The Holidays

Wow... what a fun holiday week we had. I was super excited about Christmas this year because Greyson was so into it. He knew that Santa was bringing him gifts... Choo Choo... so I think I had the anticipation of Christmas morning like I haven't had in a long time. But to back track a little... we changed up the tradition a bit this year. We had an amazing dinner at the Santa Ana Country Club with my moms parents and her sisters family, as well as all of us 'Reehl' girls' families. The kids all looked really cute for the holiday... Maddy stole the show with her white tulle skirt, shiny red shirt and beanie. Brody looked pretty stinkin cute in a hand-me-down from Grey... and Grey was breaking the rules by wearing denim, hey, he's my kid... we like to push the boundaries at the Club =)

Then on Christmas Eve day us girls all went to mom and dad's to start two crockpots full of Chili!!! Yep, we ditched the 'usual' food and went for ease and comfort and it was AMAZING!!! Casey was our bread bowl shaper and he did a great job. There was plenty of food, desserts and LOTS of drinks. After dinner we opened up presents from each other and Gamma and Poppi. The kids were so excited. Auntie Lou and Uncle Casey really out did themselves on the gift giving and we all loved it. Thanks to them Greyson has the biggest Lightening McQueen car ever. And we are soooo excited how it says "kapow kachow" over and over and over again ;)

After lots of gift opening we all went home to our houses and got ready for Santa to arrive. Cookies were put out along with milk and we all went to bed. Come Christmas morning there was the biggest train table in our living room and Greyson was in a state of silent shock. All he could say is "wow." It was so fun. He didn't even realize there was more gifts to open. About 45 minutes after we started we were finished and it was only 7:45am. It was awesome. Then we just hung out all day having sporatic visitors... my family, then Geoff's parents.

At about 5pm we headed to Geoff's sisters house for a yummy traditional Christmas feast. We were so lucky to get to listen to Greyson's new L.M. saying its "kapow kachow" the entire way there. But we were still smiling, cause hey... it was Christmas night.

Greyson played so nicely with Jack and Lauren and all their new toys. He scarfed down the turkey, corn and mash potatoes. It was a really fun night, and great to spend it with Geoff's family. That is our tradition...

Cookie exchange party

Greyson and I attended a cookie exchange party on Saturday morning thrown by his babysitter Danielle's mom... its a tradition that is on its fourth year or so. It was so much fun... it takes a lot for me to go to events by myself, but I am glad I did. Greyson had so much fun... and so did I. I baked the required 120 cookies for the exchange. I found a Lemon Crisp cookies recipe that was super easy: ( multiply accordingly...it makes 4 dozen cookies)
One box of lemon cake mix
one egg
one stick of butter ( 1/2 cup) melted
one cup of rice crispies
mix the above together
form into 1"balls
bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes.... so easy!!!

So once we made it to the party... we had to drive thru a monsoon to get there... Greyson took in his surroundings and then really started to have fun. He made a gingerbread house, made a mouse ornament... had 6 silver dollar pancakes and juice... and then the big surprise SANTA ARRIVED!!!
We all know that Santa and Grey aren't best buds... so I was really wondering how it would go with them being in such close proximity of each other. Well, it was amazing!!!! Santa had his bag full of toys for all the girls and boys, each with a kids name on it, so Santa called them up all by name. That was so exciting for Grey, not to mention his name was called second, which was so lucky cause there was about 30 kids. So Santa calls Greysons name and he pops up, grabs my hand and we walked up to Santa, Grey walked right to Santa's lap, got up and just stared at Santa. He said Hi, told Santa he wants a choo choo for xmas and then said bye and thank you for his gift. It was a MIRACLE. I was in shock, so I only got two pictures of them together, but Greys look in his eyes towards the miracle of Santa is worth only two pictures.

After the Santa fun Greyson was super excited and hyper, he found a couple kids that he really liked and played so nicely with them. Once it was time for the mommies to start gathering their cookies, I told Greyson to get in line for the "pin the nose on Frosty" game and that I would be back with cookies. So I go through the three tables of cookies.... it was amazing, and then head back to the "Frosty" game and I find Greyson in the exact same spot. The poor little guy was standing to the right of the game, waiting patiently for his turn and yet, the line was to the left and about 6 kids deep at that point. Sweet boy... I put him in the right line and then watched in "awe" as he stood in line so nicely, smiling and laughing at the kids ahead of him. Once, it was his turn he followed the ladys directions and tried to put Frosty's nose back on... when he was done he was so proud of himself and so was I. I happened to be on the phone with Daddy at that time so Geoff got to hear the excitement in Grey's voice.

It was such a fun morning... I hope we get invited back next year!!!

making his mini gingerbread house
so into it, the craft director for this table kept commenting to me how serious he was taking it, most of the kids left there house half-done with candy on the table... as you can see from the left over candy to the right of Grey.... oh, but not Greyson. He wanted to finish it completely and perfectly!!! I am thinking he has a little of my craftiness

Santa arrived and Greyson was peering at him from the couch (safe zone)

time for some xmas carols... could Grey get any farther away from Santa?? He sat so cute, with his hands on his lap while everyone sang

Greyson's turn with Santa... completely mystified by Santa

Santa leaning in to hear that Grey wants a choo choo for xmas

All done with Santa... on with the gift

he was so excited cause it was a 'Cars' coloring board with matching 'Cars' markers

finally his turn for "Pin the nose on Frosty"

getting tough

I have been handling having Geoff gone pretty well up until this point. I think my threshold must be two weeks... I can get thru 2 weeks, but anything more is way too tough. I have past the point of feeling like it would be nice to have him home to help with the dog, thrash, playing with Grey etc...to really needing him here for me!!!!! I am lonely and missing the warmth of my husband. I love the holidays....the lights, the smells, the decorations, the music...but I have to say its not putting me more in the holiday spirit, it is just making me sadder. I miss my husband. Yesterday was supposed to be a fun day, I played hooky from work, Grey and I did some xmas shopping and then we just hang out at the house. But, instead of it being a great day it just gave me too much time to think about Geoff and him not being here... I don't remember the last time we did xmas shopping together? Its always me by myself. I did the outside xmas lights by myself. Now, I don't want this post to seem like this is Geoffs fault cause obviously its not...this is his job and what supports our family. I appreciate him working so hard because I know this trip is hard for him too. Its just a different type of hard. He is missing us...but has distractions like BIG waves, friends and karaoke at the Analog house on a Wed night...I on the other hand wake up early, get myself and Grey ready for the day, get Grey dropped off to the sitter then off to work...get off work, pick up Grey, do dinner, do bath, get him ready for bed...8 o'clock comes and its just the dog and me on the couch... my day isn't full of distractions, its full of moments that remind that my hubby isn't here to help the day run smoother. It always runs smoother when Geoff's here!!!
I really hope the next 12 days go by quickly, not just for my sake, but so you all don't have to hear many more of these posts.

I miss you babe...I can't wait for our home to finally feel like the holidays!!!

Love you

Nothing worse... and nothing better

Nothing is worse then your child fighting you on taking a nap... after a long morning of errands, I had a lot of xmas wrapping to do ( I took the day off of work, it was nice) so Greyson knows the routine... one of his favorite Little Einsteins shows then off for "rest" we don't dare call it nap time. Well he just wasn't having it today, he was in his bed calling Chopper, yelling for me... I heard him knock his lap over etc. I just had a feeling he wasn't going to nap today!!!

Boo!!!

So I finally walked into his room and he told me he went poopy... I explained to him you don't need to scream my name just say "mommy poopy" and Iwill come in to help you. So I changed his diap and started to walk out, well he starts crying, blah blah, torture. So I told him he had to stay in his bed until his CD was over, if he wasn't asleep when it ended he could be done with rest time and come out and play. Cry cry cry... I shut the door. So I listened and he only cried for about two minutes. About 40 minutes later I finished my wrapping and decided to check on him. So I quietly open the door...
he's not in his bed
he's not on the chair to the left (panic setting in)
he's not on the stool by his bookcase (I know I never left the house, so he had to be in his room)
he's not under the bed
I look to my right and this is what I found:

He isn't hiding.... he is snoring, sound asleep no joke!!!!
All I can think of is he WAS hiding and then he fell asleep when I didn't come to find him.

Oh Greyson... the things you do.

I was able to transfer him into his bed and he is sleeping peacefully and not on plastic...

Santa at the Santa Ana Country Club

Santa was at the Santa Ana Country Club this afternoon... This is something we went to every year growing up, so it is so fun to see my own child enjoying it. This year was definitely the best cause they had you sign up for a time slot to take a photo with Santa... all the years past, I'm taliing 20 plus years, we would have to stand in a huge line for a photo. So with the new "tee time" Santa photo schedule we got to enjoy dinner and all the other festivities.

Grey modeling the Santa/elf hat
yummy xmas cookie they decorated themselves

listening to the story teller

I think Grey and I were in deep conversation here... possibly about the way he was acting haha, its not easy not having Daddy around. Thank goodness for my mom, always giving me a helping hand. This time she captured the moment for me =)

the best pic we could get... he wasn't into a pic with mommy at ALL

dancing with the snowman

jumping off the steps, this is my crazy two year old... no wonder I am fit without having to exercise... I run after this monkey all the time

time to pose with Santa... Maddy and Brody... I didn't capture a good pic sadly, they got some cute ones of both smiling

Happy pic with Mommy and Santa

Not so happy pic when Mommy did the disappearing act... I said " are you ready Santa?" he said " I'm ready." On to his lap Greyson flew... Santa held on tight haha Everyones got to get this pic right??? It's not baby torture too bad...

Grey was fine when he was handed a present from Santa

so excited he got a car and a car book, how did Santa know Grey is OBSESSED
with cars right now

Maddy says " Greyson dance with me" so Maddy twirls and Greyson break-dances

Playing with Greys car... maddy kept standing up and laughing about how Greys car kept going under her skirt.. we were dieing!!! She is such a funny girl