Christmas 2012 - My last Christmas as a single lady!!

Christmas was great.

My parents were in town. Mom was WAAAAYY more behaved than last year. Bee wasn't so tense because since J is gone, we have a spare bedroom....with a tv...and they could go up to their room and watch their shows and we could relax and not always feel like we were "entertaining". I don't know if they just had other things, or if Grandma Bee was trying to give us "time" with my family, but none of Bee's family came to Christmas. However, mine sure did ha!

My sister pretty much spent all of her time leading up to Christmas at my house. THAT was a little stressful, but still nowhere near as bad as it was last year. The kids were way spoiled. Bee was way spoiled. I think it was a success. Later, my brother and nieces came over and we spent our time just being. Enjoying everyone. I know next year my parents won't be here, but I hope we can still find a way to give the kids the awesome gift of family time.

His much coveted Steeler's Jersey!!

Old Man Winter..

New Bike! New Bike!

Sammy is excited...

C got me a thermal cushion for when we sit in the bleachers for their games. Sammy decided it's now his

Jessica kissing Bella. That's my nephew in her belly :)

Santa came to visit!!

On the Sunday before Christmas, my sister's boyfriend came to pick her up from my house around 8pm. He had been at his family Christmas Party that my sister wasn't invited to (LOOOONGG Story). Anyway, he pulled into the driveway, and then so did something else! A few minutes later, in walked...

SANTA!!! And Mrs. Claus!!!

Bee's been EXTRA good :)

Mither's Turn!

Mrs. Claus grabbing Nick's Boob

Poppy's been good!

He said he had heard that C and little man had been good, and wanted to personally come tell him how great they have been! We all got a turn on Santa's lap and a candy cane for good measure! What a great surprise!

Bachalorette Party - Girls (and one guy) just wanna have fun :)

I know you aren't really supposed to take and or post pictures of a Bachalorette party, but mine was fun...and mostly innocent ha!

We went out on 12/15/2012 to celebrate. I grew up and lived on the opposite side of town than I live now and when I met Bee, I still lived on that side of town. BFF Rose and I used to frequent the same three bars all of the time, so as my Maid of Honor, she felt a bar crawl to those same three bars was in order ;) My friend D came out with me and my friend Nan and my brother and future sister in law came out too. We were a small band of rebels, but it was still an AWESOME time. And, my head didn't hurt too bad the next day ;) BFF Rose even put us up for the night and got her 20 (21 in 4 days after my party!) to be our DD for the night. All bases were covered! She even made me a sash! All the bars were just as I had remembered them with the exception of the first. New management had taken over about the time I met Bee and stopped going there. When we showed up that night, all dressed in our Penis Regalia, ready to booze it up and paaarrttaayy, we walked in to see that it had turned into a bar for the more...ahem...mature crowd. We found  70ish year olds listening to a live brass band... Meh...we still made it work for us ;)

Being the only boy in the party that night, my brother took some abuse...I love him more for that!

I can ALWAYS find a fellow Steelers Fan

I have no idea who's male hand with ring that is next to my brother (My brother has the USMC tattoo)

Nancy, Donna, Me, and BFF Rose

The rings!

Our Wedding Rings (and my engagement ring)!!

Deck the halls 2012

Friday after Thanksgiving is when my family would always deck the halls for Christmas. In the past 4 years, I've had to wait until the following Monday because my kids were gone. Not this year!!

After C got back from her CAP event, we got to work. It made it extra exciting because it meant it was that much closer to when my mom and dad got there, which would mean Christmas and the wedding were that much closer! :)

I love decking the halls, but have always hated the decorating the tree part. Not that I hate it, but I hate doing it haha! It makes me pleased as punch that my kids LOVE that part. So, we drag it all in, I set up the tree, and they decorate it while I hang the stockings and place everything in it's place! :) Then it really feels like the start of the Holiday!

Talkin' Turkey

Thanksgiving 2012 was kind of special. It was the first time ever that I got to spend it with my kids. :) The grandparents of doom asked for the kids that week. However, Little Man was supposed to have another  football tournament so they didn't go. The Tournament got canceled due to lack of interest and the kids ended up going over to the Grandparents house on Saturday. More on that later...

Anyway, it started out being dinner for 2, and ended up being dinner for 7!! T and Mr. Jones joined us later for dessert. It ended up being one of my most favoritest days that year :) Above all, the highlight of the day was in the morning...

Along with getting to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us for the first time in 4 years, my kids also got to do something they thought they would never get to do. Play an actual game of football with their dad! As it turned out, it ended up being against their dad. But that's ok. I think they liked that idea better :)

It was a hard fought game. In the end the white team (team with my kids on it) won. The weather was beautiful too! All 59 degrees of it! Even though it was warmer out than most Thanksgivings, Little Man would tell you the best part was the hot chocolate....and beating dad of course ;)

Later, Grandma Bee stopped over and we all stuffed ourselves full of Thanksgiving finery :) 

The next day, C had a Civil Air Patrol event to go to. She was going to be serving Thanksgiving dinner at the Salvation Army. Civil Air Patrol is a civilian program that teaches kids/adults all about flying. It also is a auxiliary of the Air Force and is often deployed locally for search and rescue when people are lost in the woods or their planes go down! C is hoping to use CAP to get her pilots license (It's free if you are in CAP) by the time she is 14 and then go to the Air Academy for College! 

Plus, it's right up her alley - She loves helping those less fortunate than herself :D

Saturday, they went to their grandparents house. Grandma took them to see Wreck it Ralph which made me upset because Bee and I were planning on doing that the next weekend. Also, she managed to get into a car accident with my kids in her car. From what I am told (by C), it was a very small one. But they were still rear-ended, and insurance information was exchanged, as well as Grandma S felt the need to post it on Facebook, yet no call was made to us. Nor, was it mentioned to us when the kids were dropped off. Now I see why their daughter turned out to be such an awesome parent (insert eye roll here).

Anyway, it was a very special holiday for us, and I really hope we can repeat it next year in the same way!

January Blogging

So, it's already been two months since I blogged last. I'm sorry to anyone who still actually reads this. I work full time, I'm a mom, A sports mom at that, and I decided to plan and throw a wedding in a 6 month block of time that also is normally my busiest time of year.

Planning and thinking ahead has always been my strong suit...

Anyway, I'm here. :) I'm also married now woot, woot! :)

My personal New Year's resolution is to blog more. I like the history here. I like to go back and read things from two years ago to see how much we have all changed. It's also a record book for my family :) I doubt anyone still reads this (not that there were more than 3 of you before...) but I don't mind. Maybe some new people will come on board!

So, getting down to business..

What's been going on? Well, I'm glad you asked! :)

(stay tuned!)