The Boulton Blog: One Single Bell

I know I'm weeks behind on writing, but there are so many memories I don't want to forget, here is our week of parties from December. <3

Our 5 year Anniversary: After putting Ezekiel back to bed at 5 am, I fell back asleep. Byron woke me right before he had to go to work with the sweetest card and flowers he had gone out for that morning. They were beautiful, and I felt so spoiled. I made it to the YMCA that morning, swam with the boys and my parents and brothers and sisters, then stole my sister to watch the boys while Byron and I went out for lunch. I had a birthday treat from Olive Garden so we got our dessert free and it was super yummy! That night we stayed in and made dinner with the boys. It was a relaxed day and perfect.

My 25th Birthday! Byron woke me with breakfast in bed. He made Belgian waffles with Black raspberry syrup and orange juice. It was delicious, and Caleb had fun eating in bed with me. That night was one of my Mary Kay meetings, but since it was the week of Christmas we went to a local nursing home (Byron and the boys came with me) and we gave satin hands treatments to each of the residents and left them each with a gift of their own satin hands lotion. It was fun getting to chat with some of them and let them hold Ezekiel. He was so calm and happy to be held. I ran into one woman that used to come to the YMCA regularly and found out she was from Slovakia. She was one of my favorites, the other being a woman named Wendy that wanted to keep Ezekiel, she loved how chunky he was and was NOT ready to give him up, even though there were others waiting their turn to see him. It was a really fun way to spend the evening and I'm glad I went.

The next night Byron tooke me out for my birthday. Red Robin has a birthday club and if you sign up you get a free gourmet burger! I finally tried their Bonzai burger (it has pineapple on it) and it was really yummy!

Christmas Eve: My friend Saundra agreed to teach an extra TRX class so Byron took the day off work and came to TRX with me. He didn't get to make it through the whole workout, he had forgotten his water bottle and the water fountain wasn't as satisfying, he was getting too hot, so we left it early and took the boys swimming, but he was glad he went, and impressed that I can do the workout.

We skyped Mom and Dad Boulton that afternoon and the boys opened their presents from them. They loved the stomp rocket and measuring tapes, and were even excited about their new pajamas. That night we went to my parents house for their annual Christmas Eve party. We did our traditional live nativity, all the kids dressed up and Uncle Ryan read the story. It was so fun, and the food was SUPER yummy (the best Chinese in town!) but the caroling was my favorite part. I love my talented family. <3

Christmas Day: We woke up bright and early to go to my parents for Christmas breakfast. My mommy made biscuits, cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, and bacon, there was enough that everyone was able to eat their fill, then keep grazing all morning. Around lunch time we left and went to 3 firehouses in the area to carol and drop off goodie plates. Caleb and David absolutely LOVED the tours they received at each place, getting to climb all over the trucks and meet real firefighters. David has been pretending everything is a fire hose and running around telling people "I a firefighter! I save you!"ever since. When we were done that day, we came home for a quiet evening. We had leftover Chinese from the night before, and opened presents. Caleb wanted to open all of them by himself, and David was a good sport about Caleb "helping" with his wrapping paper.

New Year's Eve: We decided not to do anything that day, that way we could still put the kids to bed on time, not use any of Byron's PTO, and enjoy the 3 day weekend we were getting out of New Year's Day.

On New Year's my family, my Aunt Wendy, Uncle Ryan, their 2 children that still live at home, and Katrina, her husband and their 3 children came for a pot-luck dinner/party. We played games, ate yummy food, got to chat, celebrated the New Year, and still got to put kids to bed on time since everyone was off work and we got started at 4pm instead of 6 or 7. It was a ton of fun, and definitely the start of a new tradition for us. :)