Merry Christmas 2010

May the holiday season bestow its blessings to you and your loved ones! Let's take this time to reflect upon the meaning and purpose of Chistmas and rejoice in God's love!

XOXO,

The Espinozas

Christmas In The Square - Part II

Another post from the Square before I move on to the holiday.... Mason was sick (as I believe I mentioned) the night we enjoyed Christmas In The Square. For that reason we only stayed for a couple of activities - those that I thought would bring the most return on the effort. It went without saying that one of the activities would be the trackless train. He may have outgrown his insane love of Thomas, but he is still totally gaga for trains! The line formed IMMEDIATELY after Santa landed. We made a b-line for the station, but still had to wait a solid 45 minutes to get on the train. I'm not sure how Mason managed to hold out, but I only had to warn him about 4 times over the duration of the wait that if he wanted to get on the train he had to stand next to me and remain relatively quite & still. It was a great little ride with my little man around the square. The light show was magnificent and the carriages would pass by & give Mason a thrill each time. He was more than a little taken with the horses! I don't think he's been that close to one before - atleast not a big, full-sized horse! Had he been feeling better (or had the event started earlier) I would have definitely taken him for a ride.... but it does give me ideas for things to do with him this year b/c he's very interested in the animals!

Christmas In The Square - Part I

Our town is one of the many small cities that makes up the great Dallas Metroplex. When I moved to N. Texas more than 10 years ago (scary thought!) I swore that Dallas was like Narnia... it didn't "really" exist. Everyone says they live in Dallas, but what they really mean is hat they live in Irving or Plano or Grand Prairie or Richardson or Garland... the list goes on and on! The cities that make up what most people think of as Dallas are for the most part lacking character. Some may be nicer parts of town than other, but most lack a personality distinct to the area. One of the things that I absolutely LOVE about our community is that in spite rapid growth it has managed to retain much of its community feel. It still has much of its small town feel. People are friendly and family oriented here. And... people around these parts have BIG ideas!

What other explanation could one have for a Christmas celebration (oh, wait... did someone say CHRISTMAS?!) of this magnitude put on in a community with a population of less than 100k residents? For 2 weekends the square puts on a celebration that includes all manners of entertainment from creating a hill for adults & kids alike to sled to trackless train rides to parachuting Santa & Elves! I mean, there is little that you could imagine that they do not have available for your family. It's an absolute must-do for the holiday season! In spite of the size of gathering traffic still moves fairly well and the parking couldn't be better! I actually parked in the parking garage behind the library and had no trouble at all find a spot.

I'll spend the next few posts covering our adventures at Christmas In The Square, but today's focus is on the hot air balloons they had glowing that night. I took several pictures of the glowing balloons as they are just incredible to see in person. Is there much in the world more magical than seeing an enormous hot air balloon in person? Watching its amber glow in a cold, velvetty night's sky? Oh, it was something to behold! Mason was completely captivated by them. I was, too! As we wizzed past them in our train car I was snapping away at them like I'd just caught Lindsey Lohan in a night club!

Keep posted... more to come on the enchanting Christmas In The Square event!

Everyone Should See This

In case these photos make absolutely no sense to you... it's because it's Santa Sky Diving! Every year our town puts on a big Christmas In The Square production for a couple of weekends in December. We had not made it out in previous years, but this year I found out that they were having Santa sky dive into the festivities and I couldn't resist! It had actually been scheduled for a weekend that I had to work, but it was rescheduled due to weather. Now, I was taking a bit of a risk deciding to take Mason because he was sick. He's been sick all weekend... but he held out like a champ - I'm sure effectively spreading his illness to half the kids in Frisco in the process - and we had a great time! More pictures to come.... I just figured that watching Santa and his elves parachuting in was definitely blog worthy!

The Christmas Shoes

I have 5 whole "followers". Because I am pretty convinced that my 5 "followers" don't really check this often and I'm simply putting my BS out into the universe I have chosen today's topic to be shoes. I mean, I started this as a means to keep up with the family and friends who read Mason & Gavin's Caringbridge site... but this is what I feel like discussing today. I bought these for Joseph's Christmas party at work. I should say that I bought them b/c I WANTED them... I'd longed for them for quite some time... strategizing... working out a way that I could find an excuse to get them. Well I finally did... and I even managed to get them at DSW for a discount! Let me explain to you why shoes are my favorite thing to buy:

1) They always fit.

2) They never remind you that you need to go to the gym.

3) They make other women jealous - but not in a "hold on to your husbands" kind of way.

4) They can completely change the look and feel of an outfit.

5) They can suddenly make your legs look a little longer and your butt a little more lifted - without stepping foot into a gym!

I am certain that there are many other reasons shoes are my favorite purchase, but I'm dealing with limited time today. I'm off to take Mason to school and rush to the gym b/c it's "holiday party" day today. I've got to get my workout in quick-like-a-bunny today so I can change and head over to the school... where I will NOT be sporting shoes this fabulous!

Indian Summer

Technically I think it's a little late for Indian Summer... but yesterday in Dallas we had a high of 76, so I'm not really sure what else to call it! The weather was incredible and we spent our last truly pleasant afternoon of 2010 on the playground enjoying every last minute of it. Mason's little friend from school joined us for some fun at the park.... they played tag (as well as 3 yr olds do!), explored the slides & swings, and played in the dirt. Oh, and enjoyed their FAVORITE part of this particular park: the merry-g0-round. I know that by today's standards they are probably a bit dangerous (because it's my firm belief most parents would wrap their kids in bubble wrap if they could), but the merry-go-round is hands down the BEST part of the park. I think more parks should have them.... but perhaps the fact that you can't get them at just any park is part of the thrill? I'm not sure. I can, however, tell you that I loved them as a child and I'd nearly forgotten them when we came across this rare gem. They are excellent tools for wearing kids out. Mason likes to push it as much as he likes to ride it (if not more) so he always comes home ready for bed!

We'll certainly miss these afternoons soon... Winter is about to freeze us out and soon we'll be planning play dates in the mall or Chik-fil-a or beating our heads trying to come up with new ideas for places to meet when the weather is just too cold for little ones and their mommies!

R.I.P. Frankie

I talked to my dad yesterday and got the news that we lost a close friend and family member on Saturday night. Frankie. Frankie was my dad's mini dachshund and.... well... pretty much his best friend. They did everything together. When my dad went to bed at night Frankie was there. When he got up to take a shower Frankie would come in and lay on his clothes and wait for him to get out. Frankie went to work with my dad every day and most of the time if my dad went anywhere during the day Frankie went with him. He was a constant companion and a good listener. He'll be missed greatly.

My Apologies

So, I know I am always begging forgiveness for not keeping up as well as I should and vowing that I'll do better. I know! I know! It just seems that 2010 has been a particularly rough year for me. I shouldn't make excuses since I manage to do things like Facebook regularly.... but the truth is that Facebooking is just snip-its.... sound bites... moments of your life. When I blog I certainly don't give every detail of our lives, but I do write considerably more. Some moments in your life you just have the energy to get through the task at hand. Asking for depth or honesty simply requires more than my soul has had this fall. (Please spare me your eye rolling and "drama queen" label for a minute!)

We decided to go ahead and try to expand our family again. And, again, I quickly got pregnant.... but, again, our excitement and joy quickly turned to disappointment and heartache when I had another miscarriage. My OB ordered some blood work afterward not wanting me to suffer a 3rd terminated pregnancy before doing a little research - which is actually the industry standard. (Nice, huh?) She didn't expect to find much, but as it turned out my A1-c was elevated as were my anticardiolipin antibodies. Now.... mind you I had been feeling physically TERRIBLE since my miscarriage. At first I thought my body was just absorbing the physical and emotional stress of what I'd been put through... but it then it just went on and on... I was TOTALLY EXHAUSTED. I could hardly keep my eyes open most of the time by 10am. At night I was hit-the-wall pregnant kind of exhausted. I just felt terrible. As I went into the OB for my 2 hr glucose test that was ordered after the A1-c result came back (3 whole wks after I had my labs done!) I thought, "That's it. That HAS to be it! I MUST have diabetes... atleast it would explain how weird I'm feeling!". But - as luck would have it.... no. Thank goodness. Big sigh of relief... but then, why do I feel so strange? It took me over a month to get in to see a rheumatologist - which is what the OB's office suggested when they told me my anticardiolipin antibodies were high. For those of you who don't know what on earth that means.... it means that I'm at a higher risk for blood clots , stroke, pulmonary embolism... lots of fun stuff. It is also associated with multiple miscarriages and preterm labor. Additionally it's linked to all manners of autoimmune disorder like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and so forth. While I had some time on my hands I also found myself a good primary care physician - an internist. I figured I'd better have someone to be a central point for all this health data. She examined me and took a couple of vials of blood to find out about my general health and all my general numbers were fantastic. She also recommended I see a cardiologist for a check up (I'll tell you all about my embarassing fight w/ the netty pot later) and he declared my heart normal and healthy - he practically laughed me out when he saw my blood pressure and cholesterol numbers! Then, last week the day finally came to see the rheumatologist. So many drs, right?! I'm sure my insurance is loving me at the moment! Her main concern was that I either have lupus or just that I have elevated anticardiolipin antibodies. She took 10 vials of blood - I kid you not - and ran a whole host of tests that should either rule in or rule out things. And now I wait. We have a follow up appt Wednesday to discuss their findings. Who knows if I'll learn anything! I am atleast feeling far better than I was back a month or so ago. I was dizzy alot and my head was very foggy.... and I just didn't feel RIGHT. And it's frustrating to someone who likes to be very detail oriented with health practitioners when she can't put her finger on exactly what is wrong. It just that I wasn't RIGHT. And I'm not always right now, but I AM far better.... and that's something for which to be grateful.

Oh, and through all this Joseph has had to take a couple of business trips and I've had to keep up with a busy 3 yr old, the holidays, my business, and the house. It's been busy times! And that's why I've been MIA. B/c at the end of the day I just couldn't do another thing. And it's awful..... and it's frustrating for someone like myself.... so I'll catch up when I can. And when I can't... well, you'll just have to be a little patient with me. I'm doing the best I can.