my parents.  It was a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas in Ohio

The weekend before Christmas we went up to Ohio and got to visit with everyone.  Our first afternoon there, Ron planned to take the Shultz ladies to a paint your own pottery studio for our Christmas gift.  Peggy and Kaitlin weren't able to make it, so Darren filled in for Peggy, and made something for her, and Ron made something for Kaitlin.  It was really fun and gave us a nice chance to visit while we did our painting.

That evening Marleen had us all over for dinner and visiting and then we went up the hill to see Donny and Peggy who are both laid up.  It was a relief to see them doing as well as they are with their injuries!  And it was nice to catch up with everyone all evening.  When we got back to Ron's both kids were asleep, but they woke up for long enough to open gifts with him, without too much convincing!

The next day we went to see the renovations Darren and Erika had done to Grandma's old house.  They did such a great job, the house looks amazing.  It was really neat to see the difference especially since we knew the house so well!  From there we went to Brick House to watch the Redskins game, and Kaitlin, Darren and Erica joined us for the second half.  That evening we went to Dale and Paula's house for dinner and presents.  Their kitchen looks awesome!  They had all kinds of appetizers and desserts and the kids were in candy heaven.  We had a really nice evening of visiting and gift exchanging!

Christmas in July - Ohio

Yes, I am seriously posting last Christmas's pictures now.  When I make my blog book, they won't be this far out of chronological order! ;)  We went to Ohio for a whirlwind trip of about 2.5 days.  We did manage to see all of the Shultz' and Machak's while we were there, so it worked out well.  The night we got in we visited with Dale, Paula, Ed, and Joyce at Grandma's with my parents and Joe.

Our first day we mostly visited at Grandma's.  Tim and Timmy also got to play in the snow, and it was the most snow he ended up seeing all winter!

The next day we opened presents with my parents and Joe.

Then had a delicious lunch and fun visiting with the Shultz'.

That evening mom kept the boys and Tim and I got to go out with all of my cousins, which was a big treat!

The next morning we met the Machak's for brunch and went back to Dale and Paula's house to exchange our presents with them.  Ashley and her family even stopped by, I don't think I had seen her since I was pregnant with Timmy, and not telling anyone yet!

Timmy went to a special "store" before Christmas where he got to pick out presents for us, Tyler, and his Grandparents.  He was very excited to give everyone the gifts he picked out.

From there we went to an awesome sports bar to watch the Redskins game.  Mom and Joe came for the whole thing, and most of the Shultz' came to meet us later on.  We drove home right after the game!

Five for Friday, Weekend Recaps

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind around here lately!  We've been ridiculously busy, mostly with fun things!

1.  A few weekends ago now there was an impromptu meeting of Shultz' at my parents house!  Bobby and Valeria were in town while Bobby prepares to go back to India for work, Ron stopped by on his way to and from the beach, and Marleen hitched a ride with him and stayed to visit with us for the week.  The one day that they were all there for, we went to the National's game.  I bought the 8 tickets just hours before the game, and ended up with the best seats in the house!  (For someone bringing two kids anyways!)  We actually ended up getting the row of handicap seats, and it was amazing.  Close to the park entrance, with movable chairs and fenced in space for the kids to run around!  I didn't have to tell Tyler not to pull anyone's hair the entire game!  It was amazing.  Timmy finally agreed to take a picture with Uncle Gecko too (It's Joe)!

Tim was out of town for the weekend, visiting his cousin and doing lots of fishing.

2.  My mom and I have been talking about meeting for lunch at Reston Town Center and letting the kids play in the fountain for two years.  With their move imminent, we finally managed to make it happen last week.  The boys loved it.  Tyler spent more time pointing at the shoots of water then playing in it, but they both had a great time.  Timmy is in the neon green shirt, Tyler in the white.

3.  Timmy went to another fun birthday party last weekend, for Henry, at Frying Pan Park.  The kids got to meet a few animals up close before going on a hay ride and playing in the lawn for a while.  They really enjoyed getting to see their preschool friends and all had a blast!

4.  My birthday was last week, as I turned 31 I realized that I had been able to drink legally for 10 years, and looking forward 10 years, that Timmy would be preparing to start high school!  This does not seem proportionate, and I hope that the next decade goes a lot slower then the last!  To celebrate my birthday this year we went on a double date with the Miller's to a concert at a winery, had dinner with my family, and on my actual birthday we went to dinner with the boys where I got to open my beautiful gifts (Tiffany's wrapped in Coach!) and then went swimming for a while before going home for a surprise teeny tiny cake.

5.  Last weekend we had shave ice at a children's event Saturday morning so my parents brought the boys for us.  Timmy is the biggest fan of our shave ice!

Later in the afternoon the boys and I went to see Ice Age with my parents.  Tyler's first movie theater experience was to see Brave, which he slept through 80% of before my arm was so dead that I had to move him, then he happily watched the end.  This time, he was perfectly content, eating popcorn like a big shot, all the way through... the previews.  Then he wanted to climb the stairs, so I took him out of the theater about 10 minutes into the movie!  Luckily they gave me a refund for my ticket, and Tyler and I wandered around the theater until the sun cooled off enough for us to venture outside to another fountain.