The Backwards Surprise, a Homecoming Tale.

about two years ago (roughly) My very large extended family all congregated together at the Bush intercontinental airport to see my baby brother Stephen,

Yes girls I KNOW, get it out of your systems..."He is SO hot!" and for those
of you who knew him in Memphis, "THAT is Stephen? WOW!" yeah yeah...

off on his mission. 

What's that? A bunch of good looking Shivers? Oh Yeah!

So anyways, we spent the last two years, you know, living our lives while HE was out in the Philippines spreadin' the ole "good news" and "convertin' the heathen" and all that jazz.

 Well, it got to be late this summer and the topic of 'The exact date' of Stephen getting home started popping up in emails. We finally found out that he would be coming home on January 11th.  It was after Christmas, but we were just happy to know which day to count down to. 

    Welp...we started counting weeks back in November, when I THOUGHT we were still 8 weeks away...

  Friday night, when I had my family over for a little first birthday party for Aubrey ( next blog, I promise, there are Rainbow cupcake pictures from THAT one!) My dad told us that we needed to make sure we were all at his house the next day for the little Christmas party they were having, because when it was over, we were all going to get in the car and drive to the airport to PICK UP MY BROTHER!

   My first thought was, "Crap! Why is he coming home early? did he SERIOUSLY do something to get sent home when he is ONLY four weeks away from his return date??" Turns out, he knew that this was the day he was coming home all along and TOLD us that it was January! Pretty sneaky little bro, pretty sneaky...

     WELL the plan was that My dad knew about it, and no one else. He was going to pick up my brother from the airport and have him walk into a big christmas party. Well as the day got closer and Daddy got the flight information, he found that the flight would be ARRIVING at 12:45 a.m. in Houston, which is an hour and a half away from where they live, and where the party would have been. That wasn't going to work. So Daddy (who had told mom like a month before the actual date he was coming home) decided to turn the 'surprise' aspect around on Stephen and have us all meet him at the airport, even though he wasn't expecting it.

   SO to catch you all up, Stephen was going to surprise us all by "coming home early for christmas" but we turned it around and surprised HIM by being at the airport instead. It's like "Missionary Inception" a surprise within a surprise.

Mom has a Cricut, and got all crazy-excited about
making signs.

  We got to the airport at 12:30 and decided how we were going to play it out. Those that "knew" he was coming home (as far as Stephen knew Mom didn't even know) waiting out by the gate to see him. The rest of us waited around the corner. We had made signs for him and everything, PLUS dad had someone film the whole thing.  When he got out of the gate, daddy had him walk around to corner to "get to the escalator" and there we all were! He was adequately surprised and we all made a lot of noise, and hugged him, and had a great little homecoming. 

Oh yeah, I got the first hug!

Meeting his niece for the FIRST TIME!!

Telling us some important "mission thing"

Rob did most of the work gluing the words to the poster board once mom had cut them out. Bonus points if you get the references on the poster on top. Stephen kept his ridiculous sense of humor throughout the mission and wrote about the holy spirit "roundhouse kicking people in the face" and other such things. So this was appropriate.

The group with "big Steve"

So, my baby brother is back in, what he referred to in all his emails, "The great motherland of TEXAS"  and we are SO happy to have him back! (despite the fact that he still has to correct himself when he gets all excited and starts talking in Tagolog)

    

         Welcome home Stephen! Now brace for impact, we all know the girls are waiting.....

Oh the weather outside...

Is WAY warmer than it ought to be right now, given that it is the middle of december and SHOULD be lower than 77 degrees! Such is life in southeast texas I suppose. Why, last week was lovely and chilly all week! (when I say "chilly" for all you North people who get snow and all that wonderful wintry weather that I ENVY so, I mean it was in the 40's)
  Anyways it was cold enough to finally make use of our FIREPLACE!! This is the first apartment we have lived in since we have been married, that has a fireplace!

It make me feel like singing..."Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."

Also, Andrew had been begging me for a couple of days to "make christmas cookies mommy!" So he found my christmas cookie cutters and I made some sugar cookie dough and he got to help me make his "christmas cookies" I typically have little to no patience when it comes to having little kids "help" in the kitchen, but he was SO sweet and anxious to do it that I HAD to let him!

I would place the cookie cutter on the dough and he would press it down. Then I let him sprinkle the red and green decorator sugar on the cookies before we baked them. He REALLY enjoyed that part. for the next few days he decided that he needed a "christmas cookie" every time he used the potty (we still aren't 100% with the potty training...)

You know what though? I am still pretty sure I have the worlds most awesome kids!

One whole year BABY!

 Exactly one year and one day ago, I was at my parents house (which was pretty common for that time since we lived down the street from them. Also we were spending lots of time over there anyways since my grandmother had spent her last few weeks at my mom and daddy's house after she was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, but THAT is another blog...)  Anyways, I was getting ready to go home. I was 37 1/2 weeks pregnant and getting tired of my baby kicking me in the ribs. I went to say goodnight to my little sister who promptly looked at my belly and said, "Okay Aubrey, you need to come out now!" We all laughed and said "yeah right!" and went home.

(Sorry we laughed Jen!)
     

Later that night, around 1:00a.m. I woke up with contractions. Convinced that it was false labor, I lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. An hour and a half later I woke Robert up and told him we should probably start timing them. At 3:00a.m. he decided that we needed to call my mom and the doctor. By 4:00a.m. we were at the hospital in one of those "observation rooms" by 7:00 I had my own room and was in active labor. By 9:00a.m. my doc came to see me and break my water, drenching that drop-cloth thing they put under you with copious amounts of amniotic fluid, whereupon I promptly asked for an epidural (this was the point that I remembered, just how bad contractions were when the amniotic fluid wasn't cushioning them). By 9:45a.m. I had an (effective) epidural. By 10:30a.m. I had a 'hot spot' on my right side (meaning I could feel all the contracting in that spot) By 11:00a.m. I could feel everything on the right half of my abdomen and was pretty sure it was about time to get my baby out.

No, this has not been photoshopped, I REALLY looked
THAT hot, post delivery....

At 11:25a.m. December 14, 2010- Exactly one year ago today, I got to see my very first daughter for the first time. She was and is beautiful, and adorable, and precious and really, REALLY different from her big brother.
     I guess she got the memo that Andrew was an EXCELLENT baby when it came to sleeping and chilling in his bouncy chair, and playing on the floor quietly. This is not to say that she was a BAD baby, quite the contrary she was sweet tempered and lovely....as long as I was holding her. She decided that since Andrew was GREAT at being independent, she would be the neediest baby EVER!

   But hey, she really IS beautiful

BEST Christmas present EVER!

Because she was born in december, the hospital sent her home
in a Christmas stocking. True story. *squeal*

When she is happy...you definitely know it! (CLAP YOUR HANDS!)

 

She also looks AMAZING in girly things like headbands and bows

Did I ever mention that I went a little crazy and made a whole bunch of headbands with bows and flowers for almost every outfit I had for her? Yeeeeeah.... I went a little crazy and made headbands with bows and flowers for almost every outfit I had for her....

"So, uh...you gonna pick me up, or what?"

Aubrey Noelle Attaya, you make my life better just by being here every day. You may be needy, but I am privileged to be the one you seem to need! I love you, my baby girl! 

Happy first birthday, and many MANY more!

 

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!

SO, just in case any of you don't know I LOVE Christmas! I am a 'christmas-a-holic' if you will. My Christmas season starts (officially) on Thanksgiving day, at the end of the Macy's thanksgiving day parade....When Santa Claus passes by. This is something that has been a family tradition since I was a little girl. However....I must admit...that I cheat. I know, everyone complains that all the stores get jumpy, setting up christmas displays and merchandise almost as soon as halloween is over. But me,  I LOVE it! I walk into wal-mart or target a day or two after halloween, bypass the halloween candy in the clearance bins, and beeline to the christmas section (always the garden center of wal-mart, and the seasonal aisles at target...just in case you were wondering)  I walk slowly up and down the aisles of sparkly glass ornaments, nativity scenes, christmas villages, and cinnamon scented pinecones. I close my eyes and take a deep breath in, like a junkie with a fresh ziplock bag full of crack...Christmas Crack!
It's even worse when I go to the craft store and see things like...

a little angel ornament that resembles my baby girl. Compelling me to take a picture with my phone to send to my husband, hoping he has the same "awwww!" moment I did (he doesn't, but pretends to anyways, because he loves me!)

This one is the ornament...

THIS one is my baby....Uncanny Right?!?!

And of course all the seasonal food items that pop up at the grocery store. Especially, Egg Nog!

And THIS is the best kind EVER!

...anyways, like I said I LOVE Christmas, and the whole holiday season that surrounds it I love decorating my christmas tree...

Eclectic, with glowy white lights and shiny ornaments
AS IT SHOULD BE!

....And my Parent's Christmas tree...

I haven't lived at home in 6 1/2 years and still it is MY  job to
 bedazzle their house for the holidays (good thing I LOVE it!)

And for the past several years we have made sure to participate in the "Journey Through Bethlehem" which is a multi-faith ministry that re-creates Bethlehem city at the time of Christ's birth, complete with everyone in full costume and character! Kind of like the renaissance festival, but more....biblical-ish.

Taxes, Amiright?! Ugh Ceasar Augustus,
I didn't vote for him!

Also, cutest little shepherd baby ever?
 I think YES!

The whole christmas season just makes me downright giddy. It was ALMOST embarrassing when I became an adult and still acted like Buddy the Elf whenever I saw a house with a REALLY good light display. or a pretty Christmas tree. Or heard a Christmas song...any christmas song...

People would give me weird looks and I JUST didn't care! (I mean I did, but not enough to stop doing it)  Then I discovered something, a 'secret' if you will. If you have kids, you can be as CRAZY about christmas as you want to be and everyone just assumes you are doing it for your KIDS!!! Seriously! having kids is like a free ticket to go nuts during the holidays, and the BEST part is that as much as I loved Christmas before, it REALLY is better because it is all NEW for them! I have my own arsenal of Christmas movies that I grew up on. I only watch them during the designated "Holiday Season" so as not to sully their 'special-ness', and since Andrew is now old enough to appreciate them, we watch them A LOT! And I am loving it! Especially when he goes walking around the house quoting such things as,"No MONEY! No TICKET!" and "You're a mean one...Mr. Grinch!" 

 I think the big test of my children's "Christmas saturation" is when we meet up with Jolly old St Nick, at the ward Christmas party and BOTH my kids sit on his lap like its not even a big deal!

Andy looks right at home!

Aubrey is all like, "Nice list? Psh! I INVENTED the nice list!"

Pictures like THIS, with MY babies sitting all perfect and cute with Santa Claus...make me squeal just a little....

So pardon me a little, if you will, dear blog-readers, because in MY world, Christmas-time, is CORINNE time! If you have ever wanted to see me absurdly, giddily and quite frankly, alarmingly happy, come find me during the holidays. And if you are in need of any kind of a pick-me-up, we can just pop in, "a Christmas Story" seriously, if you aren't at least SMILING at the end of that one...you have no soul!

 Merry Christmas everyone!