Is it really over?

Well, it's three days past Christmas, and I think we're officially done with our busy schedule. We're not doing anything in particular for New Years Eve, so it'll be pretty quiet around here.

First things first. Happy and sad announcements...

I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to Julie and Andrew Schumacher, and Julie's family, for the loss of her grandmother at Christmas. I only had the chance to talk with her a couple times over the years. However, seeing that she was a strong polish woman with amazing vitality, made me love her immediately. I know you will miss her completely. We're praying for your family.

Next, on the opposite spectrum, I want to give a big Congratulations to Mike and Jackie Krutz on their wedding! The were married in November, in Texas. Yesterday, Dave and Yvonne Krutz put on a beautiful reception for them, at the Lambeau Field Atrium, for all of us who weren't at the wedding, to be able to celebrate with them. We had a great time, and are so glad to be part of such a great group of friends. Congrats!

We also celebrated Shelly Stock's soon-to-be motherhood, with a baby shower in Wayside. Despite a very nerve-wracking drive through the dense fog, we all showed up, and had a wonderful time. I had a blast playing the 1950's version of Baby Bingo, with many terms we have no clue about now. I even won! Woohoo! Thanks to her calling "enema" I got bingo. :) Boy, time's have changed. Congrats again to Shelly.

Back to Christmas. On Christmas Day, we started at noon, at Carol Puyleart's house with a delicious meal. We all took part in our gift exchange, which is always a great time. I ended up with adorable condiment dishes, which Julie S brought. We are so blessed to have such a great family. They're always so fun to catch up with.

From there, we headed down to Neenah, for some family time at the Kiel's house. Aristana had a blast playing with the kids, and the adults chatted away the whole evening.

On the 26th, we joined the Tesch side of the family for tree hopping. We started out at the Puyleart's again, and worked on finishing up their leftovers. Next, was Sharen's (and Chuck's)apartment. Aristana had a blast staring at the white, lit, spinning Christmas tree in the bedroom, and the upside-down tree in the living room. Not to mention, the huge array of snacks kept her going too.

...and again, we are left saying, "I can't believe it's over already." I just have to say, if you are one of those people who says "I can't wait for Christmas to be over!," then you need to seriously re-evaluate your life and priorities. This special time of year is meant to be joyous. We are celebrating the birth of our savior. Allowing yourself to get caught up in the commercialism of the holiday, is your own fault. It IS stressful. It IS hectic. But NEVER EVER EVER EVER should we lose sight of the very reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place. We owe it to ourselves, our families, and especially our children to have fun, and remember that there is magic in this beautiful season! We grow up so fast, and forget that there are people who count on us to make it special!

Thank you to each and every one of you who helped make this the best Christmas yet. I thank God for the health and happiness of Aristana...nothing else matters! I am still in awe, every day, that God would trust us with his child. I love this little girl so much!!!

Christmas Eve

Hello and blessings on your Christmas! Christmas Eve and Christmas Day seem to come so fast, and pass by just as quickly. The excitement seems to bring out an inner child, if only for two days of the year. I think having a child makes it that much more fun too!

Aristana still hasn't fully grasped the concept of Santa yet. She knows what he looks like, and that he brings presents. However, unfortunately, she still doesn't understand the "he knows if you've been bad or good" part. So no bribery quite yet. Maybe next year...

Funny story... On Dec 23rd morning, having been snowed in too much already this winter, we went to the mall. We had a great time in the play area, and shopping at Old Navy. She really was a great shopping buddy! We were having a treat in the food court, which was pretty packed, when Aristana gasped loudly, and followed with "Mama!," like something was wrong. She had everyone's attention around her, when I asked what was wrong. She pointed to the television and said, "Mama! Joe Biden on TV!" She was treated to a bunch of giggles, and people smiling at her. Then, the camera panned back to the African-American news caster, prompting her to follow with, "Mama! Barack Obama on TV!" With red cheeks, I smiled at those looking on at the situation. What a girl. By the way, if you would like to see her politics video, I will try to add it to this blog. If you don't see it, you can see it on my Facebook profile, or look up "Aristana Politics" on youtube.com. I'm working with dial-up, mainly, so I might not get the video on here right away.

Anyway, we started our Christmas eve, at Mike's parents' house for lunch. Shelly and Rob are in town, so It was great to see Shelly's baby bump. I'm so excited for them! Nate, Matty, Abby, Rod and Barb rounded out the family list. We had a great lunch and opened our gifts. I got some gift cards for clothing! Woohoo! I have a great problem that my clothes are not fitting very well anymore, and my clothing choices are really starting to disappear.

Aristana got books, DVDs, clothing(she has the opposite issue. She hit a growth spurt in the last few weeks, and until yesterday, only had four shirts that covered her belly, since it seems her torso is growing taller...not necessarily her legs. For fun of looking back at this blog, I'll list her sizes. Shirts-3T, Pants-2T, Skirts-12months, PJ's-3T, Dresses 2T-3T. She's not so proportionate, I guess. She also got food, dishes, and pots and pans for her kitchen. She also got a Fisher Price Farmyard bowling set, and a few other things.

We continued on to church. Considering Aristana woke up early, and hadn't had a nap by this time, she and I spent the service in the "quiet room." It's great to go to services at Zion. I love that church, and the people there!

Finally, we did a quick version of show and tell, after church, since we whipped through opening gifts so fast, earlier. From there, we drove back to Green Bay, to have dinner at my father, and step-mother's house. We all brought our favorite food to make, so there was quite an array of choices.

We had a great time, with Dad, Nancy, Adam, Steph, Kevin, Cliff, Sarah, Paloma, Atticus, Hattie, and their dog Trixie. I love the laid back atmosphere of that family. It's truly eat, drink and be merry! Unfortunately, Lauren couldn't make it this year, so that was a bummer. Hopefully next year, the two boys that Cliff and Sarah are adopting from Haiti will be there to celebrate with us! We can't wait to see you, Keenan and Miles!

We opened even more gifts, and Aristana was so excited to receive a kid's acoustic guitar. Now she can play hers, while Dad plays his.

Now, it's 11:30 pm, and I should really hit the sack, so we can do this again tomorrow. We start at Mike's aunt and uncle's house, at noon. Next, off to Neenah, to my brother's house. Then, the 26th brings some shopping, and tree hopping in the evening. Finally, on the 27th, we have Shelly's baby shower in the morning, then a wedding reception in the evening.

Sorry again, for being so boring. On that note, enjoy the rest of your year, and I'm sure I'll post again soon!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Again, I have fallen behind at keeping up my blog. Time flies so fast, and with that, Aristana grows just as fast. By the time I blog, I've missed so many things. I'll try to recap.

As you know from my last couple entries, I was in Florida at the end of November. I returned a few days prior to Thanksgiving, which we hosted at our house. I look back at the memories of spending holidays at my Grandma Threse and Grandpa Greg Omernick's house. It was something I always looked forward to. Now as the years have passed, and they're no longer with us, it's sometimes difficult to keep traditions going. I am so honored to have had my family over, to celebrate. I practiced making a turkey a couple months back, so I had everything ready. Not to toot my own horn, but everything was delicious...TOOT TOOT!

A few days later, Aristana turned two, and I had some jewelry shows, which kept me busy. Aristana is such a motivation in my lia sophia business, and gives me a much needed pep rally before I go out to work. Before every show, we sing and dance to the song "Unwritten" by Natasha Beddingfield. Then, we both shout, "I am amazing!" She follows up with a "Mama mazin!" It's really powerful, and after doing my presentation once when she wasn't home, I truly missed it.

That next weekend, we celebrated Aristana's 2nd birthday. Can you believe it? I cannot believe she's two already. Yet part of me can't believe she's only two. Weird. We had a party at the Guesthouse Inn, in Bellevue, where everyone could go swimming, in the nice heated pool, while the snow fell outside the large windows. It was such a nice time, and we really enjoyed seeing everyone again. I wish I would have been able to talk with the guests a little more, but pretty much knew going into it, that I'd be the "errand girl." Anyone looking for a great winter birthday idea, this is it. We had a party with about 80 guest, including swimming, and a meal, for about $150. Mama Mazin? I think so ;)

Aristana was able to indulge in her first Green Bay Gamblers hockey game this past week too. She really had a great time, and loved the box seats. I sure hope she doesn't think that box seats are the norm. Unfortunately, just
as we were about to leave, she tripped down the steps, and hit a plastic arm rest on the way. The hockey players may have been fighting, but she looked like she took the hits.

A few more shows, some Christmas shopping, our weekly trip to the Little Gym, and we are now in the present tense.

We are looking forward to spending more time with our families in the next couple weeks. Mike's sister and brother-in-law, Shelly and Rob, will be coming up from the St. Louis area too. We are so excited to see the baby bump, and let Aristana feel it too. I can't wait for our new niece or nephew to arrive! I think holidays will continue to get more exciting, as the years go by.

Whew! I'm finally caught up! Until next time...hopefully sooner than later. Have a very blessed Christmas, and remember to sing Happy Birthday to our savior Jesus Christ!

~Maggie