Hello 2011!

Even though I have been off work for the past 10 days, we have been busy busy bees!  But it has been a ton of fun!  I can't wait until later this month when I can hopefully get my iPhone for work, and then I can actually post more pictures (always forget otherwise to get out the camera!).  Here is a quick recap:

Pre-Christmas: Did a LOT of cooking which was so fun since I had gotten a few new gadgets as early Christmas gifts!  Went to see the Peanuts Ice! at the Gaylord Texan and had a ton of fun! 

Christmas:  Even though we cut back A LOT this year, we had an amazing Christmas!  I don't know why we have felt in the past that Christmas had to be this big production because we all had a wonderful Christmas this year, got a few great things that we really wanted, and overall had a wonderful weekend.  I am so thankful that we were able to give our son and each other a few great gifts and I really enjoyed the holidays this year.

Post-Christmas: I decided to let my son stay home from school the week between Christmas and New Year's since I was going to be home anyways.  We had to pay for that week regardless but at least he and I got some great bonding time which we had been missing out on from all of my travel in the fall.  I am SO thankful for this time we had together because we had a blast!  Sure, I could have probably gotten more done around the house if I had dropped him off for a few hours each day, but I am his mommy and I was so glad to have the extra time with him.  We did a little cooking and cleaning and relaxed a lot, playing with his new toys and gifts from the holidays.  We also got to go to the Armed Forces Bowl on Thursday, and even though S-M-U lost, we had a blast! 

New Year's Eve/New Year's Day: We didn't do a ton for NYE, but we went to my favorite dinner spot (Tillman's) with hubby's family and then came home, got in our PJs, and had a family game night on the Wii!  :)  On Saturday, we were cleaning like crazy in preparation for my parents' arrival tomorrow, and then we were able to have my best friend, her hubby, and son over for dinner.  It was so awesome to spend our first day of 2011 with them because we hadn't seen them in awhile, and I have known her for over 25 years!  It was great to just be in the company of great friends.  Yesterday was mostly cleaning, taking down the inside Christmas decorations, and trying to get the house back in order.

Things I learned on my break:
1) I am SUPER BLESSED to have such loving friends and family!  We had a great holiday break and I am thankful for our health and happiness!
2) 1100 page books are REALLY long especially when it's not necessarily one you would pick on your own - I'm reading "Under the Dome" by Stephen King for my book club at work, and while it's not terrible, it is a really long book to be reading when the subject matter is disturbing and it wouldn't be my first choice in books!
3) I don't do well with being "bored" - that seems silly but the days that I didn't really get out of the house, I started to get stir crazy a bit!  I guess I just like to be an active person even if that means running to the library or just moving around somehow!
4) Wii games can be frustrating to a 4 year old and can bring out a side of them that you never want to see!  ;) 

Up next: I am off work again today, but have to go in this afternoon to do my pre-op appointment with my doctor and the hospital so I took my son back to school this morning to get him back in his routine.  Caught up on all my work e-mail and cleaned the house some more!  Tomorrow will work a full day of work and then be out for 2 weeks (working from home some) for my surgery which is Wednesday morning.  I'm not as worried about the actual surgery as I am the anesthesia (as usual) so when I wake up in recovery on Wednesday morning, I will be happy even though I will probably be in a lot of pain!  I am just ready to get this all over with and move on with 2011!

Not sure if I will write before then, but your thoughts and prayers would be much appreciated and I will try to post when I'm home later this week (only one night in the hospital if all goes well).  Hope you all had a great holiday season and let's all try to work on making 2011 the best year yet (even if we are all dealing with rough starts in one way or another!).