Concert, Cookies, 4 Christmas's & A New Tradition

My Internet at work has been down since last Thursday...boo! I have been busy just about everyday after work so here is an update:

Wednesday night was Jacob's Christmas concert at school. He was front row right strait in the middle. I was so excited...I had a front row seat and my camera ready to go. Background on Jacob: he is actually a shy boy in front of people, at home a wild child. If he doesn't know you he is usually stand backish until he feels comfortable then he is all about showing off for you. I was expecting him to be the kid that played with his hands or fiddled with his pockets at the concert...boy was I wrong. He sang loud and was so happy to be there. I was thrilled!!! He did amazing...all of his class did! They sand 3 songs and had some dance moves...I cried pretty much through it all. My little man isn't so little anymore. We then headed to a friend's house to drop off some Christmas gifts. We went home and called it a night.

Thursday we had our MDO party that was full of some yummy food! We had a gift exchange and sent the kids "letters from Santa" you should have seen their faces...they couldn't believe Santa wrote to them...it was priceless. That night we headed to Hobby Lobby to find Jacob's teachers Christmas gifts. We found all 3 of them beautiful iron crosses.

Friday I dropped off Jacob at school and met up with my sister to run a couple of errands before we went to Jacob & Madelyn's Christmas party at school. They played Christmas games and had their book exchange. After the party my sister & I headed to the outlet mall in Cypress to find my mom's Christmas present. We found her a Coach purse and my sister bought me some Coach shoes and Coach umbrella...I have to act surprised. Hahaha...we always tell each other what we buy one another. Always have and probably always will. We picked the kids up and headed home.

Saturday my sister had to work so she brought Madelyn over to my house around 8:00 a.m. We played and got ready to go to a friend's birthday party. We left the party early because Madelyn was being the diva that she is and I had enough. We went to my mom's house and I helped her bake cookies for her cookie trays. I was having fun until I burned my hand really bad. Hot cookie sheets are never fun to touch...I tell Ruben it's my battle wound. He just laughs at me. Ruben came over to my mom's and we had dinner and then Jacob stayed with my parents and Ruben & I went out to the town center to get some last minute gifts...I am so so so happy we got everyone finished!! We picked up Jacob and headed home. Jacob went to sleep and Ruben & I stayed up and watched The Hangover...we bought it cause we heard it was so funny...they were right...we couldn't stop laughing. Love it!

Sunday we lounged around the house until it was time to go and have an early Christmas with Ruben's aunt and cousins that will be going out of town over Christmas. We had a good time. 1 Christmas down 3 more to go!

Monday I was off and I did some quick running around and then I went home to finish Ruben's present. It came out awesome!! I picked up Jacob and then headed to my mom's so I could show it to her. We ended up staying for dinner and it was time to head home.

Tuesday was work (Ruben's last day before being off until January4) and errands after and then home to change quickly then headed to dinner for my friend Angela's birthday.

Wednesday (today) is my last day of work until January 4th!! Whoooo Hooo! Today we will have our 2nd Christmas with my friend Angela and her family. Ang & I have been friends since like 1st grade and our families have become close...they are my second family. We usually get together and have an early Christmas together and just hang out eating pizza and junk food...makes it fun! So I can't wait for that!

Tomorrow we will have Christmas Eve with Ruben's family (3rd Christmas) and then spend Christmas with my family (4th Christmas). I am also really looking forward to a new Christmas tradition we will be having with my family. I ordered a cake that says "Happy Birthday Jesus" and we have a song that is just beautiful also called "Happy Birthday Jesus" that we will sing before we cut the cake. Jesus is the reason for the season. It should be a fun tradition to start with Jacob and Madelyn.

Hope everyone has a blessed Christmas filled with lots of love, family and blessings from the good God above!!

So This Is Christmas?

Christmas...how did you sneak up on me? How did I let myself become so unorganized and unprepared??? Ugh I have been stressing this! I hate waiting last minute but that is what it seems I have done. BOOOOO on me! I am usually done with all of my Christmas shopping by now but I hate to report that out of the 30 something gifts/people I needed to buy I still have 6 gifts/people left & I still have to finish Ruben's. I refuse to buy anyone a gift card so it's hard to come up with what to get people...most of them have any and everything...what do you get someone that seriously has everything? I bought half of Ruben's gift but I am making him something special that I have to finish...I can't wait until it's done...he is going to be soooo surprised! I am really proud of myself...I have been working hard on it for the past 2 weeks sneaking around to work on it when he is around. Man that man is nosy! I am almost done & I am taking off on Monday so I can completely finish it without any interuptions. Last night I finished wrapping my gifts and finished making Jacob's goodie bags for his class. I didn't do as big of a goodie bag this time but they still came out really cute & filled with yummy candy. Can't really go wrong with candy! Today he will have a Christmas Concert and school and I am so so so excited. It's his first Christmas concert. They have been practicing 3 songs since Thanksgiving so they are all ready. They will be having their Christmas party on Friday with a book exchange so I can't wait to go to that. Add 3 more gifts to my list...I still need to pick up his teacher's gifts! It never ends!! Ruben & I will be hitting the stores this weekend cause I can not wait any longer...it's driving me crazy. At work I have been super busy trying to get everything done before I take my vacation time. I have 4 Sunday's worth of bulletins (well 1 Christmas Eve) and the January Newsletter to have finished in 3 days. I am almost done so that will be a huge weight off my solders then it will be 12 days of pure relaxation! Tomorrow we will be having a party at our MDO so I can't wait to exchange our "Secret Santa" gifts and eat some yummy food. I can't believe Christmas is in 9 days!

1 More To Go...

Today is Ruben's last final!! Whoo Hoo! Thank you God! He will thankfully not be taking a winter mini either so he is off of school until January. He needed a break from school...we all did! Ruben & I are also both off of work from Wednesday, December 23 - Monday, January 4, 2010....13 days! It will be a nice vacation time so we can spend some time together, get some things done we need to take care of, and just have fun doing things here and there. At Jacob's school, once you have been there a year you, you get 1 week vacation so we will be using Jacob's vacation for the week of December 28th so all 3 of us will be together just taking it easy! I can't wait...we really need this!

Jacob had a dentist appointment yesterday and they said his teeth were clean and healthy! He did really well when they were cleaning his teeth...I was really proud of him. They also gave him a new toothbrush...which he loves. He has about 5 toothbrushes...he told me he collects them. He only uses 2 of them...one is a regular toothbrush and then one is an electric one and the other ones he just has still in their packages. Weird boy. He cons my mom into buying him more toothbrushes...what is she going to say no to a toothbrush...just another one of his weird obsessions I guess.

Addition

OK time to brag a little. I am always proud of Jacob but this probably has to take the cake. Jacob knows how to do addition. 4 years old & this boy is learning addition. BTW...I love, love, love Primrose & his teacher Mrs. Walsh! She is amazing...she has been teaching for over 20 years and God blessed us with her. When we had a parent/teacher conference a few weeks back she told us by the end of the school year she would have introduced the kids to money, fractions, and simple math. Ruben & I were kind of just left with our mouths open to the floor. Amazing. Jacob is in Pre-K but they are learning at a Kindergarten curriculum. One of Ruben's classes that he took this semester was calculus...lots of numbers. Jacob always sees Ruben doing his homework and always wants to do homework too. Ruben writes out numbers or words and Jacob writes and repeats them. Well the other day he said, "I know how to add!" Ruben was like "What?" So he asked him, "What is 5 + 4?" Jacob thought a second and shouted "9". OMG! Then he asked him, "What is 7 + 3?" Jacob thought a second and said "10" So this went on for a while with Ruben asking him simple addition questions and he got just about all of them right. I couldn't believe it! He is learning so much at such a young age...it's incredible! We pay a lot for his tuition but it is so worth it. I still can't believe he will be starting Kindergarten next year...now the question is should we keep him at Primrose for Kindergarten or start him at private school. Ugh...a big burden on my shoulders. I stress about this all the time...more than I should...but I just want Jacob to have the best, as all mothers do. I have a few more months to decide so I guess I should not stress it....yet!

Snow, Christmas Parade & Shopping

What an amazing weekend!!! First on Friday it snowed...for the 2nd year in a row!! I had Madelyn & Jacob with me since their school closed early and I didn't have to work so we played all day taking breaks from the cold...I didn't want them to get sick. Madelyn didn't know what to do with the snow...it was pretty funny. Jacob loved throwing snow balls at me. I didn't get very many pictures because Madelyn wanted me to hold her cause she wasn't a fan of the snow. Here are a couple.

After playing in the snow all day, when Ruben got home, he drove us over to my parents house. We had dinner there & Jacob and I spent the night. (Ruben has finals this week & needed to really study...so it was goodbye to Jacob & I). We watched movies with my parents and then headed to bed. In the morning we got ready and we were all off to the craft sale at my church. I found a couple of really cute ornaments and a couple of bows for Madelyn. We stopped for lunch and then headed home. We took a nap at home and then got ready...Jacob & I were going to be on my church's float in Pearland's Christmas Parade. We were so excited! It was cold but we layered up & were ready to go. We waited at Presner Stadium to pick up Glor & Aaron and we were off to wait at the church. Then come to find out our float was all the way on Pearland Parkway and Oiler Drive so Ruben had to go and drop us off at Independence Park. We found our float and we were ready to go. It was so much fun!! Everyone on the float had a blast! The parade ended at Presner Stadium and thankfully we had Gloria's car there waiting or who knows how long we would have had to wait. I can't wait until we get to do it again next year!

On Sunday Jacob & I got ready and my mom & sister came to pick us up. We headed to the outlet mall in Cypress to do a little Christmas shopping. I went to Osh'kosh (love that store) and got everything I needed to all the little kids I buy for. 7 kids off the list. Now I am about 80% done with my Christmas shopping...just a couple of more people. We then went to the Coach store and my sister & I got to each pick out a purse as our Christmas gift from my mom & dad...sweet! I love love love the one I got! Thank you Mom & Dad!!! After all day of shopping it was time to head home. Ruben got a lot of studying done and Jacob & I had an awesome weekend. I still can't believe how much it snowed...amazing!!