Holidays, Family, and a Funeral

Well, the New Year has come once again and we are geared up and ready to begin 2011. The end of 2010 was bitter sweet. Holidays were enjoyable this year, not too much hustle and bustle. Thanksgiving was interesting, to say the least. Bella Rose (see side bar 'About Me' notes) earned the turkey day memento this year by breaking her arm. She managed a supracondylar fracture of the humerus within the first five minutes of us arriving at the in-law's house. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Pediatric Urgent Care so we didn't make it out to my mom's this year. Me, Mike, and the kids celebrated the next weekend with a deep fried turkey and it was delish! We topped the night off at Zoolights.

Christmas festivities started the first week of December which included tamale making, bread and cookie baking, Andreas Xmas party, me, my mom and my sis took kids to Zoolights (again) and headed to Red Devil pizza afterward (tradition we started years ago). We went light-seeing all over town which is always fun for the little ones. Last but not least, I made grape leaves with my mother-in-law Xmas Eve in the A.M. Xmas Eve P.M. was spent with my mom and siblings, and included my grandparents and some out-of-town family members to make it complete! We had lots of fun, but we are definitely missing one family member this year. I have faith that he will pull himself out of the rut he has been in for a while and emerge next year a whole new person. We threw carrots on the roof for the reindeer and left cookies and a note for Santa. The little kids really got into it this year which was so cute! And Jorden helped "Santa" wrap presents until 2:30am, so "he" was very thankful for that! Mike spent that time putting in my new dishwasher and it has been pure bliss ever since!

Christmas morning was a blast and the kids were so excited. I made my traditional cinnamon rolls and they were yummy as always. Kids ripped through their gifts and started playing with them almost immediately. I snapped pics and Mike ran the video camera as usual. Can't wait to view all of those memories later on down the line. Kids are growing WAY too fast! *sniff sniff* After getting all cleaned up, we headed over the the Spiro's to celebrate with Mike's family and wish mom/grandma Spiro a Happy Birthday! Kids put together a gingerbread house and spent the rest of the night shooting each other with the Nerf guns Santa brought them (huge hit). I've really enjoyed my 3 1/2 week winter break from school, but that is coming to an end this week. This next year will be super duper crazy busy, but I am ready to go at it full force and get this darn graduate degree finished!! I always love the last two weeks of the year because the kids are out of school and Mike actually takes quite a few half days to get shopping done with me, etc. I will miss that as well.

We ended the year with more family celebrations, including a celebration of life for someone we lost. Very heart-breaking and many prayers have taken place for this family. He was loved and will always be in our hearts and memories. So as we close the chapter on 2010, let us all be thankful for our families, our health, and our happiness. "As we get we must continue to give, and as we learn we must continue to teach." God Bless and here's to a wonderful and prosperous 2011! Oh yah, and no more broken bones! :)