Christmas Vacation

Instead of writing like 5 different posts about how we spent our holiday break this year, I figured I would just make one BIG post about everything we've been up to this past couple weeks.

C's preschool party was on the Thursday before break started & parents were invited to attend. The party started at 10AM & we had a short meet & greet with the other parents. Afterward the kids put on a little show for us where they sang a few songs & acted out a poem with props. It was pretty darn adorable watching 20 3 year olds try to get it together to put on a show. They sang Jingle bells, We wish you a Merry Christmas & recited a poem about a Snowman. When they were done with their performance they had some treats & said goodbye to their teachers & friends. Immediately after the party was over, C & I headed home so that we all could head down south to my parent's place.

We got to my parent's place around 8:30pm on Thursday night & just hung out a bit with the family & settled in. On Friday, K had to work out at the base so the boys & I hung at my parent's house most of the day & relaxed. After K got home, I headed out with my BFF to do a little Christmas shopping & to dinner at Red Robin. While I was out having my girl's night, K helped C finish building & decorating his gingerbread house.

The next night we headed out to dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants with my mom & then headed over to the local raceway's Winter Wonderland of lights. Both of the boys seemed to really enjoy all of the lights, the Christmas music & the free candy canes!

Sunday morning, we headed over to my ILs house for some breakfast & then we helped them decorate their Christmas tree. Later that afternoon, we attempted to head out to a movie only to find that the tickets were sold out. Whomp. Whomp. =( Instead we shopped a little bit at the mall (where the theater was) & then headed out to Target to do even MORE Christmas shopping.

On Monday evening after my parent's & K were home we headed out to Zoo Lights at the Washington Park zoo. We decided to park at the Max station one stop up from the zoo & ride down on the train. The boys both LOVED the max ride! We got to the zoo right around 5pm & walked around the zoo first before getting in line to ride the zoo train. We waited in line for the train for about an hour & a half so it was a good thing they had entertainment & that we had snacks for the boys. We left the zoo around 7:30PM & headed out to dinner with my parents. The boys had a VERY late night & they did very well considering that they were both very tired & very hungry. A bad combination for any person, let alone a child.

Tuesday evening we actually DID end up getting to see the movie that we had tried to see on Sunday (since we bought tickets ahead of time) & I went with both my mom & my BFF. We went to see Hunger Games in a really nice theater & enjoyed some food & drinks (I had a soda) while we watched the movie. After the movie, my BFF came over to my parent's house & we exchanged gifts. The boys also opened their gifts from her as well.

On Christmas Eve (Wednesday) K & the boys headed over to my ILs house to hang out while my mom & I cleaned her house & prepped the food for our family get-together that evening. I made a quick trip out to the store as well which I thought was going to be terrible, but actually wasn't that bad. That evening we ate a lot of food, enjoyed a lot of family & opened some presents. After all of the family left & the boys were in bed, Santa came by & set out all of the presents for not only the boys, but their cousin, Alex & the rest of us as well.

On Christmas morning (Thursday), we waited for everyone to be up & then brought the boys upstairs to see what Santa had brought them. They were both really excited & love their gifts! Around 10:30 we opened gifts with the rest of the family & then after getting dressed & ready we made a quick Starbucks run & then headed to my ILs place for the afternoon/evening.

On Friday, we took BOTH boys to get their hair cut. =( K insisted that we cut H's hair (especially after I put it in a ponytail the day before..hehehe) & so I finally agreed. It was definitely harder on me then it was on him. He did completely fine & just watched Mickey Mouse the whole time. He honestly couldn't have cared less about what the girl was doing. Thankfully, she saved me some hair & just as thankfully, his hair is still curly!! =) After the haircuts, we stopped by my old work to drop off some Christmas cards & to say hi to some of my old co-workers. After that we made a quick Walmart run & then grabbed some lunch. That evening I relaxed at my parents & tried to get us packed up & ready to leave for home the next morning.

Saturday afternoon, we headed home & finally got out of town around 1:30pm. The kids did not do well on the drive this time & I'd say we stopped nothing less then 5 times (when we usually stop only once or twice at most) & didn't end up getting home until around 8:30pm after stopping for dinner & all.

It was definitely a jam-packed trip & I think we were all happy to be home & in our own beds after our week away.