Happy New Year

Happy 2010!!! We had an awesome holiday season in the yellow house and in Florida. So much happened so I know I'll miss a couple of highlights, but here's what I can recollect!

Christmas Eve and Morning were spent here in Alabama. We went to Christmas Eve service at church where the kids did pretty well... Tre liked the songs and Colin was busy flirting with the little 2 year old two rows in front of us! Afterwards at home we had dinner, put reindeer food out on the lawn and left out milk and cookies for Santa. The kids went to bed pretty easily, but when I went to go check on them I found Colin sleeping in Tre's bed! Tre was obviously asleep when he had climbed in so Colin just got comfy and fell asleep next to his big brother! We decided to leave him there to see how long it would last... which was about 1AM! Tre came into our room and so we had to move Colin back to his own bed! The rest of the night there were no creatures stirring!!

Christmas morning Colin was in our room climbing into our bed at around 7AM, which is routine. Tre went out to the TV room when he got up about 20 minutes later. I was expecting him to come running back to tell us that Santa has been here, but he didn't. So then Colin went out a few minutes later and I heard him "ooh" about some presents, but he too didn't come running back. So we got out of bed not sure what we would find in the TV room... only to find them both sitting on the couch watching TV quietly! And they were perfectly fine with waiting for Emma to get up before opening presents! They are such good boys!!

Present time was awesome! Colin was ecstatic about his Buzz Lightyear action figure (we thought he was going to explode with excitement!), and Tre loved his Toy Story toys too (Woody & Slinky), and Emma loved the boxes! It was a nice morning before our trip to Florida! We decided to drive in the afternoon because our ride home from Thanksgiving was a little too... loud. Colin screamed from Lake City to past Tallahassee, and almost didn't survive the trip! So we decided to mix it up a little bit and drive after lunch so that he could sleep in the car for naptime, stop for dinner, then sleep more before getting to our destination. It worked great!! Both there and back the kids did great, and I think we've found a new travel arrangement, at least for the time being! The highlights about the traveling were Emma riding with her feet propped up on her car-seat visor, me searching high and low in the dark to find lost pacifiers, and both boys snoring!

Our Florida Christmas was filled with family: Celebrations at both families meant we had three Christmases in three days - awesome! And my uncle and his family were down from New York so we got to spend about a day with them and the Steele side of the family! We haven't seen Kent or the girls in about two years, so it was great to catch up! Savannah and Lilly did great playing with the kids, I told them it was pay back for the times I entertained them!! We also had lots of new toys to play with like bubble-guns (which was a hit with everybody!), 3D chalk, and more Toy Story toys!! The last day we were there TJ and I surprised Tre with a trip to the movies... we took him to see the Alvin & Chipmunk movie, and we were surprised by TJ's sister Corin and her daughter Lauren! Tre loves all his cousins, so to have her along for the movie was really special, and a nice surprise for all of us!

Other random highlights:
At TJ's mom's Christmas dinner Tre was asked to tell all his cousins to wash their hands and get ready for dinner. And Tre did his job well! He walked to the door of the room they were playing in and said loudly, "Cousins! It is time for dinner! Please go wash your hands and get to the table!" (hand gestures included!) - it was soooo funny!!!

Four out of five of us got new shoes!! TJ got new athletic shoes and I got new brown shoes - which we both desperately needed! Colin got new shoes, his first ever non-handmedowns! And Emma got her first ever, ever shoes - cause she's [ ] this close to walking!!! Tre didn't get new shoes... but he didn't need any!

New Years Eve day we went bowling with Oma and the Beavin family! My kids have never been bowling before and had a great time! Colin would high-five everyone after every bowl... no matter how well or badly he did! TJ said, "I'm not sure what his standard is, he high-fives everything!" I think he was just excited about the game!! They both did great!

Again, I'm sure I missed something... but that's all my tired mind can remember for now! Tre starts back to school tomorrow, and we're back to the daily grind! We're super excited about all the new things to come in 2010... like Emma walking, potty training Colin, and (dun dun dun) Tre turning 5!!!! Happy New Year everyone!

- Jo