Christmas Excitement

As I'm sure a lot of posts out there lately have been revolving around Christmas, mine are no different.  But I saw on Facebook the other day by Jen who I know from high school but now blogs she said that she now realizes why her parents were so excited for Christmas...it was to see the excitement in their kids faces. (I'm paraphrasing...that's the gist of it because I can't remember word for word...) And I completely understand that sentiment.  While it is completely annoying every time Leo walks by a present he asks me if that is the Nerf gun we got him (We didn't get him a Nerf gun...Santa did and it's not wrapped and won't be seen until Christmas morning) but just seeing the joy in his face every time he moves the candy cane a day closer to Christmas moves me.  And we did the Portable North Pole tracker and I almsot cried because I was so excited for Leo.  It's just amazing to see the excitement and joy in the little kiddos faces around this time of year and we always take a minute to let Leo know why we are celebrating Christmas.  For us it's the birth of Jesus and while we don't shove it down his throat we (I) try to remind him when he gets crazy about the presents.  But seriously...as we were sitting as a large family at the in-laws last night I won't lie that I made the comment that we should open presents then because I was excited for Leo to be excited!  But we waited and will do the opening of the gifts tonight and then Santa will come and Leo will be so thrilled when he wakes up tomorrow morning with a stupid-awesome Nerf gun and of course new undies and candy to fill his stocking.  I hope you and yours all have a happy holidays and Merry Christmas.  I will try to post some pictures of Jacoby's first Christmas (in his hand-me-down Christmas outfit--it was Leo's Easter outfit!) and of course all the awesomeness of the holidays through a 4-year-olds eyes!

Chrismtas Goodies

 Yesterday in my random post I said I was going to do some Christmas baking.  I really had planned on doing this and giving it to my peeps on Christmas but then realized my plan was flawed.  It was flawed because I was going out of town from Wednesday-Sunday and I wouldn't have time to make them between Christmas gatherings on Sunday.  Soooo I didn't want to give them old goodies.  So I got to making on Tuesday.  And I had a little elf that helped me. 

His ridiculously cheesy face

His happy face

Of course after realizing that he couldn't eat every single thing I made he quickly tired of his task.  So after he left and I finally got him and his brother napping at the same time (HALLELUJAH!) I had some quiet time to myself listening to Christmas music and just enjoying the time spent with myself.  My menu consisted of sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, rice krispie treats and chocolate covered pretzels. 

The cookies

with the rice krispie treats (I forgot to take pictures of them separately)

Chocolate covered pretzels

And the finished product

All in all I think everything turned out great!  I delivered them Tuesday night and hopefully the recipients enjoy them as much as I did making them (and of course sampling them!)

RTT: Christmas Random

Aaaugh!  5 days until Christmas!  Well technically 4 if you count what Leo counts and don't count today or Christmas day! So here's some random to get you by these next 4 days.

 

I am done Christmas shopping.  Woo hoo!  My mom watched Leo for a little bit on Friday night so the hubby and I could get his presents.  I really like including the hubby even though we talk about what we are going to get Leo I just feel better with him being there.  And we got everything on our list.  Not that it was huge but Leo will definitely be pleased Christmas morning!

All of mine and the boys laundry is done and put away.  That way I can make an easy task of packing to go to the in-laws. Not that I ever know what to pack.  Especially since we will be there longer this time AND a new baby.  Gah. 

I spent $30 at the store last night all on stuff to make treats.  I am making some for my presents and I hope they turn out.  It will be my first foray into chocolate covered pretzels so we'll see how those turn out.  I will also be making 2 types of cookies and rice krispie treats.  I am of course saving some for us to take for treats for on the road. 

And I keep talking about traveling to see the in-laws but the hubby has to work tomorrow and so with all this crazy weather that Kansas is getting (who am I kidding?  It's not crazy it's Kansas so we should be expecting this...) we might not make it.  Western Kansas is getting bogged down with over a foot of snow and the hubby is a nervous driver so he may decide to wait or just not go.  We shall see. 

I'm making this short today because those treats aren't going to make themselves! Go visit Stacy and all the other rebel randomers and it will make your holidays! Happy Tuesday!

Christmas Christmas!

I stole this from Vandy who stole it from someone else who so on and so forth.  But it's fun so here we go...

Egg nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows!

Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? He fits what he can in the stocking (undies, candy, gum) and then the big(ish) present is sitting next to it.  Since we are in Dodge every year for Christmas and his parents don't do Santa we do it in our room where we sleep.  So it's kind of a hodge podge of where we put it.

Colored lights or tree/house or white?  White lights look so pretty!

Do you hang mistletoe? No

When do you put your decorations up?  I try to get them up the weekend of Thanksgiving but that doesn't always happen.  So whenever I have time!

What is your favorite holiday dish?  Green bean casserole.  Yum!  But only made by my mom.  She makes it amazingly!

Favorite holiday memory as a child? No one in my family remembers this but I remember going to a tree farm and getting a tree and drinking hot chocolate.  So much fun.  Also, we sometimes got to open 1 present on Christmas Eve. 

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I still believe because he still brings me stuff at my parent's house!

Do you open a gift on Christmas eve?  We always do now because we go to my hubby's family Christmas and they open all presents on Christmas Eve.  So we do all their stuff on Christmas Eve night and then open presents with my family (and our little family) Christmas day.  If we have a movie or something that we are giving to Leo we sometimes let him open a present in the car on the way to Dodge so he can watch it.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree?  I string lights as best as I can and then hang our ornaments on it.  Nothing too fancy.

Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it.  But it sometimes ruins our travel plans.  Like it might this year with this crazy storm coming from the southwest.

Can you ice skate? No.  I tried when I was younger but my ankles are too weak so it hurt them really bad and I always fell.

Do you remember your favorite gift?  My favorite gift was from a babysitter when I was 3 or 4.  It was a Popples sleeping bag.  It was AMAZING!

(image from Google)

What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Spending time with my family.

What is your favorite Holiday dessert?  Pumpkin pie

What is your favorite holiday tradition?  I read Twas the Night Before Chrismtas to Leo every year on Christmas Eve before bed.

What tops your tree? A star that is a little cheesy but I like it!

Do you prefer giving or receiving? I like giving.  I love picking out things that I know the person I am giving it to will really like!

Candy canes: Yuck or yum?  I like the strawberry flavored candy canes, not the peppermint ones.

Favorite Christmas show?  My favorite is Love Actually.  I've decided that is a Christmas movie!

Saddest Christmas song?  Christmas Shoes

What is your favorite Christmas song?  Any Christmas song by Straight No Chaser!

Tulsa Aquarium

A few weeks ago my mom and I took the boys on an overnight adventure to Tulsa to visit the aquarium.  We had such an amazing time and Leo behaved about 95% of the time.  That's pretty good for a 4 year old right?!  So here is picture overload for you about our trip!

Ok so I think this picture of Jacoby is hilarious so I had to include it!

Leo and Jacoby welcoming us to Oklahoma

The biggest catfish I have ever seen!

Leo feeding the turtles.  They ate carrots!

Petting the sting rays

Jacoby taking his turn! (Why yes I do exploit my children for funny pictures!)

Feeding the shrimp.  Yes...shrimp

Leo's favorite fish because it was yellow

Nemo



Dori

Cool jellyfish

A family picture!

We had so much fun.  We went down on a Monday night and stayed in a hotel so Leo thought he was pretty hot stuff.  Then we woke up Tuesday morning and headed to the aquarium.  We stayed there for almost 3 hours and by that time it was definitely time to go.  We hit up Braums on the way out of town for lunch and then got home around 4:30.  It was a pretty whirlwind trip but so much fun.  I'm so thankful to have a mom who will do fun stuff with me and take the boys on adventures!  And she said that she is looking forward to taking my niece on a trip like that soon too.  She recently took my brother and his family to see his other son that lives in Missouri to watch him play football and they hung out for the weekend and had a great time.  I think it's really awesome that she does that for us kids!  Love you mom! :)

Job Update

So if you've been following me for the past few months you know that I had a pretty crappy encounter at work.  You can read all about it here.  And while I haven't had much interaction with work since I've been on maternity leave I have had a little.  I applied for an internal job at the same level I am currently at and was denied the position due to the same stupid test that prevented me from being promoted.  So because of that I had another face to face with my upper supervisor who told me that she was not against promoting me but that I wasn't going to get anywhere with the current upper-upper management because she was all about sales and was sold that the test was GOD within the sales world and only what was on the test was taken into account.  So after the 20 minute meeting I told her that I was going to start looking outside of the company because it didn't seem like I would be going anywhere and a job at my current location was really not in my future.  The hours (until 8pm Monday-Friday and until 6p on Saturdays) just did not fit into my family life.  She said that she would keep her eye out for internal jobs and said that she would be looking to promote me.  (But apparently she's not the one that can do that...)

So I have applied for an internal reconcilement job that is in my pay range but still leaves me room to grow in the future.  But of course I haven't heard back from them.  Granted I applied for it on Monday but still.  I also applied for 2 jobs at other banks.  One a management job where I would be over my own branch and the other is an assistant branch manager but I know someone that works at that bank and he told me they start out much higher on the pay scale and they have really awesome benefits.  Soooo...I guess we shall see what happens.  I've already been contacted by the one for the manager job and I had to take a test.  It was very strange.  All computerized and I had 8 minutes to answer as many questions as I could out of 30.  They ranged from math questions to word questions.  I answered 27 of them.  So I have no idea about that one.  And my friend that worked at the other bank said he already has put in a good word for me with the manager that would be hiring me and the manager said he would be looking for my application. 

Really though...I am so nervous.  I haven't looked for a new job outside of the bank I work at now since 2004.  So this is a whole new ballgame for me!  I have been the one interviewing the people!  I also kind of want the job at the bank I'm at now only because it is away from "retail" and I would be working Monday-Friday 8-5 with no Saturdays.  How amazing would that be?!  I wouldn't know what to do with myself!  Plus the hubby works at the same bank (what you didn't know that?!) and works downtown currently so we would be able to carpool.  And no we wouldn't be in the same department so it wouldn't be crazy weird.  But still we would be able to eat lunch together if we wanted AND save money on gas.  So I'll keep you guys posted on what I hear.  I did tell both the outside banks I would be able to start January 9th or later.  That would let me give my current manager 2 weeks notice plus I would be in the new year so I would be entitled to my 3 weeks of vacation!  Woot woot!  That would be nice to use that money to...oh wait...pay off all of my doctor's bills from giving birth.  Damn...I thought a tropical vacation might have been in my future.  Haha!

Ornament Swap and Decorating our Tree

I was so excited to participate in my first swap between bloggers and it didn't disappoint me.  I was lucky to be partnered with Alyssa from Wish You Were Here and she was so nice to "meet"!  After she saw my blog and saw that we recently had a new addition she was thoughtful and got a personalized ornament for us.  Here it is...

 on our tree front and center!

And because I need to show off the rest of our tree...I let Leo do most of the decorating.  And the hubby told me we need to get a new tree because it looks pretty cheap (in his words) and when I was getting it out and "fluffing" it up I kind of saw what he was talking about.  But it's only 2 years old and I want to get the most out of it.  And it's not too big which is good because we don't have a lot of room.  And seriously...Leo loved decorating it and that was enough for me. Plus he told me it looked beautiful when it was all lit up and we were standing in front of it in the dark.  That was good enough for me!

 Leo helping decorate the tree

 Jacoby's first Christmas ornament from one of the hubby's sweet co-workers

 Leo's first Christmas ornament from his great-grandma in 2007

 Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Finished product lit up.  Beautiful! :)

RTT: sleep, vacations and freezing December

Hi hi!  It's Tuesday and that means RaNdOm!  Yep.  And I'm back to blogging this week so you can get some random!

Jacoby has not been sleeping the best in his bed.  It has to do with a huge amount of congestion he has and the lack of us being able to give him anything because of doctor's not giving decongestants to babies.  So we do a lot of nasal sucking with the little sucker thingy.  And he doesn't have a lot that is readily available for sucking.  So we don't get much which means he continues to be congested.  But I bought a sleep sack and he seemed to do ok with it last night.  I'm hoping as the congestion subsides he will sleep better.  But the nights where I'm up every 2 hours suck.  I'm just saying!

It's flipping-flapping cold here in Kansas.  And it's not even that cold.  But I hate to turn up the heat during the day while I'm at home because of stupid-high gas bills.  So I sit here typing in a sweatshirt, yoga pants and socks pulled up to my knees!  But don't worry...I'm not keeping the house too cold.  It's set at 66 during the day but the wood floors really cool the house off in the winter.

I've realized since I've been home that I am not a normal meal eater.  I could easily just snack all day and be fine.  Today all I've eaten are 2 cookies left over from my shower this weekend.  By the time I start to feel hungry I think it's too late to eat lunch and so I just put it off and snack.  So not a good way to start my eating healthier campaign!

I watched a show on the Galapagos Island this weekend on National Geographic Wild and it was so amazing.  It made me want to travel the world. I have never had the desire to just go everywhere but watching that and seeing the wildlife it definitely made me crave independence to just be able to travel wherever and whenever I want.  I think an added baby has really made me see that my life is definitely theirs for the next 18 years.  Not that I regret it though!  I just need to learn to save better/spend less so I can go on vacations when they're a little older!

Leo has been being extra defiant lately to me and I know it's a phase but it is annoying me.  Everything I ask him to do I have to say 5 times before he listens.  I have got to the point where he is losing privileges when I have to continually repeat myself.  Any suggestions?

Enough from me...throw your random down and link with Stacy.  It will be the best thing you do today!

 

another busy weekend

Seriously December? I honestly don't remember you being so busy in the past.  And I'm not even working.  So I can't imagine what you'll be like next year when I have a walking little one along with my already big boy.

This weekend was another busy one.  It started Friday night with my work Christmas party.  While I was not looking forward to it I actually had a great time.  Interestingly enough though, the new people did not come so it was all the people I already knew so it made it more fun!  We went to Laser Tag and ended up at a new sports bar afterwards where I had delicious bread pudding.  Yummo!

Our little group.  With the 4 of us on the right in our "ugly" Christmas sweaters.  The one in the pink won the $10 prize!

Then on Saturday 2 of my lovely sister-in-laws threw me an awesome "sprinkle" for Jacoby where instead of gifting the baby I was gifted with pampering items.  And let me tell you...it was awesome.  While I was uncomfortable with the idea of a second shower and them giving me presents I really had a good time.  It was a small turnout which was nice because we all had a chance to talk and everyone got to hold the baby!  Here are a few pictures...

And then Sunday we had a pretty lazy day.  We watched football and then I went to Target to get a few gifts and then I took the boys and headed to my friends graduation party.  Of course the only time on Sunday I was getting out with the boys it started raining.  Lame!

All in all though it was a pretty awesome weekend.  But so busy!  And it seems like the rest of the month is just as busy.  I have another dinner get-together with friends this week, a Christmas program for my niece on Thursday and then a Christmas party on Saturday for my mom's work for the kiddos.  And that's just this week!  And sadly I only have 2 more weeks until I go back to work and then the real fun begins...real life with 2 kids and a job. Yikes!  I hope your weekends were all as nice as mine!