Hooray for Back to School!!

What a whirl-wind "vacation"! That's in quotes, because I didn't actually have a vacation, the kids and Tony did! I did, however, have 2-three day weekends! Unfortunately, it was filled with sickness and antibiotics! It all started with Bradlee's ear infection on the Tuesday before Christmas, followed by some stomach bug hitting me, my sister-in-law, my sister, grandparents and dad! Then I was put on an antibiotic for an ear infection and Emma had a slight cough/stuffy nose thing....all brought together by Tony's migraine the day before school starts! Whew! Everyone is SO excited to be back to school, though!

Karyn, Emma and I decorated sugar cookies, while Bradlee "helped".

I also volunteered to help out at Emma's school's Christmas party...although, I guess it was a "Holiday Party", being a public school and all...anyways, I was in charge of a craft, so I had the kids make a very cute Santa out of construction, and of course, with a glitter belt buckle! It was quite overwhelming, and I greatly admire Mrs. Walters, Emma's teacher, after working with those kids for just an hour! Santa visited the class, also, and brought each kid a little gift, too! All the kids had a great time!

We talked Emma into being an angel at church for the Children's Mass (on Christmas Eve). Her friend, Evelyn, was also an angel, so it worked out great, since they had someone to be nervous with! Evelyn's mom, Susan, and I were friends all through grade school, so we think it's so neat that our daughters are now friends! They also take gymnastics together! So we got Emma's costume all together, dress, sweater, tights, shoes, wings, halo...and went to the rehearsal so they would know what to do...SUCCESS! Evelyn and Emma walked up the aisle together, hand-in-hand, and went right up and stood in the middle of the altar, whispering in each other's ears and holding hands all the way! SO cute! Emma said she wants to be a shepherd next year, but only if Evelyn is! :)

Christmas Eve was spent with Tony's parents and our friends, Paul (Emma's godfather) and Deb. We had a great dinner and opened (tons of) gifts. Then we all headed home to get ready for Santa! Tony read "The Night Before Christmas" and Emma, Bradlee and I got the cookies and milk ready for Santa. Then into bed the kids went! I think Tony and I were in bed by 11pm! We actually had to wake by the alarm Christmas morning! We got the kids up and Emma, Bradlee and I waited at the top of the stairs for Tony to go downstairs and make sure "Santa didn't fall asleep" (i.e., turn on the lights, get the camera)! What a great morning we had! Bradlee loved just looking at all his new goodies and Emma loved seeing what everyone else was getting!

We all got dressed and headed over to my parent's house for Christmas celebration #3! We opened gifts, and were able to celebrate that my sister, Kathi, is now engaged!!! We absolutely love Garrett, and I told Kathi I'm more relieved that I can say "My sister's fiance" instead of "My hopefully-soon-to-be-future-brother-in-law"! LOL Everyone is really excited and happy for them. Later that afternoon, my grandparents, aunt and uncle and Tony's parents come over and we had Christmas dinner together. Unfortunately, I think Bradlee was still a little under the weather, 'cause when he woke up from his nap, he was NOT happy. He just cried and cried...probably a combination of the ear infection, antibiotic, diaper rash (that came with the antibiotic) and all the people! So Tony ended up taking him home and spending the evening there. Tony actually kind of enjoyed the evening of quiet, and my dad prepared a nice little plate for him with the delicious dinner!

(if you click on the picture, you can see Kathi's ROCK!) :)

Emma and Uncle Moose were the hit of the night, though! Once Emma learned that Uncle Moose knew how to do some magic tricks, they did this whole production for us! Uncle Moose learned that he needs to brush up on his magic tricks now that his great-niece loves to see them! He did a few tricks, and Emma did a few tricks...my favorite one is when she has her stuffed animal facing one way, then she covers it up, and tells you "don't look". She then reaches under the blanket and turns the animal around and then says, "Okay, look!" She rips the blanket off and VIOLA! the animal is facing the opposite direction! I thought my grandma was going to have a heart attack, she was laughing so hard!!

Emma and I stayed pretty late while she played games with my sisters, Garrett and my mom and I helped my dad with the dishes. It was a nice Christmas, but I wish my WHOLE family could have been together!

Tony and I celebrated our Christmas with our friends, Lauren and Scott, on Tuesday with dinner and tickets to see Jim Brickman in Lansing. Jim Brickman is a wonderful pianist and this is the 4th year we've seen his holiday concert. We were so thankful that Lauren and Scott were able to come with us this year! We went out for dessert after the show and had a wonderful time!

We celebrated New Year's Eve at Tony's parent's house, were home around 11:30pm and Emma, Tony and I "watched the ball drop" from the comfort of Tony's and my bed! Then we let Emma sleep in bed with me! :) She loved it! We went back to Tony's parent's (as did my parents) New Years Day and watched (a LOT) of football...then we just spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and getting ready for 2010 to get moving! That's the last two weeks, in a nut-shell! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and that you have an incredible 2010!!!