Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! We have been so busy we didn't have time to blog around Christmas so we are getting to it now.

Logan was more into Christmas this year than last, but still not full blown Christmas craziness, we think that will start next year once he is 3. We read him lots of books about Santa though and he really liked all the Christmas trees he saw, and he really noticed that the tree was gone when he got up the morning after Matt and I took it down. We look forward to seeing his Christmas reaction next year.

We made the usual rounds to all our family and Logan held up pretty well, opening gifts for the most part and not too many melt downs, which was great for a sleep deprived two year old. Matt and I went to the midnight candlelight service at our Church which was nice (We went to the earlier one last year with Logan and it didn't work with Mr. Logan). Christmas morning was fun, Logan would open a present and then want it out right away and then he wanted to play with it, so he only opened a few presents . I opened the rest for him and each one I would show him and he would say "WOW" and then go back to playing with the one he liked the best. Logan has enjoyed playing with his new toys and reading his new books and Matt and I have been having fun with our new Wii Fit!

We capped our holiday celebrations off with going to Holiday Magic and Brookfield zoo, something I have been doing forever, and Matt and I have been doing since we started dating. We went this year my Mom and Aunt Jackie so we had a big group of us and Logan enjoyed being with his cousins and aunt and uncles again. Logan made himself a little girlfriend while at the zoo watching the dolphins. First he went towards her and she backed away, then she came up to him and stole his binky, then Logan gave her a big hug, it was love at first sight. They watched the dolphins together and followed each other around a bit, but then it was time to go, it was the cutest thing ever! Holiday magic was a nice end to a wonderful holiday. We hope you all had as much fun as we did!

Logan hanging out with cousin Kyle.

The Pable side of the family (minus Grandma & Grandpa who stayed down in warm Arkansas)

Matt and Logan on Christmas Eve at the Blumes

Matt and I Christmas Eve
Matt reading Logan "The Night Before Christmas" a tradition since he was born, and he is using my book from when I was little.

Christmas morning at our house!

Logan getting right into it!

Me with the beautiful diamond journey necklace that my wonderful husband gave me.

Christmas morning at Mom's with our new Wii Fit!
The after Christmas toy explosion in our living room!

Having fun at Holiday Magic!

Matt and his wonderful mother-in-law

Logan trying to get Aunt Katie to take him outside.
Our little duck lover!

Logan and his girlfriend watching the dolphins together.

Happy Anniversary, Brandi

Ten years ago today, a very nerdy boy swung for the fences and asked out a girl that was pretty well out of his league. After she said yes, the (clueless) nerdy boy in question then proceeded to join his friends for lunch. Trust me, that was not the last time I (erm...I mean the nerdy boy) would do something stupid. I managed to not screw up too much, however, and have held on to her for the ten years since.

We've been through quite a bit for a couple of kids who are still about two years shy of their ten-year high school reunion (at least to me we have): ilness, getting married, having a child, losing a child, etc., etc.

We've both grown, but have been fortunate enough to have grown together, instead of growing apart as many couples are want to do today. We've also grown as people and are happy and still in love with other, despite any differences from when we were in our middle teens. Sure, we still have our share of fights, but they don't result in much, and are resolved quickly. And we still enjoy being around each other, even when one of us, most often me, is being a total pain in the ass.

I try to imagine what my life would be like now if we hadn't started dating ten years ago, or if we had broken up at some point (and trust me, there were a couple of times that I was on thin ice in the beginning), and it's never good. In the worst imaginings I'm an assistant manager at OfficeMax. *shudder* She really has pushed me to achieve the modest accomplishments that I've earned in my adult life.

I remember when we used to celebrate each month, making a point to go out to dinner or a movie, or both. I would have roses for her and we'd meet in the mall after work or go out after school. While we're more apt to do something around our wedding anniversary, we're going to go out and have a nice dinner this evening.

So happy anniversary Brandi. I love you and am looking forward to many more years.

Cookies Cookies!

This year marked the first time I attempted to make Christmas cookies, and I have to say they turned out pretty darn good. I even used my awesome Kitchen Aid stand mixer for the first time, so that was fun as well. We are now a couple of weeks past Christmas and no one has had any adverse reactions to my cooking, so that speaks for its self I think (I'm just kidding of course).

When it came time to do the sugar cookie cut outs, Logan got to experience his first Christmas cookie baking. He had fun pushing the cookie cutters in, and also his hand... He even tried to roll some dough, and then when we were finished he helped me put on the sprinkles. We had fun, and of course Logan loved eating the cookies most of all.

Daddy showing Logan how it's done.