Merry Christmas

 Christmas has come and gone once again. We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and were able to spend some quality time with the people you love. We had a wonderful and blessed Christmas this year.

 We have some family traditions that we do every year and this year was no different. We went to the parade in downtown Tulsa with my sister and her kids as well as Nick's parents, siblings, and grandma. We also made our famous Christmas cookies. This year it seemed more of a solo project on my part as Isaac and Nick didn't help very much with the cookies. They haven't been helping eat them either. Yikes.

 Thanks to our good friends the Mallory's, we ventured downtown to participate in Winterfest where Isaac and Nick tested out their ice skating skills. Isaac wasn't too impressed with the whole ice skating thing, but we had fun with our friends and everyone burned their tongues on the thermonuclear hot chocolate. Do we know how to make memories or what?

 We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house. During the day we had a fun snack adventure when we tried several different recipes that we found on Pinterest. Nick and I took all the kids to church for Christmas Eve service while my mom and sister made a yummy dinner. It was a fun day with lots of family.

Christmas morning was spent with just the three of us at home opening presents.( Excuse my mess of laundry in the background.) Santa did not disappoint as he brought Isaac the Nintendo 3DS he requested.   

Later in the day we went to Nick's parent's house for gifts and yummy Italian food. Isaac got the Santa suit he requested thanks to his Aunt Apo and Uncle Anky. I'm pretty sure that was his favorite gift.

This is how we all felt at the end of the day. We had several days of lots of good food, gifts, and tons of much needed family time. Now I'm ready for my much needed time off to recover from it all.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Zumwalt's!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

A Whole Decade Of Team Zumwalt

Ten years ago yesterday Nick and I took that giant leap into marriage and never looked back. I look at pictures of that day and I feel like it was just yesterday. We were so young. So eager to start our lives together. We had no idea what life had in store for us, but we were ready to find out.

Ten years later I can say that I am very proud of my marriage. Though it hasn't been easy, and life has thrown us some curve balls, I can't imagine going through this life with anyone else. We vowed to love one another in good times and in bad, sickness and in health. We've certainly had our share of all of those. Through it all we always rally together and come out closer and stronger than ever.

I love my husband for so many reasons I can't even begin to list them all. I love how he always tries to make me laugh when I'm mad at him, like the time I was furious and he came in the room dressed in my capri pants. I love how he got up with Isaac every night when he was a baby so that I could sleep. I love how he gets me ice water at night and puts gas in my car. I love how he tries to spoil me with nice gifts, and doesn't get mad me when I take them back to the store because I'm more practical than he is. I love how I get alarmed when he calls me by my real name because I'm so used to him calling me Missus. I love how he works hard for our family. I love how he secretly pays attention to my cheesy reality TV shows and actually knows the characters and the story line. I love how he loves me unconditionally. No matter how many strokes I have or how high my steroid dose gets, I know he will still love me.  I am so proud that he is my husband, my partner, my teammate.

I can't wait to see what the next ten years has in store for us. Happy Anniversary, Meester. I love you and our life together more than you will ever know.

Tis The Season

Yes, it is the season where it seems like the spending will never end. I'm sure it stresses everyone out regardless of your income. We live a very blessed life so I try very hard to make this a season about giving and not receiving. Don't get me wrong, we aren't rich by any means, but we have everything we could possibly need and then some so we need to share that, especially this time of year.

Isaac has wonderful grandparents on both sides that indulge him plenty this time of year so he won't be lacking in the gifts department. But others will. Other kids that may even go to Isaac's school or live in our neighborhood. The past few years, Isaac is of an age where he needs to know that not all little kids get to sit down with the Toys-R-Us book and circle what they want and actually get it all. It is my mission as his mother to teach him to have a giving heart. Last year we had him pick out toys to donate to Toys For Tots. I remember him telling the cashier that we were buying toys for the "unfortunate" children. I think he heard me say "less fortunate", but the cashier understood and so did Isaac. He loves to put money in the Salvation Army kettle. He knows it helps people who don't have a lot of money. Isaac and I were cleaning out his room (in preparation for the ridiculous amounts of presents he will get at Christmas) and we found toys from his birthday that were still in the package. Isaac and I talked about what we should do with the toys and he willingly agreed we should give them to Toys For Tots again. Proud Momma Moment.

This year, Isaac's class adopted a family off an Angel Tree. After I volunteered to fulfill the wish list of the oldest child in the family I admit, I immediately got stressed out about the extra expense because as I said earlier, it seems like the spending is never ending this time of year. I started getting resentful of the other mom's in Isaac's class that weren't volunteering to donate anything to this family. It took a lot of self talk to realize that I shouldn't judge those other mom's. I don't know their life. Maybe some of them are actually Angel Tree families as well. What a joy it was to fulfill a wish list for an eleven year old One Direction fan. And the total cost ended up being about the same amount of money we might waste eating out on a Friday night. What a good lesson for Isaac, to know that the things we bought may be the only Christmas gifts this girl gets this year and all we had to do was eat at home on a Friday night. I hope that sinks in with Isaac and he is grateful for the life he has.

Tis the season, folks. I challenge each of you to do something nice for someone else, particularly someone less fortunate that you. I realize budgets are tight especially this time of year. Mine is too. You don't have to spend money to fulfill this challenge. Donate your time and energy. That can be just as valuable as monetary donations. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.