Christmas 2008 (What a difference a year makes)

Hello everyone!

Oh my...I don't even know where to start. It's been a few weeks since I wrote anything. I am so tired of being on the computer though, because just in the past day or so, I've uploaded 185 photos. Right now, the kids are taking a nap, so I decided I would write in my blog while I have the time.

Christmas break started for the kids last Friday. Kelly, John, Anthony, Zachary, and Hannah all came up from MO to have Christmas with us and Grandma Stella. On Saturday, Kelly and I were on our way to Pekin, IL just to look around, when I decided to see, since we were headed right by Danielle's house (the kids' mom), I'd call her and see if we could get the boys. She wasn't home, but she was in Pekin...so she said she'd meet us somewhere and we could get Shawn. Luke was with his grandma, so we picked him up seperately.

We had Christmas here with Kelly, John, and all of their kids. They left on Sunday. On Saturday, Shawn and I made gooey butter cookies from John's special recipe...and they're all gone now. lol

On Monday, Jasmine called Jason and asked if he would come to Havana to pick her up because she wanted to see us. So, while grandma and I made dinner, Jason went to pick up Jasmine. Later that night, Jasmine, Luke, Jason and I had a tea party with Jasmine's new Disney Princess tea party set she got from my parents. We had some hot tea and gooey butter cookies. Jason didn't want to attend our tea party, but finally conceded. LOL

I had to work on Tuesday, so we didn't do much of anything. I was off on Wednesday, Christmas Eve. We had to take all three kids to their mom's side of the family about 5:00 on Wednesday for their Christmas dinner and activities. The kids and I made cupcakes, so they could have something to take to their Christmas dinner with their mom's family.

I had to work on Christmas...and Jason picked up the kids betwen 4 and 5 on Thursday...and I got off work at 9. We did some last minute stocking stuffer shopping and headed home. During the course of Christmas, I spent half the day on the phone calling everyone to wish them a Merry Christmas. When we got home Christmas night, we were both really tired...so we made sure we had everything ready to go by morning. I let the kids help me wrap their present for Jason...and then he let them help him wrap their present for me. The boys weren't feeling very well, so they didn't get up until almost 9, but Jasmine was up around 8. I made blueberry muffins and they had cereal and muffins for breakfast. Then we all went upstairs and sat by our tree and opened presents.

I took quite a few pictures...here's some of the stuff each kid got.

Jasmine: Her three favorite gifts that she got (out of all of her gifts from everyone) were her easy bake oven (from us/Santa), a light up medical set (also from us/Santa), and a pink girls guitar (from her mom). I don't know which order those were in, but she said she had three favorite gifts. With her easy bake oven, she got some mixes to bake with. She got a few dolls, coloring book, a Hello Kitty video game, a pony set, and some other various toys...it's hard to remember everything.

Luke: He said his favorite was a spiderman kids laptop...not sure who it was from though. Out of the stuff he got here, he loved his K'Next set (it had 400 pieces), and some of his Ben 10 characters...he seemed to pick out some of the smaller stuff as his favorites.

Shawn said his favorite was his laptop. We got him a VTech kids learning laptop. It comes with a regular mouse, and it has this little monkey on it that talks and helps him learn things. It has all kinds of games for him to play. He freaked out when he opened it, he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He said, "Cole! Now I have a laptop, just like you!" He always wants to play on my laptop and he thinks it's so cool, so I thought a little kids learning laptop would be perfect for him.

We got each kid one big gift a piece and then a bunch of smaller gifts. Jasmine's big gift was her Easy Bake Oven, Luke's was his 400 piece K'Nex set, and Shawn's was his laptop. Which is funny, because those were their favorite (or among their top few) favorite gifts. Each child had a different kind of wrapping paper...Jasmine had bears on hers, Luke had Santa's on his, and Shawn had penguins on his. It was the cutest thing...Shawn couldn't say penguin correctly...so he said, "pen-ga-len". LOL Then he got embarrassed because everytime he'd say it, we'd laugh.

The kids got Jason a Gillette for Men gift set. It had shampoo, body wash, deoderant, and a razor and shave cream. They got me some St. Ive's products...some body wash, lotion and this stuff that exfoliates your skin. I don't think I'm spelling that right, but oh well. lol I used my stuff in the shower yesterday and loved it. And Jason's favorite deodorant is Gillette...so he was happy.

After we were finished opening presents, we had one more stop to make. We went to see Jason's dad and step mom. We got everybody dressed and off we went. His dad lives in Havana, IL, which is where Jasmine lives and where Jason grew up. We stayed over there for 3 or 4 hours, I'd say. The kids opened some presents over there. I took a bunch of pictures there, too. They got Jason and I (well, I guess it was more for me, really...) a two-sided crock pot! I was very excited about that. lol We just took an 8x10 of the family picture we had made in a frame and then a 5x7 of the picture of just me and Jason and framed them. Gitana (his step mom) loved it. We got his step sister a Hannah Montana make up set. And we got his step brother some Axe stuff...shower gel, deodorant, and cologne.

When we got home, we had all of the kids take a nap for a little bit. Then we had dinner, got baths, and opened more presents! Grandma Sella and Torrey had some presents for the kids as well...so we let them open those. Shawn went to bed early...but Jasmine and Luke stayed for a while playing with all of their new toys. Finally, we said it was bedtime. That brings us to today...which we haven't done anything special. We're all so tired and worn out from constantly going from place to place. lol

Tomorrow is the 28th and it'll be a year and a half for Jason and I. We're really not big celebrating each month, but we do mention, "Hey...guess what today is...the 28th.." and that's about the end of it. LOL But, we got a gift card for the Olive Garden from Kelly and John, and as long as the weather is okay tomorrow, we're going to Springfield (the nearest Olive Garden) and have lunch with the kids. Jason has never been to the Olive Garden, and the kids probably haven't either. I love O.G. but I haven't been there in a while. So, it should be fun.

We have the kids until NEXT Sunday, January 4th. The go back to school on Monday, January 5th. We've got to keep them the majority of their Christmas break, which has been GREAT! We've really enjoyed having them. Grandma says when they get up from their nap, we will make some cookies.

I was telling Jason about some of my observations between last Christmas and this Christmas. Last year at Christmas time, we were only together for six months...and I had known the kids about 4 and a half of those 6 months. So, I wasn't as close with them then as I am now. Last year, Jason and I bought seperately for the kids. We realized how goofy that was and decided next year, we would by together for them instead of seperately. Obviously, this year we bought together...and I guess I started having those worries that every parent has....I kept asking myself if they would like what we got them, if there were enough presents, wishing we could have got them more, things like that. And I realized...this is it. This is what every parent goes through, but this was the first year that I really thought about things like that. It's amazing how quickly I forgot I'm not the biological mother of these kids. But I love them like my own. And it may sound weird because I don't technically have one of "my own", but if you're in a similar situation as I am, you understand. Shawn has slipped up three times so far and called me mom....which is nothing new, he's done it before, but every single time he does it, it stops me dead in my tracks. The other night when he wasn't feeling good, I gave him some medicine and he said, "Thank you mom...um...Cole, thank you." I just smiled, tucked him in and didn't say a word.

In fact, the other day when Jason picked them up from thier mom's, Shawn immediately asked, "Where's Cole? Is she here?" and before Jason could even say "no," Danielle said, "No, Cole's at work...but you'll get to see her later." And Jason joked, "Ya know... I dont know if they come to see me anymore, or just Cole." Danielle said, "Oh...Cole. Trust me, it's all I hear about...Cole, Cole, Cole." LOL

In their stockings, Santa left them a Webkins pet. For those that don't know, it's just a stuffed animal...but it has a code with it, and you can take it online. You can choose if your pet is a boy or a girl and name it...and you've adopted a pet. Jasmine named her girl dog Wanda, after Fairy Odd Parents (a kids cartoon), Shawn named his boy cow Biscuit, and Luke named his girl Tiger, Cole...can you believe that? Cole...he named his tiger after me. It was cute. And Jason thinks that Luke has a crush on me. Which is funny.

ANYWAY...I'm about done with all of the pictures...at least until I take more. The kids are still napping. I'm snacking on some chocolate. And I'm supposed to come up with 5 songs that I want Jason to learn on the guitar and he's going to learn them for me. lol In between everything else going on, I'm on the second Twilight book, called New Moon. I'm loving it. Back to reality now... I'll either upload some of the better pictures later, or figure out something you can all see some pictures.

Love you all,

Cole xoxoxox

P.S. Jason wanted me to tell everyone he said hi! :)