It's come and gone.....

Well my favorite weekend has come and gone but it was all it was cracked up to be. Great food, great shopping deals, and great family times! We almost completed all of our Christmas shopping!

We, like most people are toning it down this year. Both families have cut out some gifts, which is great. It's the smart thing to do. Christmas has become so much more about presents than anything else. It's sad. Hopefully, this year, with everyone toning it down, it will get back to what Christmas is all about. To me, it's about spending time with family and friends that we love and reflecting on the year that has past and this year more than ever on being thankful for all that we do have.

My stepmom just returned from a trip to Egypt. She was telling us all the stories of the children begging for money for food. These kids have nothing...no home, not enough to eat, not to mention clothing or toys. It's hard for us even to imagine but it really puts things into perspective. We are all so fortunate to live in this country.

On a lighter note, I took a half vacation day today so that we could go get Christmas pictures done and take the boys to see Santa. Vacation???? Not so much. The boys were pretty bad (big surprise!) Carson was surprisingly well behaved at first while we were threatening with Santa not bringing presents. It's nice that he gets it this year but it only worked for a few pics. Griffin just wanted the bubbles and continuously whined and cried for them. We got our first ever family picture since we've had the kids! We were hot, sweaty, yelling at the kids, etc. but you'll never notice in the picture. We look like a happy, loving family. We were able to get one good one of the boys for our Christmas cards too. To view it positively, as my mom pointed out on the phone today, it makes it easier to pick them out.

I get to pick them up tomorrow so I'll try to scan them in and post them. Many of you will get a Christmas card in the mail soon but we only got a few of the family pic so I'll post it.