Christmas!!
I was on Pinterest wasting time when I found a pin about writing, and how I should be writing all the time. So here I am writing in my livejournal. This counts, right? And what better thing to write about than CHRISTMAS!!! Woo!
This Christmas was a first for me. This was the first Christmas where I've been away from any extended family. It was just Andrew, Evan, Lauren, and me. Just us. No family parties to go to. It was nice in a lot of ways b/c our Christmas was really chill. But I did get a little sad when we skyped with my family, and everybody was there except for us. *sigh* But I tried not to let myself get down b/c I did have a great time with my little family.
Christmas Eve I wanted to make a delicious dinner, so I could be completely lazy on Christmas Day. Yes, those were my reasons. We decided that since we couldn't have family over, we would invite the missionaries over, instead. I'm so glad we did! They were so grateful for the food, were great company, left us with a nice message, and even put a gift under our tree for us! How sweet was that! We had crawfish fetuccine, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and rolls. And then for dessert, I went a little pie crazy... I made pecan pie, no crust coconut pie, and apple pie. Yeah, I was craving pie. Also, Andrew doesn't like "traditional" Christmas food, which is why we had crawfish, but I was going to have my traditional pies, dang it!
Sidenote: I've learned since moving here that the traditional dinner for Mexican families on Christmas is tamales. I told my young women that we always had chicken and dressing. I got blank stares.
We let the kids open up one present on Christmas Eve.
Spoiler Alert: It was pajamas.
Look how much taller Evan is than Lauren now. That kid is growing WAY too fast. I have to officially shop in the big boys section of clothes now for him. The dress clothes I bought him last year were a size 6. I had to buy him a size 8 this year. Geez louise... Oh, and Lauren was SO excited about these pajamas. She even made up a pajama dance. She was cracking me up.
Christmas morning we read Luke 2, and I let the kids put together a nativity in our bed before we opened presents.
Then, we opened presents. Duh. I videoed most of it, so we don't have a lot of pictures of opening presents, but I did take pictures of them playing with some of their toys, which I will post... NOW!
Closed-eye Evan got a big box of K'Nex! I'm pretty sure we'll regret this later when we find little pieces everywhere.
Lauren's Barbie car! (Scored that one for freeeeee from a friend!)
She's always wanting to use my lip gloss, and now she has her own!
Mommy's already been shot in the face with this. Yay. Thanks, Grandma. haha
They spent a long time putting this thing together.
New roller skates!
Andrew playing with Evan's toys... alone... :)
Evan said he didn't like this game at first b/c it was too loud! But now he likes it.
Trying out the new skates!
Evan's feet are too big for the trainer kind, so he got big kid skates. He does okay in the grass, but...
This is what he looks like on the concrete. haha
They were both being safe.
"I don't need a helmet, mom!"
He was crawling instead of skating. haha
We gave Evan our old digital camera. He loooooves it.
A picture of Evan taking a picture.
We spent most of the day in our pajamas, but we finally ventured out that evening and went to the park. The high was in the 80s that day, so we were in shorts. The next morning was 35 degrees. Laredo weather be crazy.
Here we are at the park. Well, here they are. I was taking pictures. Obviously.
My swinging buddy
He was telling me where he put his camera.
He looks suspicious...
Evan did NOT like Andrew pushing him high.
See?
I thought this shot of Andrew jumping off was cool.
He was singing pirate songs. :)
Tag!
I love watching him play with the kids.
Weeee!
It was really a great day. I wish I hadn't been so tired, though. I kept waking up thinking I heard the kids up. And before I fell asleep, I kept hearing what I thought was gunshots, but Andrew says were fireworks. I think I saw every hour on the clock that night thinking it was time to get up! Sometimes being the mom is more exciting than being the kids! haha My kids really loved Christmas this year even if we weren't with family, and that makes me happy. I asked Lauren what her favorite part was, and she said, "Seeing the butts on that movie." She was talking about Brave. haha Of all the fun things we did, she liked seeing man butts the best. She's a Pettus...
I hope everybody else had a good Christmas! Have a Happy New Year!
This Christmas was a first for me. This was the first Christmas where I've been away from any extended family. It was just Andrew, Evan, Lauren, and me. Just us. No family parties to go to. It was nice in a lot of ways b/c our Christmas was really chill. But I did get a little sad when we skyped with my family, and everybody was there except for us. *sigh* But I tried not to let myself get down b/c I did have a great time with my little family.
Christmas Eve I wanted to make a delicious dinner, so I could be completely lazy on Christmas Day. Yes, those were my reasons. We decided that since we couldn't have family over, we would invite the missionaries over, instead. I'm so glad we did! They were so grateful for the food, were great company, left us with a nice message, and even put a gift under our tree for us! How sweet was that! We had crawfish fetuccine, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and rolls. And then for dessert, I went a little pie crazy... I made pecan pie, no crust coconut pie, and apple pie. Yeah, I was craving pie. Also, Andrew doesn't like "traditional" Christmas food, which is why we had crawfish, but I was going to have my traditional pies, dang it!
Sidenote: I've learned since moving here that the traditional dinner for Mexican families on Christmas is tamales. I told my young women that we always had chicken and dressing. I got blank stares.
We let the kids open up one present on Christmas Eve.
Spoiler Alert: It was pajamas.
Look how much taller Evan is than Lauren now. That kid is growing WAY too fast. I have to officially shop in the big boys section of clothes now for him. The dress clothes I bought him last year were a size 6. I had to buy him a size 8 this year. Geez louise... Oh, and Lauren was SO excited about these pajamas. She even made up a pajama dance. She was cracking me up.
Christmas morning we read Luke 2, and I let the kids put together a nativity in our bed before we opened presents.
Then, we opened presents. Duh. I videoed most of it, so we don't have a lot of pictures of opening presents, but I did take pictures of them playing with some of their toys, which I will post... NOW!
Closed-eye Evan got a big box of K'Nex! I'm pretty sure we'll regret this later when we find little pieces everywhere.
Lauren's Barbie car! (Scored that one for freeeeee from a friend!)
She's always wanting to use my lip gloss, and now she has her own!
Mommy's already been shot in the face with this. Yay. Thanks, Grandma. haha
They spent a long time putting this thing together.
New roller skates!
Andrew playing with Evan's toys... alone... :)
Evan said he didn't like this game at first b/c it was too loud! But now he likes it.
Trying out the new skates!
Evan's feet are too big for the trainer kind, so he got big kid skates. He does okay in the grass, but...
This is what he looks like on the concrete. haha
They were both being safe.
"I don't need a helmet, mom!"
He was crawling instead of skating. haha
We gave Evan our old digital camera. He loooooves it.
A picture of Evan taking a picture.
We spent most of the day in our pajamas, but we finally ventured out that evening and went to the park. The high was in the 80s that day, so we were in shorts. The next morning was 35 degrees. Laredo weather be crazy.
Here we are at the park. Well, here they are. I was taking pictures. Obviously.
My swinging buddy
He was telling me where he put his camera.
He looks suspicious...
Evan did NOT like Andrew pushing him high.
See?
I thought this shot of Andrew jumping off was cool.
He was singing pirate songs. :)
Tag!
I love watching him play with the kids.
Weeee!
It was really a great day. I wish I hadn't been so tired, though. I kept waking up thinking I heard the kids up. And before I fell asleep, I kept hearing what I thought was gunshots, but Andrew says were fireworks. I think I saw every hour on the clock that night thinking it was time to get up! Sometimes being the mom is more exciting than being the kids! haha My kids really loved Christmas this year even if we weren't with family, and that makes me happy. I asked Lauren what her favorite part was, and she said, "Seeing the butts on that movie." She was talking about Brave. haha Of all the fun things we did, she liked seeing man butts the best. She's a Pettus...
I hope everybody else had a good Christmas! Have a Happy New Year!