Christmas 2011

We kicked off this year’s Christmas festivities with an ugly sweater party at Uncle Kellan & Aunt Stacy’s Friday night.  Because it was last minute and I didn’t have time to put something really creative and horrible together, I figured my mom and dad should have something spiffy that we could borrow!  I think my mom was actually pretty flattered at first when I asked her if Blaine & I could borrow something from their closets!  Then I told her it was for an ugly sweater party!  Sorry Mom!  Sure enough, my dad had a great 20-year old happy skier shirt and my mom had a super snazzy “ho ho ho” Christmas sweater vest (pictured below!)

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I began the next day (Christmas Eve) with a 20 mile run (my longest and LAST long run before the marathon!)  A huge thanks to my hubby who rode next to me on the bike for the entire run and helped me to finish all in one piece!  That evening was then spent at Blaine’s cousin Melanie’s house for their annual Morris soup exchange.  I didn’t have to make a soup this year and just brought one of my rum cakes.  It was a fun evening had by all!  While Colbie was completely wiped out by the time we got her in the car to head home, we were able to spend one last evening bidding our farewells to Mr. Tall (our elf) and leave a handful of cookies and milk out for Santa with Grayson before we hit the sack…..actually, before Grayson hit the sack!  Mommy and Daddy may have had to stay up a while longer for last minute preparations!!

The Morris Family soup exchange party.

 

Christmas morning was spent at our house.  The kids actually let us sleep in till 7:30….not that I did!  I felt like a kid myself….I wasn’t able to sleep much and was up, ready and had my coffee by 6:30!  Santa was very good to all of us!  He brought Grayson his very own “big boy” tool set and also brought Grayson and Colbie a trampoline!  Grammy & Papa joined us for the fun that morning.  Stacy and Kellan stopped by later that morning and might of brought by the biggest surprise of all!  They gave Grayson his very first, very REAL hamster, which he has named Billy!  I’m not sure who was more shocked….Grayson or Blaine!  Stacy gave me a little heads up a few nights before.  While we are adjusting to Billy”s midnight wheel exercises, Grayson is loving being his “Daddy” and it will be a fun new addition to our already crazy family!  Chase and Skyler are also (not surprisingly) super fascinated with Mr. Billy!

Even Chasey got a new toy!

Christmas evening was spent at my parents house with my brother and Kim, DeeDee, Dale, Dorothy and my cousin Reed.  More delicious food, conversation and gift exchanges.

Luckily I was off on Monday, but back to work yesterday and now, I am so happy to be off again through New Year’s, as all the fun, parties and “turboness” is finally catching up with me.  Once again, I am feeling under-the-weather .  

I am so happy to finish this post and FINALLY print out my first blog-to-book for our family!

Hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and happy New Years!

Tis the Season!

Just some fun holiday pictures to share, as well as our family Christmas pictures from this year.  We took the kids to Santa’s Village last night to meet Santa and let Grayson play in the snow.  I was very impressed….they had a ton for the kids to see and do, great food, and they actually had enough snow for sledding!  This was also the first time in four years that Grayson was actually very excited and happy to sit and talk with Santa ALL BY HIMSELF (without us having to jump in the picture with him!)  Colbie was her usual easy-going self and didn’t seem to mind at all that a complete stranger wearing a red suit with a white beard was holding her!

I always enjoy looking at pictures from the previous years just to see how far our little man has come!!!  I had to throw in the evil Easter bunny again too!  Poor Grayson was terrorized all these years!  So happy he finally loves Santa!!

 

These are a few pictures we had taken recently for our Christmas card.

And these were taken last night when we took the kids to Santa’s Village.  We will actually be returning again tomorrow evening to watch Grayson in his first school performance!  The students from his pre-school will be singing Christmas carols tomorrow evening at 6pm if anyone wants to come out and watch!

I can’t believe Christmas is only a week away!  So busy with work, the kids, all the holiday festivities and still somehow finding time to train for my first marathon come January.  Michaela, Dustin (if you’re reading this)….I don’t know how you do it!  You guys are amazing!  I am so happy that I am FINALLY doing one and that I am almost there (only one more LONG run to go!), but let me tell you….. I am pooped!  I ran 18 miles yesterday and I was completely drained afterwards!  My feet, my knees and my hips are ready to retire!  I have a feeling this will probably be my first and my LAST! 

Hope everyone has a great week & if I don’t post before then, have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

BIRTHDAY GIRL!

Finally getting around to posting some pictures from Colbie’s first Birthday party from two weekends ago.  With the holidays just around the corner, I am having a tough time keeping up with everything and wanted to post these before we’re onto celebrating Christmas!  Aside from it being a little chilly that day, Colbie’s birthday party was a ton of fun and we appreciate our friends and family for coming out to help us celebrate her first year.  Thank you also to my parents for letting us host it at their house.  Most importantly, we are just thankful that Colbie is a healthier, happier little girl these days and that we were able to still throw her a special party despite her rough couple of weeks prior! 

My cupcake tower and the box tunnel for the kiddos.    

Cute as a cupcake!

The girls!

Colbie made an impressive dent in her cake!  That-a-girl!

Onto a few fun pics from tonight of the kids in their Christmas jammies!  They were having fun wrestling and rolling all over Chase’s bed!  Such goofballs!  

I can’t believe we have less than two weeks till Christmas!  We’ve had a lot of fun gearing up for the holidays this past week with the kids.  We’ve watched a few classic Christmas movies, took a trip down Candy Cane Lane and have had so much fun watching Grayson’s eyes light up each morning when he finds “Tall” (his Elf on the Shelf) in a new spot each morning “ after he returns from his trip to the North Pole each night!”  Grayson talks to Mr. Tall every night before he goes to bed and repeats his list for Santa with him (which this year includes a tool set and a trampoline!).   He’s been practicing his Christmas songs (Rudolph & You Better Watch Out) and asks me if he can leave cookies and milk out for Santa EVERY DAY for the past week!  Even though I tell him that we still have several days before Christmas, I have occasionally found him in the pantry digging into the Chips Ahoy “for Santa” of course!   It’s definitely going to be a memorable Christmas!

One Nasty November!

November seems to have been the month of illness here in the Morris household.  Since the end of October with Colbie being sick and getting an ear infection (or so we were told), we have all taken turns getting either a cold or stomach virus every week of the month of November.  Colbie really scared us all over the Thanksgiving holiday by getting herself in the hospital due to very high and persistent fever that thankfully turned out to be viral.  We have another follow up appointment for her tomorrow to see if she needs any more testing due to some elevated lab results, but we are hoping and praying that everything will be ok and that it won’t be anything to worry about.  Our poor baby girl was pretty miserable for over a week and ended up losing a pound (which for a baby is pretty scary!), but we are happy to report that she is finally doing and feeling much better and getting back to her normal goofy spunky self!

With that said, we have decided to still go through with the birthday party  that we had planned for Colbie on Saturday.  Maybe she was just getting this all out of her system so that she can be healthy and happy and ready to celebrate her FIRST Birthday!  I seriously cannot believe that it’s already been a year!  Our baby Colbie will be ONE tomorrow!!!  Where has the time gone?!  What a joy she has been in our lives this past year.  Colbie is such an easy-going, happy, affectionate and goofy little girl!  Before she was born, I wondered how I could possibly love another child as much as I loved Grayson, and now I can’t possibly imagine our family without her in it.  I love them both more than I could ever put into words!  Colbie brings a smile to our faces every day and has allowed Grayson to become the most awesome BIG brother a sister could ever ask for.   She is such a sweetheart and I feel so very lucky and grateful to this remarkable little girl who has given us more joy and happiness than we could ever imagine! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS COLBIE ELAINE!  I love you with all my heart! XOXOX

 

On to a few pictures from Thanksgiving…..  Aside from Colbie being sick, we did manage to have a great Thanksgiving feast at my parents’ house.  We also had a few nice visits with some out-of-town company….my Uncle Jonny, Aunt Lizzie and my cousins Paige and John, as well as with my friend Michaela and her son Landon.  Shopping on black Friday was non-existent for me this year….and it sounds like I didn’t miss out on too much……just horrible lines and pepper-spraying crazies!  Sorry to my friends that did make it out and had a better experience!  I will say; however, that I am feeling extremely behind this year with Christmas. 

Grayson and Mommy Thanksgiving day.

DeeDee and Colbie and the Hostess with the Mostess!! Mom, I know that you may argue, but we all LOVE your hair!!

My brother did another deep fry turkey this year, which was DELICIOUS!  Aunt Kimmie……the other (much better) photographer in the family!

These were taken at our house the last night before Lizzie, Paige and John headed back to WA…..Grayson had a blast with them and is really going to miss them!

Hope everyone had a Happy Turkey Day!  Post Birthday party pictures to follow…..