Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

I hope you all had a blessed holiday today! We celebrated at my parent's house with both my brothers and their families. It was a house full of giggling little kids. My mom celebrated her birthday today as well~ Happy Birthday, Mom! THEN... out of nowhere Mr. Claus himself appeared!!! The kids (and adults) were speechless! Santa (the exact same Santa!) has been visiting our family since I was about 3 years old~ so for 31 years I have sat on the same lap and expressed my deepest Christmas wishes. And every year I am near tears at the wonder of this man! It is truly amazing to watch my own children stare in awe at Santa. Their sweet little smiles suddenly turn solemn when he asks if they've been good "ALL YEAR LONG". Luke tattled a little bit on Owen, but I think he'll overlook it this year. The Juderbug wasn't so sure about him~ but he gave it his best shot. So the official Christmas holiday has begun... we're off and running!

He's Arrived, He's Arrived~

"At holiday time Santa sends me to you. I watch and report on all that you do. My job's an assignment from Santa himself. I am his helper, a friendly scout elf." So this morning the boys awoke to our "elf on the shelf". And what a morning it was. "Ben" was waiting on the mantle with a book to explain how he "works". He will watch over the boys every day and then report to Santa each night. Every morning he will be back from the North Pole and be hiding in a new spot. We aren't allowed to touch him as this will cause his magic to go away! My dear little Owen is mesmerized by Ben! He can't hardly stand to be in the same room with him- I'm not sure if he's scared of the elf or scared of how "naughty" he's been :) This is the greatest tradition! Thanks Sara for filling me in! I wonder if Ben will tell Santa if I've been naughty or nice!

Surprise!

Today is Luke's 7th birthday- it's hard for me to believe he's that old already. Where has the time gone? He was just a little baby screaming 22 hours a day, never sleeping and wanting to eat all the time- wait a minute that was just yesterday. Not much has changed :) No really, we are so blessed with such a nice young gentleman.

We celebrated with a surprise party at Family Fun Center with 11 of his closest little buddies and cousin, Tyler. Surprisingly, none of the kids spilled the beans prior to the party. Tonight we had the family dinner at our house. My "champagne taste" little boy chose prime rib with mashed potatoes for his entree- UGH! Next year it will probably be crab legs!

Happy Birthday, my prince!

He Makes a Mama Proud!

For anyone that knows me well, they know there are three things I absolutely adore... weddings, babies, and christmas. I can't get enough of any of them! In a perfect world there would be weddings all the time, babies galore in beautiful little satin bows and yummy chenile blankets, and christmas would be year round. Or at least at my house my husband would let me put up my christmas tree by my birthday- the first week of November. In the eight years we've been married he's only let me do that ONCE! And yet, he still denies that I conned him into it. Oh well. I know now that I have a child after his mother's heart. All of the boys have their own christmas tree that decorates their room each season. Owen has been begging for days to decorate his- so I finally got it down this morning and said maybe we could work on it this weekend. Well, tonight I found him in his room with the tree all decorated and with a sparkle in his eye. It almost brought a tear to my eye! No, seriously, it did! So the official Mieska christmas holiday has begun. Now it's 2 against 3 and really, Jude doesn't count yet because he can't talk. So I have faith that Owen and I will eventually win over Jere and Luke and my tree will be up by Sunday- Wish me luck!

Across the Miles...

My very dearest friend surprised me for my 34th birthday on Friday- Alecia flew all the way from Virginia just to spend the weekend with me. What a great surprise! Apparently she and Jeremiah had this planned since August- sneaky little creatures! She brought along her daughter Grace who is just 6 days older than the Juderbug. We had a great time chatting and laughing and drinking some wine- took us back to our college days, however then we could only afford the cheap Boone's Farm wine from the local 7-11 (is that really considered wine???)

We had a jam packed weekend with activities for the boys. Owen and I were able to fit in a bit of ice skating in Omaha. Jeremiah's grandpa from Minnesota was able to make a trip down with his Aunt Connie as well. Whew! By Sunday night we were all exhausted and ready for bed. Now it's birthday week for Luke- he'll be turning 7 this Sunday. Stay tuned for more photos from the upcoming party.