Merry Christmas

What a fun holiday season!! William really got into the Christmas spirit this year. For starters, he didn't freak out when he saw Santa this year...that was a relief! On the way to see Santa, I asked William what was he going to ask for, he said a lolly pop. Goodness, if I knew that was all he wanted, I could have saved some money! We worked on his requests, soon he wouldn't stop asking for Transformers and Thomas.

Christmas Eve with the Ladimir's is always fun. Our traditional lasagna dinner followed by church and some pre-Christmas present opening is something we have been doing for as long as I can remember. This year my cousin Diana and I decided to give my Dad a break and help out with a few pans of lasagna. Under the watchful eye of "Tony Soprano" we got the thumbs up on our two pans! This was also the first year we decided to do a White Elephant Christmas with the adults!! It worked out great, I think we will be doing this for years to follow!! Finally, putting William to bed Christmas Eve was a task, he got out of bed at least 4 or 5 times hoping to catch Santa in the act. Chris and I were exhausted the next day!

The "Cook"!!

My cousin Diana and I with our pans of lasagna, please note we tried to put our initials in it with ricotta cheese!!!

Me and my mom!

My old Roxy Bear, Robert, Mom, and Chi Chi aka Christian!

Uncle Christian was over-joyed with his head phones.

Chris was really excited about this blender for his shakes....

that is until Uncle Robert stole it!! That's the way White Elephant works my friend!!

Christmas morning was rough. William jumped in our bed at 2:30 and about 4:30 was getting restless. Finally at 7:30 we went downstairs to open presents. I sent my mom an approved list of toys hoping that maybe she would only choose 3, well she got all of them. I've come to the conclusion that she has a serious shopping problem, I guess that's where I get it! William had a blast with all his new toys. His favorite was a Playskool helmet that has a handle bar that makes cop noises and drives like a motorcycle and his Hulk gloves; which he decided to try out to wake up Uncle Robert. Talk about hilarious!!

Goodness he's adorable!

The HULK!

Could you imagine waking up to this...what a sport!

Darn tape...

Perfectly lining up all his transformers!

It was a wonderful Christmas, we are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives!

Football Season

I don't know about anyone else out there, but I can not wait for football season to end!! My home has been invaded by Fantasy Football, stats, nonstop calls about picks, who's playing who, what players are on the injured list and so on.... All I want to do on Sunday's is curl up on the couch and watch Lifetime movies until the tissues run out...But we are in the home stretch...thank goodness!!

Celebrate

Well it is time to celebrate!!! William went to school today for the first time in "big-boy" underwear!! We have been struggling to get potty training down but it wasn't exactly working out the way I expected. He does excellent at school and other outings, but he refuses to potty at home. I have no idea why, but it is still a work in progress. We will see when I pick William up from school if he is still wearing the same pants from this morning.

We also have another reason to celebrate, Chris got into Texas State business school!!! YAY, congrats to him!! Hopefully he will be able to take classes at the Round Rock campus, it's much closer!!

Catching up....again

I'll do a quick recap of our November since I haven't updated in forever.
William wrapped up his T-ball season...with a VICTORY...well actually at the YMCA everyone wins. He received a cute little medal. Over all T-ball was super fun. The kids did so well towards the end of the season...they were finally listening and throwing the ball fairly accurately. Occasionally William would play with the dirt, but I have to say I did see improvements. Next is soccer...stay tuned!

This month we also went to visit Chris' parents in Dallas and we had a blast! Twice in one month, everyone was so happy to spend some quality time together. We saw Madagascar 2 (HILARIOUS) and William received his early Christmas present from Nana and Yaya...lots of movies!!!

When we came home from Dallas, something happened...Chris and I had a wild hair and began organizing, cleaning the garage and decorating for Christmas. I don't think in all my years of being married we decorated before Thanksgiving. But it was fun...our biggest debate was were to put the tree, this discussion started last month. I just love the holidays!!!

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. My close friend Tracy joined us this year, it was so wonderful to have her here! It's never a dull moment with the Ladimir's. Lot's of turkey followed by a ton of other food that I should not have eaten, and finally the evening ended with everyone unbuttoning their pants and rubbing our bellies...awww the holidays! Just think we can do it all over again in a month....yay (sarcastic)!

It's been a while...

Goodness, it's been a while since I've posted something. Looks like I need to play a little catch-up once again. I've been busy I promise, but for some reason I just can't recall everything I've been doing.

This past weekend we went to visit William's grandparents in Dallas. That was so fun, it was a GORGEOUS weekend, the weather was absolutely perfect! We spent most of our time outside. It's amazing how fast time goes by when you are having fun!

Unfortunately Monday rolled around and William was struck with a bug of some sorts. He was running a high fever and vomited a couple of times...in our bed. Just one of the wonderful perks of being parents I guess. One unnecessary trip to the doctor and a few shots of children's motrin and he was back to normal. I don't know why paranoia sets in and Chris and I always feel like we have to rush him to the doctor for a high fever. Perhaps my overly protective parents repeating every possible scenario got in my head...better to be safe then sorry. But of course William is back in action, being even more dramatic than usual. He has a new word, 'throw-up' and he's not affraid to use it. A few times Chris and I were terrified the few times he said it (hey, when someone throws up in your bed, you have to be prepared for everything) and yesterday at school he had the teachers attention and when we picked him up, he was in the "sick kid section."

Happy Halloween

Today William had a Halloween party at his school. He's little Frankenstein this year. It was a difficult decision. First he wanted to be a transformer then a conductor, then it was Thomas, and finally he decided on a monster. Keep in mind we started this discussion in September; everyday it changed. It was a fun day, the kids in his class were so cute, especially his girlfriend RJ.

I love this picture!

William's awesome teachers!


RJ and William...too cute for words!!

Trick or Treat!!!

Tiger or Gretzky...you be the judge

Goodness, there isn't a day that goes by that William doesn't amaze me. Everyday he's doing something new; saying new words, remembering things I had no idea he would remember and astonishing me with his stellar golfing/hockey abilities. Chris and I are definitely proud parents and have no problem bragging about our little guy's athletic ability or anything else for that matter! Here's a video that we took at home of him playing golf or hockey...either way, his eye-hand coordination is awesome! There are a few dents in the wall...but we rent so I guess it's OK.

Let's Play Ball

For about a month now William has been playing T-Ball. It's been extremely fun and always entertaining! I love to watch him run around and try his hardest. There have been a few games were all he wants to do is sit on the sidelines and drink water. His attention span isn't exactly up to par, but he's 3 what do you expect? It's still fun to watch, and I know he's having a blast...what more could a parent ask for?

Music

This past weekend was awesome!! I'm still recovering, but Chris and I had such a great time. On Friday Jason Mraz played at Stubb's and it was a great show. A bit crowded but AWESOME!! Then last night we went out with friends and saw Ray LaMontagne. For those of you who do not know this amazingly talented singer, please listen to his music. It's so wonderful and soulful!! It was an unbelievable show. I just love Austin's music scene...it's so diverse and there's always something out there for everyone to enjoy!

Time to play catch-up

There are so many things I need to post and just not enough time in the day. Or maybe my time management skills are terrible and I need to snap out of it and get with the program! I can't believe October is coming to an end. There are so many things that took place this month. William's first T-ball game, my Grandfather's passing, and Halloween is just around the corner.

I'm still recovering from my trip to Houston. It was great to see the whole family, it was an unfortunate situation having our reunion take place at a funeral. The rest of the week I spent some quality time with our dear friends. It's always interesting when Chris and I hang out with "the gang". Tons of laughing and plenty of Deidra's delicious food!!

On Thursday Chris, William and I went to visit the Schoen family and to have dinner with Staci. She was in town from Canada, and it has been a very long time since we all indulged in a margarita together.

Friday we decided to fill the day with as many events as possible. We went to the Houston Zoo with our close friends Melissa, her two kids Anna and Cole and of course Aunt Tracy! We had a blast, and the kids were absolutely adorable, later that evening and after a long nap, we went bowling! That was so much fun and the kids did wonderful. Chris and I on the other hand are a bit rusty.

Saturday we went to a very special birthday party for Staci and Aaron's kids, Preston and Lily (the twins) and Ashley. Everyone is so grown up, Ashley is beautiful and so mature, it seems like yesterday I was holding her tiny 4 year old hand at Disney World. I hate that I don't get to see the twins, but they are BEAUTIFUL and extremely ADORABLE!! The rest of the day was spent watching college football and relaxing.

Finally we are home, still living out of a suitcase and toiletry bag. William is the only one unpacked. Special thanks to the Mannion's for putting up with our entire family; dog and all for 5 days!!

Please Pray

I'm not sure if many knew that my parents have been taking care of my grandfather for the past 4 years. This is my father's father. These past few weeks have been a struggle for the whole family. Grandpa's health was slowly regressing and Sunday morning his struggle ended at the age of 86. It was a peaceful good-bye and now we have one extra angel on our side. We are leaving today to head to Houston for the funeral on Wednesday. Please pray for my family, this time is always so hard on everyone. Saying good-bye is never an easy thing to do. I am so thankful William got to meet his Great Grandpa. William called him Old Papa. The moment William walked in the room Old Papa's face would light up and he couldn't wait to get a hug. It was difficult to explain to William that Old Papa is in Heaven. If some adults don't even understand how would I expect a 3 year old? But William has the sweetest heart, he says Old Papa is helping Jesus and that's good enough for me! Grandpa was a wonderful man who had a funny sense of humor and loved his family, he will be deeply missed.

Adult Swim

ACL came to town and with this annual gathering comes a ton of fun bands! We decided to have an adult night out to see G Love and Special Sauce. It's been a while since Chris and I went out with friends, let me just say it was a fun night!!!