Settling Back into the Routine

I always get a little down after the holidays.  I love fall and early winter and the traditions that come with the seasons, despite the fact the weather is getting cooler and the days shorter,   After Halloween I love looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas--it's such a festive, fun-filled, family-oriented, tradition-minded time of year.  Then boom.  There's nothing to look forward to until late March/April and, in my book, Easter and my birthday are not really all that exciting.  Winter is a long haul, and reality sets in after the last Christmas gifts are opened, the holiday parties are over, and my clothes don't fit from all the holiday treats.

I'm glad, at least, to have Carlos home for a few days on vacation with me.  He took this Thursday and Friday off so that he basically has a 5-day weekend.  We've been out and about and having fun with the boys.

First off, let me back-track a little.  My post on Christmas Day didn't include my visit to my dad's in the evening because I wrote it during the boys' nap time.  But as usual, it was a really nice time.  He goes overboard with really nice gifts which usually include something for the kitchen (at least for the past 2 years) and Talbots clothes for me.  He buys me really nice stuff because he has great taste!  So this year, I received a nice pinstriped Oxford shirt, a black quilted jacket, and a tweed blazer.  We got a framed picture of the boys (which we hung up in the playroom), a Vitamix (yeah!!!  great for salsas and smoothies!), and a box of Golden Books.  I collect vintage ones when I find them cheap enough.  We also saw some good family friends who showed up at his house.  The boys were pretty good considering they were overtired and had a lot of energy.  It's so hard to take them anywhere these days, though.  This is the only picture I have from the evening because we were too busy running after them trying to keep them out of trouble!

One of the best gifts of the night was an airedale statue.  We've had it for as long as I can remember--at least since we had Pippi when I was a child.  My dad thought we should have it now.  It made me cry.  It IS so much easier without Lexi, and I admit to feeling relief that we no longer have to take her out in the rain and snow, but I do miss her.  She was such a sweet, pathetic, loyal little thing.   The boys were so excited about the statue that they were all over it trying to hug and kiss it.  They wanted to hold it and pet it.  I think they really thought it was Lexi.

 Adrian loves the balancing cactus that Santa brought them.  He likes to put the pieces in and then knock it down.

As he was concentrating on putting the pieces in, he happily turned to me and said, "I'm making it!" So cute!

Sebastian continues to play a lot with the Thomas trains.

Here, the boys both decided they would take a nap and declared "night, night!"

Sebastian will now tell me, occasionally, when he has poop and wants to be changed.  If I talk about pooping, he'll go sit on the potty.  But he does it with his clothes on and he doesn't actually poop while he's sitting there.  We're getting there, though...I guess!

Today, we went to Joann Fabrics in Raynham so I could see if they had any good Christmas clearance stuff.  They didn't.  Then we went to the Silver City Galleria so that I could get the jeweler to take a few links out of the beautiful watch Carlos got me for Christmas.  I will post pictures of it later!

The mall wasn't open yet when we got there, but we went in anyway and let the boys run around.  We did a lap around the entire mall with them running pretty much the whole way--they had so much energy to burn off!  They were in their glory!

This afternoon we went to BJs to get some diapers, wipes, and groceries, and Sebastian was mad that the "choo-choo hiding" (the Lionel one that was on display before Christmas) and kept saying, "Choo-choo, VEN!" which means "Come here, Choo-choo" in English.  And the boys enjoyed, as usual, eating all the free samples--various times.  Carlos has no shame about basically feeding them at the store.

That's it for now.  The house is all undecorated now.  Everything but the tree and the two wreaths we have is down and put away.  Sad, but having the decorations up after Christmas actually makes me sadder.  It just reminds me that the season is over every time I see them!