Christmas Break Part 2

On our way home from the cabin we had dinner at my parents house to have dinner with my family and the Janelle family. We've grown up with the Janelles and we get together every Christmas break. I always look forward to seeing everyone.

The next morning Caleb and the kids made me breakfast in bed to celebrate my birthday. Caleb then informed me that we were getting away for a night to continue the birthday celebrations. :) 

I'm such a lucky girl. Caleb is very romantic and always does a wonderful job of surprising me and spoiling me for my birthday!

After packing up all 3 little ones (this was my first night sleeping away from Emsley) and myself, Caleb and I dropped the kids off with my parents and headed for lunch at Panera. Caleb didn't tell me what was planned, only that we were getting away. 

After Panera, Caleb suggested that we go for a little walk and he walked me right into a new massage place. He had planned the massage, but my parents wanted to pay for it. Did I mention that I'm a lucky girl? So, I got to enjoy a wonderful, hour long massage. :) It.was.heavenly!

After the massage, Caleb greeted me with my favorite drink from Starbucks (Cinnamon Dulce Latte) and we headed to Denver. 

We headed straight to the hotel, The Curtis close almost right on the 16th street mall. 

We had never stayed at this hotel before and it was awesome! Every floor has it's own theme. For example, the 13th floor is the horror movie floor. When you reach the 13th floor, the elevator plays "Heeere's Johnny!" from The Shining. 

I'm not a huge fan of horror films, so thankfully we ended up on the 11th floor, the chick flick floor. Perfect if you ask me. :) We relaxed a bit and then showered and got ready for dinner.

We had dinner at our very favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory on the 16th street mall. 

After splitting a delicious dinner we decided to try out a new cheesecake and it was amazing! It was called Chris's Outrageous Cheesecake and it did not disappoint! Even though we split the cheesecake we couldn't finish it all!

After dinner we wandered the 16th street just a bit. We stopped in at Bath and Body Works to use up a gift card I was given for Christmas. They were having this HUGE 1 day sale and I got a lot for the money!

By the time we were done shopping, it was show time at the movie theater for Catching Fire. We had heard that it was soooo good and way better than the first movie, The Hunger Games. We couldn't agree more. We loved it! The character development was so good in Catching Fire, and I loved the way they brought out the emotion to make you hate the capitol and President Snow just as much as the characters in the movie. I can't wait to see Mockingjay!

There's not much to say about the rest of our getaway. After the movie was over we went back to the hotel and to bed. The next morning we had a nice breakfast and then headed back up to my parent's house to pick up the kids and watch the Broncos game.

The next day or so was spent organizing and cleaning from Christmas and having some down time at home with the kids.

Our New Year's Eve celebration was perfectly small. We went to my parents house and played poker and Apples to Apples with my sister Jenn, BIL Jon, and our good friends David and Becky while the kids played and watched movies. Sometimes a small gathering is just what you need to ring in the new year. It was a very fun night!

We had promised the kids that we would do a night at a hotel with them while Caleb was off so we headed back down to Denver with them on the 1st. 

We found a GREAT deal on priceline and got this sweet hotel for a good price! 

The rooms were perfect for families! We had a mini kitchenette complete with a fridge and microwave and there was just a little separation between our bed and where the kids slept. Yes, perfect!

Really, the only thing the kids cared about was swimming, so we made sure to find a hotel with a pool and hot tub. We spent the evening swimming and watching movies/TV with the kids.

Here's a sweet moment with our girls the next morning. :)

The next morning we all enjoyed the delicious hot, complimentary breakfast and then we swam some more. After a somewhat slow morning we headed to the Denver Children's Museum and met up with Caleb's parents, his brother Josh and our niece Abby. The kids spent a good 2+ hours at the museum and then we headed home to crash!

After that, there was just a few days left before Caleb had to head back to work. We just hung out and enjoyed being with each other. I already miss getting to spend all day every day with my family. We sure packed a lot in in just 2 weeks. I love Christmas break!

P.S. We got Emsley's 6 month photos back from Nate and Amanda yesterday. I LOVE them! 

Here's just a few of my favorites:

Hopeless Romantic

We're officially in trouble. Elliana at 3 years of age is in love-with being in love!
I'd like to say I don't know where she gets it from, but the truth is I was always a hopeless romantic growing up. I was always in love with love, and man, was I boy crazy (just ask my sisters)! I guess I have to admit that she's like me in this way.

Although I had these traits growing up, I never thought about what it would be like as a mom to watch my daughter blush and smile when it comes to romance. I'm already scared for what she will be like as a teenager.

Here's a little proof for you:

She loves Disney movies, but her favorite scenes are always the kissing scenes, the dancing scenes, and the wedding scenes. Those are the scenes she wants to watch over and over again.

Or even better, if I'm on the computer she'll ask to go to youtube and watch this video:

When I told her a few months ago that my cousin is getting married, she clapped her hands and jumped for joy. Then, with a big smile on her face, she asked "Are they going to kiss?!"

Every day when Caleb gets home from work Ellie and Ethan run (or crawl) to the door to greet him. After they give Caleb a HUGE hug, Ellie always, without fail, says "Daddy, kiss Mommy." And if that wasn't enough sometimes she tells him to kiss me longer or kiss me more.

The other day in the car I was listening to a CD Caleb made for me many years ago. The CD has a lot of our favorite romance songs on it. I assumed the kids would get wrestless after hearing one song but Ellie seemed to be enjoying it. She was smiling and dancing along to the music in her carseat. Then Michael Buble's "Everything" came on (This song always takes me back to Courtney's wedding because Courtney and Jeremy played this song along with their slideshow).

Anyway, Elliana was listening to and enjoying this song. When it was over she said "Mommy! I want that song again. I want the kiss song again." Now she always refers to that song as the "kiss song" and requests it often. She only likes to listen until the line "And I can't believe that I'm your man and I get to kiss you baby just because I can", then she wants to start the song over again. Ha!

I could go on and on with stories, but you get the idea. Now I just pray that we can teach Ellie to guard her heart and to save her kisses for when she's really in love - and not until she's 30. ;)