Our Family Christmas 2014

Instead of posting 10 different times about our Christmas experience, Im going to cram it into one amazingly long post because that's how I roll these days!!

I haven't mentioned this much, but Ive recently started working again, just a few hours a week. I went back to my fave employers ever, Opeco! So, as little as I work, they still let me come to the Holiday Party this year! It's always at Remington Park, and such a great time! 

Megan and I

Sommer, Liz, Megan and I - Love these gals!

My fave boss!!

Im a lucky girl

The boys loved meeting Santa this year! Both were so excited and told him what they wanted!!

Tommy the Elf came back to see the boys again! He brought lots of fun surprises, and created some mischief to keep them entertained! I love how much they love waking up to find him every day. 

I love our house EVERY day of the week! But I love it 10 times more during Christmas! All of the garland and trees, and lights inside and out...ahhhhhh!!! Makes me smile! Here's a look at our decorating skills, and I think the boys were GREAT helpers this year! 

A cute pic of Crew with his friends at school on Jammie day! 

Our family went looking at Christmas lights this year, and we had a wonderful time all together! The kids enjoyed the lights so much, and of course loved spending the evening having snacks and drinks in a limo!

Love my little man

Christmas Eve and Christmas day were busy but such a blast! I feel like I didn't get enough pics of our time at Nana and Papas, or maybe I misplaced them, but either way, here's a small recap of all our Christmas celebrations with family!

Nana's boy 

Nana and Papa with the boys

Nana and Great Grandpa

Helping Gav open his toys

The whole gang at Grandmas!

Grandpa with all his "babies" 

Fischer's 10th Annual Christmas Party

We had such a great Christmas party this year, and being the 10th year, we wanted to do it right! We had decent weather, lots of great food and drinks, and a great turnout! Im so grateful for all of our friends and family who make this party so much fun and celebrate with us every year! 

The Pooooolar Express!!

Eric heard from a coworker that "The Polar Express" would be visiting Oklahoma for the first time this year. So naturally he found the BEST date, the BEST time, and the BEST train car and booked it right away! That's just the way he is! We didn't tell the boys in advance because we didn't want to drag it out and make them wait forever to actually go! We picked them up from school and headed to Bristow, OK which was a little over an hour away. On the way there, we told the boys where we were headed and Gavin immediately started asking a million questions:
- Is this the REAL Polar Express?
- Do we really get to go to the North Pole?
- Will we get to see Santa?
- Is the conductor going to punch our tickets?
- Do we get Hot Chocolate?
(I could go on forever!)

All Crew kept saying is "We get to go to the Polar Express!!!??? Half excited half asking over and over to make sure we weren't kidding! It was the cutest thing. Crew's obsession started last year at Christmas when Eric wanted us all to sit down and watch the full Polar Express movie. Crazy Crew that never sits still, literally DID NOT MOVE for the entire movie. He loved it so much, and wanted to watch it every day after that, all the way through the summer. I didn't know how to break it to him that it's a Christmas movie, so we obliged and watched Polar Express in 100 degree heat!

I could post a million pictures of this evening, but I will summarize and try to keep it to a reasonable amount of pics!

We made the trip with Jared and Tina and Jax Baker, and all of us grabbed a quick dinner before the train ride. When we parked and saw the train, the boys were all so excited, in their jammies and all ready to go! They received their golden Polar Express ticket, and boarded the train in the nicest car, that also happened to be on the second floor of the train. Music from the movie played, and they passed out hot chocolate and cookies while the story was read over the speaker. We pulled up to the North Pole and got to have Santa visit each and every kid on the ride back! One of the things Gavin cared most about was whether the conductor would punch his ticket, and about 10 minutes before we got off the train, the conductor came around and punched each child's name into their ticket! It was one of the best experiences of the kids' lives, I'm sure of it! We can't wait to go back next year!

Here is my favorite video of Crew Bear on the train 

I Have A 4 Year Old!

Are you kidding me? How do I have a baby that is 4 years old? He's not even a baby, and hasn't been for awhile. I know I have to accept this, but I look at him, and I still my little chubby faced baby boy that always wanted to be held and loved to eat!

Now he is growing by the day, literally so tall, and has such great manners that it almost amazes me. Gav tells me he loves me at least 35 times a day! He does chores around the house, like feeding Lexi and wiping down the dinner table. He is still quite the collector and hoarder of toys, so it seems that he can never have enough of anything. He still requires almost no sleep, but now when he wakes up in the morning, he comes downstairs and quietly watches the iPad until we're up! Very thoughtful...

At 4 years old:
 - Gavin is still very much into Avengers and Transformers, and loves watching the real movies. Not the cartoons, but the real "Captain America" movie, and wanted to badly to go watch the new Transformers movie in the theater, but I worry about the language a little. I wait until we can buy the DVD and we can sensor a little!
- He wears size 12 shoes, and size 5 and 6 clothes
- Insists on sleeping with a lamp on, no exceptions.
- Is Mr Popular at school. Every day when I go pick him up, about 5 kids want a hug from Gavin! They almost tackle him in order to be first to say bye, and it cracks me up!
- He attends MDO 3 days a week, and next year will be starting Pre-K


My favorite thing about this age:

One of my most favorite things about this age is that every night when I put Gav to bed, he "needs" to have a talk with me. The talk consists of the same things every night...he wants to know what time he can get up in the morning. Ive mentioned he doesn't need sleep, so every night he needs to be sure that I am FIRM on my time he is allowed to come downstairs. Next, he asks what our plans for the next day, and needs the answer to be in complete detail.

At some point I have to limit our convos, and I say "You can ask 3 more things, or 4 more things." So Gav will say "Okay...say #1" and then he will proceed to ask his question. It's the cutest thing to me because he embraces the rules of our convo and has so much fun with it. I am in awe every day at the way his mind works.

Im such a lucky mommy, and I recognize this every day. Happy Birthday my sweet sweet Gavin Ray!

Halloween 2014

We had such a great Halloween this year! Gavin wanted to be Optimus, and Crew didn't really care, so he got to be Bumblebee! We went to the Southern Hills Trunk or Treat, which is always a lot of fun. Then on Halloween night, we trick-or-treated at Grandpa's house and then handed out candy! 

Gavin and Reagan

Sheriff Callie Emery

Grandma and Bill with the Transformers!

This must be the year of Super Heroes at MDO

Kitty Kyler and Gavin

The big kids trick or treating at Dads

Quick NYC Trip

Eric and I got to make a quick visit to see the Fischers in New York this month. We got to meet our newest nephew, Welles Aiden Fischer, and see the little man Lincoln! We had some great weather, and lots of fun plans. Eric always goes for work, so while he attended to some business, I shopped with Jess and also by myself. We had two great nights out with some customers of Erics', then a wonderful dinner with Ray and Jess, Laura and Charlie, and Kristin. 

We're so lucky to have such great hosts every time we visit, and can't wait to go back again soon! 

My Happiness

So much of my blogging is about my boys these days. Being a mom will do that to you...make you forget that you are someone worth knowing and hanging out with and loving REGARDLESS of your kids! If I blog, or post a picture, it's either of my boys (all 3) or of me "without" them. It's almost like I have to make a point to say that Im "kid free." While they are truly the brightest part of my life for the past several years, there are still alot of qualities I possess that are, selfishly, just about me. What makes me, me...what makes me happy!

My happiness is making the most out of every single moment of every single day. Im better at this some days than others, but there are hours and minutes and seconds that are just DEMANDING to be filled with something productive or helpful or playful or GENIUS! (okay maybe not genius) And I can't deny even those tiny little seconds the satisfaction of a task completed, a call made to a friend, a kiss given to a loved one, or a favor or thoughtful gesture towards anyone. I just can't.  I know I sound like Im tooting my own horn, but it's true, my happiness thrives on making others happy. People call me crazy, my husband included. He says I can't sit still. But some of my best thoughts come to me at 11pm at night. After laying in bed for an hour when I should be sleeping. At this point of the night, I usually have to write myself an email or set reminders so I don't forget my own "genius" when the cluster of madness hits me with full force in the morning.

So what else makes me happy you ask? Well I will tell you in this brief but maybe not so well constructed snippet inside my head!

- I love clean and organized things. Isn't this obvious from so many previous posts? But I do. I look around my house so often and wish I could clone a couple more of me to stay behind and dust my shoes and my shelves in my closet while I move onto the next thing. Or to dust all the blinds in my entire house. I constantly organize everyone's drawers (which no one sees), then I get my feelings hurt if Eric doesn't compliment his organized drawers when he gets home! I wish I could say Im lying, but I do, and he has since learned to just come home and tell me "the house looks great" even if he's not sure I cleaned at all.

- I have a huge obsession with bags and clothes. I don't buy just any bag, but I don't buy the most expensive bag. Most of the bags I own now were given to me by Eric. I still remember (and have on display) a black Coach bag that Eric's mom bought me for Christmas! It was one of my first Coach bags. I have a Louis Vuitton that Eric gave me on our wedding day. And pretty much every birthday, Christmas, or Mother's Day, Eric knows the key to my heart is with a BAG! Every purchase is sentimental and timeless to me, and I don't get rid of them. Instead, I display them full of tissue so they sit perfectly on my shelves. And I organize my clothes by color and season. So you would think my closet should be in a magazine, but if you remember from above, my intentions are always greater than my time!

- I love to write. I don't know that Im that good at it, but I have this huge desire to write a book. Ive also mentioned this before, and I intend to follow through. It's not that I think I have a great life story to write, but I read SO MUCH, and I always take the stories in a different direction in my head, and wonder what the story would be like if it were written another way. One day I will finish a book, and if I have to GIVE IT AWAY in order to get people to give it a chance, Im game!

- Pictures are a huge part of my day. Im not an insane FB poster, but I do love to take them. I send Eric at least 5 pictures a day, because I believe that our lives are worth documenting. So many people think Im crazy for how many pictures I take, but I was able to put together albums for 2 of my very best friends for their 30th birthdays, with pictures all the way back to when we met. I take pictures every time our families get together and they all moan and groan, but later love the albums I send them with pics from a trip! My friend Megan is the WORST picture taker, so every year, I make her an album of pictures of her daughter Kyler, and Gavin so that we document the entire year! She loves it and I love doing it for her.

- I love traveling. I can say that I love to go places, but really I just love to pack! I love to get all our stuff together and plan out everyone's lives for the next...however many days! I love to TRY and pack light, but it never happens. I want to be one of those "seasoned" travelers that doesn't need to check a bag, and can transition one pair of pants into 2 or 3 outfits. But I'm so indecisive that I usually end up over-packing. I love travel-sized items and knowing that Im prepared for anything.

- I love the absence of germs...you might say this is the same thing as "I love to clean" but it's totally not! I have huge issue with germs and am a major germ-a-phobe. I don't touch any surfaces in a bathroom. I don't breathe when the toilets flush automatically (the spray from a flush goes 5 ft!) and I even turn the boys away from the toilet when it does that. I can't eat food that's buffet style unless it's brought out in front of me, and I am the first one to touch it. How did I ever eat at Golden Corral or a salad bar at Steak and Ale as a kid? Idk...but what I do know, is that I used to order a random special pizza at Cici's when we would go with a big group, JUST so that they would have to bring out something new and I could eat that first! Totally not kidding! I sanitize every shopping cart, and everyone's hands after a shopping trip. I wash vegetables more than once before I will use them. I go through towels in my kitchen faster than a restaurant because I can't stand for them to be used for more than one thing before they are deemed dirty in my eyes.

- I love wine, working out, the fact that I grew vegetables in a garden this year, and I love every time my boys hold a door for someone in public. While you can easily say that the qualities I possess rest shallowly on cleanliness and shopping...I am much deeper. I love my family, all of them. I can't go a day without talking to my mom, she's my rock. I hate my feet bc they grew with each pregnancy, but then I guess I should love them bc they are a result of my beautiful children. Im also a Daddy's girl, and so grateful for 3, yes 3 amazing sisters. I have the best brothers-in-law in the world because every single one of them makes me feel like Im special! Eric's parents make a point to make me feel like I'm their own daughter, which is a great feeling. Being a mom of boys, I hope the girls they marry feel the same way about being thought of as a daughter to their MIL!

Ive just spent an hour of my evening writing this, which makes me feel a little bit like a writer...so maybe Im not so far off on what makes me, ME! I think Im finished rambling, but you should know that's another one of the qualities I possess that make me happy. :)