The Next Thirty Years

Yes, I am now thirty. Which if you asked me a few years ago I would have said is so old. However, I don’t feel as old as some younger than me think I should. I actually feel young. I am sure that it is because I have celebrated thirty already with several of my friends, but I also think it is because of Zachary. When you get to play pirates, eat pretend food, draw on the sidewalk, and make forts without people looking at you like your crazy you really feel like a kid again. I am doing all the things I used to love to do as a kid at the age of thirty. It could only be better if I could get paid to do it all day long so I didn’t have to go to work.
Matt threw me a surprise birthday party and I probably would not have had any clue that it was going to happen if he had not acted so weird a few weeks before. Matt is a bad liar and when he started to get paranoid about things without a good reason, I felt like something was up. He yelled at me for picking up the phone to call someone. I didn’t know that he was already on it. He also wouldn’t let me touch his cell phone. On the other hand, my sisters are the best liars on earth. I had no idea that the party was going to happen when they drove me up to the house that night. In fact, my sister, Autumn, had me convinced she was leaving right after she said good-bye to Matt. Little did I know that when I thought she was talking to her husband on the phone she was actually talking to Matt. I had a great time at the party even though I was so full I could not eat any of the food that was there. Matt had planned for way more food than we needed. Thanks to everyone who came and helped me celebrate.
My first thirty years had ups and downs but I don’t think I would change anything because like it or not without the downs I would not have all of the things I have today. However, like the song says,” I plan to do it better in my next thirty years.”

Trains anyone?

Zachary has a real fascination and love of trains. Because of this I think he is going to look forward to Christmas time as much as Matt and I. Matt got a nice train, when he was younger, and this year we decided to put it out under the Christmas tree. We had avoided this in the past because of the dogs but Matt really wanted to do it this year so I said yes. You have to let them win every once in a while. LOL. I didn’t know a kid could enjoy watching a train go around in a circle so much. The first night, after getting the tree up, Zachary sat in Matt’s lap and watched the train for around 45 minutes. We had to tell him that the train was tired and needed to go night-night before he would let Matt turn it off.
After that he wanted to sit and watch the train at least once a night. I thought for sure we were going to have to watch him every minute around the train because he would try and pick it up while it was running. But Matt only had to tell him that first time not to touch it. When he wanted to watch it Zach would just yell, “TRAIN!,” run up to the tree, and sit down next to it in the spot that Matt and him sat that first night. He would then wait for you to turn it on for him so he could go, “choo, choo” and watch it go around.
Both of our parents had trains around their trees too and he was just as fascinated with those ones, although not as good about not touching them. But the Grandparents are really soft when it comes to Zachary and pretty much let him do what he wants.
Zachary liked the train and the Christmas lights so much that Matt and I kept them up until almost the second weekend in January. In the past they have always come down before we go back to work, after New Years, but we knew how sad he was going to be so we left them up. Zachary was so sad the day that we took the tree down and the train went away. For a few days afterward he even ran into our front room looking for his train. Luckily, Santa brought him a Thomas train for being such a good boy otherwise I would be afraid of withdrawals.

Christmas

As I look back though my pictures I feel like such a bad parent. Matt and I were so caught up in the holiday and Zachary that we didn’t take any pictures of the main event. All we have are video. We had a great time and Zachary was a very good boy because Santa brought him a lot. Our Christmas is always an event that lasts at least three days. By the end we are exhausted as I describe it you may begin to understand.
It all starts on Christmas Eve. That is when we get up at around six in the morning to get ready and head to Lapeer to celebrate Christmas with my family. We get ourselves ready and then pack the car with gifts and everything we will need to survive the long day. We usually get to my parents around 10 and bring bagels for everyone for breakfast. We then open presents around noon. I was so proud of Zachary. He was so good at opening gifts. Not only did he open all of his he even helped others open theirs, if they asked. He was so into it we were surprised. We knew that he would be more active than last year but we did not expect it to go as well as it did, considering the first toy he got at his birthday distracted him from opening anything else. My parents gave him a kitchen which he loves and there are times we cannot tear him away from it. At around six my dad did dinner for my family along with friends and family that can make it. We played games and exchanged more gifts and we left around 10:30. Zach did not nap or fall asleep until we got into the car. When we got home we unpack the car, put Zach to bed, and got things ready for Santa, and Matt and I finally got to sleep around one.
Christmas Day Zach woke up around seven. After eating breakfast, Zach went to open his presents. This opening did not go as well as the day before. We had to take some breaks and he quit with four presents left. He got a lot of clothes from Santa because he needed a new wardrobe so we didn’t fault him for not being as interested as the day before. Last year’s winter clothes did not fit. After getting ready, and packing the car again we headed to Monroe for Christmas with Matt’s family. I thought my family had spoiled Zach this Christmas until we had gotten to Matt’s Mom and Dad’s. They really went all out and bought him so many toys. It was too bad that Zach was not really interested in opening anything. He opened things with some encouragement but we had to help him a lot. They got him an art easel that I thought he was going to be too young for but he loves to color and draw on it in our basement. We had a wonderful time but again we did not end up going to bed before midnight.
On the 26th we woke up and tried to clean up the mess that had accumulated in our kitchen. The previous nights the presents just got dropped into the kitchen and they stayed there. However, we still had places to be. We got ready and headed back to Lapeer at noon for the Peplinski Family Christmas party. We always have a blast with my family and this year did not disappoint. We opened presents (Zachary would not even look at his.) and played Little Horse Big Horse, which my grandmother invented with her friends. We let Zachary go home with my parents early so that he could sleep because he didn’t nap for the third day in the row. However, when we went to pick him up after ten he had just fallen asleep a few minutes earlier. My parents are just too interesting and fun for him to sleep.
As we went to get Zach out of his bed in the morning he looked at us sadly and asked,” Presents?” Matt and I could not help but laugh because we have never seen a kid look so happy to hear the word, “No.”

And Christmas Begins…

Matt and I love Christmas!!! In July Matt usually starts talking about how he wants to decorate the house; how he wishes it wasn’t six months away, and how he hopes we have snow. I am usually just as eager to discuss these topics, but I try not to bring it up first. This year we are especially excited because Zachary is old enough to actually get the concept of Santa, and opening up gifts. We cannot wait and it will not come soon enough. But I do have to say that hiding gifts is a lot harder than it sounds.
I was really excited to decorate the tree. Now, we are fake tree people and that suits me just fine. However, I cannot claim is it because it is cleaner, because my tree sheds glitter and we will be picking it up throughout my house the whole year. But I was in a sorority so I can live with finding glitter all year round. It is just easier. You open it up and plug it in. (Yes, mine is pre-lit.) But mostly it is because that is what I had growing up. I loved helping my mom decorate the tree and I was excited for Zachary to help me. I knew he was still too little to do the breakable ornaments with me but he could help with the other ones with a little assistance. Matt, on the other hand, wanted to do it while Zachary took his daily nap. But Matt always complains that I am going to put too many ornaments on my tree, making it look bad, and it looks good every year, and I put every ornament I have on it. So I ignored his request and decorated with Zach. Granted we broke two ornaments, it took a lot longer than it would have if we had done it without him, and we were both exhausted in the end, but it was worth it to watch his face lit up when we turned it on for the first time.

Thanksgiving

So you can tell when things get crazy around my house because I quit blogging. I am sorry and I will attempt to catch everyone up on the last few months in the next week. Since the last blog we have celebrated four holidays, five family birthdays, an anniversary and a funeral. Needless to say we have been on the go.

Here are some shot of Zachary right before Thanksgiving. I remember making pilgrim and Indian hats when I was in grade school so I had to get pictures of Zach with his first one. Plus he loves putting on hats. However, this is a keeper and will go into his keepsake box because the feathers are made out of Zach’s footprints. How cute!

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with Matt’s family. (We had decided when Zachary was born that the duel Thanksgiving meals had to stop because we didn’t have time to enjoy family at either one. So now we rotate. ) It was a great meal as always but a lot smaller and more personal than in years past. We decided to do Thanksgiving with just Matt’s immediate family. I think that Zach enjoyed this more than the big family get-together because he tends to be a little shy around people he doesn’t see very often. After hanging out with Matt’s family and dinner we drove from Monroe to Lapeer to get a few hours of sleep before we got up to shop until we drop.

We just started going shopping, the day after Thanksgiving, as a family around five years ago and Matt and I love it. We cannot believe that we had never done it before then. We love the rush, the anticipation and of course the deals. However, we have never been crazy enough to wait in a line anywhere. We normal hit up stores in the following order. Kohls, Target, Jo-Anne Fabrics, Old Navy, and then we eat Big Boy breakfast and split up from there. We normally get there just as the store is opening or just before. This year we waited in our first line outside because Target was a zoo!! I have never seen it that bad before. Not only did we wait 30+ minutes to get in the store but then we waited almost two hours to check out. We got in line almost immediately after walking in the store. (That is why we go together and bring the boys.) They are so good at waiting in line. The line was so long we had time to go to Joanne Fabrics and Meijer twice (shop and check out) while the boys waited in line. It was crazy. Luckily, my dad watched Zach and got him good and tired so we all could take a nap in the afternoon.