Christmas time is over

A lot of you may still have some Christmas's to celebrate, we even have one left in January with my side of the family.  But for the most part, Christmas time is over and I have to admit I'm a little sad.  I think about having to put away my decorations and part of me frowns because I have to mess with getting the bins down and putting it all away and the other part of me frowns because I won't be able to light my Christmas tree or the outside of my house anymore.  Bentley has even grown accustom to the ritual of turning the lights on at dusk.  Christmas tree lights make me....happy.  They are very relaxing to me and I love nothing more than to turn off my lights and sit by the light of the tree!  But that time has come that I must take them down and wait for next year.
We had the opportunity to host two Christmases this year, both for Curt's sides of the family.  While I'm not as good of a host as my mother, I'd have to say both went very smooth and went off with a bang!  I've decided that I may not mind having load of people in my house.  Curt and I seemed to work very well as a team and cleaned up after everyone as soon as the last one hit the door.  Out home is back to 'normal' (or as normal as one can get with a two year old in the house).  I even was sweeping and mopping after everyone left, I AM my mother's child.  It was so nice to have everyone together in one room so everyone could enjoy and converse with each other.  So I'd like to share with you some things that I learned from hosting a large group of people:

     I learned that I should not set expectations before people get here as far as where people would sit/play, where the food would go, etc. because no matter what it won't go as you planned it, and that's okay.

     I learned that I might want to invest in a larger garbage can, or get more trash bags before hosting such a large group, we ran out of trash space and it just kept piling up and we had quite the mess.

     Such a small space can get VERY loud with 30 people in it.

     No matter how much time, how many days, you spend cleaning before a large party, you will STILL find dust/cobwebs/dirt.  I was in shock that I still found this considering how much time Curt and I spent cleaning and reorganizing the house the whole month of December.

All in all I was very please with Curt and my hosting abilities and was surprised how well things went.  We also had Christmas over at my mothers on Christmas day and as always that went very well too.  My mom and Aunt Connie provided all the food, which was a little odd to me come time to pack up my house and leave because I didn't have a side dish to worry about.  Mom thought it would be helpful for Angie and I not to have to worry about cooking anything so we could spend the morning enjoying Christmas with our little ones.  It was indeed a nice load off, but still felt strange not contributing like we always have since we had been out on our own.  We have one more Christmas left and that's when all my VanHoosen side of the family get together.  We have begun getting together at AmericInn and swimming with eating snack type foods.  We have a rather large family so we have out grown anyone's house really, so having it at the hotel that my cousin works at works for us.

I hope everyone had a wonderful time with Christmas this year, and made many memories for Christmases to come.  

SWW

So What that I have only remembered to write SWW because my wonderful friend Sabrina kindly reminded me!  I only have 2 and a half hours left of SWW so I better have gotten started!

So what that I made a big to do about us not getting snow and it's currently falling faster than I'd expected.  I always get a kick out of how the news stations make a huge thing about ALL THIS SNOW/RAIN we are going to get and to PREPARE yourself for the BIG STORM!!!! and then 90% of the time they are dead WRONG!!!

So what that I just now realized Christmas is 6 days away.  I have 92% of my shopping done, all I have been focused on is cleaning for our Christmas guest both Monday and Wednesday nights, I'm trying not to think about it because I don't find it's necessary to stress around the holidays, it's such a downer.

So what that I now get excited for the advertiser to come so I can check out the coupon deals and to see what I can buy just to get more cents off my next fill on gas!

So what that yesterday I put my son in his crib in the afternoon just because I couldn't take his whining anymore.  He's been sick and far to clingy for the things I need to do around the house!  I know, I know I sound and feel like a horrible mother, but apparently he needed a break to because he didn't make a peep and I thought he was asleep but when I went to go check on him about 15 minutes later, he was playing with his feet seeming to be happy!

So what that I haven't planned on what I'm making for Christmas dinner with my family or with Curt's family. There's still PLENTY of time....lol.

Well that's all I've got for tonight, until next time friends!!  Night Night

SWW

So here I sit while watching my carpets get clean and what better time to invoke on my So What Wednesday!

So what that my whole house is tore up because my husband thought that EVERY SINGLE INCH of carpet needed to be clean.  Therefore the living room is in the kitchen and the bedrooms are in the bathroom.

So what that I don't have a single gift wrapped, they are all bought.

So what that I went to give blood this morning and I didn't have anything to drink or eat before going, I just barely passed the iron level of being allowed to give blood, and I lifted heavy items merely 4 hours after, which is not recommended.   

So what that I have invited my entire in law side of the family over for Christmas, and we barely have room for our own family.  I do have "stupid" written across my forehead.  But on the side note, it will be nice to have everyone so nice a cozy in one place on one of the best holidays of the year, after all Christmas is a time for family and togetherness.

So what that our bank account should be in the red but thanks to over protection accounts, it saved me.  Oh and so what that I'm still going out with the girls tonight for supper to La Cabana, I may just drink my supper instead!

So what that I spent 20 dollars on a bottle of wine last night at the restaurant   It was the best darn wine I've ever tasted!!!

So what that I have had to come back to this post because my son woke up with a fever of 101 and I've been playing doctor all afternoon long.  He seems to be doing okay energy wise but can't see to keep the fever down.  Oh the joys of winter sickness.

So what that the last entry in my blog was from two weeks ago So What Wednesday, I'm a busy lady folks.

So what that my husband bought all his own Christmas gifts this year and I get to get surprised by all mine, He is our families Santa this year (also he has a little bit of a shopping problem).

SO WHAT WEDNESDAY???

A friend of mine started this after seeing a fellow blogger start this, so I've decided I'll try to do it too!  So here it goes.....

So what that it's 3:30 and I'm just eating lunch because I'd rather get rest when my son is sleeping than eat something.  

So what the only thing I have to wear lately is T-Shirts and Sweat Shirts, there's only a few nice shirts in my closet that fit me and I refused to yet again buy clothes because ONE of these days I'm going to start a diet! 

So what that we do not have a lot of groceries to make 'meals' with, but most of our Christmas Shopping is DONE!!! 

So what that having my nephew, Drayton over makes me really stressed and not want to have another baby, I love him anyway and he is no troubles at all.  

So what I ate five pieces of Breakfast pizza this morning, I was hungry.  Plus I'll be starting a diet SOME day remember?!?! 

So what if I keep saying that "one of these days I'm going to go on a diet", maybe one of these days I actually will! lol 


Well there ya have it that's it for today, hope you enjoy!

Thankful

So, here I sit realizing that November is pretty much gone, like in three days done, over.  I can not believe how fast that month flew by.  I feel like I haven't been that busy to not notice a whole month has gone by, but it has.  I have been reading and trying to keep up with everyone that has participated in the 30 days of Thankfulness post on face book and my fellow bloggers.  While reading these there were moments that I felt different emotions.  Guilty - that I wasn't participating to let others know that I too have many things to be thankful for.  Jealous - that others seem to be so organized to post everyday for 30 days or try to at least.  Happy - to see so many of my friends be so thankful for what they have and not dwell on the things they don't.  Sad - that truly while some of us have so much to be thankful for there are many out there that are much less fortunate than us.
With that said, here is a little of what I have to be thankful for - First and for most, I'm thankful that I have found a husband that accepts me for who I am.  He takes my crap when I'm crabby, shares in my joy when I'm giddy, understands me enough and cares enough to go the extra step because he knows I care about certain things the way I do.  I'm thankful for my son Bentley.  Man  I look back and can't even think of what life would be without him.  I remember when I first got pregnant I was TERRIFIED beyond belief.  I cried so hard that I shocked Curt and made him even scared.  I worried that I wasn't ready, questioned if I even was ready, I sometimes felt selfish and didn't want to have a little human to look after.  But now Today I'm so thankful that he was brought into my life for he has brought so much into it.  He has taught me what true patience is, he tests me EVERYDAY to limits I didn't know I had, and has brought so my joy to Curt and my lives.  I am thankful for my mom and my DAD, Betty and REGAN!  Though my family is special I wouldn't want it any other way.  Both of these people are as selfless as they come.  They go out of their way to take care of me and my family and I am so grateful for them both.  I am also thankful for my Mother-in-law, I couldn't have it better in cases of "in-laws".  She has truly taken me in as one of her own and I am so thankful for her for that.  I am also thankful for the rest of my family, sisters, brother, sister-in-law, brother in-law!  We are a close family and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I feel like I could go on and on.
Recently I lost a cousin who died at a rather young age, 46.  He passed away due to a blood clot in his chest.  This was such devastating news to me and our whole family.  All I could think about is the wonderful family, wife and three kids, and EVERYONE else, that he had left behind so suddenly.  No warning, no good-bye, absolutely no closer.  It really got me think about how precious life is and that we all need to live each day like it's our last.  We need to TELL our loved ones we love them and not just assume they already know, we need to make sure that each day we have lived our day so that at the end of it we can look back and smile, instead of being grumpy, angry, jealous, or desperate for need of something else.  Because you just never know when it will be your last.  So ask yourselves this, have I lived my day like its my last?  
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and was able to enjoy it to the fullest.  I sure hope I can someone slow time down so December doesn't go by so quickly for me!    
  

Adventure Land

So I lied in my post that not much happened in July, I forgot that my mom and dad took us all to Adventureland, minus Curt plus Aunt Connie. We went the week after 4th of July and boy was it fun. I forgot all the things that there is to do for little kids. Bentley had a blast, in fact he threw his first visual fit I've seen him throw when he got of the semi-trucks and wanted to ride them again. In a way it was pretty cute.

Libbie was such a big help with him riding the rides, I was so proud of her. She made sure he was staying safe and having fun. He road the lady bugs, the tea cups, the balloons, there was so much the list just goes on.

He had so much fun he even got tired enough to take a nap in his stroller for over an hour. I was pretty impressed by this because it rarely happens. It was a great day with family and we hope next time that Daddy gets to come along. He had to miss out because he had to work.

Bentley 2012

Here are some pictures I found that I had the idea of posting. These all were around his birthday so they are from awhile ago. Pretty self explanatory enjoy!