catching up

It seems as though the last few days I have finally had enough energy to catch up on a few things around the house that I have been neglecting (the blog included). I am not exactly sure how long this energy spurt will last; in fact, I am pretty sure that I will be snoozin’ along with the boys by the end of the next week (chasing two littles and baking another one at the same time really wears a girl out). So bear with me while I have the energy to play catch up… I have photos that are too cute to not share ;)

First up, Christmas. I know, I know these are pretty old but the boys were so cute Christmas morning while they were opening their presents from Santa. Their excitement was contagious and Jay’s genuine joy over everything (including socks) is something that I won’t soon forget and probably my favorite part of the holidays this year.

putting out milk and cookies for Santa

milk and cookies Christmas Eve

Christmas morning after realizing that Santa had visited
Christmas morning after realizing that Santa had visited

sleepy happy Charlie

sleepy Charlie

wind up toys

excitement over new books (what he asked Santa for)
excitement over new books

wanting to read them right away

more books!!
more books

this is one of my favorites- it sums up his joy and excitement all morning long
one of my favorites

more presents- cars

more presents

car excitement

a new car

Charlie's turn

tiny cars!

one of Daddy- wrapping paper by Jay

tissue paper- better than the presents

peek-a-boo

PEEK
Peek

A
A

BOO!!
BOO!

It’s one of Charlie’s favorite games these days; although I mostly love it because he rarely covers all of his face when he is hiding but regardless laughs and smiles SO big when you ask “Where’s Charlie?!” So cute!

Oh and as another random fact guess who finally cut two more teeth today! This sweet (although teething and grumpy at times) kiddo. The random part of it all is that he cut two top molars… not the two bottom teeth he is still missing or his canines… is that normal?

2013

The ball has dropped and the New Year has been rung in and as we begin 2013 I have a hard time with some people’s approach to the past year. I think that it is easy for most people to look at the past year and only remember the difficult times and the things that they so quickly want to get away from.  I think it is difficult, yet so much more rewarding, to point out the things, regardless of how small, that were so wonderful and I can only wish to  relive a million times over…

Tomorrow is not guaranteed, so as we begin 2013 I want to take a moment to remember, remember those cherished moments and times I don’t ever want to forget because I can only hope that is what my children will do when they get to an age where they are able to reflect.

This year…

-My baby boys turned one and two years old.  They are happy, healthy and so FULL of life.

-Jamie and I celebrated 6 years of marriage.  We didn’t have a big celebration or go out for a fancy meal but we did take a moment to acknowledge just how lucky we are to have found each other.

-My baby boy, Charlie, learned to sit on his own, crawl and then walk.  He is exploring his world with each new mile stone and taking it all in.

-Charlie started giving kisses, hugs and started saying Mama and meaning it.  Melt me…

-Jay Bird learned SO much… news songs, new words, colors, shapes, the beginnings of reading.  I could go on but this post just isn’t long enough. He is a sponge and I LOVE that he is continuously soaking it all in.

-Jamie’s job got better and he got to finally work from home once a week consistently which means that we got to have lunch with Grandpa almost every week for the last year; something so simple yet so cherished.

-We watched as dear friends expanded their families and welcomed precious babies into this world.

-We visited with family and friends that we don’t get to see often.

-We welcomed family back home.

-We played.  We played inside with toys, we played outside at the park.  We played uninterrupted with our children for as long as we wanted to.

-We celebrated holidays both big and small with joy and the enthusiasm of our children.

2012 has been a year full of blessings; here’s to 2013 and another year of the same.

sweet moments with my boys

meeting santa

Santa makes the rounds in Winter Park every holiday season; driving down the streets, waving at people, passing out candy and making a few stops along the way to visit with kiddos.  Since one of his stops was just down the road from us we decided to pack up the boys and meet Santa.  Both boys were pretty leery of actually sitting with him and honestly, Jay only did it after getting distracted by Charlie screaming but he did sit with him and told him that he would like some new books for Christmas- LOVE that kiddo!

Here are the photos in all of their glory- the lighting was horrible since we were standing in a dark parking lot but you can get the general idea and it has been documented for posterity’s sake ;)

Jay and Santa

Jay and Santa

Santa’s set up- a john deer tractor with a Rudolph head pulling a trailer with a sleigh attached

Rudolph

Santa's set up

 

Ruby

On December 1 this little guy crashed at our place. If you aren’t familiar with the Elf on the Shelf (it’s fairly new) check this out for more specific details but here is the gist. Elves are assigned by Santa to children’s houses to watch and see if they are being naughty or nice. Each elf (named by the children/family) is magical and cannot be touched by the children without loosing their magic. Each elf flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa and then shows up in a new spot in the house every morning until Christmas- call it a modern “Santa’s Watching You” with a mascot. Surprisingly, the day before Ruby showed up at our place Jay was playing and asked me if I had met is elf friends- Ruby, Pinks and Sammy. So the name Ruby, which he came up with on his own, kind of just stuck…

Honestly, all of this is a little above Jay’s head. He can’t grasp that Christmas isn’t today and he is a little confused about Santa but that aside, it’s still fun and I can only assume that it will be more fun next year and each year after that. Kids add so much magic to the holidays :)

So here’s a sneak peek at Ruby and the super awesome breakfast that he (yes, Ruby is a dude) brought from the North Pole on his first morning visit…

Charlie REALLY liked his snowmen donuts!

love this next photo because of Charlie’s feet- he’s rubbing them together absent-mindedly

tree elves

Honestly, I am not exactly sure how it started or why but each year Jamie and I pick up Christmas Trees for most of his family. I think it may have started one year when someone asked us to grab them one after hearing how reasonably priced ours was going to be and then the last few years we have taken more “orders”. Let me preface this story by saying that I love the holidays, I love getting a tree and I love picking out trees for others too. Honestly, I usually have trouble sleeping the day before we pick out trees… I think it’s the excitement over the holiday season starting, I know it’s silly but so true…

It’s been a fun tradition. We pick out the trees, trim them up with Pepere’s chainsaw and then deliver them to our “patrons”. This is the second year that Maggie and Josh have tree elved with us and it was just as fun as it usually is :)

Also, I dug through some old photos to find past elfing adventures- it’s crazy how much can change in a year!

2010


2011