Welcome to my life..my family..my world..unedited.

Christmas Day was nearly perfect around here. The boys were excited and happy (Preston was more excited than I’ve ever seen him – it was fantastic!!).  We spent the day playing with presents, putting together Legos (ow, my fingers), and napping / relaxing. We cooked up a traditional turkey dinner and had a nice meal.
By far, the best presents the boys got were their new iPods.  They are loving the FaceTime feature and Matt and I were getting a big kick out of playing Connect Four from across the room from each other.
I received some charms for my pandora bracelet, some of those awesome tech-geek friendly gloves (so I can use my phone without freezing my fingers off!), a gift card and by far, the best gift?  A SIGNED copy of The Beauty of Different by Karen Walrond .  It’s been a long time since I was so touched by a gift that tears sprung to my eyes.  Not only is the book AMAZING, but to have it signed? Pure awesome by Mike. He definitely would win the best gift prize this year – you know, if we gave those out.
It was a lovely, relaxing, very nice …

My favorite thing about the holidays is giving gifts.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to receive as well, but I honestly love to give.  Finding the right gift for each person on my list isn’t stressful, it’s fun. There is nothing better than seeing a look of pure joy and excitement on the face of someone as they open a present.  I like finding things out of the ordinary; things that are unexpected.
The trick to this is always keeping my eyes open for potential gifts.  For example, I was at Borders one day and there was an author I’d never heard of signing books.  I glanced, smiled and walked by.  I made my purchases and then walked out of the store, when I saw the sign for the author in the window. He was signing a book he wrote about a house he grew up in that was haunted.  It was a local story and sounded kind of spooky – absolutely perfect for someone I know who loves all things Halloween and scary.
For the kids in my life, I always try to come up with something fun and sightly educational. Arts, crafts, science projects are all big winners (thankfully).
My …

I was going to say it goes without saying, but I guess being grateful shouldn’t ever go without saying.
Today was a quiet Thanksgiving at our house. Normally we have nearly 20 people here – lots of noise, laughter, good-natured teasing – the whole family thing.  We do it casual around here; food, football, comfort.  This year, it was just me, Mike and the kids plus my mom, dad and step-parents. 8 of us, total.  We actually ate at the table for the first time in years.  My brother was at his in-laws, my cousins gathered in Virginia, my other cousins and their parents at their house, Mike’s parents and sister at their house. We all kind of split up this year and I’m afraid it was more of a change, not a one time deal.  That said, I’m grateful that we didn’t have to travel, that we still had a great meal and a nice day  (but I sure missed having more of our family around).
I am absurdly thankful for my amazing husband and best friend who is also a fabulous father.  There aren’t enough words to express my gratitude for my boys – in the midst of craziness, issues …

One of my favorite pictures from Easter Sunday.

Last year we discovered a less crowded, more laid back place to visit Santa and decided to go again this year.  When we walked into the museum, we realized right away that they moved Santa to the front area (which, aside from basically advertising him being there, was a good thing – near bathrooms, more organized). We got into line right away, with promises to visit the Lego Castle display right after seeing the big man.
The boys were good waiting, although they hesitated walking up to him. Matt actually said “I wrote him a letter, I don’t need to tell him”. HUH?
Anyway, we got our pictures, the boys warmed up a little, and then we headed to the Legos.  To be honest, I was disappointed.  When they were hyping a Lego Castle Adventure, I was imagining a LIFE SIZE Lego castle that we could walk through. Don’t get me wrong – they had awesome Lego castles – but I was expecting MORE. BIGGER.  And according to other people around, I wasn’t the only one.  The boys liked it, though, and our museum tradition continues.
While we were putting Matt’s letter to Santa, the letter on top caught my eye and made …