Christmas morning

Christmas morning...I can't believe that our kids slept in til 8:30. Actually, I can since they didn't go to bed until 10:30. Sleepy eyes, stuffed animals and goo goo in hand they were ready to see what Santa brought.

Santa didn't disappoint this year. Nolan got a new bike (without training wheels) from Santa. And I'm proud to say that on our last day of Christmas break that Nolan rode his bike for at least 10 seconds!!! WOOHOO! It's a crash landing every time, but we'll get there.

 

My favorite part of Christmas morning was opening our gifts from Nolan. Our school put together a Penguin Patch that allowed kids to shop for family members as a fundraiser for PTA. It was beyond adorable how excited he was that he went shopping by himself and it was a secret that he got to keep from us. 

I'm not joking when I say that he was more excited about giving us our gift than he was about opening his presents. I absolutely love that about him. It was the first glimpse that I saw that maybe all those lessons about "it's better to give than receive" and "think about others" aren't falling on deaf ears. 

 

He picked the most beautiful amethyst ring. Yes, it turned my finger green within an hour, who cares? It was my favorite gift because he was crazy proud of himself for picking it out.

His gift to Justin was a ornament that said "Dad" and we hung it right in front of our tree. I've come so far wanting my tree to coordinate. I can say that without a doubt that our tree might not have a theme or a color but it is full of memories and love.

Campbell got a bracelet and I think Nolan was looking for a better reaction, but as we all know...3 year old reactions are usually never in your favor.

Landry was seriously the best sport ever. She sat in her bouncer and was happy as a clam.

I think the poor thing was finally excited to see some pink toys and dolls. Of course that girl got clothes. I don't need Christmas as an excuse to get her more outfits. 

 

New towels for the boys and seeing them wear these after bath time makes it really hard to resist running after them and kissing them.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand this is the bomb that went off in my living room and that was AFTER picking up some of the wrapping and tissue paper.  Notice how after all the gifts were unwrapped and I needed up cleaning up, everyone got really sleepy suddenly.

 

My grandparents were in town from Amarillo and we spent the entire evening with them and the boys loved showing my grandmother their email from Santa. 

 

My nieces came by the day after for a short visit and Landry was loving all that attention. She's going to love going to see them especially with all these boys in the house. 

Christmas Eve and Christmas day were so full of non-stop action but that's how you know you've used every single second to squeeze in as much family time as you possibly can. When you're exhausted, it means you've loved hard. 

It was such a great Christmas and believe it or not...there's more! At this rate, I'll finish up my blogging in February but I can't forget about our Christmas in Kentucky.

Fa la la la la la la la

I'm finally catching my breath from the Christmas break. I can definitely say that we used every second for family time. This is the second year in a row that we've gone caroling with our youth group and others from church some of our home-bound members (or just members we can't get enough of) from our church.

It's so easy to get sucked into the insanity of Christmas and forget the true reason and this year was no different than last. It completely put me in the Christmas spirit. As Buddy the Elf says (and he ain't lying) "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

Preach it, Buddy.

So we got our recorders fine-tuned, our baby snugli on, and our finest Christmas outfits to belt it out.

 

I mean who wouldn't love to see a big group looking this great with cymbals, recorders, and maracas in hand singing "Silent Night?" 

We visited some of our sweet friends that joined the church at the same time that we did and either they're really good actors, or we really did make their day.

The second home is one I just love to visit. It's so beautifully decorated. I think it may be more of a present to us to see their home rather than our gift of singing!

 

Last, but certainly not least, we visited my favorite church couple. You know, those sweet couples that you see that are never without each other and are always holding hands? And the ones that you picture when you're talking to your spouse about how you want to grow up to be? And the ones that when you see them at church walk by, you can't help but say, "Awwwwwww!" 

Yep, that's this couple. I mean, seriously, could they be any stinkin' cuter? 

They are like this ALL the time! See, here they go again...

 

I'd like to say it was all sunshine and lollipops. That we all held hands and skipped as we sang carols but there were also moments that brought up something new our kids were exposed to and a new step to encounter in our parenthood journey. 

We made two visits to nursing homes. One of the homes we went to, the people were clapping, playing piano and just oohing and aahing over Landry (they were wise people, if I do say so myself) but another home we visited was on the sadder side. There were hospital beds, wheelchairs and smiles weren't as abundant.

Nolan asked, "Why did those people look so sad and like they were about to die?" His observation is amazing and keen. 

Wow. Deep stuff. What do you say to that? Probably not the best time to tell your 6 year old that we are all going to die.

The days and nights that followed were plagued with lots of questions about death and growing old. He kept telling us throughout the day that he didn't want us to grow old and die. Bedtime became quite a struggle, to say the least, for two weeks reassuring him that we're healthy and young. My poor Nolan has dealt with anxiety issues over the years. We've dealt with being afraid of the wind, fireworks, putting his head under water and the list goes on and on and on. 

I pray, more than anything, that this experience is one that fills his heart with memories of spreading joy, feeling the spirit and doing for others.

Top 11 in '11

2011 has been such a wonderful year. Finding the photos to best document our year was near impossible but I think I've got my favorites narrowed down but I could slip in another 30 or maybe even 100 easy.

 

I love this photo for so many reasons. I love how it shows what a hands-on dad my husband, Justin, is and how it perfectly captures how energetic and how much of a dare-devil our second son, Campbell, is.  

 

Love this photo of the final months of my pregnancy with my boys. It was such a hard pregnancy during a record-breaking heat wave in Texas and with it being my third, but I'd say it was well worth it. 

This photo was taken the same day and I just love how my oldest son, without us asking, posed like he's a natural model. This is right before he started kindergarten. He's such a sweet boy and says things that will absolutely melt your heart, especially his mama. 

 

And perhaps the biggest news this year was the addition our one and only baby girl, Landry. She is the sweetest and easiest baby. She was our Labor Day baby...how wild is it that I was in labor ON Labor Day? I love this photo so much and it's one that will definitely be in her baby book. What joy and happiness it shows the day that our family was complete. 

 

This was taken when Landry was only 7 days old. I took it while getting some professional shots done by a good friend. Hers were much better but I still love these that I was able to sneak in. Those lips are just amazing.

Landry is only 3 months now but knowing that she's my last just has me holding, snuggling and staring at her perhaps more than I did with any of them. It just makes me want to soak up every single second. 

The only other person who stares at her as much as me - if not more, would be my husband....who is putty in her hands. 

  

Every year we go to the pumpkin patch and every year I always get a favorite from the photos. The colors, the laughter, the feel of fall all make the perfect recipe for a great photo.

This was a photo tip I tried from Pinterest and I was just excited that it worked! I turned off all the lights in the house, maxed out my ISO, opened the aperture and used a slow shutter speed of 1/30.

 

I took this photo on Christmas Eve morning but this is a normal day. At least once a day I see the boys interacting with Landry in this way. I can't believe that they fight as much as they do but when it comes to her, they are unbelievably sweet. They call her "sweet baby girl" and will do anything to get a smile or laugh out of her. 

And here's our Christmas photo this year. The funny part is that we used a tripod and I had wireless remote shutter release in my hand to take this picture. My husband is insanely talented when it comes to Photoshop (he's a graphic artist) but I looked like I had a man hand so we decided to put a big "M" monogram to cover up my hand. Pretty resourceful, I thought.

Thanks for looking at my favorites this year and I can't wait to see what photos and memories our family will make in 2012!


  

Twas the night before Christmas...

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not one person was out of their jammies until 4:00 p.m. Don't mistake that for laziness. We made time for a little bit of snugglin' but we definitely had a full agenda on Christmas Eve.

First on the list, make cookies for Santa. Lesson learned a few years ago to get that out of the way on Christmas Eve...maybe one year I can even get it done earlier. My fear is that if I make them too early, we'll eat them and poor Santa won't have any!

 

Landry was the happiest spectator there ever was. I can't wait for her to join in on the fun.

Note to self, put tape over all the holes of the sprinkle container except ONE! That is plenty! Those were the crunchiest iced cookies I've ever tasted. After hours in the kitchen preparing for Christmas dinner at our house and Christmas Eve at my mom's we finally showered and got out of our pajamas.

Next up, Christmas Eve service at church. It's ain't Christmas Eve without it.

 

Multiple times this Christmas I think back to last year and we weren't even pregnant and here we are with this adorable, beautiful baby girl and I'm amazed again at how blessed we are and how much our lives have changed in just one year. God is so good. Can I get an AMEN?

I'm a sucker for candlelight services. I'm the one that is choking back tears every year as we sing "Silent Night." Throw in my children singing with candles in their small hands, with the candle glow on their faces while I'm holding and staring at my beautiful baby girl, and I'm a blubbering idiot.

We usually get a picture in front of the tree at church, but our children Campbell was fading fast so we settled for the advent wreath. Aaaand this is the best we got.

 

 At this point, all I've eaten all day was breakfast and the few things I snacked on while cooking in the kitchen. My stomach was growling that embarrassing growl it does in church when you can only laugh because it's so loud. 

Next up, my parent's house for homemade Mexican feast....tamales, enchiladas, beans, rice. Let's just say that I made up for being so starving and won't divulge how glutinous I was. It's too shameful.

 

For the past two years, Nolan has dressed up like an elf. He's finally grown out of his 3T shorts...skinny bean pole. So this was the closest he resembled an elf this year. 

 

And I couldn't help but join in too. My dad sets up a Polar Express train under the tree and the boys literally sit and stare at it forever. They toot the horn and I just cross my fingers that they don't get that train off the track.

As an extra special treat, my grandparents came down from Amarillo and we got to spend the most time with them that we have in years. I loved that Great Grams got some time with Landry and Landry was so happy to be held and snuggled by everyone.

We finally made it home and my children were still going strong even though it was 10:00 at night!
I was so grateful to have happy children. Happy children = happy mama!

We let our kids open one present on Christmas Eve and it's always a new pair of jammies. This year I actually found some that matched! That's hard to do now that Nolan is in big boy size!

Landry even got a new pair of Christmas jammies and so did Justin. Could this picture be any sweeter? I'm running out of room on my walls because I have so many favorites now!

Once we had everyone in their jammies, we made a mad dash to get cookies, milk and reindeer food out. Notice how Campbell took the opportunity to sneak in my sprinkles before putting them on Santa's plate.

Final bedtime for the boys? 10:30.  Then we had to make sure they were really asleep before getting everything out. We had everything set out and then discovered at midnight we had another bag in the closet that hadn't been wrapped yet. 

Lovely. 

Thank goodness for gift bags and stockings. The rest of the things were thrown into the Santa pile (Santa doesn't wrap in our house). 

My favorite part of the night (besides the candlelight service, of course) was on our way home from my parents house, we were on the lookout for Santa and Rudolph. I saw a red blinking light in the sky and did my best Academy Award winning acting about it being Rudolph. The boys were eating it up, going nuts and even talking about how they could see it moving. Guess they were just falling for the illusion of our car moving. 

Little did I know, that blinking light was getting closer and closer as we traveled. As we got closer, Nolan says, "Hey, that's just a tower!" RATS! Campbell starts somehow thinking that Nolan tricked him so he says, "NOWAN (as he lovingly calls him), STOP tricking me!" It was such a funny moment and I just loved how magical these years are. 

I don't think I've ever been so exhausted after Christmas as this year but again...Christmas didn't disappoint. I'll catch up later on sleep....someday long from now. But these memories? They're what feeds my soul.

More Christmas coming soon!