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Christmas Recap

We are back from our Christmas getaway. We had a fabulous time. I so wanted to cut back to something that was more about family and less about stuff, and I think that we succeeded.
We drove over Saturday morning to Sunriver - it was snowing pretty well on the pass but the 4runner (which was literally stuffed to the brim with stuff) did fine. Got there and luckily the place was ready early so we moved in. There was about 4" on the ground, and the kids were simply thrilled. We spent our days playing in the snow and the evenings we did different things - Saturday night we did crafts and made all our own Christmas decorations for the tree. Sunday night we made sugar cookies and decorated them. Then we decorated the tree. Monday night the kids put on their new PJs and we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and ran out in the snow in our bare feet (a P family tradition according to dh, who knows) It rained a little on Monday afternoon, but then we got more and more snow and so there was plenty for the kids to play in.
I went to the gym over there each day, boy do I love that gym. It feels so decadent. The locker room is really beautiful - lots of gorgeous stone and the spa room has a waterfall, rocks and a ceiling with 'stars' on it. The showers are individual rooms and everything just smells so good. It was so relaxing each day to go work out and then get ready in their room like a spa.
We had brunch with Santa, Mrs. Santa, Rudolf, a teddy bear and some elves on Christmas Eve. It was terrific. They had it at the great hall. It was so great DeNel, as Emma has really changed. She was SO EXCITED this year - just bursting. She was hugging the critters and smiling and jumping up and down. The elves remembered us from last year and were marveling at how much the kids had changed. It just was so great to have them so excited and happy.
We had dinner delivered on Tuesday and it was great. It felt really weird not to cook much of anything, although I did do the breakfast casserole I always do. The kitchen there wasn't really equiped well so it was a good decision, but still a little strange.
Exercise equipment was the theme this year for me - dh got me a dumbbell set I've been wanting and an exercise ball for the house. He also got me some pampering (facial, massage, etc) I'm excited. I'm going to space it out a little. I have a goal of loosing 45 pounds by 1/1, and so I'll reward myself when I reach that one. Then maybe another one at 50 pounds. We'll see.
Christmas Eve was pretty funny - I have to tell you a story. So we were trying to get the kids to bed, and they were resisting. The house had an open floor plan with a loft upstairs with 3 queen beds where the kids slept. It looked out on the living room (and tree) I went up since they weren't settling, and Jakey was laying with his glasses on still looking downstairs. I turned him around, took his glasses off and told him that Santa wouldn't come if he was awake. We set the alarm for 1am and went to bed.
We crawled out at 1am and had a terrible time finding the presents we had wrapped to hide them and unwrap them for the 'from santa' gifts. I stuffed the stockings in the laundry room and we set them all out on the long bench in the dining room, which was on the far side of the tree.
So in the morning I get up at 6am, not a sound from upstairs. I go back to bed. At 7 I get back up. A little whispering but no one comes out. So I go upstairs and they are awake and looking pretty glum. "Hey guys, do you want to go see what Santa brought?" Jakey very solemnly says, "He didn't come" It seems he had been checking over the railing nad saw nothing changed down by the tree, so they had decided that Santa had skipped us. They became dramatically more animated and happy after I said that I had seen he had and they raced downstairs to see what they got. They were thrilled.

Less then a week till Christmas

It is Wednesday morning. I have jogged 3 nights in a row - not far, not fast, but I've actually jogged. That in and of itself is totally amazing.
Yesterday was Jakey and Vi's Christmas program at school. They were very very nervous about the whole thing. They did great - sang several songs, got up and even did the hand stuff that went with the songs.
Today is their holiday party, more pictures soon.

The Weekend

Well it is Sunday night, and another weekend has sped by! Saturday night DH and I had a neat date - we got to go out alone to listen to music. A good friend of DH's is in a band, the Kronikles. They were playing at a small bar in Albany, so we headed up to see them play. They are TERRIFIC! Here are some pics of the group.

Sunday was also a banner day - I tried jogging for the first time in over a decade. I guess all my hard work with the EFX early in the morning has paid off. I jogged a mile at the gym this afternoon! I know, not very far, and certainly not very fast, but I did it. I didn't fall over in exhaustion, I could still hold a conversation, it was great! I also did a 'plank' and lasted 75 seconds.
I'm down 40 pounds as of this morning (yeah!) although I hope to be down 45.5 by New Years so I have some work to do.
Have a great week, more pics as things get recorded.

Christmas Santa Picture

Thought I'd share this year's Santa picture. Santa is looking younger these days!

The weekend

Me right before we went out Saturday night - I had to have this dress taken in a bunch to fit (hurray!)
Jakey helping set up Christmas decor outside

Emma decorating

Violet

Daddy and the kids setting up our giant inflatable snowman...

Elf

The big thing around the internet is to Elf Yourself - here is the link to us minus one child....
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1218823910

Graduation and 19 days till Christmas

Well last night was the big event. DH walked in his graduation. I got off work early, went home and got the kids. The girls were so cute, they each picked their favorite dress (which unfortunately for them was a very cool springlike dress in each case) and then we bundled up and headed to the show. When we got to the parking lot we were greeted by two men in kilts playing bagpipes. We got settled and listened to the commencement ceremony. The speaker was a local politician who owned the Coca Cola company wouth of us in Roseburg. He talked about the 10 things to make you successful. It was interesting, in that a lot of what he said held true. I of course can't tell you all 10, but they were basically, get an education, keep learning, work hard, play hard, take calculated risks, and don't forget to ask for help.
He was a little long-winded but good.
We went to dh's favorite restaurant for dinner. It is a chinese buffett. While I was up getting food, who should I see but dh's best friend who had also graduated. He had a large amount of family come in and they were dining across the restaurant,but we all stopped to visit for a while. It was nice too, he mentioned to me that he and his wife are both going to start the same diet program I'm on come January 1.
Dh started it a few days ago by the way. When you start there is a pretty drastic weight loss. Even more drastic for DH - he has lost 11 pounds in about half a week. He is very pleased. Like me though, he finds it hard to believe that it works.
I got up and worked out again this morning - took most of this week off as I have been fighting a cold.
Tonight is the big holiday party at DH's work. I picked up my new smaller dress last night at the seamstresses house and visited with her. We have a little holiday shopping to do as well, as we count down to Christmas. I think this will be decorating weekend too - I'll post pics after the weekend of all our activities!

December

I can't believe its already December, how can that be? Today I woke up with a terrible sore throat and a stuffed up head. Ick. On a more upbeat note, a big problem at work resolved itself today. As I may have mentioned I'm also involved in personnel issues. I had started in on a big one that was fraught with troubles and I expected it would be a long time coming to a resolution. The employee solved my problem by quitting today - hurray!
Still eating right. I am now 13 weeks in and 38 pounds down. Not too shabby! Of course I had salt tonight, and I intend to weigh in tomorrow, so it might not all work out so sweet. Hopefully I won't retain too much water!
What else is new - oh, we bought a Jeep Wrangler this weekend, that was fun. DH has wanted one for a while, and now he has one. Its cute, and ufn to drive. Today his drive to work was through hurricane force winds and flooding, so it was good he had something that could 'boonie crash'.
We spent most of the weekend reassembling our house after our vacation, dooing laundry and cleaning the RV. Tomorrow night I take clothes to the seamstresses to see if she can resize things so they don't hang on me so baggy. Saturday I have a hot date with the hubby at his company Christmas party.
I'll try to be a better blogger soon.