The End of 2012

The final weekend of 2012 was excellent, starting with a very productive Friday. The kids went to daycare for the first time in over a week and I ran errands at six stores and then did some freezer cooking for our upcoming New Year's brunch and my freezer swap later this week. I did have time for an extended Panera lunch with my two best friends from growing up - Catherine and Jacqueline. It was nice to get so much done and to have some time with the girls!

Friday evening was excellent as well. A group of us went to Lisa's husband's restaurant in the city. We had some tasty food, wine, and champagne, and caught up on all the December happenings. The rest of the moms headed out after dinner. As most of you know, I'm not much of a bar/club girl, and I was still getting over my cold, so I headed home at this point but it was a great dinner and a really fun night!

Saturday afternoon I picked up Catherine and we headed to Jacqueline's baby shower. It was weird to be back in Olney at a house practically down the street from where I grew up, but it was great to celebrate Jacqueline's little girl. She is already such a great mom to her stepkids and will be an amazing mom to Juliet! 

On Sunday, Bryan and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe it has been that long - I like to think we still look the same as when we got married! But eight years and two adorable little ones later, here we are, with just a few more gray hairs! We had a good day starting with church and then lunch and a playdate with some friends. After a relaxing afternoon, Bryan and I headed out to dinner. We went down to Catonsville Gourmet for a lovely meal and then had a drink and some dessert at Matthew's 1600 before heading home. It certainly wasn't quite as exciting as our crazy 21-course dinner last year, but it might have been an even better evening because it was more a match for our personalities.

Bryan also surprised me with a special anniversary present - a mini-iPad (or the Minnie Bow as Noelle calls it!) I sure do love my guy, my little ones, my friends, and my new Minnie Bow! Here's hoping your 2012 ended well!

Wrestlemania

One of the Saxton's favorite activities right now is wrestlemania. Basically it works like this: Noelle and Kellen take turns attacking Bryan. He gently removes them to the side and then the other child attacks.

 

This works great for now but not sure how well it will work in the future when Kellen gets some weight on him and they decide to double team daddy!

FFF

Growing up we used to have FFF, or Forced Family Fun. Now I am generally the organizer of FFF and treasure these moments. It was great having my family here for the holidays and spending some time home from work with the kids. Here are some of the special FFF moments we have shared over the last week:

My parents and brother are gone now but I still have off 5 more days from work and am looking forward to lots more FFF during my time off and in 2013!

Merry Christmas!

The Saxton's were excited to celebrate Christmas and Jesus's birthday. Christmas with kids, especially one kid that understands what is going on, is so much fun. Noelle has been eagerly awaiting Santa's arrival for weeks. On Friday and Saturday we made cookies for Santa and dog treats for the pups. Then my family arrived on Sunday. We went to Christmas eve mass on Monday at 4 and the service was lovely (the parking lot not so much...). The snow was falling and my daughter was delighted. We came home to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner - cream of crab soup (this time with shrimp and corn) and prime rib. It was a wonderful evening and great to spend the time with my family. Before bed, Noelle sprinkled the "reindeer food" she made at Breakfast with Santa and got the big man's cookie and milk ready by the fireplace. The kids went to sleep and the grown-ups got ready for the morning.

The big present this year was a train set and table. My parents got the train and B and I found a great table on craigslist. Santa just got the kids a few things - including new personalized towels, a few small toys, and a few outfits. The multitude of grandparents and great grandparents were much more generous and Noelle and Kellen spent what felt like hours opening gifts. They are very lucky little people. We took a break during present opening to feast on some cinnabons B had picked up earlier in the week and then went back to openings and playing.

The rest of Christmas day was low key. We snacked on leftovers, ham, chicken wings, and Christmas potatoes, as well as lots of goodies, and played with all of our new goodies. We also watched the Disney parade, feeding Noelle and I's desire to head back to the most magical place on earth despite just returning from there two months ago. After dinner the kids finally got around to looking at their stockings which we had totally forgotten about earlier in the day. It was a great family celebration and a great reminder of how blessed we are. Merry Christmas!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It has been a long week. The Saxton's battled the stomach virus that half the east coast seems to be struggling through. It started with Kellen and I over the weekend and Bryan and Noelle took their falls Monday and Tuesday night respectively. The kids got over it pretty quickly. Somehow B and I took much longer. I chalk that up to the fact that they suck all the energy out of us and we are never fully rested. Watching your child throw up on the kitchen floor when you and your husband both feel like crap sucks. It especially sucks when you had just disinfected and cleaned the whole house in an attempt to keep the stomach bug from spreading. Thankfully, B and I are a pretty good team and he took Noelle upstairs to change and get cleaned up while I tackled the floor again (and kept Maddie and Kellen from interfering)! I was able to take most of the week off of work, and was home alone on Thursday which did allow me to rest a bit. Bryan was only home on Tuesday, but he also got one day on his own. Unfortunately he had to return to work Wed morning despite still being pretty green around the gills.

Today has been better. All of our stomachs are in better condition. Kellen still has a cold but the good news is that it was confirmed by the doctor as just a cold and not something more sinister. I took Kellen for his iron follow-up appointment today and while we still need to get his blood work back, he seems healthy. My 14 month old is 22.8 pounds fully clothed in his winter attire with a wet diaper on, so has grown a small bit from the 21 pounds he weighed 2 months ago. Noelle helped Kellen be brave for his shot (he missed Prevnar at his 12-month appt so that he could get his second dose of flu), and my children were both on really good behavior. I will say that the Columbia office of the Pediatric Center is so much better than the Catonsville one! Less people, less wait, and office staff that are actually helpful and friendly!

Noelle then went to her final afternoon of preschool for this school year. We got a call this week that a spot opened up in the morning class so in January Noelle will be moving to that time slot. She'll have the same teacher and be in the same room, but the new schedule will be much better for us. Kellen is working on transitioning to one long nap a day and being able to go down uninterrupted in the afternoon will work well. We can do errands in the morning while she is in school and then he can nap in the afternoon while Noelle and I play. This also will allow her to nap on days she needs one (which isn't as often as I would like)! I am sad we won't be doing playdates Friday morning with our friends but we'll have to work on some late afternoon Friday and weekend playdates instead.

Finally, the afternoon ended with one of our favorite activities. Bryan and I are crazy, and despite having refinanced our house in early spring, we refinanced again today. When we did it in the spring we were able to save a little money with a lower interest payment. Since then, 2 houses on our street sold for significantly more than we bought our house for 2.5 years ago. Good news for us! This meant that we could get our house appraised and that the two sales and work we have done made it worth enough to eliminate our PMI insurance payments. Factor that together with an even lower interest rate, and refinancing again was a no-brainer, especially since we love our house and our neighborhood and fully plan to be here for at least ten more years if not longer. I am pretty sure we are done refinancing on this house for forever!

So the week started bad, but ended on a good note. It will be nice to put a little more money in savings each month! And I finally felt well enough to make Maddie and Dakota's Christmas treats with Noelle this evening and even got everything wrapped for Christmas tonight. Here's hoping our stomachs all stay strong and that we can get the house disinfected and super clean again and that I can get some more baking done tomorrow. We hope everyone else enjoys the weekend as they put the final touches on their holiday preparations!

Breakfast with Santa

On Saturday morning we headed to church to have a pancake breakfast and see Santa. Noelle and especially Kellen chowed down on the food and then Noelle did a few crafts while we waited for the big guy in the red suit to make his appearance.When he came Noelle was overjoyed. K not so much, although at this point we expected it. We got a quick family photo and then Noelle and Santa had a lovely conversation about what she wanted for Christmas - princess stuff. It was a fun little morning.

 

Our New Spaces!

Over the past week or so, we have finished up the basement with the move of all the red furniture downstairs, and gotten new furniture to replace it upstairs. I am loving the comfy basement (and we are using it a ton!) and also the more open space of the upstairs. Here are both spaces:

The boxes the new chairs came in also were the perfect tool for the gymnastics and mountain climbing routines that occurred the few days before the recycling was picked up. Noelle mostly did jumps and flips while Kellen kept his moves slightly simpler!

 

If only Santa could get away with just bringing empty boxes! I am pretty sure that would make the mothers and grandmothers call child protective services!