2011: A Year in Review

Last year, I did a recap of 2010, so I thought I would do the same for 2011.  It was a crazy hectic year for the Houghams; so much has happened.  But I'll try to jog my memory and give a brief recap of the big highlights.  Here we go down memory lane!

January:  Well, a week into the new year, we welcomed our sweet Chase Cooper into the world.  After an uneventful planned c-section, our second addition made his debut on January 7th.  He has completed our family and can't believe how well Austin adapted to having a baby brother.  Chase has been another terrific eater and sleeper and we couldn't be happier.  He's the most chill, mellow, roll-with-the-punches fuss-free baby ever.  It's hard to believe that this time next week, we'll be celebrating his first birthday!

February: We finally made the transition to the big boy bed for Austin.  He just looked too big for the crib when he was all sprawled out, so we converted his bed to a full size and he picked out Toy Story bedding.  His new found freedom took a little getting used to, but it's been a great change.  And Chase continued to be a great sleeper all cozy in his crib. :)

March: Since I was still on maternity leave, I was able to enjoy Spring Break with my sister while she was off.  We spent time with the boys doing all sorts of fun stuff, including taking Austin to the zoo.  I hadn't been to the zoo in about 20 years, so it was fun for all of us.  And I continued to enjoy time with both of my lucky charms!

April:  Sadly, it was time for me to return back to work and leave Chase in the capable hands of our 'family' at daycare.  It was an easy transition, and I can easily say that he has become a favorite up there, just as his big brother is.  We also celebrated Easter and colored & hunted eggs with the family.

May:  After 10 years, Jordan made the big leap and left his job.  Ultimately, it was what was best for our family in the long run.  With his new job at AT&T, we have been faced with challenges in adjusting to his new hours and schedule, but we're making it work.  We definitely make the most of whatever family time we all get together.  And I celebrated Mother's Day with both of my boys; it was twice as special!  And finally, we took a short trip to Great Wolf Lodge; it was so much fun that we go back in this week for two days!

 June:  Work slowed down for me in June, so I took some time off and Katrina and I took Austin down to San Antonio to Sea World for a couple days.  We had a blast, but it was my first time away from Chase.  He was in good hands with Daddy, but he sure missed out on some fun!  And Jordan celebrated Father's Day with the boys!

July:  Jordan turned the big 3-0 in July, and we celebrated with having a few friends over to the house.  It was much  more mellow of a 30th than I would have expected for our wild party animal, but that's okay. :)  And Jordan and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary with night away to the Gaylord.  Meow Meow and LoLo watched the boys for us so that we could enjoy some time away.  And finally, Austin got potty-trained in a week!  We were ecstatic at how well he did with our 'boot camp' attempt at just throwing him in undies.  We got rid of the diapers and haven't turned back!  And now, he's not even sleeping in a pull-up at night....yay!  Oh, and we finally took Chase for his first haircut! Even though he wasn't quite 7 months old yet, he was long overdue to cut his crazy hair!

 August:  The time finally came! Logan popped the big question to Katrina at the Dallas Arboretum, and she said YES!  We were over-joyed to finally learn that he would officially be joining this dysfunctional family that we have. :)  Wedding planning is in full force now trying to get everything together for the July 2012 celebration.

 September:  Hmmmm, looking back at my blogs, it doesn't look like we had much going on in September, other than a stomach virus striking our house.  Bleh!  And Chase started crawling, everywhere!

October:  We kicked off the month by getting tubes in Chase's ears.  It seems like he constantly had ear infections, so it was pretty much imminent.  But he did great and we've seen vast improvement! Then Jordan and I took Austin to the State Fair and had a blast! (I swear next year we're taking Chase with us to do all the fun stuff, too!    For Halloween, I let Austin choose his costume first (Spiderman), and then I coordinated Chase's after that (a spider). 

 November:  Happy 3rd Birthday to our big boy, Austin Jordan! It didn't seem nearly possible that we have been parents for three years now.  We celebrated the big day with a Toy Story-themed bash and it was so much fun.  He's grown into such a precocious little boy that acts like he's going on 10 years old.

December:  There was sooo much going on in December celebrating the holidays.  We visited Gaylord ICE, got pictures with Santa, Christmas shopping, cookie decorating party, cookie swap party, Christmas class party, baking at home, etc.  It's been crazy, but so thankful that I've been able to enjoy some time off from work the holidays to spend with my precious family. 

Whew! So much happened in 2011, and I probably didn't even capture all of it in the blog.  But we're definitely looking forward to 2012, and hoping it's drama-free and stress-free.  We've got Chase' birthday next week, I turn the big 3-0 in June, and Katrina & Logan tie the knot in July (which also means showers and bachelor/bachelorette parties!).  And these two boys will be growing up even more!

Happy Birthday to my Sister!

Happy Birthday to the best sister in the world! Okay, you're my only sister, and although you technically win by default, I wouldn't have it any other way!  We truly share a bond like no other, and we're stronger when we're together.  We love you and hope you have the best birthday!

Wait, now that you're 26, that means that I'll be 30 in six months! YIKES!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!  We started our festivities last night with Jordan's parents at our house.  We enjoyed lots of snacks, as we waited anxiously for Jordan to get off work so that we could do our gift exchange with them.  But MawMaw and PawPaw took advantage of the time they had playing with these growing boys.  Lots of toys and clothes for both of them.  Austin was really into opening the presents this year and gave thanks for every one of them.  Chase couldn't have cared less about the gifts; he just roamed around.

 After the Houghams left, we read the Christmas story.  This didn't necessarily go as planned, as Austin quickly pointed out that Mary (with long curly hair in the book) looked like Candace (his favorite teacher at school). So, I apologize in advance Candace, if he gets confused!  Anyways, after reading our book, we set out our cookies and milk for Santa.  Austin ensured that Santa had a wide variety of cookies to munch on for his visit. 

 I insisted that he had to hurry to bed so that Santa could come.  Surprisingly, he did pretty well and didn't put up too much of a fight.  Meow Meow and LoLo stayed the night with us, so we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation before calling it a night.  After Jordan drifted off to sleep, I snuck out of the bed to carry in his bicycle from the garage.  I had been hiding it at the neighbor's house all week, and then moved it to the back of his truck that day.  However, I didn't calculate the tight quarters of my car being next to his truck in getting it out.  It was a close one, but I eventually wheeled it in by the tree and snuck back into the bed without him noticing.  Now, you're probably wondering why on earth I would get him a bicycle.  Well, he requested one, so I got it.  But for some reason, I have a hard time seeing him riding it around the neighborhood; we'll see.

Chase was the first one up in the morning at about 8:15am.  I quickly put some blueberry muffins in the oven and got the rest of the crew up.  After sorting all of the presents, we all took our places and let Austin start ripping into them, which he gladly did.  I'm so glad he's at the age where he enjoys opening up the gifts and I can see the excitement on his face.  It's priceless.  But once again, Chase was more interested in eating and playing with boxes and tissue paper.  I'll do a quick recap of gifts for everyone.

Austin - drumset, keyboard, Leapster, Thomas trains, Chuggington trains, Kung Fu Panda DVD, Lion King Simba, McDonald's cash register & food, lots of clothes

Chase - drums, clothes, bouncing turtle sit-on, dancing puppy, phones, blocks, clothes, and more toys. 

Jordan - bicycle, cologne, ties, slacks, shirts, shoes, boxers, iTunes giftcard, Express giftcard, Steve Jobs book, Adele CD :)

Jen - Silhouette machine (kinda like a Cricut, but better!), clothes, LOFT giftcard, Nicholas Sparks book, and a 2-day trip to a spa resort.

Wait, what's that last gift I got?!  Yeah, Jordan and Logan colluded (for Katrina's birthday tomorrow) to send us to a fancy resort and spa in Austin for two nights with spa treatments.  They really came through for us this year!!  Apparently they thought we'd had a bit of a rough year, especially the past few weeks, so they thought we'd appreciate some time away to relax.  And indeed we will!  The big boys will be in charge of the little boys.  I'm sad to leave my boys, but I think it'll be good for us to get away and get refreshed.  So excited; we got some great guys for sure!

After opening all the presents and attempting to contain the tornado that ran through the living room from the gifts, we switched gears to getting lunch together.  We opted for just a ham today, and not a turkey; it's too much work and I wanted to be as low maintenance as possible. Allen (aka Pops), my former step-dad, but the only real father-figure I had, joined us for lunch, too.  But I think the person who enjoyed the food the most was Chase.  This kid can put it away! It's unbelievable.  After our guests parted ways with us, the four of us spent the remainder of the day all napping, munching on leftovers, and playing with all our new toys. 

Overall, it was probably one of the best Christmas' in a long time.  It was just so relaxing (I'm still in my pajamas from this morning!) and watching the excitement on Austin's face with each gift was just so heart-warming.  And now that Chase is here, our family is complete.  I'm so thankful for those who I got to spend this special holiday with. 

Now, onto finding room for all these new toys.  Even with a playroom, we're running out of room quickly! But tomorrow's Katrina's birthday, so we're looking forward to a good dinner (minus Jordan, who has to work), and then off to Austin!

Quick Recap: Days 23 & 24

Quickly here for a recap. 

Day 23:  Made a reindeer foam craft.  Nothing fancy, but snagged a cheap fun thing at Michael's for Austin to make.  And there was more singing of Jingle Bells.

Day 24:  We typically spend Christmas Eve with the in-laws, and this year we hosted at our house.  (More on that in my 'Christmas' post to come shortly.  And then before Austin went to bed, we read the Christmas story.

The End, waiting for Santa!

Recap, Again! - Days 18-22

This week has just been flying by.  It doesn't seem possible that I've been off work for a week already.  Okay, well I haven't been away from work 100%.  I've still had to do a few things and do a couple conference calls, but I'll take it!  Is Christmas really the day after tomorrow?!  This year I have been super-behind, and I hate it.  You throw an extra kid in the mix and a husband that works all weekend, and you get absolutely NO time to do any Christmas shopping!  But I'm making the best of it, and finished up yesterday.  Now time to relax.  I'll try to recap this past week as best as possible, but I'll be honest; I wasn't the best at doing a Christmas activity each day. 

Day 18:  Let's see......I don't even remember what we did on Sunday. But the night before, my sister and Logan were here to stay the night.  We loaded up in the car to go grab dinner, and on the way back, we drove around to look at Christmas lights.  There's this one house in our neighborhood that goes all out, with lights everywhere, set to music on the radio, in 'The Christmas Story' movie theme.  It's pretty awesome. And to make it even better, the owner was standing at the curb, in a Santa costume, handing out candy canes to people stopping by to look at lights! Austin was amazed that Santa Claus was right there.

Day 19 & 20:  I don't think we did a specific Christmas activity, really. I know; I've seriously fallen off the advent calendar wagon.  I'll try to do better next year.  But we did watch 'The Polar Express' with Austin, and he loves it.  He keeps repeating lines from the movie.  I swear, he has a vault for a memory.  And we've continued to sing and dance around to Christmas music.  His favorite: Jingle Bells.  He gets all into it with his guitar, and I just dance around with Chase as he giggles.

Day 21: Okay, I do remember what we did this day, because it was awesome.  We took advantage of Jordan's first day off in nine days headed to the Gaylord.  We took Austin to ICE last year there, and we had a less than stellar time.  He was cold the whole time, refused to walk, and nine-months pregnant mommy had to carry him!  I was hoping that this year would be an improvement, especially since the theme was Shrek, who he loves.  Meow Meow and Lo Lo joined in the fun, too.  I knew I wasn't going to take Chase through it; he would be too cold (it's 9 degrees!), so I had already planned to stay back with him.  But sweet LoLo volunteered to stay with Chase, so that I could go through with Austin.  We had a great time, and Austin was amazed to see all the characters.  After walking through, we did some snowtubing down the hills as well.  He was unsure at first, but after the first ride, he was hooked!  Overall, it was a successful trip!

Day 22:  Not that it had anything to do with Christmas, but I went to look at the chapel where Katrina and Logan are getting married......super-cute!  And I even snagged an invite to do the food tasting at the country club to help set the menu.  Needless to say, it was a delicious meal....can't wait to get full portions! :)  Okay, back to Christmas.  After the boys and I finished dinner, I heard a noise out in the street.  When I peeked out the window, I found carolers standing in front of our house. I didn't think people did that anymore! But I quickly grabbed the boys and we headed outside.  It was so awesome!  Then Austin and I baked cookies to take to our great neighbors, the Maples.

We haven't done our activity for today yet, so I won't write about it.  But I'm looking forward to some relaxing time in the upcoming days.  Great food, fun times with family, and a birthday for my sister!  Lots to blog about, later. :)