In the "Nick of Time" Santa Pic 2014

You know when you have everything perfectly planned and then it all goes out the window?  Yes that was my weekend.  We had waited until the weekend before Christmas to go visit Santa.  Well Saturday came and my baby came down with the most feared thing in my house.... THE STOMACH BUG.  Well you know how this one goes, Mom went down at 6 pm Sunday night, my 6 year old woke up just before midnight on Sunday and then at 6 am on Monday my oldest was struck! 

Dad was our hero, he took care of us and we were just about convinced ourselves he was spared.  That was just until about 9 pm Monday night.  Luckily he had a quick case of the bug.  By Tuesday night we were all doing well.  As I was laying in bed with my 6 year old, he asked why we hadn't seen Santa yet?  Uggh!!  Why did I wait until the last minute?  Why didn't I think we would all become insanely ill the weekend before Christmas?  Next year I won't procrastinate!

Tuesday night we all went to the mall.  We all waited in line for about an hour.  But finally we got to see the big guy.  Everyone was excited and then this happened, the scream of fear!  Well, kind of describes my weekend, the awful "Christmas Bug of 2014"!

Merry Christmas!

Three Days in NYC With Friends - Day 1

I was able to do an incredible girls trip to New York City for three days, with two of my dearest friends.  We met in college and lived together for two years.  We still get together quite often for dinner and laughs, but this was our first trip together since graduating college in 2000.  I hope we can make this a yearly tradition because we had a beyond amazing time. 

We arrived on a 8 am flight into LaGuardia so we had an entire day to spend exploring the city.  We stayed near Times Square at the Row NYC.  We were able to walk and take the Subway for our entire trip.  Day One adventures included:

Times Square

 

 Rockefeller Center

 

 

Central Park

At night we went up into the Empire State Building and visited Macy's.  It was a lot of walking, we took the Subway once, and saw so many sites!

Stay tuned for Day 2...

"Let It Go" and "Shake It Off" Through the Holiday Season

Holidays can be a stressful time in any household.  Add in three kids eight and under, and the stressful situations can bubble up instantly!  There is so much to be done between Thanksgiving and December 25th.  The house needs to be decorated, inside and out, cookies need to be baked, Christmas pictures need to be taken, holiday cards need to be sent out, church services need to be attended, presents to buy, food to prepare, concerts to attend, the list goes on and on...  Am I making your head spin yet? 

 

When stress gets the best of you, I find it very helpful to sing and dance your way through it.  You may find it common in my home for me to bust out a song or start dancing in the kitchen.  As I progress along this path of motherhood, I am finding new ways to relieve stress instead of resulting to yelling.  I hate yelling.  I hate when I yell. I ALWAYS regret it after it happens!  So when I am feeling the stresses of the holidays, my two remedies are:

1.  Belt out "Let It Go" at the top of my lungs and maybe add a twirl or a spin in with it!
2.  Break out in "Shake It Off" and let the stresses all shake off your body!

Try it, it works!  Don't get caught up in all the "to do's" of the holiday season, step back and remember why we celebrate December 25th, it is Christmas Day, the day Christ was born!