Christmas Pictures

Here are the Christmas pictures I promised.

Here are the kids at Emily's house on Christmas afternoon

Jeremy got a UB Funkey's set he has been wanting for a long time.

Here is Andrew's favorite gift, a gaming chair.

The boys pitched in and bought Rachael Corpse Bride.

Here I am with the game I got for family game day.

Stan plays MC and hands out all the Christmas gifts.

Jeremy with his Wii game

Andrew's DS game he got in his stocking

Rachael got unlimited text messaging. She had to decipher a puzzle that said "unlimited text messaging" from her stocking. It was in a little pail with some chocolate "coal" on top of it. She didn't think it was funny, but I did.

Wow, this has been a busy month. I'm not surprised though as December always is busy. That is one reason we frequently don't do school during December. Last week, Rachael had the opportunity to dance with the Tapestry Dance Company in their production of "Mice and Music: A Jazz Nutcracker". The nutcracker music was jazzed up and the dancing was tap and jazz rather than ballet. It was really cool. They did a fabulous job. She was busy with that Monday thru Thursday, then danced at the Trail of Lights on Friday. To her, spending an entire week dancing is just like heaven.

Unfortunately, there were a few bad things that happened last week. Rachael was in her first car accident. She wasn't hurt at all and there is very little damage to the car thank goodness. Someone rear-ended her then took off. That same night, I found out that my Grandma Hess had passed away. I wasn't really surprised at all considering she was 95 and had been telling me for a few years that she was ready to go. I'm grateful I was able to see her in September when I was up there for my other grandmother's funeral. She will be missed though. Lastly, our heater went out on Thursday. It was a bit chilly that night, but not terribly so. It was fixed on Friday at the cost of $567. OUCH!!!!

Christmas was really good at the Hodge house. Stan and I both got our main gifts 6 weeks ago. We both got iPhones for Christmas. We love our iPhones and wonder what we ever did without them. We each got a few other items-I got some clothes and the boys got me some jewelry and Rachael got me a book. Stan got some new speakers for his computer and a desk calendar and the kids got him a book, a card shuffler and a shirt. The kids got lots of things, pretty much every thing they wanted. Rachael got lots of music, some clothes, 5 pairs of earrings and a game. Jeremy got some toys, Transformers, Imaginext, books, a model and some games. Andrew got some computer and Wii games, a DS game, a board game and a gaming chair. We bought each one of us a new game for our family game day. We play a game every Sunday afternoon. We have some unusual games that came from a comic store. We now have Martian Fluxx, Munchkin Bites, Bridge Troll, The Adventures and Boy Scout Monopoly. We have so much fun playing games as a family and these new games will make it more interesting.

I'll post some pictures of Christmas in just a little bit. It's game time now.

There isn't really much happening, but it has been a while since I posted, so I thought I would babble on here for just a bit.

Stan and I recently got our Christmas presents for each other. They were about a month early, but we got such a good deal we decided not to wait. We both got iPhones for Christmas. I love my iPhone. It combines my iPod, my phone and my palm pilot all together in one handy gadget. It hasn't totally replaced my iPod. I still use that a lot since it holds way more music plus videos. I use it at the gym all the time (the iPod not the iPhone). The boys think it's their own personal gaming system. They are constantly asking to play games on it. I have had to charge it almost every day because somebody seems to always be using it. I have to say that I love my iPhone. I don't know how I got along without it.

Thanksgiving was really good, but also hard. It was the first Thanksgiving since my mother-in-law passed away and it was sad to have Thanksgiving without her. We went to Richard and Michelle's this year. Emily went out of town for Thanksgiving. I think it made it a little easier being that we didn't have it in the same place as normal. I did well on my Weight Watchers program that day but didn't feel deprived or anything. It was a good day.

Speaking of Weight Watchers, the scale still isn't budging much. I have lost 1.5 pounds in the last 6 weeks. It's better than gaining, but it is frustrating. I talked with one of the personal trainers a few weeks ago and he wanted me to change my work out around a bit. I have been doing that for about 3 weeks and still not much change. I talked to him again today and he wants me to eat even more. I think I am going to start counting calories rather than counting points. I need to be more mindful of how much protein I am getting. He wants me to have 50% carbs, 25% fat and 25% protein. I can't really track that kind of thing with tracking points. I can easily get a free calorie tracker for the iPhone. That will make it easy to track. I know tracking is a vital for my success. I have also recently weaned off the beta-blocker I take for migraines. It causes my heart rate to stay really low, like it only gets to 95 when I am working out really hard. My doctor hopes that will make a difference in my weight loss.

Rachael's dance schedule this month has just been crazy. She has a big show next week with the professional company. They are doing a Texas Nutcracker. I am bummed I can't go see it. The show is already sold out. Then she is dancing at the Trail of Lights on Friday. I hope the trail is still really good this year. They have cut it way back. It's just going to be on the side of Zilker where the Christmas tree is every year. I am worried because we always love going to the Trail of lights. It's a big Austin tradition. I am going to try to have an open mind though. I am excited to see Rachael dance though. I got to go to her ballet class today. She has grown so much as a ballet dancer just in the past 6 months. She is looking so strong on her pointe shoes.

I'll try to post again before Christmas. I am so ready to have a break from school. So is Rachael. She has her last final tomorrow. It's been pretty busy lately, so the boys have just been doing a minimum of school work the past 2 weeks. Usually they get the entire month of December off, but we took too much time on during the summer, so I am making them go longer before the holidays.

I hope everyone is ready for a great Christmas.