I was in such a bahumbug funk this Christmas. 

I just could not get into the Christmas spirit. My decor was slacking. Our outside lights had blown out and I had no desire to get new ones. 

I think I was just so ready for this year to be over it that I just was not that into it.

BUT, once it got a little closer ol' Scroogey left and I got into the spirit for a few days!

We started Christmas festivities by attending our downtown Christmas celebration.

One of my favorite things to do in this town. It was super cold and rainy this year, but the rain held off just enough for us to enjoy the festivities.

The boys met Santa Claus. Drew was in love. Dylan, not so much...

We mailed letters to Santa and made Christmas ornaments.

I just love going downtown. I look forward to it every year. 

Hopefully the weather will be a little better next year!

Then we had parties galore! Work parties, kids parties, you name it. One of the parties the hubs and I were two of the four calling birds. It was so much fun!

Drew was super cute in his Christmas Program for about oh' two seconds. He was over it. He sang and did was he was supposed to do, but you could tell he was like "is this thing over yet?!" haha.

We had breakfast with Santa. Always so fun. We had about 25 people attend with us and we shared the room with Santa. ALL boys. I think they all may have left on the naughty list. Hahaha.

We celebrated Christmas with my Dad at my house. I love entertaining, so it was so nice to have all of my family here at my home with me. 

My Dad got the boys a remote control helicopter which was a major hit.

Christmas Eve this year was a little hard to schedule. My Mema's Christmas turned out to be the same time as plans we do every year. But we decided to be with my Mema this year with all the loss we had. It was important for me to be with my family at least on Christmas Eve or Christmas. 

I am so glad we decided to go. It was a great, emotional time.

We got back into town and headed to my in-laws for some more Santa time.

Got home, put our jammies on and tried to get a picture. However, two of my little boys wanted to wrestle instead. Whateva works.

Christmas is so much fun with kids. I do not know how it happens, but it just gets better and better every single year. It just does. This year Dylan was really really into the Elf on the Shelf. He caught me off my game quite a few times, like when Jingles didn't leave until 3 days after Christmas. Oopsie. Oh well, lots of excuses went down in the Barrington household regarding that little Jingles guy.

Anywho, Christmas morning was so fun. We woke the boys up and enjoyed each present.

Hearing their excitement opening each gift makes that Christmas spirit enter right into your body. Haha. 

My favorite quote of the morning was from Dylan:

"Wow. I can't believe Santa knew to bring me fishing poles."

He was in such shock. And like he didn't tell Santa "he only wanted a fishing pole and that's it." 

By far my favorite gift this year was a gift I kept secret to myself for ALL of my boys. Ya see, I live in a basketball house. All basketball, all the time. It's inescapable. (Is that I word?!)

Anywho, I got the boys Miami Heat vs Chicago Bulls tickets!

I was so excited to give them this present. It was so hard to keep it a secret. Many a times I wanted to just let them open it early.

I had also got them Miami Heat shirts. I had planned to have them all open at once and underneath Justin's would be the tickets. I marked (or thought I marked) the presents with special bows. But I didn't. I totally messed it all up. Drew opened his present early because I didn't have the bow on the correct present and threw it all off. Blah. So upset with myself.

But they LOVED it regardless. We can't wait to go!

After we unwrapped all the gifts, Mommy gets busy in the kitchen cooking a breakfast feast. We eat up and then head to my in laws.

I miss my family on Christmas. Times like this make me want to move back to Harrisburg. 

It was an exhausting day, but it was fun to just come back home and sit and let the boys play with all their new presents. We had planned on going to the movies that night, but I think we all were laying in bed at like 7:00. Ha.

And of course, ya know we had a little photoshoot. Except this time, the boys just were not that into it. Must of been that bahumbug'ish rubbing off on them.

We finished off Christmas by celebrating with my Mom the Sunday after Christmas. 

Whew. So glad all that is over. My Christmas Tree was down the day after Christmas. 

I was so happy to get it down this year. 

Hopefully next year I can become a little bit more cheerful and in a better Christmas spirit! :)

Eh...I am days late in my 2013 recap. I was not going to do it, but then I thought...I do this to be able to look back on our life and I'll kick myself in the butt if I do not get it done. So....here it goes!

We rang in the 2013 New Year with our friends. 

Before the New Year started I just knew it would be an awful year. I called it. I called it was going to just be a year of bad luck. I do not know what it was, maybe the number 13...

But something was telling me it was going to be a bad year...

The boys got to meet Jabari Parker. (This is obviously a highlight of my husbands...) He is supposedly the next major NBA star. So, they spent some practice time with him and got his autograph.

Drew had his 1st basketball game! This was an exciting moment in the Barrington household!

We celebrated my Dad's 50th Birthday! I created a box full of 50 memories for him. It was a special moment to go through that box with him.

February is always kind of a slow month for us. Not a whole lot going on except for lots of WWE Wrestling. Which is pretty much a 24/7 thing at our house.

One night we attended an in town basketball game and I remember my kids all of a sudden wanting to say cheese in my pics. They became my little models in this moment.

We actually spent a lot of the first of the year with Dylan being sick over and over and over. 

It was hell.

My husband is an AAU Basketball Director so he is always gone doing basketball things in the early spring. The boys and I usually just stay home. It's just much easier. However, one weekend I decided that we would pack it up and go since it was only a couple hours from our home. I asked my little niece to tag along with me because my other little niece was planning a trip to the American Girl Doll Store.

So I wrangled three kids and myself and took a two hour drive to the city.

We made it all in one piece!

I took Miss Mady to the American Girl Doll Store and met my sister in law there with my other little niece. Oh my gosh. I WAS IN HEAVEN. It was such a fun special little day with them.

Then it was TIME. Time for DISNEY WORLD! I just love me some Disney. 

We had a BLAST. The best trip yet.

Dylan's sickness finally wore off in the middle of Magic Kingdom and never came back! Hallejuah!!!

We celebrated Easter a few weeks after we got back. We had breakfast with the Easter Bunny which was super neat. Then we celebrated Easter with family.

Life kinda calmed down a little bit. We welcome a new member to the family.

Nelly Duke Barrington.

The boys just love him and we couldn't imagine our little family without him.

On May 10 we celebrated Drew's 6th Birthday!! Wow. 6. So crazy.

 He wanted to celebrate Wipeout style. So Mommy drummed up a cute, simple little Wipeout bash!

We celebrated Mother's Day with a photoshoot of Mama and her boys...

This month was all about Drew. He started up another season of baseball AND lost his 1st tooth!!

And Mama Bear of course stalked Tim McGraw at a concert. He is so amazing by the way...

My girlfriends and I decided it would be fun to do a Mommy/Kids trip to Holiday World. It was so much fun. Definitely a trip we need to do every year.

The boys and I have gone to many a Cardinal games, however, this time I decided to change it up a bit. Buy tickets to not our normal season ticket seats and do a Stadium Tour. 

It was our BEST trip to the stadium yet.

AND...of course my girlfriends and I stalked yet another country singer...Kenny Chesney. 

Another amazing, fun night with the girls!

Drew made his 1st All Star Baseball team. Which he was so stoked about because he got to play catcher just like Molina!

We celebrated the 4th of July at my boss's house swimming and then spent the night with family to watch fireworks. Dylan decided to dress himself in a fabulous outfit to celebrate the holiday.

Little did we know the next day my prediction of what an awful year it would be would start coming true...

The worst phone call you could get in your life. My step-mom called to tell me my Dad had been in an accident and he was being life flighted to the nearest hospital. Those words. The feeling of numbness over my body. The sickness I felt. Ugh. So indescribable. 

Luckily, he was going to be okay. Thank the Lord.

I spent a lot of July back and forth to and from the hospital helping to take care of him and just be there. It was tough. The hospital was two hours from my house. But I did it. I was exhausted and like a walking zombie. Somewhere in there I met him in St. Louis after he was transferred to rehab. I stayed with him to help him settle in. If y'all know me, you know I do not leave my kids very much. This month was not only tough for me because I had to take care of Dad ways I would have never imagined but I had to leave my kids a whole lot. I was an emotional mess.

Amongst all of this madness we managed to head on a little Chicago trip. Luckily I have two other sisters who we all eventually started rotating times to be with Dad. So I got a little break with my boys in one of my favorite cities.

My favorite boys got me on that dang Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. Never again kids. Never EVER again.

August brought on a busy month. I went on my first ever cruise and also my first ever couple's vacation. Now that I think about it I never re-capped my vacation. Oopsie. 

The Bahamas were beyond amazing.

The day after we got back from the Bahamas, I immediately headed back to St. Louis for NELLY night at Busch Stadium! Hello! #1 fan right herre ain't gonna miss that!

Both boys started school!

Just when I started thinking things were looking up. My Dad was getting better. He was almost walking. A nice exotic vacation. Boys were in school. Then another horrible phone call that my Step-Grandpa had passed away.

My Step-Grandpa was known for suspender wearing, so all the male grandkids were pallbearers and wore suspenders in his honor. We don't nearly often enough get all of the grandkids together at one time so we took advantage to get some pictures.

Later that night after the funeral we had to switch gears from sadness to happiness because it was my sister's wedding weekend. We had rehearsal dinner just hours after we laid him to rest.

Her wedding was beyond gorgeous and she made a beautiful bride. In honor of my Grandpa we wore purple flowers from his funeral in our hair.

Another amazing, emotional moment was when my Dad walked my sister down the aisle. We did not think it was even going to possible that he would be walking this soon after his wreck. But he managed to walk just enough to get her down the aisle. AND he made it an extra special emotional moment when they did their Father/Daughter dance.

The following weekend we celebrated Dylan's 4th Birthday! It was a hot one, but he was bound and determined to have a fishing party! So fish fry party it was!

This past year I had really grown a deep deep love for photography. I have always loved it. It has always been a passion of mine since I can remember. But I had really started to read a lot about it and learn so much. I began to really practice a whole lot with my boys.

Then, more bad news, my Mom's cousin passed away by a sudden heart attack. I couldn't attend the funeral that Saturday morning, however, my Mom had a full emotional day because later that night her boyfriend had planned to ask her to marry him. He kept the plans on.

And it went down perfectly!!!

She was now an engaged woman!

 

That night she had told me that my Papa was doing really bad. She said I needed to get over and see him that next day.

So, I did. I visited him. Cried a lot. You could look at him and know it was time. It was hard to leave him. All of the cousins and myself had a birthday party together so we left, attended the party, and as I was walking out my Mom called to tell me to get back over there as soon as possible.

The next morning, he passed.

I still to this day have a hard time. This was the closest person I had ever lost.

My predictions were correct. This was going to be the worst year ever. My Dad's accident. Then bam bam bam, three deaths in the family all within the a month's time. 

How could this year get any worse?

Amongst all of this Dylan wrapped up his 1st Soccer Season. 

He was such a little ham. So fun to watch.

We also took him to his 1st Monday Night Raw! We all had beyond a blast! Mommy even enjoyed it a little more this time around since I had began watching Total Divas on E!

We of course to our Fall trip to the Pumpkin Patch with friends.

But best of all this Fall??? We celebrated my 30th birthday with a fabulous birthday bash!

 I mean, I have never had so much fun in life.

The Cardinals made it to the World Series, so of course we were in attendance.

 We celebrated Halloween Ninja/Power Ranger style. I really have no say in this costume business anymore...

We took them trick or treating door to door for the 1st time this year. They loved it.

We spent a lot of November traveling to Kentucky for my little basketball star. Which included getting my 1st "Mom" shirt made. So fun.

Dylan went hunting for the 1st time with Grandpa Bruce. This child is obsessed.

We had lunch with Justin's family for Thanksgiving and sadly that is all we did. I was the crazy one who went out shopping though, you betcha I did! :)

December started out with a huge snowfall!

We had weekends full of Christmas activities and parties including one where the husband and I dressed as birds with friends as the "Four Calling Birds."

We had breakfast with Santa Claus...

We spent Christmas Eve with our families.

We had an amazing Christmas! I do not see how it is possible to keep topping each year, but we do, and it just gets better and better every year.

And lastly, we rang in the New Year and friends.

While 2013 brought lots of bad news to our family there were also many amazing moments as well. However, with those moments I am still happy to say goodbye to 2013.

I am so looking forward to 2014.

I have lots I want to accomplish this year. Lots of goals. So many I can not even list them.

I have a feeling this is going to be an amazing year. We already have trips and vacations planned. Lots of friends having babies. Just so many new things happening.

Cheers, 2014!!!!