Holiday Madness...

Now that the madness of the holiday season has passed, I am going to be able to focus more time here...

So between shopping for presents for everybody, planning a holiday meal, getting the house ready for company and school things for my son, it has been a mad house around here. Christmas though was a success!!!! Always love when that happens, but before I tell you about Christmas let me share some good news about my son.

We were invited to the school for an award ceremony because Bugaboo made it on the honor roll! So proud of him. We we also had to go to the school for an IEP meeting because he was showing such vast improvement that they wanted to retest him. After this retesting it was decided that they wanted to move him to a program with higher level of curriculum so as not to hold him back, which is incredible. I mean my husband and I are completely shocked about how much he has gained in the last year. When Bugaboo was first diagnosed with Autism he was also diagnosed with a global developmental delay, after the retesting they said that he shows absolutely no signs of the delay anymore. Hubby and I are so incredibly excited about this. We were also invited to the school for a special holiday program put on by all of the special education classes. It was wonderful. Hubby and I were also so happy given the fact that every student in the audience from the general ed classes were so supportive and welcoming of all of the special ed kids. It was wonderful and heartwarming. Given all of this good news we were very excited about the holiday.

Now for Christmas, we held it at our house. We had a wonderful meal. Lasagna with wheat noodles and marinara specially made at a winery that is delicious. It just makes the lasagna taste so much better. Plus garlic bread that we made from french bread, melted butter with minced garlic and mozarrella cheese and a salad. We also had an amazing spread of cookies and breads made from scratch from both my mother and mother in law. The food was amazing.

We started the morning opening stockings from Santa and the kids were thrilled. Just some small gifts and snacks filled their stockings that they opened in their special Christmas pajamas that they got the night before as we tracked Santa online.

 As the kids opened their presents, Hubby gave me mine. A special charm bracelet in which each charm had a special meaning from our lives.

 The way he gave it to me though was even more special. He typed up our story and for each page that he had written he gave me a charm. It was sweet and romantic. It of course made me cry and I couldn't have been happier. He tends to be romantic on Christmas, I mean he did ask me to marry him on Christmas eve 12 years ago.

Hubby is a big kid so while he got me sweet and romantic, I got something for the kid in him. A new 4 wheel drive, remote control truck that can go up to 60 mph that he and all the men in our house on Christmas played with for hours. While he got that, the kids got  a new air hockey game that they are loving, not to mention me and hubby had an epic battle on it this morning. Here is a picture of the kids playing it. 

So how was your Christmas? Tell me about the food, the gifts, the drama, the family...

Anything or everything is welcome, I would love to hear it. I hope your holidays were filled with a lot of love, laughter and memories that will last a lifetime. Until next time, I will just continue on this journey of an everyday mom...

Christmas Decorating

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we have started decorating for Christmas. My kids have gotten really excited about the upcoming holiday. They are so thrilled about Santa coming. Every time they see the Christmas tree they say, "Yay!!!! It's Christmas!" I love their enthusiasm, excitement and enjoyment for the holiday. When they look outside and see the lights on the neighborhood houses they shout, "Look at the pretty lights!" I love the way a children's belief in the holiday magic rubs off on us. It makes this season brighter and more filled with joy at least for me.

I figured I would share some of our Christmas decorations with you. The first is our nutcracker, garland, and stockings on the fireplace.

Our Christmas tree, the kids helped put ornaments on it. It was a fun evening.

Our small town on snow. Eventually we will add to it, maybe some more snow, trees and possibly old vintage cars.

Our small dining centerpiece, the wooden reindeer and two LED candles. It is new this year, we got it at Lowe's. We were very excited about it.

Please feel free to share your own Christmas decorations. I would love to be inspired by anything you are willing to share. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I would love to hear about all of your experiences.

Until next time...