Christmas Vacay!

Don't worry world.... the Freno family is still alive and kicking!  We just got back from a two week vacation in which we stayed with my parents.... parents who are stuck in the 1920's and have no sort of technology... therefore the only Internet available to me was a wireless connection known at "QueenB"  (I wish I knew exactly what neighbor this was... that names promises an interesting person) that I was able to steal, but it moved at the pace of a turtle so I didn't dare try to write in the blog.   But here's the run down on our vacation.... which was absolutely perfect in every way btw.

Vacation started the evening after Dax's surgery to get tubes put in his ears. This went absolutely perfect.

This was our boy after getting his sedative before they took him back for the surgery. We got to keep this precious little gown, socks, and doctor teddy.  From the time they took him back til the doctor came out to tell us he was done was a total of 13 minutes.  It was super, super fast. If anyone is in the Tulsa area and needs an ENT I highly recommend Dr. Vaidya.   After surgery we went into the recovery room with him and were warned by the nurse before we went in that little ones really don't react real well when they're coming off of anesthesia.... and boy was that true. For about 30 minutes it was on and off uncontrollable screaming and throwing his little body back. It was tough for both of us but luckily that ended pretty quickly and we were able to head home. For about an hour after we got home he would have short bouts of screaming but quickly began acting like himself. By noon we were actually on the road heading to begin our vacation with the family.   It's been 2 weeks now since his surgery and it's amazing the difference. He has always talked a lot so I never realized how his ear infections were effecting his hearing until the hearing test at the ENT before the surgery didn't go well. But since the surgery his speech has gone to an entire new level. He is really getting out beginning and ending sounds of words that I guess he wasn't hearing before. He can really communicate great now. He can also repeat pretty much everything we say. I'm so thankful we went ahead with the surgery.

Like I previously mentioned... vacation was absolutely perfect. It was 2 full weeks of family time (my dream). I got to spend a lot of time playing with my nieces and nephews,  catching up with my brother and sister, visiting with all my aunts and uncles and cousins, running around with my mom and dad, visited with my grandpa and mimi (a close family friend who is like a grandma to me), and most importantly I got to watch Dax build relationships with the entire family. He's now at an age where he actually really interacts with everyone (after he gets over his initial shyness) so that was a lot of fun.  He absolutely adores his cousins and mawmaw and I could sit and watch him play with them all day. It was really special.

Christmas Eve started out with the tradition of me making sugar cookies with my niece and nephew.

This is the third year we've done this and I look forward to doing it for many more years! It's one of my favorite traditions and I'm pretty sure it's one of theirs too. They pick some to take home and leave out for Santa at their house, we eat some at our Christmas Eve party in the evening, and this year they picked out a couple for Dax to leave out for Santa as well. I'm sure Santa loved them :)

Christmas Eve is probably my favorite part of Christmas. This is when I spend the majority of the day baking goodies with my mom and then in the evening my brother, sister, and all of my nieces and nephews meet at my moms house and have our Christmas together. Growing up we spent Christmas Eve at my mom's parents house and since they've passed we've done it at my parents. It's a really,  really special time. The 17 of us jam into mom and dad's living room and watch all the little ones open their presents and then the grown ups play dirty Santa.

Christmas Day was so exciting this year! Christmas is 10x better when you have kids that's for sure! It was really fun to have my parents there with us Christmas morning. Dax got some great presents from Santa...

 a rocking horse, a cleaning cart, a rocking chair, a table and chair set, one of the classic telephones, an abacus, puzzles, colored pencils, wooden cars,  and of course books. In the future when there will actually be a separation between Santa gifts and mommy/daddy gifts we'll be doing  4 things from us (something you want, something you need, something you wear, and something you read) and then a couple small things and one big thing from Santa. Santa also found some organic lollipops (i think from toys r us) so that was an exciting stocking stuffer! 
Daniel and I also got a lot of great gifts. I'm pretty sure his favorite was a Wii and mine was by far my necklace from Vintage Pearl...

I love it. The green is Dax's birth stone. I have already been eyeing what I would like to add next... I'm thinking something like this with mine and Daniel's name on it...

After Christmas morning with our little family, we headed over to my aunt and uncles house to celebrate with my extended family. There about 30 of us so that promised to be a good time! This year was a little different for us though. We usually always spend Christmas Day at my grandma and grandpa Wilson's house, but since my grandma passed in September and my grandpa is in a nursing home not doing very well we had to have it somewhere else. I was worried that it wouldn't feel like Christmas.... but was completely wrong. It just proved that us all being together is all that really matters.... not where we're at. I missed my grandma all day but wore the bracelet I had given her all day so that helped me feel like she was there with us.
From there we headed over to Christmas with Daniel's family. We had Christmas dinner and opened presents and just spent time together. Dax got some great gifts... and so did we. My second favorite gift was this awesome scarf hanger from Daniel's sister..

Absolutely what I needed! I've had over 20 scarves hanging on a couple hooks on the back of our closet door and it never failed that every time I opened the door to our closet about 19 of those would fall to the ground.  Now I have them all nice and organized.... and even have a few spots open still... guess that means I can continue on with my scarf collection :)

Well the last part of our vacation we stayed just as busy. Trips to the zoo, New Years Eve party with my family, date to the movies with my brother and sister and their spouses, playing with all of Dax's new toys (and ours), and even more visiting with family.  If I haven't said it enough, I'll go ahead and say it again.... it was perfect.

We've been back home for about 2 days now... and I already miss my family terribly.

Oh... and while we were there... I got some exciting news.... I have my first teaching job :)   I'll post more info on that in the next blog.