Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  

On Christmas eve, we went to church and enjoyed hearing about God's love from Father Joshua.  We sat on the first row and the kids behaved pretty well.  They were a little grumpy because we had to wake them from their nap to go so we didn't get a picture.  Audrey wore her beautiful navy dress that Andy bought while in Ireland earlier this year.  We let them open one gift each.  Matthew opened up a set of Dr Seuss books and he read "Hop on Pop" without hardly any help!  We were amazed.  Audrey opened up her new doll pajamas with big girl pajamas to match.  She was so excited and changed into them right away!

It was a fun Christmas day at the Bruce household.  Matthew was the first one to wake up and he kept looking outside to see if it was light out so he could get out of bed.  Audrey is still adjusting to her new bed so I had to sleep in there for part of the night.  The kids enjoyed tearing through their presents.  Matthew was able to read the names on the tags so he passed out all the gifts.  We ate a big second breakfast with ham and eggs.  Andy and Matthew put together the lego star wars while Audrey and I took a nap.  She is finally getting well from her cold but I feel like I woke up with another one - scratchy throat and all.  'Tis the season for colds!

Rusty and Roxy both enjoyed dog treats from Santa as well as canned food that they gobbled up quickly.  The day after Christmas we sang Happy Birthday to Roxy. She turned 11 years old.   

  

 Christmas celebrations around the world

 Matthew's new toy - Marble track

Audrey's matching pajamas with her doll

 Matthew playing with his new basketball

Enjoying Christmas cookies

Countdown to Christmas

It's been a busy week preparing for Christmas Day.  Andy and I finished our shopping online to ensure all orders make it on time.  Audrey had a wonderful birthday weekend but in the middle of the night on Monday (Dec 16th) she woke up with a fever and terrible sinus cold.  We have passed it around the entire family and now Audrey was the last one to get sick.  The cold makes you feel achy with a constant head ache and keeps you up coughing in the night.  It's no fun.  I stayed home with her on Monday and Tuesday.  I was able to get our Christmas cards finished and put in the mail.  Every year I say I am going to finish those early but it never happens!

Andy's work started to wind down and on Friday he picked up Matthew from school at noon since it was a half-day. Matthew enjoyed a fun Christmas party at school before going to lunch with Daddy.  Andy was planning a fun afternoon with ice skating but instead he ended up taking Matthew to the dentist to get a cavity filled.  Wah-Wuh!  We went to the dentist the weekend prior and they referred him to another dentist to get it fixed.  While Andy's work was easing up, my work was quite demanding on Friday with a video shoot on our new A321T (NYC - LAX routes) aircraft.

Here's the video from my last production on the new B777-300:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbF-UruOjH4

It is great to have Matthew in a faith-based school this year. He comes home talking about the true meaning of Christmas.  As we stay busy during this holiday time with buying presents, wrapping,  addressing Christmas cards, and baking, I hope we all take some time to reminisce on the true meaning of Christmas - Jesus Christ's birth.

Audrey is sick but enjoying playing with her new birthday toys

 Packaging cookies for the neighbors

Our Advent Calendar

Matthew brought his list

Making castles with blocks

Happy 3rd Birthday Audrey

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Winter Ice Storm of 2013

It was 80 degrees one day last week and then the weather gradually dropped to 30 degrees.  The entire city of Dallas shut down on Friday.  It started raining Thursday evening and started turning into ice over night.  Luckily, Andy flew back from his business trip on time.  I picked up both kids Thursday evening and we settled into our house before the storm came.  Matthew's school closed on Friday as well as many offices.  Andy and I were able to work from home on our computers.  I actually got more done at home than I would during the office because I felt compelled to show productivity.

Many people lost power on Friday and Saturday, even our neighbors across the street!  But we were very fortunate to have ours during the entire weekend.  I only had 1 snow day (that I recall while living in Louisiana) so I was super excited to have a "snow day".  Andy thought it was no big deal as he would have them all the time growing up in Michigan.  I'm so glad I married this Michigander because Andy knew exactly what to do.  He was putting salt down on our driveway, melting the ice off of our car doors so we could eventually get into the cars, and shoveling the ice/snow out of the way.  Matthew joined him for some work outside and thought it was fun for a change!

Matthew's school was closed again on Monday due to lack of power in the area.  Most businesses were back up and running.  I worked from home again on Monday.  The kids were getting a little stir crazy and bored so we took some moving boxes from the garage and they built little forts most of the day.  On Sunday, the kids and I went to a Christmas play at the Children's Theatre. It was the perfect outing to get into the Christmas spirit and get outside the house for a little bit.

The roads are still icy in some places but it's mostly melting now that it's getting up to 40 degrees.  We are happy to have the winter ice storm of 2013 behind us.  Although, I have to admit, it was fun for our family.  But we realize it was devastating for many others without power.

 decorating a gingerbread house

 Air hockey tournament - Daddy won!

 Making Chocolate Chip Cookies

Audrey's milk mustache

Thanksgiving weekend

It was a busy, busy week with the move and all the calamities as well as the Thanksgiving festivities.  We managed to enjoy some downtime with the family, too.  On Tuesday, Nov 26th we went to dinner with Andy's Aunt Peg and Uncle Rich and Rich's son and daughter-in-law (Dawn).  I picked up Lori from the airport so she was able to join, too.  It was nice to celebrate Thanksgiving in the new house with my family.  It was the first time in 6 or 7 years where all of my siblings were together for a holiday.  We ordered a turkey meal to go for the Thanksgiving meal but made a few dishes to go with it.  I made 2 apple pies from Pa Bru's granny smith apples.  We avoided shopping on Black Friday but we visited the American Girl doll store to find Audrey a look alike doll on Saturday.  We went out to play Top Golf on Friday and Matthew really enjoyed it!


 

 Eating Tex-Mex with Aunt Peg

 Tea party with Audrey

 Nanna playing checkers with Matthew

 Jessica painting Audrey's nails

 Andy making his famous mashed potatoes

 Nanna baking the beans and ham

 Audrey playing with dolls at the American Girl Doll Store

 Nanna reading Elf On the Shelf

 Uncle Mike

 Andy and Matthew at Top Golf

Thanksgiving meal with the family - including Baby Dylan in the high chair!

Thanksgiving Festivities

Leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, both Matthew and Audrey held feasts at their schools.  Matthew's was on Thursday (Nov 21st) morning at 9am!  He had carrots, raisins, and popcorn.  He was so excited to have me join.  He was dressed up as a native american with his custom-made vest.

Audrey's feast was held during lunch time on Monday, Nov 25th.  Matthew was off school for the entire week and he wanted to keep her home the rest of the week.  But we let her go on Monday so that we could join her for the feast.  She was happy to have us join her and she couldn't wait to show us her artwork.

On Friday (Nov 22), Matthew's school celebrated Grandparents Day.  Mimi went to the school and Matthew was so excited to win the grand prize for the grandparent that traveled the furthest.  Mimi was eager to meet Ms. Franklin since she was a kindergarten teacher herself.  

 Mrs. Franklin - Matthew's kindergarten teacher.

 Milk and cookies night at the book fair

 The kids love to hug Roxy

 Look at Audrey's art work - handprint turkeys

 Audrey's feast - she is eating mashed potatoes but she won't touch them at home

 Ms. Soraya - Audrey's teacher (the same one that Matthew had not long ago)

Carousel in the mall

The big move

After months of planning and showing our house, we finally moved.  It was an unusually warm day for November in Dallas and the weather was 86 degrees.  We wore shirts and shorts and flip flops just like it was summer, except all the leaves were colorful for fall.  Mimi came down from Michigan and helped  pack, move, and unpack.
The kids were very excited to move into the new house.  We took some toys over the night before the move and the kids enjoyed playing in their new space.  I should have taken a picture of Audrey pushing her grocery cart into the front door.  The kids were trying to help.

The move went well but the week following was a bit of a disaster.  The washer didn't work once we moved it.  We had a repair man come over to the house but eventually we decided to order the part on our own and I installed it myself.  I was so desperate to get it working quickly.  We were without a washer for a week! We took the clothes to a washateria and I was willing to camp out there with my quarters but when we saw a wash and fold service, our eyes lit up and we gladly left 5 laundry baskets full.

Shortly after the move, the weather plummeted down to 35 degrees!  All of my winter stuff was still in storage but I had one black wool sweater to keep me warm.  On Friday evening, I went over to the old house to move the rest of our closet.  After moving all the stuff, my car wouldn't start.  Andy came over to the house and tried to jump start my battery using the jumper cables from Pa Bru's emergency kit (that gift came in handy!).  We tried it for a little while but in the dark and freezing cold, we decided to wait and try it again Saturday morning - but that didn't work either.  We called a tow truck and when he showed up hours later, he didn't have the right tow for my keyless car.  Another tow truck came and he was able to jump it for free.  He said that it was his 8th car to start that day because of the changing temperatures.  Luckily, all that time wasn't wasted as my car was at the old house and Andy was able to accomplish more moving stuff at the old house.  I guess the positive side is that the car battery died on the weekend as opposed to earlier in the week when Andy was traveling for business and I was toting the kids around.

 Roxy is adjusting to the new house

 Rusty is sporting his summer cut here.  We had to give him a blanket at night to stay warm!