Disney On Ice

If you know my son, you know that he doesn’t like dark places, loud sounds, ANYTHING even a tiny bit scary…yeah he’s basically just a tad bit wussy! ((And btw Only I can say that about him since I’m his Mother…anyone says that I’ll slit their throat!))

He doesn’t let us bring him to the movies, high school basketball games, or watch “scary” movies like Brave because there are scary parts (yes the bear scared the sh*t out of him when we saw it in the movie theatre). So when we saw the commercial for Disney On Ice and he said he wanted to go I was ALL over it!  I wanted to bring him last year to Disney On Ice but it was all about Princesses and Girly stuff…I thought I’d look like a bad boy mom bringing him to something like that! But this years Disney On Ice was called Rocking Ever After…had some boyish type stuff too…I was SOLD! haha And it was perfect timing for some Nana, Mom, Owen time too…with No Ella or other distractions.

We got in early, so he could get comfortable in his seat in the light, without the loud music. Bought him his $16 Beast Sword on the way in (Jesus they suck parents dry just walking in with the $10 buckets of popcorn, $15 snow-cones, $26 t-shirts, etc) But we got him acquainted. I knew he was nervous…he declined my offer for candy! wtf.

 

The show was awesome. Owen only covered his ears a few times (he covers his ears when he is scared), only climbed on my lap once…but overall he seemed to REALLY enjoy it. Beauty and the Beast was probably his least favorite (the beast scared the crap out of him).  And his favorite part was when Merida slit the target in half with her arrow.

Ursula taking Ariel’s voice 
The lighting of the lanterns during Tangled
Owens favorite part during Brave! 

What a great time we had with our Owen. He made me so proud. His fear of EVERYTHING seems to be lessening…Thank God. There IS hope that he’ll survive Kindergarten! haha jk

**Few tips: Citizens Bank Arena is awesome…seriously no seat is bad…so don’t be concerned with buying the expensive tickets. Its also pretty chilly inside the place…bring jackets or blankets. The show was a full 2 hours…after the first 50 minutes they take a 15-20minute interemission…then finish it out with another 45-50minutes. I was shocked it was so long AND the fact that most of the kids all stayed focused and seated the whole time! Crazy.

After Disney On Ice we grabbed a late lunch at T.G.I. Fridays, playing with swords with Nana at the table (totally good manners, I know!). Great date with our little man. And it was nice giving Daddy some one-on-one Ella time too!!

Christmas 2013

Christmas is so bittersweet in this house. I love love love Christmas! It makes me so happy and warm inside. Love decorating, love the cold weather, love the tree picking and setting up argument, just love it all. BUT at the same time Christmas time makes me so sad too! It’s that time of year that we all reflect back on our own childhoods. And it makes me sad…I miss those days. I miss my brother. I miss my Gallagher family of four, miss what our family holidays COULD have been if things had been different! 

But I just remind myself, buck up Erin, I can’t change the past…so I must cherish my present and enjoy what our future holds! And this was our Ella’s First Christmas…10.5 months old…we would enjoy every minute of our day!

But to make my whimpy feelings even worse, I started looking back at Owen’s firsts Christmas photos. I remember the excitement of it being Owen’s first Christmas! Hell, he has like 3 or 4 “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments on the tree to prove just HOW excited the whole family was (Ella got ONE “Babys First Xmas” ornament…thankfully Nana didn’t forget her special ornament) But I get sad looking back at those pictures… Gosh life was SERIOUSLY tough…and I’m thankful that Owen won’t remember that time!

I had just had my 9th chemo treatment on the 23rd and was heading into the chemo-hangover phase on Christmas Day. I remember feeling so crappy that I didn’t even wear a bandana on my head (which didn’t happen very often in the presence of company!)

Christmas Day was spent faking the smile and watching Owen, at 8 months old, open presents and get very spoiled from all his grandparents! Thankfully THEY were there for him that special day. I feel guilty not remembering the day very well. I was just so sick. As I look back I can remember the feeling, the nasty taste in my mouth from all the anti-nausea medication, my hot flashes, even with no hair, I was sweating! I was so uncomfortable in my own skin. Sad that I remember all that yuckiness about ME and not the funny reactions Owen had to Elmo, or his laughs, giggles, what he ate? Sad right?!?!
But these pictures made me smile. Back then we had a great friend offer to take some family pics for us. I’m SO grateful we did it….Here is my gorgeous boy at 8 months…December 2009. Thank you to JPhotography!

 
 

And then this year…Ella’s first Christmas…Owen’s 5th Christmas. Gosh time is flying by!! I can’t believe I now live the life I only imagined as a young woman. The life of waking up with TWO kids, presents under the tree, being THOSE parents faking the “OH WOW” comments, and watching the pure delight on your child’s face! Its nuts…gosh its so awesome and keeps getting better year after year!!

 

Owen was up at 7am…we told him he had to wait until his clock said 7…and our perfect little dude did just that. 7:00am exactly he called for us!! Took us about an hour and all the presents were opened. Everyone was happy. We have the family come to us for dinner, so we just carried on our day as usual…with meals and naps. But Owen was so excited for his grandparents to come over (for more presents of course!) we decided to skip his nap and let him play with all his new toys!

We changed up our Christmas Dinner menu this year…I was over the turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. felt a bit like Ground Hogs Day. So we did Honey Baked Ham, fried chicken, potato salads (yes 2 different kinds), mashed potatoes (for those that didn’t like our change), green salad and corn on the cob! Yeah it was DELICIOUS! We spent our day opening more presents and just relaxing. It was beautiful!

 

   

 

    

Yes that is my father giving my baby girl a bottle. I didn’t ask him to do it (I would never since I don’t think he ever even gave me a bottle as baby haha)…but as I was making it he said “here I’ll feed her”.  My heart almost jumped out of my chest…and trying to NOT make it a big deal I snuck in a picture.

Love this…a lot!

 

 

 

A day together is always nice. But its even nicer when we get to skype with our family across the country too!!

 

So it was an absolutely amazing Christmas.  The sadness is overshadowed by the bright little lights within my kids…I thank God everyday for them. 
The holiday season reminds us that we are blessed with family, health and receiving great news from both sides of our family is so fun too…can’t elaborate yet but will in time.
2014 will be a great year!! ((no don’t even think it…I’m NOT pregnant…just yet!))

 

Merry Christmas

Love, The Souza’s