Week 147

Dec 21-27

Oh my goodness! I am so far behind on my blogging and I am so sorry if you have been waiting to be updated. We had such a nice Christmas this year. I was so engrossed in my last few days with the family (before going back to work full time) that I just didn't feel like blogging. I've been taking notes and getting my pictures in order so that I can recall all of our fun times for the week of Christmas.

Christmas is such a special time. Not only for all of the obvious reasons, but I always think of it as a time to look back on the whole year and remember all of the special times we have had as a family. This year our little family has undergone so many changes it is unreal. A pregnancy, a new baby, a big move to another state, losing a job, gaining a job, graduating from college, going back to college for another degree. Luckily most of our life changing events are positive ones, but they still cause a lot of stress. I think we have endured everything gracefully. We are finally pulling through to a point that we can 'settle' into a routine. More on that later.

Chunker!

Love him!

As you all know the Storch family is big on traditions all throughout the year and Christmas is no exception. Before Ed and I even had kids we made a decision that Christmas Eve would be a sacred family day...just our family. We also decided that we always want our kids to wake up in their own beds on Christmas morning. Remember that we just moved "back home" to be close to family so it has been interesting trying to fit everyone's traditions together. We have never really had to take others into consideration because we always lived away and were pretty much on our own. I felt kind of bad because my dads side of the family spends Christmas Eve together and we were invited...but we had to respectfully decline.

Showing his little brother something.

Baby's 1st Christmas!!!!

I'm sure some people do big things on Christmas Eve. We literally sit at home and hang out. It is very low key and sounds boring, but it is our special family holiday tradition. We enjoy each others company, eat good food, and wait for night time so we can really get into some Storch family holiday traditions. After dinner we all get in our Christmas pajamas, basque in the glow of the Christmas tree, and enjoy opening one present. This year Jack opened a new fire truck from Mommy and Daddy. He played with it while Ed and I sat around and talked. After awhile it was time for bed and we set out cookies and milk for Santa. This year Jack was really into it. He took it upon himself to carry the plate of cookies out by the fire place.

Loves his new Fire Truck!

These boys are my heart!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

So cute!

When it was time for kids to go to sleep we all snuggled up on Jack's bed and read The Night Before Christmas. We told him Santa would come tonight if he went to sleep and he did. The rest of the evening Ed and I hung out with each other, enjoyed a few drinks, talked about life, and went to bed at a decent time. We couldn't wait until Christmas morning. I think we were more excited than Jack was. We wrapped all of the presents, placed them under the tree, and got everything ready for the next morning. We set our alarms and planned on getting up at 5:00 am so that we could get up to make coffee, get the camera ready, and make sure everything was perfect.

Left these cookies and milk out for Santa...

He ate them!!!

When Jack wandered out on Christmas morning we were ready. We even captured on camera the moment he laid eyes on all of the presents. It was great! He was so different this year and tore through his presents like a champion. He got a ton of Thomas the Train accessories for his train table. These toys are insanely expensive, but they are so worth the money. They are mostly wood, and the quality/durability factor is remarkable, so they will last forever. I think of them as an investment. Jack got his Thomas Train table for Christmas last year and he literally plays with it every single day. Worth every penny. These kinds of toys are timeless in my opinion.

Opening presents!

He was a pro this year!

Sitting with his presents from Santa!

The tree on Christmas morning!!

Ed's yummy breakfast casserole right before going in the oven!

Abel emptying the contents of his stocking!

LOVE those cheeks!!!!!

Okay so back to the story. Jack loved Christmas morning. He was so excited to play with all of his toys. After playing for a little bit, Mimi, Uncle Andy, and Aunt Caroline came over (Uncle Will had to pull an extra shift at the Fire Station being the new guy and all). It was like "ding, ding, ding, ROUND TWO!" Haha! Jack got more presents including a remote control car from Andy and Caroline that he loves. He also got a Leapfrog kid learning computer thing from Mimi. It is fun to start playing games with him and seeing him understand rules and how things work.

Uncle Andy and Aunt Caroline!

She loves this little baby!

After Round Two of presents we packed up the kids in the car and drove over to Sumter to visit Grandma (Ed's mom), Big Hartin, and Uncle Lucius. Round Three of Christmas!!! Everyone loves Grandma's house. She of course made all of her delicious cookies so we could snack on them while we were hanging out. We got right into opening presents. It was like another full blown Christmas!!! Uncle Ryan and Aunt Amanda also came over. Jack was in hog heaven. He helped everyone open their presents while he also played with a million new toys. Abel got a much needed new car seat. He is so big and broad shouldered, he seriously can't fit into his little baby carrier seat. He LOVES his new car seat. It is the same one as big brother Jack but in a different color. Suddenly he can enjoy a car ride now. Imagine that. :)

Ed and Abel with Uncle Lu

Grandma's Christmas tree!

Yum!

My favorite!!!

Digging in...

Abel's new car seat!

Grandma loved her gift!

Abel with Uncle Lu!

We got lovely gifts from Big Hartin and Cindy. After opening presents we had a huge Christmas dinner. Mmmm. So delicious!!! We stayed the night and played games, enjoyed drinks, and each others company. It was such a nice time. The next day we packed up the car full of presents and went home. It was back to reality and my first official week in the Pediatric ER. More on that in the next post.

Week 146

Dec 14-20

Christmas is in less than a week! Thank goodness we finished our Christmas shopping over a month ago. Two things made it easy this year: 1. We are poor with no income and only shopped for Jack, 2. We used amazon.com after picking what we wanted at the toy store and it was super duper fast with free shipping! Now that's my kind of shopping. I HATE the mall or any other stores this time of year. I know it is supposed to be the Christmas season, but I feel like everyone else seems to think it is the Greedy season. It is crowded and busy, there are lines for everything, and people push. It is cold/flu season and I don't really feel like being in an enclosed space with such a high volume of people. I just don't have the patience for it. I would much rather spend time at home with my family.

Cheesy Christmas picture with Santa

I feel so bad that we aren't able to get Christmas presents for our friends/family this year. We have been so fortunate in the past in being able to do so. Sometimes when your situation changes it can really put things into perspective. In our 5 (almost 6) years of marriage we have been so blessed to the point that we were practically disillusioned. We both always worked and made decent money. We have never wanted for anything. Although we are pretty good with our money (as in no credit card debt, good credit scores, etc) we could definitely have saved way more than we did if we would have made just a few minor changes (without even really giving anything up).

The boys helping decorate cookies.

Pre-icing and sprinkles

We weren't crazy with money, we did not spend in excess, but if we wanted to do something we did it. Now that I am going back to work things are definitely going to be better...but at the same time Ed is going back to school and not working. It is a slight pay cut, but there are some huge advantages to the situation. He is going back to school to get a degree that will give him major earning potential as opposed to fire fighting (which he will now do as a volunteer...fun fact: 70% of firefighters are volunteer). He is also much more available to watch our two kids, thus saving tons of money on babysitting and/or daycare. Ed is super lucky to have gotten a bachelors degree while in the Navy while still having almost 2.5 years worth of "free" school left on his Post 9/11 GI Bill. It means free school + around $1,000.00/month allowance.

This kid loves sprinkles!!!

For this kind of situation I don't mind sacrificing. We have discussed canceling the cable and the house phone. We are living in a super cheap area of town. We find ourselves shopping at Walmart for food instead of Publix. Generic items are beginning to dominate our pantry as opposed to our usual name brand. Now that we are both super busy and have two kids we figure we are going to have to start making some super cheap and easy meals. Luckily when you are cooking with your handy dandy crock pot, you can buy a cheaper cut of meat and it is not as noticeable. At one time I tried to clip coupons but I just don't have the time or patience for that kind of thing.

Aren't they pretty?

It is kind of fun to strategize how we are going to make the most of our money and "make it" through this time. We make an awesome team and fantasize about one day both being nurses with advanced degrees (double doctors...say what?!) and making some serious money. I can say that we are really starting to appreciate the simple things in life. It feels great to focus on what is important.

Cute little family of sugar cookie stockings!

With the holidays coming up it is always good to remember what is important to you. I have always said that as long as I have my family I will be okay. It is true. I am so thankful to have a roof over my head, food (even if it is GV brand) on the table, and a brain to figure out how to make everything work!

I think my favorite are the Chrismas trees

This year since we don't have the money to buy people nice gifts we decided we would show our love in another way. Baking. One of the great Christmas traditions that I love to partake in is baking cookies!!! I highlighted a couple of our cookies in the last post. This week we finished up the sugar cookies. These are the best Christmas cookies, because you get to sit down and spend time together while you decorate them! I like to blast Christmas music and sit down to watch my family make the most beautiful cookies you have ever seen!

He is such a great helper!

Aunt Caroline assisting.

After we baked and decorated these cookies we delivered them. Here is a picture of my little helper Jack. :) Aunt Caroline came along to help too.

Jack playing with My Little Ponies

A quick shout out to Hope the Wonder Dog. It was her 7th (we think) birthday this week. When we rescued her we made her birthday December 15th and have celebrated the past 6 years. This is a picture after she ate her cheap steak. :)

Week 145

Dec 7-13

Christmas festivities are in full swing! This week was my birthday, which means that Christmas is only 2 weeks away! As a family, we love Christmas and all that it entails. The festivities and traditions have become quite a significant part of our memories. It seems like the more years that go by, the more traditions we add on each year. I would say that this year will be remembered for the "choo-choo train."

Thomas our choo-choo!

We went to Lowe's and got the supplies to build a platform underneath our tree. We have a village that we started years ago. We love the village, but we haven't put it out since Jack was born. Once it started really growing, we really didn't have the space to put it anywhere all together. Hence the platform. It is perfect for displaying our village pieces and we even have plenty of room to grow. The one thing that was missing was the train.

The whole thing for the effect.

Ed and I did research and looked everywhere. Surprisingly there are many places that don't even sell trains. We finally found some at Toys 'R Us. We purchased one (hesitantly) and when we brought it home it didn't fit on the platform. All of the models at the store seemed way too big, so we resorted to looking online. We found the perfect addition to our village. Thomas.

Jack watching his new train go around and around the track!

This particular Thomas is not like the wooden trains that Jack plays with every day. It is an electric train with three connecting cars, that runs on an oval track. After measuring the platform and figuring out how it would fit on our track, we ordered it. It is perfect!!!! We set it up one night when Jack was asleep and the next morning took some video of him when he walked out to the living room and saw it for the first time. It was truly love at first sight. He now knows exactly how to work the controls and make it go around the track. He is obsessed with it. We love that he will be excited every year to set up his train around the Christmas tree.

Jack put on my socks and this was the look. Hilarious!

For the weekend Ed surprised me by arranging a night away. Yes, a whole night away from our two kids! Wahooooo!!! We haven't had a real date for almost a year so this was awesome! After dropping the kids off at Grandma's house we headed to our swanky hotel and relaxed for a bit.

Ed at Happy Hour. Cheers!

After relaxing we got ready for our night out. I actually took a shower, uninterrupted and got ready without people hanging on me, having to feed someone, or listening to anyone have a meltdown. It was nice. When we were ready we headed down to the lobby for happy hour. After a few drinks we caught a cab and headed down to the Vista for dinner at The Liberty Tap Room. We enjoyed some seasonal beers on tap along with a variety of appetizers.

Me at Happy Hour.

After hanging out for a bit we walked around the corner and stumbled upon a bar where we could play some games. First we played darts. I won. Then we played shuffleboard. Ed won. After all of that we caught a cab back to the hotel and the rest is history...

He was good at shuffleboard.

But I was good at darts!

He just couldn't get those bulls-eyes.

I am not good at shuffleboard, but it sure is fun!

The next morning we slept in. Okay lets get real, we are parents to two children now. We slept in until 8:30 because we both just automatically wake up super early now. Even on the rare days that Jack and Abel sleep past 7:00 Ed and I are both awake before that because we are waiting for them to wake up any minute. It's the curse of parenthood. LOL.

Gourmet cupcakes in a pretty pink box!

Happy Birthday to me!

After a delicious breakfast in peace we went to pick up the boys. It was nice to have a night away, but I was excited to see them. We all went home and had a nice quiet family day. After relaxing for a bit we got everyone dressed and went downtown to pick up some gourmet cupcakes from Cupcake. We chose six flavors and put them in the car for after dinner. For dinner that night we went to Pawley's Front Porch. It was this new place downtown in Five Points. The burgers were awesome! The one I got had pimento cheese and jalapeno bacon. Yum!

Jack helped take off the candles.

When we got home we sang "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed cupcakes!

Later this week we ventured out to Lexington to try out a new place called Monkey Joe's. It's like a giant indoor bounce house for kids. You pay for a wristband (it was around $5.00) and get unlimited play time to jump, run, bounce, climb, and play! I was a little nervous Jack wouldn't be able to do some of them because they were HUGE! Once again he proved me wrong and climbed up each and every one of them without hesitation or fear.

He has no fear.

Big eyes!

Jump, jump, jump!

He had a blast! I think we were there for over 2 hours. Afterwards we stopped by a new neighborhood that we have been interested in looking at. We really want to get out of our rental and possibly build/buy a house in the next year. We found out that with our credit and even with just my single income we can get a really nice house. We both agree that we are tired of pouring money into rentals. It would actually cost less for a brand new, big house mortgage payment than it would to rent. Craziness!

As most of you know Ed has changed his career path to nursing. The Fire Department decided he was way over qualified to be an entry-level firefighter. I think it was all meant to happen because Ed has always been interested in nursing. When he went back to school (while still Active Duty in the Navy) he wanted to do nursing, but they wouldn't let him because he could not do it all online. Now he can do the career that he wants, and we will be in a position to boost our earning potential significantly. As awesome as firefighter are, they definitely do not get compensated for what they do. To make a long story short, it will be back to school for Ed come January!

Supplies for cookie baking!

Such a big boy!

For final thoughts of this week, we started our Christmas cookie baking. This is another part of our holiday traditions. I LOVE Christmas cookies!! We are of course making my sugar cookies. I can't wait to decorate them! We also opted to try two new recipes. The first was a s'mores cookie recipe I got from my friend Ashley. They are kind of like a chocolate chip cookie but with graham cracker crumbs in the cookie and marshmallows/hershey bars on the top. We actually put our cookies in the broiler for about a minute to get that traditional s'mores toasty marshmallow effect. They turned out great!

This kid loves cookie dough!

The boys.

Daddy and Abel helping with cookie baking.

The other cookies we tried are called Candy Cane Blossoms. As you all know, I LOVE peanut butter blossoms (the cookie with a hershey kiss on top). This is a similar idea, but instead of a peanut butter cookie it is a version of a sugar cookie with a peppermint flavored hershey kiss on top! Yum!

S'mores cookies!

Candy cane blossoms.

Jack had a blast helping me out. I had to keep the tasks simple and not turn my back for one second. He kept sneaking bits of cookie dough.