let's just say things got a little out of hand...

i'm going to make this as quick as possible. considering i haven't posted anything in the last 3 months, there's just too much that has happened to write it all down in one post. i last left off back in October (that was last year!) with a birthday, homecoming, and getting ready for baby. well, since then we've had Halloween, a trip to San Francisco, Thanksgiving, another birthday, Christmas, and a BABY!! so, yeah, things got a little out of hand. we'll just skip over November (but i'll include a couple photos of our surprise trip to San Fran) and move on to Christmas...

ok, now on to December...

the month of December is always busy. it's that way for everyone i'm sure. with holiday parties, birthdays, soccer tournaments, basketball season starting, and of course Christmas, it's no wonder there's usually tons of drinking involved (well, for everyone but me that is). for us Christmas is pretty low key. we stay at home by ourselves, open presents, and laze around the house all day. we did get a surprise snowfall this year that was an added bonus for the boys. like i said before, this is going to be quick and dirty (we all know what's about to happen a few days after Christmas  so i'll skip to that as soon as SHE stops screaming at me from the other room)...

12 years ago...

12 years ago i said, "I DO", and sealed it with a kiss...and in that 12 years we've moved 7 times, bought 4 houses (and thankfully have sold 3 of them), and had 3 kids. it's been a pretty busy 12 years. after having such a great time on vacation this past summer, we decided to start planning our "anniversary trip" way in advance. so, some time in June or July we decided that we should return to the city where it all started. back in May of 1999, just a few weeks after graduating from college, i went on a little vacation with my family out to San Francisco, California. one afternoon my mom insisted on stopping for lunch at this cute little place on the wharf. i was extremely reluctant on going in (seeing as i was an extremely broke college graduate) but with a persistent Mom, Nana, and younger sister, i shuffled my way in and proceeded to sit and pout in the booth. probably about 10 minutes late a "waiter" arrived with a tray of waters, cocktails, and sparkly diamond ring! that handsome waiter just happened to be my then very sneaky boyfriend (who flew all the way out there without me knowing it!). lodi dodi...a few months later we got hitched and here we are.

back to the point of the story...we decided to go back to San Francisco for our 12th anniversary. IT WAS FABULOUS! this time around it was so much more enjoyable. probably because we could actually afford to buy the wine we tasted in Napa. since we took this trip alone, we thought it only fair to bring along our Flat Boys to see the sights. i must say the "boys" had a great time visiting Napa, Muir Woods, Golden Gate, and riding the trolley cars. just let me say that taking a vacation with Flat Kids is so much cheaper and it's okay to leave them in your purse when you feel like having dinner alone. 

back up, back up...i almost forgot...the trip was not 100% fabulous. on the day we went to the Cliff House we had a little bit of a traveler's heartache. when we finished up a most delicious lunch, we walked back to the car to find the back window smashed in and my brand new camera bag snatched right out! luckily for us, i had the camera around my neck and my driver's license was in The Husband's pocket. it was easy enough to cancel all the credit cards, but i still lost my big lens, wallet, and cute camera bag.  thieves are just plain stupid, that's all i have to say.

anyway, we made it home just fine and here's a couple shots from out trip...

a week alone...

so the kids took their own vacation last week, which meant that hubby and i got a little vacation of our own. we headed up to Boston (only because someone had to be there for work anyway) for a few days, but it seems most of the pictures look like this one...notice Mr. Flat Stanley?

i did a ton of walking around the city, where i found myself attracted to the old burial sites and churches. this is one of my favorite shots of the week, but notice how much fun i had with my photo editing (the original is below). the finished product just looks more like an old cemetery.

other than walking around a bunch of really really old things, i managed to eat...a lot! everyone knows that Boston is known for their seafood, so i did my best on stuffing myself with said seafood. but don't confuse popular with cheap, just because they have a lot of it doesn't make it cheaper. i had lunch by myself one day and it cost me $16, and that was the kind of place with no waiter and even no tables! my Nana always told me about the famous Lobstah Rolls and Chowdah, so i finally had the chance to try them....uhh can we say "wicked good"?!

after a few days of shmoozing with the computer nerds, we headed home for a few days of nothing. it's amazing how much you can get done when you don't have to drag around 3 kids! we had time to go out to dinner (that didn't involve plastic wrapped toys or cups with lids), catch a movie (in an actual theater), and even go to happy hour (proof in the photo below).

(me, Courtney (Jess' neighbor), and Jess)

i am so thankful to my in-laws for taking the boys on their own vacation. i only wish we could do this more often. wonder if they would be up for doing this again next month....

spring break...

if it wasn't for the fact that we were spending time with my sister, this would have been the crappiest spring break ever. when you think of "spring break", you think sunshine and warmer weather, but it did nothing but rain and stay below 50 degrees the entire week. even today, the first official day of spring, it dropped to 35 degrees and started snowing!!

so, we decided months ago that we would make the 12 hour drive to my sister's for spring break, and it actually wasn't that bad of a drive. minus the 50 million stops along the way, 12 hours is pretty good time. we spent the first day just relaxing (E and i went to a movie - during the day!) and then the next day we made the hour or so drive to NASA! the boys were super thrilled to see actual space ships.

we also celebrated Nolan and Miller's (my nephew) 2nd birthday (they just happen to be 2 days apart). it was a busy week, and unfortunately we brought our sick with us when we came and my poor sister came down with strep throat.

after a week at my sister's, we made the 12 hour trip back home, and to the kids surprise GaGa and Papa EJ were waiting for them at our house. not sure who was more excited, me or the kids. we now have the weekend to relax before going back to school on monday...