It's finally time!

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 26th) is our last day at home without baby. NOW I'm starting to wonder what in the world we were thinking! :) We'll take the girls over to Jim's sister's house in the afternoon, go out for a nice dinner date, then check in to the hospital at 6am on Wednesday--surgery's scheduled for 8am.
We had all of our Christmas celebrations--we couldn't make it to Columbus this year as it's too close to delivery date--and we're exhausted! Last night, my folks and Kyle & Max came over. We went to the Children's Mass (5:00) at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ... it was so packed! I'm glad we got there when we did, around 4:30, because there were people sitting up in the elevated area near the altar, people standing in the back and up the sides, etc. Jim and I saw the OB who's going to do my C-Section (he was one of the folks sitting up by the altar). After Mass, we went home, ate chili and cinnamon rolls, then opened gifts. The most fun thing--I thought--was the tower of gifts that we gave my Mom. It's a fairly new tradition... the tower gets passed back and forth between our families each year, and it's fun when it's our turn, filling each little box with odd gifts. We had a great evening--Max and the girls always enjoy playing together!
This morning, after Santa had made his stop, the girls woke up and went through all their loot--Jim and I made out pretty well too! Then, we did our Progressive Dinner, beginning this afternoon at Mary's (Jim's sister's) house. We had appetizers there (a ton of 'em!) and everyone opened their gifts. We moved on to Anne's (another of Jim's sisters) house and had our main meal--ham, cheesey potatoes, corn, etc. Then, everyone came over to our house for dessert. I had changed our dessert menu up a bit... at this point in the pregnancy, I haven't been real motivated to do much of anything. So Jim bought all the groceries we needed... then I made almond bark pretzels, Christmas wreaths, and white chocolate macademia nut cookies. Meanwhile, Jim whipped up, frosted and decorated sugar cookies (from scratch, not the 'tube' kind I always make!), plus he made a TO DIE FOR Turtle Cheesecake, from scratch. We also obtained three small cheesecakes from my parents last night (Dad gets Harry & David cheesecakes at work every Christmas). Lastly, Jim had bought a Mrs. Smith's French Silk Pie. We had coffee, wine, and orange sherbet/7-Up punch. Just about everyone ended the evening looking as round as me! Ha! Ha! Just kidding. It was a lovely celebration!
Hope you have had safe and Happy Holidays and that the New Year brings love, happiness and good health to you all!

Gingerbread Houses Part 2

After all the houses were done, they were added to the 'residential' portion of the 'town' that the kids (and their families) had already made. Josie's contribution was the Vet's office (see the red building with the chimney in the first picture). Some of these buildings had just a ton of detail. It was fun to hear a few of the other moms talking about how hard they'd worked on their projects with their kids--knowing how hard our family had worked on ours, too. Jim's favorite thing was how the little airplanes the kids created got to use the regular street as their landing strip! A few days later, Josie and I watched a Gingerbread House Making Contest on the Food Network, and I noticed that she could totally relate to the pressure and stress these people were under to get their houses to look just right and to stay together without slipping apart or having pieces fall off. Wouldn't it be cool if we had a pastry chef on our hands? (Previous to that contest, she and I watched Emeril, and she said, "It's like he's doing magic with food!" I couldn't agree more! BAM!)

Gingerbread Houses Part 1

Here are just a few shots from the other day, when I went to help Josie's class make Gingerbread Houses. What a blast that was! It was hilarious--the teacher spent maybe three minutes, tops, going over how to make the houses... yet it took each kid probably fifteen minutes to make theirs. They had so much fun, though, and got so sticky!

USAF Christmas Concert

This past Saturday, we went to Omaha and met up with Jim's folks and his sister Mary's family... we went to lunch together at Old Chicago in the Old Market, then we walked over to the Holland Performing Arts Center. There, we attended the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band's Christmas Concert. This was Jim's parents' fourth year attending, our third year, and Mary's family's second year. It is an AMAZING event!!! This was the USAF's 20th year hosting the event with the Omaha World Herald. There is this huge symphony orchestra, along with several vocalists. They're all members of the Air Force. They perform many instrumental tunes, several vocal songs, and this year, they did a few numbers from The Nutcracker--they even had some members of the Creighton Dance Company perfroming ballet. The girls were enthralled--as was their Mommy! As in years past, just after Intermission, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived as a 'surprise'. Santa sauntered down the main aisles where we were seated, greeting children in various seats. Josie scooched out towards the end so she could have Santa shake her hand... but instead of just doing that, he pulled her out into the aisle with him and they danced for a bit. She was excited to do that, but ready to come back and be by Mommy and Daddy! The MC of the event asked Santa and Mrs. Claus to come up on stage and read a story to the children. This year's story was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", and it was punctuated by appearances of The Grinch, as well as one of the Air Force Vocalists singing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". The best part, though, was that they asked children to come up on stage (as they have in years past) to gather around the Clauses as the story was read. Lindsay, Josie, and our niece, Sara, went up on stage, along with about 20 other children. Santa promptly grabbed Josie's hand and asked her to sit upon his lap. She had done this last year, too, but we'd forgotten our camera. Luckily, we remembered it this time! I think Josie's feeling like quite the superstar now, having been singled out by Santa two years in a row! The music was entertaining as well as moving. Another great part of the event was when they had a short video "hello" from soldiers deployed all over the world, sending their Christmas Greetings to family members in Nebraska. It's always quite emotional, thinking about these people serving for us not just throughout the year, but during the Holidays while we're safe at home. We love this tradition we've started, and we hope to keep it up for many years to come! 

I think I was off on my math the other day.... I said I had 28 days left, but it was actually 27. Well, now, as of today, we've got 23 days left until the little guy joins his family! I'm so ready. I've got my Christmas Cards out, I have one or two more Christmas gifts to obtain, the house is all decorated, and I've got my ideas ready for the Progressive Dinner we'll do with Jim's family on Christmas Day. (I get to do desserts, and I'm planning on a Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake, a turtle cake, some cookies, and maybe another item.) Plus, we'll have chili and homemade cinnamon rolls with my folks on Christmas Eve.
This weekend, we've got the USAF concert to go to in Omaha. This is our third or fourth year going, and it's always a real treat. Last year, Lindsay and Josie got to get up on stage while Mrs. Claus read a story--Josie even got to sit on Santa's lap!!! Unfortunately, we forgot to take our camera. We'll have it with us this year, for sure!