Hooray! All better. I can continue!
We have been quite busy since Thanksgiving. It seems like there is always something that needs to be done before Christmas. The kids and I drove up to Seal Beach one day during the first week of December to visit Brett (who was up there with his ship all week) and to see Great Uncle Doug, Great Aunt Carol, and Brett's cousin Greg.
Carol was fabulous enough to take a picture of the 4 of us together, our first in over a year. Oops. We should be better about that, huh? The kids were a handful after spending two hours in a car, but we still had a great time and a VERY yummy dinner.
After Brett got home Saturday morning, we enjoyed a very lazy weekend involving Pajama Days and lots of couch snuggling.
Our babysitter, Sarah, was kind enough to help me try to get a decent picture of the kids for our Christmas card, but alas, it was not meant to be. Not a single picture of the two smiling (with a normal smile) at the same time! This was the closest we got, and wouldn't you know, it was the first picture taken.
Have you heard about Sarah? We love her. By far the BEST babysitter we have ever had. Of course, she is leaving us to chase her dreams in New York City. Isn't that always the way with the best sitters?
This last weekend was less than relaxing. Brett's Christmas party for his ship on Friday night was exciting to say the least. Even the kids were up at least 3 hours past their bedtimes eating candy and playing with the other kids. The next day, well, they were less than chipper.
We still dragged them to the USO Santa Store event, and it was completely worth it. Emily got to sit on Santa's lap for the First Time Ever. (She was too scared of him last year.) And one of the volunteers used Brett's phone to take a picture of all of us.
Two pictures of all of us in the same month?? Groundbreaking!
The kids each got a goody from Santa. In fact, Sean got a very fabulous Fisher Price phone which he was 'talking' on for the rest of the afternoon.
The main event was Emily getting to 'shop' in Santa's Store for presents for Brett and I, which she then got help wrapping. It all stays a secret until Christmas - we even had to wait for her behind a curtain, and she was ecstatic! As soon as we got home we had to 'put them up in her closet so we didn't peek!'. What a ham. While she was 'shopping', Sean got to walk around the Harley Davidson dealership (did I mention they helped sponsor the event with the USO?) and watch people starting up motorcycles. I have never heard him say, "Oooh!" so many times in one day before!
Emily is a little too obsessed with the 'naughty list'. She even went so far as to make a video of herself explaining to Santa why she should be on the 'nice list' and gave him examples of herself being good. She ended it with, "And being good is one of my favorite things to do!". If she doesn't become an artist, I see a lawyer or lobbyist in our future!
I haven't uploaded any new pictures lately, there is just not enough time! Hopefully this will keep the Grandma's at bay a little longer. You know how those Grandmas get...
