Mommy Likes her Vino: What the *BEEP*...

...have I been up to? Seriously I am about to kick myself off of the "blog island"...but I can explain...really I can. So what has Vino Mommy been doing? T.R.A.V.E.L.I.N.G, yep in a nut shell I have been flying the friendly skies, almost done though, which makes me *squeal* with delight.

However I say we take a stroll down memory lane as to the events of late November/early December past...

Thanksgiving Weekend=Ambush Makeover

No joke, a couple bottles of wine and BOOM "hey I have an idea, lets pick out paint colors and paint your bedroom, your bathroom, and Jack's room" this of course leads to the next day where Stacy takes on the role of "House Project Hitler"...task master extraordinaire i.e. do what she says and no one gets hurt, but you know what it...it looks phenomenal and I can't thank her or Lance enough for all their hardwork, they are the bestest BFF's ever!

That pretty much encompasses most of that weekend. But the biggest event out of the weekend, was that my baby boy moved into a big boy bed! (Sniff...sniff) I need to take a picture because he is oh so lovable and adorable sleeping in his bed, but seriously can't believe how fast he is growing up. I am however completely ecstatic to have the nursery crap out of my house (i.e. crib, changing table, blah, blah)...which begs the question "are they done" and the answer is..."we'll get back to you on that..." aka " we are done, but not committed to being done".

After the exhausting Thanksgiving weekend, I of course jumped on a plane to Raleigh, which btw is quite nice...reminds me of the good ol' MN. Got home late Wednesday night and then Thursday Brian, myself, my Mom & Dad, Grandma, and my Aunt & Uncle went to Wicked and LOVED IT! God bless Grandma, I luuuvvv her to pieces, but did have to chuckle at intermission when she kept saying "I just don't get it, what's the point"...I laughed and then continued to enjoy my vino. The men...they just kept smiling and counting the minutes until it was over...I am pretty sure they wished they had stayed at Bellanotte for a few more after dinner cordials.

After work on Friday we picked up the munchkins and hopped in the "Minne Winnie" with Rob and the girls to fetch us some Venison. You see Brian moved into a new realm of Manhood the other weekend and is no longer a "Deer Virgin" so of course his prize was turned into, well food. So we drove down to Kasson to meet up with his Uncle Dan who so graciously had the deer "packaged" for us. The kids had fun dancing to the live band at Daniel's and then it was off to make the trek back home. Needless to say our journey gave me plenty of time to tutor Rob on his "tricked out" phone he got in SEPTEMBER, apparently email was a problem spot. You know we love you...

We began Saturday by torturing the children and taking them to see Santa for pictures. Ross made it quite clear to Santa that he wants a white Hotwheels race car and Jack wants a blue one. No exceptions. Damn, Santa got off easy this year. It's great that the child is sympathetic to the current economic times. :) After our journey to Diane's for pictures we got ready for the annual Jorissen Family Christmas Open House at my folks place. It is a tradition that has been going on for more years than I can remember with my Dad's cousins on my Grandpa's side of the family. It involves a lot of people, a lot of food, a lot of vino and a wee bit o music. This year my (follow me here) Dad's Cousin's Son (got that?) brought his guitar and not only played, but sang some fantastic tunes. I felt like we were having our own private Studio C performance.

Sunday started off by sleeping in...aka HEAVEN! The kiddos decided they needed a sleepover (or was it Mom and Dad???) at my parents house and so to not disappoint them we agreed. Brian and I got some much needed sleep as Jack has not been the most cooperative with the transition to his new bed, so yeah sleeping in until 10AM felt fantastic. From there we got ready to head out to another annual Christmas tradition, attending the TSO concert. However this year was even more special as we took Ross for the first time (well technically his 2nd, the first time he was about a month out from being born). He had a great time, loved the fireworks and laser light show, but somehow managed to fall asleep for a portion of it. I tell ya my kids, they can sleep anywhere!

Hopefully you made it through my diatribe and are still reading this. Which brings me to the present and of course that means I must be traveling somewhere...I am *hoping* there are no delays tomorrow morning due to the weather as I have a date with a plane to New York...until then stay warm and I'll be back soon...