Oh yeah! And I ran another Half Marathon...

I thought I was all finished updating but then I remembered that I forgot to talk about the Half Marathon I ran in Las Vegas at the beginning of December. I was one of 28,000 runners who participated in the 13.1 mile run up and down the strip. It was amazing!! It was such a great feeling to be surrounded by such athletes and to pretend to be one of them! I complete the course in 2 hours 10 minutes.

There were random rock bands all along the strip as we ran. This was the starting line... see the band in the air? They were cool! It was such a fun atmosphere that Jeff has committed to running it WITH me next year! That's HUGE for Jeff! He's never ran more than 4 miles without letting you know all about it for weeks:~) It will be fun to run it together!

Will's favorite holiday: DECEMBER

I asked Will what his favorite holiday is and his answer was DECEMBER! Which you may find funny, but it's really a legitimate response. Here's why: We celebrate the heck out of December!! Starting with his birthday, then Hanukkah, then Winter Solstice, then Christmas, and ending with New Year's... it's a month of parties and celebrations! Who wouldn't say December was their favorite holiday:)

Here's a recap of our celebrations and traditions:
Christmas Eve we always get new cozy jammies. I rotate colors every year... this year was red. I literally LIVE in my jammies from Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve. (Will's friend came over to play and asked him "Why is your mom still in her pajamas?" to which Will replied "Because it's the day after Christmas." Too funny!)

Drew with his Christmas morning haul... not pictured is his bike.

Will with is haul... also not pictured is his bike.

The two coolest kids ever in their new clothes on their way to Grandma's on Christmas morning. So cute!

Here we are at our annual Winter Solstice celebration with Danny, Kelly, James & Jesse. We get together every year to celebrate this important turning of the season. We learn all about our ancestors who cherished the birth of the sun.

The boys act out the battle of the Holly King and the Oak King. In the past Jeff and Danny have acted it out, but this year the boys wanted to do the battle.

We light a Yule Log that we've decorated with evergreen. We throw pine cones and twigs into the fire as it burns and share our hopes and dreams for the future while we reflect on the year that has past. It's always fun to hear what they kids will set as their goals and it's always great to hear the adults really dig deep and share things that they wouldn't normally share.

I make a Yule Log cake every year and we all look forward to eating it! This year I added a little knot in the log... I'm getting fancy in my old age:)

Hanukkah started December 11th. In the past we've had our own little celebration as a family but this year we were fortunate enough to have family members join us who were interested in learning more about this important Jewish holiday. Matt, Cathy, Carrick & Maple joined us, as well as Drew's friend from school Max. It was really fun! We feasted on Latkes at dinner, watched a movie and read books all about Judah and the Maccabees, then answered Hanukkah trivia questions to earn gelt (chocolate coins) to use as we spun dreidle.

The kids all made shields so they could reenact the battle. (My boys love any holiday that includes battles or presents!)

We all took turns lighting a candle on the menorah... we lit all the candles and pretended it was the last night of Hanukkah. It was a really fun celebration!

Another highlight of December is decorating Gingerbread houses. We do it at least twice every season. They're getting really good at it! (Their favorite part is yet to come though... it's New Year's day when we give them each a hammer and let them destroy their house!)

This year we decorated houses at my mom's house on Thanksgiving with my nieces... we then did it again at the Bergstrom's a few weeks later.

So now you can see why December is Will's favorite holiday... and now I'm finally up to date on all my blogging!! Hip hip hooray!!!!

Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you had a happy December!!

Will's Candyland Birthday Party!

Will decided he wanted a Candy Land Birthday party because he LOVES candy and thought it would be a perfect opportunity for he and his friends to get loaded up on CANDY! So I put my creative juices to work (we all did a lot of brainstorming at dinner one night thinking up activities) and planned another fabulous party for my little guy!

Normally I only allow my boys to invite as many friends as they are old, but it was too hard to stick with my rule this year because Will is a VERY social kid and he has too many friends and we didn't want to hurt any one's feelings, so I allowed him to invite pretty much all of his close friends. We had a house full! I set up the party to be like a game of Candy Land with each of the "lands" in a different room throughout the house with a different activity in each land... Starting with the "Gingerbread Tree" where they each decorated their own Gingerbread person.

Then they headed out to the garage where we had "Snowflake Lake" set up with a scooter race obstacle course. (It was the closest thing we could think of to ice skating.)

Next was a trip to "Chocolate Swamp" where they created their own pudding paint swamp creatures with their fingers.

Then we crossed the "Rainbow Trail" back into the house for a visit to "Peanut Acres" where each of the kids got a chance to use nutcrackers to open and taste a variety of nuts.

Next came a trip downstairs to the "Licorice Forest" where "Lord Licorice" had set up a bunch of licorice ropes hanging from the ceiling that the kids had to eat without using their hands. It was funny!

The next stop was "Peppermint Forrest" where they used croquet mallets to push a ball through the peppermint stick course. (For Jeff's sake, notice the creative way he got the peppermint sticks to stay standing...)

Then they crossed "Gumdrop Pass" into the "Gumdrop Mountains" where they raced each other while holding a gumdrop on a spoon in their mouth.

The final activity was "Lollipop Woods" where they had to use different colored lollipops to create patterns. They all had a great time playing the game! While we were eating cake we asked the kids which activity was their favorite and it was cool to hear how each one of them had a different favorite... there was something to appeal to everyone!

Will made a haul in presents! From Nerf guns to Lego's and all sorts of great things in between! He was very pleased!

For the cake, I "commissioned" Harmon's to create a Candy Land game board cake. I took a photo of the game board in to the bakers and then used the cards from the game to accessorize once they were finished. It turned out great!!

Here's the final pic of the whole gang! It was a sweet party for a sweet kid! Happy Birthday Will!

(It's too bad Disney doesn't own rights to the Candy Land game because I could totally send in all these party details to Family Fun magazine and get published! But I tried it with Drew's dog party and never heard back... Oh well, I love party planning! So it's all worth it! Especially when I'm planning a party for the ones I love!!)

Drew's Choir Perfomance

For the past 3 months Drew has been getting up an hour earlier on Wednesday's and heading to school for choir practice. This is the first year that he's been eligible to participate in the choir which is has only been open to 4th-6th graders in the past. He was so excited when he found out 3rd graders were now allowed!

We were so proud of him for being so eager to participate and for following through on his own the whole time. We never had to remind him he had practice and he always got himself up and got ready and walked himself to school in the cold on his own. He was very dedicated!

The performance went well and the kids all sang beautifully!

It was the same day as Will's Birthday, so after we ate dinner with the Grandfolks at Olive Garden, we all headed over to the school for some holiday entertainment. It was a fun night!

Will's 6th Birthday!

On December 10th my sweet little baby boy turned 6 years old!! I can hardly believe it! He's so grown up and such an amazing human being! I feel so blessed to be his mom!

I wanted his day to be extra special from beginning to end... unfortunately we had a little mishap that I must briefly share. As you know, I've been teaching full-time, so Jeff and I have been juggling around the boys to accommodate me not being home. Jeff made Will a special birthday breakfast and sent him off to school. I packed treats for his class in his backpack for him to give out (something I already felt bad about because this is something I've always brought in, in the past). Then my mom was supposed to pick Will up after school. Well, my mom had a devastating morning filled with Doctor's appointments that were not bringing her good news, so needless to say, she forgot to pick up Will from school. I got a call at my school from Will's school informing me that "the birthday boy had been waiting for 45 minutes for someone to come pick him up"! I felt awful!! Like the worst mom in the whole world! Here I am transitioning into a working mom and already I'm falling short! And on his birthday of all days!! I couldn't hold back the tears! I ran to the office and begged the copy lady to take over my class for me so I could go pick up Will from school. Picture me in tears as I explain to my 7th graders that they need to be nice for the copy lady while I go take care of a family emergency. It was pathetic! By the time I got there to pick him up, my mom was there and feeling horrible (not only because of the bad news from the doctors, but for forgetting Will) which made me feel even worse because I just kept thinking that it's all my fault! If I hadn't been at work, none of this would have happened in the first place. AAghh! It was not the wonderful day I had hoped Will would have, but fortunately he was completely understanding and didn't stop smiling for one second! It was his birthday after all, and it was a good day no matter what happened! So the day proceeded as planned from there. Grandma took Will shopping for new cowboy boots and out to lunch, while I went back to school. All is well that ends well!
That night we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden with both sets of Grandparents (and Josh, which is always a bonus!). We opened gifts and sang "Happy Birthday" and ate the yummy chocolate cake that they provided.

We got him Lego Rock Band and he was sooooo happy!

I just put this one in to show that he still loved me and didn't hold a grudge for me leaving him at the school on his birthday!

Will with his Grandpa & Grandma B.

Will with his Grandpa & Grandma P.

Grandma with Will in his new cowboy had and boots that she got him.

Drew with Will in the Captain Rex outfit that Drew got him.

Happy Birthday Will! Thank you for being the wonderful person you are! I have loved every minute that you've been in my life and I love looking forward to the future with you as my son! I love you!!