365: Week 7

Day 43: Telling "Santa" what she wants

 

 

Day 44: Nice shot of the Christmas rug burn

 

 

Day 45: Presents

 

 

Day 46: Rainy day roller skating

 

 

Day 47: Overalls from Uncle Miles and Aunt Becky

 

 

Day 48: Disney on Ice

 

 

Day 49: Matching shirts/ My first personal Star Wars purchase/ Self portrait for December

 

 

Christmas favorites 2012

Favorite moments from Christmas:

Watching Liam open up everyone's pajamas on Christmas Eve and, once again, thinking that was all there was and being so excited about it. He later gasped and exclaimed, "Santa forgot my Darth Maul mask!"

 

 

 

Watching Liam hold his very own candle at church and listening to him sing his made up lyrics to Silent Night.

Watching Paul's cousin play under the table with Liam for well over an hour because he was pretending it was a club house. And then talking to Liam on the way home about how lucky he is to have so many people who love him.

 

 

 

Returning home on Christmas Eve two hours after bedtime and watching Liam act like a drunk. Seriously, he was slurring and tripping everywhere and when I told him to use the potty before bed he completely stripped down. As we were putting Santa's cookies and milk out he said, "I'm just gonna go lay down guys." Once in bed he started singing made up songs until he fell asleep.

Not being able to sleep from the excitement and finding Paul playing video games at 4:30 am for the same reason.

Opening presents is everyone's favorite part, right?

 

 

 

Liam doing double the work of opening Brygit's presents as well as his own.

 

 

Brygit trying to figure it all out.

 

 

 

Brygit almost crying because we were taking too long undoing all the twist ties on her new Rapunzel baby and then watching her hug her tight.

 

 

Laying down with Brygit during her nap while writing this blog post on my phone and feeling so blessed and so completely content.

 

 

 

 

And, finally, spending time with these people and all my other family. Paul was trying to use my new tripod and remote and it just wasn't working out. Other people got great shots but this is the best I had. Talk about candid.

 

 

Christmas Cheer

It's almost here! Can you believe it? We went out for some last minute supplies a couple days ago and we swore it would be the last time until 2013. People were not happy to be out and about and there were lots of them. So we decided to stay indoors and enjoy the holidays.

 

We finally got our real tree and decorated it with a popcorn/ cranberry garland. My idea was for Liam to help make it but then I realized he doesn't do well with a needle and thread. So Paul and I worked on it. For two days. The kids just ate the supplies while we slaved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove around our neighborhood the other night trying to get a good view of the Santa parade. Santa rides around on a float and tons of police cars and fire engines escort him around town with their sirens blaring. It was quite the show for Liam. Then, the next night we walked around Thoroughbred looking at lights.

 

 

 

 

 

We prepared the house for Christmas which means we organized and purged toys. We tried involving Liam in this process but he wasn't too keen on the idea so we just let him rediscover toys he never plays with while we moved everything around. Now, we wait. While singing Christmas carols and drinking hot chocolate, of course.

365: Week 6

Day 36: Drippy faucet

 

Day 37: Star wars angry birds

 

Day 38: Our fresh tree

 

Day 39: Light Saber fights are always dangerous

 

Day 40: Lights aka Paul likes to experiment with facial hair on his vacation

 

Day 41: Brygit visiting Yoda

 

Day 42: Popcorn garland

You know it's an obsession when 3 of these pictures make references to Star Wars. This is my life.

December vacation

Paul is on vacation from work which means that I am too. He helps out so much around the house and has been giving me lots of breaks and alone time. Plus, he has been taking us on some mini getaways to break from the ordinary. It has been so great and I love spending so much time as a family this time of year.

 

We took a short trip up to Fresno to visit my grandparents. This was their first time meeting Brygit in person since we haven't been able to get her to sit in her carseat for that long of a trip without completely freaking out. It was great to see my family and take pictures of the kids with their great grandparents. I wish Brygit would have acted a bit more friendly since she didn't want anyone to hold her besides me. But she did give lots of smiles from the safety of my arms and she eventually crawled around and opened and shut the doors to their entertainment center for an excessive amount of time. Liam was very stir crazy from the car ride so he spent most of the time running around their apartment complex and telling anyone who would listen that he was going to sleep at a hotel. It was the easiest hotel stay we have had with him and he didn't want to leave the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

Two days later we spent the night in Anaheim and got our fill of Disneyland. It was a pretty chaotic trip due to probably the worst hotel stay we have had with Liam. I think he was just homesick and hopped up on the Shirley Temple we let him order that evening and the rest of us were super tired and grumpy. Then we lost Liam's annual pass and my camera. (Insert a mental picture of me crying on a bench in California Adventure). It quickly found its way back to me since Disneyland's lost and found is run by Seal team six. No really, they were great and emotionally supportive and the girl who helped me was named Mickey. No joke. We eventually perked up and the day was great. And it was topped off with a nice lunch alone with Paul at the Thunder Ranch BBQ.

 

 

 

 

 

The following day was my birthday and I have to brag about how thoughtful my husband is and how good it feels to be known so well. He took me out to breakfast, cleaned the house, took me shopping and watched the kids while I shopped, picked up cake and ice cream, secretly invited some family over and topped off the night with a chick flick movie rental that he pointed at as it was starting and exclaimed, "Katherine Heigl! Your favorite!" I love him.

365: week 5

This has been a crazy week for lots of reasons and for lots of people. I'm feeling extremely lucky to have my loved ones here at home where I know they are safe and I am thankful for the perspective change and the reminder to show my children how much I love them and how important they are to me every single day. On a lighter note, as you can tell, from this weeks' pictures I have a lot of catching up to do around here. Hopefully, a post will come soon.

 

Day 29: Sweets

 

 

Day 30: Pretending to sleep

 

 

Day 31: Frosty pit stop

 

 

Day 32: back yard camping

 

 

Day 33: Hotel Christmas tree

 

 

Day 34: breakfast on a bridge

 

 

Day 35: Hugs