Christmas 2013

This year goes down as one of my favorites, solely because each of our Christmases were spread out and we got to spend more time at each place.

I can't call it my absolute favorite, however, because my husband doesn't get off like a normal job and I know he missed being with us... and we certainly missed him.

Nonetheless, we were blessed beyond measure, and thankful for that night in Bethlehem that allows to celebrate each year.
It was indeed a very merry Christmas.

***
We started with Christmas with Lance's mom on last Sunday::

We went to his Granny's too, but I did not take any pictures for some reason?
They had a great time there, though.
Promise.

We went to my Nana's on Christmas Eve.

Our cousin Karen, who we haven't seen since we were kids, stopped by...
it was so good to catch up!

And our home-made ornaments that we all get excited for each year, were probably my favorites yet.

We met Lance at the house after Nana's and did our best to get the boys down so that he and I could get busy.
Of course, the excitement of the night was a little too much, and that was easier said than done!

They finally gave in,
so we booby trapped the door and the hall, and got to work.

By 1:00am, Santa had left the building.

Thankfully for us, our kids sleep in...
so it was almost 9:00am before we made our mad dash into the living room.

My parents and sister made the rounds by my brother's and then our house,
and we made a big breakfast and looked through all of the kid's presents.

That afternoon we had our Christmas at mom and Dave's.
I laughed when I was getting the boys ready, because not even two years ago, I wouldn't have let character clothing through my door...
and now it (along with HOUSE SHOES) falls into the category of holiday attire, apparently?!
Second kid problems, I suppose!
Whatever.

Mom's was over the top, as always.
The boys were grateful for all of their gifts,
but I think they would tell you that their favorite part of this holiday season, was getting so many different opportunities to play with all of their cousins.

We played a hysterical game of Catch Phrase and called it a night.

Saturday we went to Meme's.
My aunt and uncle and cousins flew in from South Carolina this year, so that made it extra special!

Johnny came home with me and Lance took him hog hunting that night.
The kids and I went to stay the night at mom's and they ended up there too, some time early Saturday morning.
I had to work Saturday...
Lance and my brother had to help Dave build a building...
My kid's played until their little feet had nothing left to give!

That night we went to Azle to celebrate my dad's birthday at Mark Dean's.
Beckham was so tired that he never woke up to eat.
Once my Nana finished eating, she took over and gave my numb arm some relief.
He could care less!

This was a great holiday season...
And now I am more than ready to clean up the mess, start packing away the house, and prepare for our new beginnings of 2014.

THE BIG NEWS

Tuesday evening, I was on call.
Two friends were beeping in about their own sick kids and the pages wouldn't stop.

My pal Krisha called in between pages and I answered.

She had just got a weird call and thought she would share.

A realtor had a client looking for our specific floor plan and there was only one for sale in the ranch.
That one, has a realtor who doesn't use MLS and they had not been able to get in touch with them.

This realtor asked Krisha why we took ours off the market and if we would be willing to sell still.
Thankfully Krisha happens to be one of our friends in real life, and she cleared it with our realtor, and gave me their info.

Mind you, it is 6:00 at night--
I am on call--
wrapping paper is spread out all over my floor--
glitter wrapping paper, I will add.
...and we hadn't been home all day so the house was a mess.


This guy had another house that he was seeing for the final time in the morning, but if we cared to, she could swing him by ours first.
I didn't even ask Lance, I just told her yes!


I did my best to juggle everything-- and Lance helped me too-- and by midnight, I called it quits.

Candace dropped Audrey off at 8:00am and I went back to work!

The realtor asked me what price we were thinking and I told her what we owed and to work it backwards.
As long as I didn't pay a dime to get out, he could have it.

I spoke to her as I was pulling out of our driveway and she said that she had pulled some numbers and since we were now selling "by owner", she thought her numbers could work.

A few hours went by and I didn't hear from her.
She had told me that she would text me when they left and she didn't.

I called Lance and he asked what her email said and I told her that I never got one from her so I assumed that it just wasn't what he wanted.

Around 4:00, I went ahead and called her.
Just in case she had sent the email incorrectly, I thought I would ask.

She said, "no.  I didn't send it.  But I am about to send you another one."
"okay?"
"yes, he wants to make an offer."

WHATTT!?!
How crazy is this??!

And by the looks of it, we might actually make a little cash.
Less than $1000, but we were prepared to loose up to 2K back when we had it listed this summer.

This is HUGE!!

She said that he is a very spiritual man and the cross in our front yard (that my friend Libby's dad made for me after his daughter passed away) made him feel that he was suppose to be here.

Is this not the craziest?!?!

We signed the papers and our move out date is February 7.

I have already called Peggy and she is going to let us rent back out at the farm until we build.
It is going to be about a million hours in the car for Lance, driving that far--
but I think its a better alternative to his idea of us renting an apartment for 6 months while we figure it all out.
And it puts Maddox starting in school in Paradise.
A huge win.

I am trying to not get too excited--
since he still has 30 days to back out without losing more than $50.

I am going to get through Christmas and New Years before we start packing and taking this seriously.

I don't know why I don't want to get too excited,
honestly this is textbook for fate.

Tomorrow, Lance is going to meet me when I get off work for lunch, a movie and to finish our Christmas shopping--
and maybe try and let this be exciting.

Hello…
It wasn't even for sale!!!

That's kind of big news!

The in-betweens...

The night before our Christmas party, we kept the boys up until 1:00am at Mountasia, riding go-carts and playing laser tag for Lance's work party.

It maybe wasn't our best parenting move, but they had so much fun!

The boys stayed with my dad and step mom during our Christmas party,
and we all could have used about 30 days worth of hibernation after all of that.

Monday, I asked Lance to pick me up some tampons on his way home.
Just within the last year has he been willing to do such a task.

I laughed out loud, however, when he padded his gift with this goodness too!
...although his card was legitimately the sweetest words he has ever written.

He has gotten so much better at my love language!

Mom came that night and spent the night with me.
After a mini-panic attack on my part, realizing I had bought Beckham zero things-- She and I decided to take a midnight trip to WM.
The place was empty, and Santa successfully completed his part!

Tuesday, I had a Christmas luncheon at work.
Mom rode with me, and she and the boys had Chickfila while I ate this goodness.

We did a little shopping on the way home which 90% finished both of us up!

Wednesday was a big day.
Huge, actually....  and deserves its own post.

But I had agreed to keep Audrey so that Candace and Matt could finish their shopping before I realized how big Wednesday would be.

She is so sweet and easy and we had a lot of fun with her.
B and her are like little twins, always side-by-side-- but not really engaging just quietly playing and occasionally giggling.
Maddox is such a little parent to them both-- making sure they are having fun and directing them to the next thing.
The weather cooperated on our behalf, and we spent almost 3 hours at the park and having a picnic with each other.

It was such a great day.

We came back to the house and I thought it was still too nice to go back inside.
So, for the first time of ever,
I washed my car by hand.

I was so impressed with myself...
And the boys helped me too.

I waited until Lance got home to share the super big news--
but while on the phone trying to do that,
Maddox started screaming.

Lance hopped around the corner but the screaming didn't stop.
I was on call, and overwhelmed with all the change and really expected to see a hang nail from my little over-dramatic one, but I popped into the fiasco to see that blood was everywhere!

Apparently, he was trying to jump from his bed to inside the crib (that hasn't been used but has also not been taken down in about a year) and bit through his lip.

I called his pediatrician at home and she had me irrigate it and butterfly it.
It could have probably  used a stitch-- or at least some glue--
but she knows how swell our insurance is, and talked me out of it.

At 1:00am we had to wake him back up and re-bandage it, since it had re-opened and the bleeding wasn't stopping...
but pressure and and better bandages did the trick.
By morning it looked a lot better.

Thursday I got out of the shower to this mess.
I use "mess" loosely.
I was honestly kind of proud.

Maddox was making their second sandwich each, and even used separate knives for the PB and the J!
He is growing up.

That evening we went to Dallas Cowboy Stadium to watch the Wall Hawks play in the State Championship football game.
I cried at least 17 times--
since we were witnessing the biggest moment in a lot of the kid's lives.

They didn't win,
but it was still fun to watch.
And it was cool to be a part of something so big for my niece and nephew's little town.

Finally here's a few things that I thought I'd share:

1.  I suck at the elf.
I rarely remember him, so I am holding my breath as we round the corner on the mornings that I have forgot-- hoping that Lance helped me out...
usually he does.
The other times, I am awake at 2:00 remembering to move him-- tired and far from creative.

Ours doesn't "report back" anywhere-- or "watch the boys"...
he just does silly stuff.
I can touch ours too--
mostly because I don't like the mess hanging out all day.

2.  Beckham is officially poopoo-potty trained.
He hasn't used a diaper since the last time that I wrote about it saying that we weren't going back. (about 1 month ago)
He still prefers his baseball potty-- and usually covers his eyes to do his business--
but he has actually mastered a public potty once and has used the big potty at home a couple of times too.
Yay B!

3. Maddox is reading so well.
I get frustrated with myself that I don't work with him on it more... even once a week would be a nice goal.  But for some reason I just don't make a very good teacher.
I get disappointed with myself a lot, but make myself feel better about it by reminding myself that this is his last year to just play.
Right?!

4.  Beckham still likes to be called "Tiny".
He now tells us when things "aren't nice" to say (or do) to "tiny people".
It makes me laugh.

5.  I kept my promise to myself and have not had a stressful holiday season.
I have been weirdly relaxed, actually.
Unfortunately, my husband has taken my place and our roles of crazy have reversed a little.
Ying and yang, I suppose.
That's the way it has always been.