Christmas, New Year's, & Other Shananigans

Well, I know it seems like I fell off the face of the earth, but I'm still here!  This month has been very busy for my family, so I will try to catch you up on some of the fun stuff we have done.  Unfortunately, I have been really bad at taking pictures-at Christmas of all times!

Cub Scouts
I took Ben to his December Cub Scout meeting, which was a lot of fun.  First, we sang Christmas carols and passed out Christmas cards at a nursing home.  Ben had never been to one before, so I gave him some info. on the way.  I explained to him that nursing homes tend to have a distinct smell:  gravy, mixed with urine.  I also told him that there would be a lot of elderly people who look like they are dead, but rest-assured, they are not.  To my surprise, the place did not smell of gravy or urine.  We did see a lot of people sleeping with their mouths wide open (no teeth, of course), which always freaked me out when I was a kid!  He was a little nervous, but he did very well.  We had a talk about getting old and having to go in a nursing home, to which he replied, "I would take care of you and Daddy."  I thought that was very sweet...

Singing some carols 

After the Christmas carols, we went back for pizza and a "sock ball fight."  I was completely unaware of what a sock ball fight was, but I quickly learned!  Basically, you wad up socks into a ball shape, and hurl them at each other for about 15 minutes.  The Scoutmaster made sure to inform the boys that parents were "legal targets."  The boys got all excited & started laughing and pointing at their parents.  What they didn't realize, is that we (the parents) have been looking for an excuse to throw things at them for a loooooonnngg time and we had FINALLY gotten permission!!!!  You should have seen it...all of that pent-up aggression coming out.  The kids were laughing-until they turned to look at their parents, who stood stone-faced, hurling one sock ball after another, like an automatic pitching machine.  I plan on attending the sock ball fight every year!!!!  ;)  

School Christmas Party

I was fortunate enough to be able to help out in Ben's class for his Christmas party.  It was very cute!  Again, I was in charge of the snack table.  It was my job to pass out pretzel rings and Little Debbie Snacks.  I might not be able to be at the snack table in the future, 'cause I let the kids eat as much as they wanted and the teacher looked worried. 

my sweet little boy!

My Family Christmas
We spent the Saturday before Christmas at my parent's house celebrating with my side of the family.  It was a great time spent together, but always seems to go by too quickly.  We eat way too much food and then exchange $5 second-hand or funny gifts.  I love seeing how the family is growing more and more every year.  Next year will be even bigger!

The Cincinnati Cousins (minus Tyler)

Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas Eve at Heather's church (Eastside Christian Church) for a candlelight service.  They always do such a great job.  We enjoy spending Christmas Eve focusing on the real meaning of Christmas-Jesus!

That night, we came home and prepared for Christmas morning.  Ben woke up at 1:30 in the morning (when Mark and I were going to bed) asking if Santa had come yet.  He did not stop asking if he could go downstairs and check until 5:30 in the morning.  Apparently, he did go down to check, and after sizing up boxes, figured out he (and Lauren) had gotten the gift he had been wanting for over a year-a Nintendo Wii.  Lauren was very excited this Christmas, although I can't imagine her waking up early to open gifts.  She loves her sleep so much that when I woke her up and asked if she wanted to see if Santa came, she shook her head, "No" and rolled back over.  Every gift she opened, she said, "Ooooh, this is just what I wanted!" 

Besides the Wii, Mark and I broke down and bought Ben a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey (Troy Polamalu), which pained us greatly.  For those of you who don't know, the Steelers are the biggest rivals of the Bengals.  He has liked the Steelers ever since he knew how much we disliked them!  Ugh.  Mark and I joke that Ben is going to grow up to be a liberal democrat just to spite us.  ;)  We've done a lot of thinking about this, and we're trying to set up a life lesson with something as simple as a sports team.  We are trying to show him that he is allowed to have his own opinions; things like football teams, clothing styles, music taste, politics, etc. are up to him to decide what he likes and dislikes.  Hopefully, if we do our job right, he will know that there is no arguing with one thing-God.  There is no question that He exists, no question that Jesus is His son, and no question about the Bible being the true word of God.  He is beginning to ask questions about Christianity, lately.  I just hope I can give him the right answers that are biblically based and will lead him to want to grow closer to God.  He is so precious to me, this is the most important thing I can do for him as his mom!  


ANOTHER Bengals Game!

My dad won tickets to the Bengals vs. Chargers game on December 26th, and Mark's cousin gave Mark his season ticket seats, so my dad, Mark, Ben, and I all got to go to the game together!  It was soooo much fun!  I loved showing Ben downtown Cincinnati, the stadium, and all of the people that come out to watch the games (Ben asked if he could wear his new jersey, we told him it was in his best interest not to...).  Dad won Club seats, so we enjoyed a great view and an indoor eating area where we could go to get warm.  I managed to sneak Mark and Ben into the Club level (since there were plenty of unused seats!).  I think he became more of a Bengals fan after watching a game in person vs. on TV.

Enjoying our $20 snack

My favorite part of the whole day was getting to spend some time hangin' with my Dad.  He is so much fun to be around-we always see the craziest stuff when we're together!  We have so many great memories, but this one will be one I cherish for a long time to come!  Oh yeah, the Bengals won 34-20 in one of the best games of the season!

The men bundled up-it was 24 degrees and snowing!

Da Bengals

New Year's Celebration

For New Year's Eve, we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Cazadores, then came back to our house and played games.  This year, we made a rule that every adult was to pick a song to dance to on the Wii game Just Dance 2.  Much to our surprise, my Dad was the winner!  

Dad dancing to Wham's Wake Me Up Before You Go Go

The Judges

We played Wii bowling and tennis, watched the ball drop on Times Square, made some noise outside, and just hung out and talked.  We talked about 2010 and what we look forward to in 2011.  Looking back, 2010 was a pretty good year for me.  I look forward to getting to my goal weight in 2011 and going on a family vacation to a beach.  I haven't been on vacation since 2008, I think I'm due!