Catching up!

(I apologize that there aren't any pictures in this post! I've attempted to add them twice and for some reason it just won't work. I'll attempt to upload some tomorrow when I'm less frustrated!)

We all had such a great Christmas! The boys got everything they wanted other than Jake wanting the go-kart. I told him that I didn't think it would fit in Santa's sleigh...he told me Santa could bring it in pieces and put it together at Granny and Pa's house. Smart little booger. He wasn't upset about not getting it (phew!!). I told him maybe in a couple of years when he was a little bit bigger he'd get one...maybe we'd have more land too...because our 1/3 of an acre isn't much for a go-kart!

We had a lot of fun visiting with family while we were in VA. I think Zach most enjoyed riding on his cousin, Gabe's, bike with him. My father in law said that I might enjoy putting my kids in harms way if it meant I could get a good picture....

Regardless, he had fun (and so did Jake!) and they both managed to be off the bike for a minute or so before Gabe crashed and hurt his own leg.

We went to Monkey Joe's while in VA with Hayden & Jonathan (and Mary too!). I think all 4 boys had a blast. Jonathan seemed to have a good time taking the other 3 around and helping them get up to the slides and stuff. Aside from them giving the pregnant woman the world's tiniest slice of pizza we had a great time! I'm thinking the guy at the concession stand must have been in cahoots with my doctor!!

Daniel of course had to go home right after Christmas so he missed out on all of our fun...and he missed out on taking the dogs to the vet. I tackled both of them at the vet's office while my mom stayed at her house with the boys...both dogs had a good checkup in case you were wondering!! The vet referred to Ringo as "lumpy;" I told her we called him our "lumpy bumpy dog." He's getting old! (but he still manages to get loose and roam the neighborhood....get into the trash, dog cookies that are out of reach on a shelf, and dog kibbles....not to mention somehow being able to open our snack cabinet at home and help himself to whatever he wants! Daniel suggested we "child proof" our cabinets...I corrected him and told him the children weren't the problems...it was all Ringo!

When the boys and I got back home we attempted to get back into our somewhat normal routine..which was really pretty silly because on New Year's Eve we had our 2nd annual "Durrbeck-Rubinstein-Longeway New Year's Eve Extravaganza!" We were the hosts this year (if you could call us that!) and it was lots of fun. We had lots of good food, fun presents, and those that were allowed...lots of alcohol (so really, it was me and the kids that were not allowed :-).) Somehow the kids all stayed up in good moods for a relatively long time. Everyone was back at their own homes by 11:30 I think (and since we're all neighbors they just had to walk across the street!) and Daniel and I were nutty enough to let the boys stay up til midnight to count down and watch the ball drop. They had no clue what was going on but were excited to yell "HAPPY NEW YEAR" in their outside voices while in the house! They helped me clean up the toys that were everywhere too and ended up in bed super super super super late!

Mom always had lots of ice cream toppings for us on New Year's Eve growing up and though I attempted it this year, I totally forgot (and was still extremely full!). So, Daniel, the boys, and I all made ice cream sundaes on New Year's Day. The boys thought it was great that I let them have all of the toppings they wanted. Mom of the year.

Today was their first day back at Preschool. Jacob was super duper excited to be back...Zach, not so much. He began by refusing to be unbuckled from the car. I finally convinced him that he needed to go to school today so he could spend the day with me tomorrow and that made him mildly happy. He was very sad when I left and waved and blew me kisses from the windows while crying. He was very excited to see me when I picked both of them up from school but said he had had a great day and was happy he went. (He also said he didn't cry when I left him but I swear he was crying through the window!) I'm so thankful that he has sweet and loving preschool teachers that pick him up and snuggle him when he's upset. Makes me feel better leaving him there!

Today was also the first day of my second trimester. I was hoping to wake up feeling magically wonderful but of course that didn't happen. I was feeling somewhat better but not 100%. Hopefully since I'm beginning to feel more like myself I'll get back to posting more frequently. I must admit though, it's not totally my fault! Our laptop is totally out of commission and the desktop computer is just old and slow. We need a new one but it's not in the budget right now! I told Daniel I'd rather stick to using the crappy one and save up a little more and get a decent laptop and not worry about having a desktop. Not sure that he liked the idea or not but he agreed since it makes wifey happy. :-)