I am exactly where I want to be

     This year was the best Christmas ever. I am exactly where I want to be. My family is complete, I have a wonderful husband, and a beautiful home. Each year can only get progressively better as we continue to create family traditions and fanstastic memories for our two children. I will have some pictures to share soon. Perhaps this week-- I'm off for holiday break. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and wishing you all well in the New Year!

The last weekend before Christmas

   

The last weekend before Christmas will of course be spent doing the last of the Christmas shopping, wrapping, and mailing off the last batch of cards. I have some Christmas cookies that may or may not get frosted. I hope to finish what is left to prepare for Christmas so I can relax and enjoy next week without any hassle.

     Tonight is the big trip to the mall with Lyds and Jon. Lydia will choose a gift, from her,  for mom, dad, and Jonny. She wants to also pick out her own gift but I told her Jonny will be buying a gift for her. She said, "But Jonny can't pick it out mom." I told her I would help him. She's pretty excited for tonight because we were going to do this shopping trip on Wednesday evening but a meltdown ensued instead. Yesterday morning she marched right into school and told her teachers she was going to be good so she could go to the mall to buy presents. I reminded her we couldn't go shopping until Friday and surprisingly, she was OK with that.

Lydia's personal video message from Santa!!

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/8517edf2df32fb4dc856cab6bcb46ba8

This is so awesome! To create your personal message, go here. 

http://portablenorthpole.tv

Another Christmas weekend

     Another fun filled Christmas weekend in the Bojlevski household! On Friday I got together with some girlfriends and we had a "Yankee Wine Tasting." We incorporated a wine tasting with a Yankee gift exchange. I ended up with a lovely scarf. (Sorry Amy.) Rosy was generous enough to offer to host it so thankfully I didn't have the rush of getting the house ready for that. My mini reubens did end up all over the front floor of my car, courtesy of not realizing Rosy's street was right upon me and I pressed the brakes a bit too hard, causing the reubens and crystal dish to shatter on my car floor. It hit the wine bottle, which thankfully survived the incident.

     Pete enjoyed some fly fishing on Saturday while I had the luxury of caring for Jonny and one very naughty three year old. On the way to pageant rehearsal, I noticed that Lydia seemed to have woken on the wrong side of the bed. I was very tempted to go back home and attempt to start the day again. Later that morning, things got better, so we decided to meet a couple of our friends and their kids at Moe's...which Lydia calls "Moses." (Side story: When I picked Lydia up from pre-K on Friday she kept insisting she wanted to go to Moses. I told her I didn't know who Moses was. This conversation continued to circle until she yelled out, "Where I eat quesadillas!!!" Ah ha. Mystery solved. Moses is Moe's.) Halfway through lunch, the naughty Lydia returned. She did serve a ten minute timeout once we got home. I am surprised did so well, since her friends decided to come over for a play date after lunch. The mommy's enjoyed some coffee and conversation while the kids played. Naughty Lyds returned toward the end of the play date so she had to go to her room for quiet time (reading her books in bed.) She ended up falling to sleep, which didn't surprise me. This child needed a nap from the second she woke this morning!

     Christmas cards got addressed later Saturday night. They should be going out in the mail today, if Pete remembers the stamps. We were short some cards so I had to order a few more--which hopefully we'll get by the end of this week. I ordered the first set of cards from Vistaprint.com this year. I love the look of them because they are printed on a card stock and not photo paper. The set I recently ordered are from Shutterfly because shipping time is quicker. Time is off the essence at this point. But if you haven't ever tried Vistaprint.com for your Christmas cards, give them a shot next year!!

     Sunday we got together with an old co-worker-- a former TA in my classroom. We went to her house and had brunch. The kids exchanged gifts and frosted gingerbread cookies. My classroom TA also joined us. This is our third time gathering for the holiday and it's always a lovely time.

     The evening brought us to our church Christmas pageant and the pre-school Sunday school kids were to sing "Silent Night." They did a great job! It's funny, but the pre-k kids sung louder than the 7-8th graders, who sung later in the pageant. It was a great pageant and I'm so glad that we joined this church. I’m excited to for their Christmas Eve service since this will be our first one with this church.

     This week will be pretty mild. One play date and finishing the last of the Christmas shopping are the only things on the agenda. We also have Pete's work Christmas party this week.

(And I have no pictures to share of the pageant because my camera is currently MIA.)

Happy holiday moments

     We've been spending a lot of time with Santa these past couple of weekends. Last weekend we had a photo with Santa (the posted photo) and went to a Polar Express pajama party. Lydia did make it through the whole IMAX Polar Express, which surprised me. This weekend we had our annual mommy group Christmas party. Santa brought gifts for each of the kids. Lydia ended up with a bear from Build A Bear and Jon received a Leapfrog musical toy.

     Today after church, we had breakfast with Santa. We are decked out for the holiday and tomorrow we are baking and frosting cut out cookies. We have a play date at our house on Tuesday---for more cookie fun--this time with all our friends. On Thursday, I'm taking a time out for a much-needed haircut and next weekend entails more Santa time and a Christmas pageant at church.

     We just seem to be going, going, and going. I'm not complaining because we're having a lot of fun filling our time with the holiday festivities! Lyds is too cool for words. I love watching how she is grasping Christmas this year—from Santa to Jesus to helping those in need. She is absorbing it all. The morning after we put up our tree, she was disappointed because she thought Santa was supposed to come. Every night when we light our advent wreath, she asks if we can light the birthday candle for Jesus (the Christ candle). When we went out to get our tree gift, which happened to be a backpack, she decided it was important to tell everyone she was buying a backpack for someone who can’t buy their own. She was very proud putting it under the tree at church this morning. It is certainly fun watching her excitement for Santa, but it’s also been very endearing to watch her learn and understand the other important part of the Christmas season.