New Year's Eve Party

Steph and Jill

John mixin' it up!

Kelley, Jill, and Michelle

John and Nick - The Bromance continues

Our neighbors Brett and Michelle Warren hosted this year's NYE bash. We all had a great time, but I think Eli trumped us all. There was a bounce house in the backyard - 'nuf said. He even outlasted me. I brought Sam home around 10:30 to sleep (the main reason I'm not in any of the pictures) and Nick and Eli partied it up with the rest of our neighbors until about 1 am. We all payed for Eli's sleep deprivation the next day, though. We were so glad that our good friend Capt. John Ritter was able to ring in the new year with us. He's been deployed overseas and was able to make it home for a couple of weeks of R&R. I know Nick has been glad to have his movie-quoting buddy back to laugh at his rididculous antics. We'll be sad to see him head back. Anyway, this is wishing you and yours a very prosperous, safe, and happy new year from the Cecavas.

Christmas Photo Extravaganza

I know it's taken a while to get my Christmas photos up and running, but you know how it goes - there is so much going on during the holidays you're lucky to even get to sit down to check email.
The Cecavas had a wonderful Christmas as always. We have very loving and generous families who shower us with love and great gifts. On the 19th, Johanna (Nick's sister) and Grandpa Gene (Nick's dad) stopped in on their way back to New Mexico so we got to visit with them a little and exchange gifts with Johanna. She did a co-op this fall semester with NASA in Alabama, so we got some cool space-related gifts. We received two boxes a few days before Christmas, one from Grandma and Grandpa Cecava and another from Uncle Ben and Aunt Casey. We let the boys open them on the 22nd because we knew we should spread out the gift madness so Eli would know where all of his presents came from. Then my parents arrived on the 23rd, bringing in loads of gifts to put under our tree. Because my children get way more gifts than they'll ever need, I tried to limit my mom to only three wrapped gifts for each boy, and I have to say, she did a great job. Nick and I put a limit on our gifts for the boys as well (three wrapped presents, but I think they each ended up with four), and it made opening presents a calmer experience. Eli wasn't so overwhelmed and hopefully a little more appreciative. All Sam was concerned with was the tissue paper. The boys opened presents from Grammy, Paw Paw, and Nat Nat on Christmas Eve, then presents from Santa on Christmas morning. The first thing Eli was concerned about when he woke up was not his presents, but whether or not Santa ate the gingerbread cookies he and Sam left for him. He was super excited to see that Santa had eaten one whole cookie and left part of another with his teeth marks in it. He kept looking at those teeth marks all day.
Later Christmas day, we headed to Keller to visit our friends, the Pierce family. We stayed long enough to hug each other and exchange gifts for the kiddos, then we went on to Aledo to my cousin Aaron and his family's house for Christmas dinner. Aunt Bon and Uncle James were there as well. It was a wonderful time of eating, visiting, and watching the kids play the Wii and open gifts. Good times! We are so very blessed with great families. God is good!
I'm kind of sad to see the season end, but a little relieved as well. Maybe things will slow down a little. Now if that pesky Christmas tree would just magically disappear from my living room...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Welcome 2009!

Before we head to our neighbor's home for a New Year's Eve celebration, I want to wish everyone a safe and happy new year. I plan to sit down tomorrow and blah, blah, blog all about our wonderful Christmas season and share the many moments we captured. Stay tuned...

Samuel David's One Year Pictures

Here are a few pictures we had taken of Sam to mark his first year. I know I'm his mother, but he is one handsome little boy. Enjoy!

Oh, Eli!

My original purpose for this blog was to chronicle all of the everyday happenings in our family's life. So, I thought I would post a few cute things Eli has said in the past couple of days before I forget them.

1. While we were playing in front of the Christmas tree, he grabbed a Little People plastic Santa and looked at it as though he was deep in thought. Then all of a sudden he says, "Mommy, we can call Sam 'Samma Claus.'" I thought it was so cute and very clever for a three year old.

2. Yesterday he comes up to me and says, "Mommy, I want to watch that movie with the brown dinosaur." Having no idea what he is talking about, I ask,"What movie?" He says, "You know, A.T." Then I realized he was talking about E.T. He saw a preview for it the day before. Now everytime the tv is on he asks to watch A.T.

3. We were looking at pictures of the half marathon Nick and ran Sunday. He says, "Mommy, that's you and daddy running. Did you smoke him?" I wished I could say I did, but I was laughing too hard, and I most certainly did not "smoke him."

4. masketti = spaghetti
bazanya = lasagna
maddition = magician
buzz bunny = Bugs Bunny
droopiter = Jupiter
Jesus isn't simply Jesus; he's "Dear Jesus" because that is how he starts his prayers

Oh, Eli!

We ran the Rock!

This morning Nick and I completed the Dallas White Rock Half-Marathon. It was the first half for both of us (Nick ran the full marathon back in 2005). The atmosphere was electrifying and I enjoyed myself for about the first ten miles, then it was not so fun. Thanks to Nick, who encouraged me when I needed it most, we finished under my goal time. I certainly have a new respect for full marathoners and even elite half-marathoners. The mental training for a race like that is just as important as the physical. Somewhere between miles 11 and 12, I vowed to never run another race like that again, but now that I'm sitting comfortably in my house and the shooting pain in my hip has subsided, I'm reconsidering. I can't speak for Nick, but you'll probably catch me on the course again in 2009. Thanks to all of you guys who supported us in our training. It means a lot. And thanks to my sweet husband who encouraged me all the way today. I love ya! Thanks also to our great neighbor Jill for watching the boys for us while we ran. We appreciate it so much.

Sam's First Birthday - Part II

On Saturday, we had a party at our house for Sam so our friends in the area could help us celebrate our special boy. We ate lunch, played games, opened gifts, and played in the backyard. Thanks to everyone that attended; we had a great time. And for those of you who couldn't, enjoy the pictures. I'm sorry there are so many, but Nick and I gave ourselves a new camera for Christmas, so we were snap happy. If you make it through the whole slide show, you're a trooper. Have a great week!

Make a Smilebox slideshow