Checking off my list

I know I've mentioned that things are busy these days, but we can't let our little family traditions just fall to the wayside this year. So we are finding moments to relax and do the fun things that we love to do with our little boys.

Christmas lights tour - check
Holden said, "Oh wow!" many times during out little look-y of the Christmas lights. Here he is, in his jammies and hoodie, seeing all the neighborhood lights.
Picture with Santa - check
I wondered if Holden would be scared. Not at all. He wasn't high-fiving Santa or anything (though he did the friendly elves), but there were no tears. As you might notice, not much of a smile either. But I was grateful that he sat for the picture. Paxton, on the other hand, hammed it up in that sleigh. He was giving all sorts of smiles. Not sure why they didn't catch one on film. :( And here is a picture of our picture. Tour de house - check
We introduced the boys to their new home. And we are so ready to be there. 2 more days! We showed them their new rooms. Holden especially likes his ceiling fan, as is the case of any room he's ever been in. Unfortunately, Paxton slept through his tour. Apparently, Santa Clause wore our baby out!Christmas card picture taken - check
It's about time, I know! And we realized a few days ago that our tripod was in storage. Sooooooo, we had to get creative. This one didn't make the cut for the actual card!Nor did this one . . .But I feel both pictures represent my life well right now, as a stay-at-home mom. Go ahead and laugh. :) It's getting a bit easier every day.

New Christmas ornament purchase - check
It's a little tradition Jeremy and I have had through our marriage, purchasing a new ornament for one another. Now we purchase an ornament for each of our kids. This year, Holden's is an airplane, since it's been his new obsession lately. And we found this cute little guy for Paxton. You may have read on my blog last year that I was trying to diversify some of our Christmas decor so that it looked more like my family. This is a great one at Hallmark for those of you that might be interested. Jesus gift purcashed - check
Last year, Jeremy and I started a tradition of a Jesus gift. Everyone in our family receives a Jesus gift. Something to point us back to our purpose for this holiday. Jeremy and I got one another devotionals last year for this gift. And we bought Holden 2 books about the meaning of Christmas. This year, the boys are receiving the Veggie Tales nativity set! Oh how exciting. It is super cute! On that same post I referred to earlier, I complained about not finding the right nativity set. And ashamedly, I admit, I am still without. Even with the suggestions I was given last year, I still can't find what I've been looking for. I'm not wanting a nativity that looks like me OR my boys. I'm just wanting one that looks more realistic. And so, I continue my search. But if they are all going to be blonde haired, blued-eyed baby Jesus', then he might as well be a baby carrot! I am so excited about this gift. I think we might break it out when we decorate for Christmas. (Which just happens to be this Friday night!!! This is one of my most favorite days of the year!)

First egg nog consumption of the season - checkDon't be disgusted with me, but I love me some Egg Nog! Now, I can only drink about 6oz. in 1 sitting, but I love that thick-sweet-dairy-whatever it is-beverage. And it has officially found it's way into my fridge for the first time this season. Anyone want to join me in a toast? Jeremy can't stand the stuff. (though he's never tasted it.)

Still on the To Do list:
Move into our house
Decorate for Christmas
Figure out our Christmas schedule - ugh!!
And many other things that I'm sure that I'm forgetting . . .

A few new things . . .

Well, things are busier than ever. Just in case I haven't made that clear it past posts. And I might sound like a broken record for the next few months. But, we close on our house tomorrow morning. I wish I could say that we immediately get to start moving in. But, not the case. Over the weekend, we will move in the few things we have at this apartment. Honestly, just clothes and toiletry type items. Literally, the place had everything for us. Then, the packers (or should we call them UNpackers) come and unpack us at the new house next Wednesday. I am supposed to be completely out of the apartment that morning by 11am. Not much of a grace period, but that's the way it works. Not to mention that Jeremy will be at work as usual. But I'm sure he will do all he can to make it easy on me. Or as easy as possible. It's just the way he is. Also, saving the day, my mom will be with me. I couldn't do this alone. Greet the unpackers and give instructions, chase Holden, tend to Paxton, change diapers, feed babies, etc etc etc. So she will be helping me to exit the apartment with the boys, making sure we leave nothing behind. And then helping me as we boss around unpackers and tell them what to do. I'm not good at being bossy and shouting demands. Lucky for me, she is. :) So, I am so excited to be moving into the house. It just seems like things will feel much more settled once we're there. And then the tree can go up! Hooray for that.

A few new things at our place:

Holden is suddenly ABOVE finger foods. Too fancy for that I guess? He wants a fork to eat his food now. And I'm realizing the plastic baby ones don't really serve any true purpose. So here he is eating his barbeque sandwich and sweet potatoe bites with a fork. I guess it's time to use the plates. (They're currently in storage.)

Well done, my son! Whatever it takes to get it in your little belly!
And here's a clean, little guy, straight from the bath. He loves his bathtime.
And just because I love this little face.
Have you ever noticed a baby trying to suck his thumb AND paci at the same time? Well, occasionally we catch mister Pax doing just that. It's crazy! He normally knocks his paci out and makes himself so mad. This is an attempt for the best of both worlds.And I leave you with a great big smile from Pax. We are seeing these constantly now. And I will have to say, he gives them most freely to his momma. And I'm just gonna take all the love now that I can get. Because I know that if he follows in his big brothers footsteps, I could quite possibly be chopped liver in just 1 short year. Apparently, their daddy hung the moon and I just wasn't made aware of it.

Christmas' Past

Because I thought this might be fun . . .

Christmas 2002: Because we still didn't have a digital camera at this point, I have no picture to show you. But imagine with me: Jeremy looking exactly the same as he does today. Wearing a Hawaiian shirt, jeans and flip flops. Me in some cute shorts, looking 20 pounds slimmer than today. :) We're Standing in front of some palm trees in Maui. And that was our card. A picture from our honeymoon.

Christmas 2003-2004: Not the height of my creativity. Picture with me store bought cards. Sorry this isn't so fun yet.

Christmas 2005:Ahh. Finally a digital camera. What took us so long? Just the 2 of us in front of our tree. Oh how I can't wait to get my hands on that tree!

Christmas 2006:
Oh! I loved this one. It snowed so hard that Jeremy and I's workplace closed down. So we took advantage of those couple of days and took our Christmas card picture. This little snowing picture went inside a hot pink and white handmade snowflake card. Oh card-making-days, how I miss you!

Christmas 2007: No picture here. But I was still into stamping and cardmaking. So picture again, a handmade card from yours truly. I think it said "be merry".

Christmas 2008: Also a handmade card. But inside was this cute little fella. How did he get so big in the last year?

Christmas 2009:
I have a feeling 2 cute little boys will be in the picture. Maybe the parents. But maybe not. Other than that, I just don't know what it will look like or when it will even be taken. I am normally, a right-after-Thanksgiving-Christmas-card-sender. But this year I have been waiting so I could include a hey-here's-our-new-address-info. 2 birds with one stone is my thought.

Merry merry Christmas! Only 19 days to go!!

Success!

Rarely would I ever call a trip to the grocery store a success. Well, until today. I started scheming last night. Could I actually make it to the grocery store and buy a full week of groceries with both babies? Would they have a cart to fit them both+groceries? Would I be able to get them from the parking lot to the store since the workers always so efficiently return the carts inside? Should I bring snacks to keep Holden "busy"? Would I be able to coordinate feedings so that everyone was happy and not hungry? Man, never in my life, have I put so much thought into a grocery shopping trip. But I was ready to be brave. So this morning, I fed Paxton at 5:30am and we went back to sleep. I completely expected Holden to be up at 7:30am. At 8:30 I got up and got myself ready. I was determined to get groceries this morning and I had no options but to take the boys with me. I fed Paxton a bottle and we waited for Holden to wake. I blogged a bit about our weekend. See previous post. I even called Kroger's during this time to make sure they had a cart to accommodate 2 little ones + groceries. I know that's crazy, but I had to know, to make it worth the outing. And would you know Holden slept until 10:15!! (Which, I noticed later this morning that he is cutting his 2-year molars. New teeth have always made him sleep ALOT.) So after, what we'll call Holden's brunch, we headed off to Kroger. Just the 3 of us. All bundled up on this cold day. I carried the carrier and Holden proudly walked beside me holding my hand. (I had a tight grip, as I don't completely trust this little boy.) Once we found our car-cart, Holden learned that he was going to "drive" today. He loved it. As I shopped, Holden "drove" and occasionally breaked for his goldfish crackers. And Paxton just smiled at me constantly. He LOVES face to face time. And he loves for me to be in his sight at all times. So it was a perfect morning for this boy. He smiled at the strangers that oohed over him. And he eventually fell asleep. There were no tears. No fits from either of them. It was such a pleasant experience. And so I finished my shopping and pushed my little guys out of there feeling like a heroine. Well, until I tried to tear Holden away from that steering wheel. He wailed the whole way home. Luckily that drive is only about 2 minutes long. :) But I think I have crossed a bridge. I'm not sure that these little boys will always accompany me to the grocery store, but I learned today that I can do it. And that it really wasn't that scary after all. And yes, I took my new, itty-bitty camera to the grocery store. I knew if we succeeded on this trip, then it must be documented. Holden driving the cart. Or as I look close, maybe that was during a goldfish break.

Little Pax snoozing in the checkout line.

celebrating number 7.

Well, this past weekend Jeremy and I were finally able to celebrate our 7th anniversary. We spent the weekend in downtown Fort Worth. We love it there. This was the same location as our 5th anniversary weekend. It such a fun, clean, unique downtown with many options for entertainment, eating and shopping. Geez, I sound like a commercial. Not to mention the way it looks at Christmas.

We enjoyed 4 Day Weekend. We laughed til our cheeks hurt. No cliche. It really did make my cheeks hurt. We had fun dinners out, without having to stop to do a bottle or pick up food someone had dropped/thrown. And we almost finished our Christmas shopping. At one point, we discussed how we had always done these weekends away for our anniversary. And they had always been a fun way to celebrate our marriage. But this year, it felt more needed. Not needed in the way that our marriage has been struggling or anything. But we just needed the rest and one on one time together. Life has been so busy lately. Alot of changes have hit us at once. And we have been so . . . just plain tired. But honestly, have not had time to rest. It seems like life keeps moving at full pace ahead and so we just have to keep moving right along with it. So this weekend, in a way, we pushed pause on everything else. And it feels like we were able to catch our breaths somehow. We slept in 2 mornings in a row. 3 morning for me! Poppa J and Nana kept our baby boys. And now I'm sure they are needing the rest. :) Actually it's 10am and Holden, my normal 7:30am riser, is still sleeping. Maybe Poppa J and Nana wore him out as much as he did them.

Anyways, here are a few pictures from our restful weekend.the happy couple. This was our faces after sleeping in until 10:30ish. Hmmm, we still look super tired?The view from our balcony. That's right balcony. Jeremy informed them in his reservations that it was our anniversary and they surprised us with a suite. And we literally paid pennies for this hotel room, since Jeremy had Marriot points from his traveling days. They also surprised us on Friday night with this . . .chocolate covered strawberried (not pictured because they were quickly eaten) and Champagne.Saturday we spent a little time at the Gaylord Texas. It was decaored so beautifully for Christmas.

All of the above pictures were taken with my new camera from Jeremy. That was my anniversary gift. All we have is the mumbo jumbo SLR. I love it, but it's huge! We needed an everyday camera. And it's the tiniest little thing. No bigger than my cell phone. It's tiny! I love it. Jeremy's gift was (drumroll) . . . a Wii! The reason this was a big deal is because I detest video games and useless things that occupy our time. Not to mentiont that we had set a $50 spending limit. And we both crashed over it. No Christmas gifts for us. No biggie. Anyways, the Wii for Jeremy. He has made alot of sacrifices for our family over the last 2 years. And he has talked about that Wii for at least that long. So I wanted to surprise him. And surprise him, I did!! So that was our weekend. It was just what we needed.

our first Texas snow!

Yesterday we woke up to a wintery white ground. See for yourself. And the snow came down on us for a few hours. Holden did get to go outside and touch it, which he found super interesting. Well, maybe not as interesting as the twisty stick for the window blinds. But still, he found it interesting.Oh how I love the snow! Well, to be inside, nice and warm and see the snow. That's what I mean when I say that I love it.

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year! We spent it with my family. We trade off with Thanksgiving, so we have solid time with one family. My parents now have 7 grandchildren, which makes for a full house. For 3 daughters, all with our fair share of fertility issues, God has provided children and provided abundantly. Last year there were 5 grandchildren and no one was pregnant! Oh the spontaneity of adoption. This year Holden really got into playing with his cousins and it was so fun to watch. Whatever the big kids were doing (ages: 6 and almost 7) he completely picked up on. He copied their every move. It had us all laughing. I don't mean at Holden. But just laughing at 5 crazy kids wanting to entertain the adults. It was fun to watch Cameron and Holden play trucks together. They are only 10 months different in age.

Uncle Dan with Holden and Cam.

Poppa J, Nana and the 7 grandkids. (Poppa J holding Pax-3months, Nana holding baby Ava-6weeks and Holden-19months, Carson-almost 7, Hope-6, Cameron-2 1/2 and Bella-almost 3) Truly, what a joy this family is to me!

Paxton and Ava got to meet one another. And they became fast friends. They are about 6 weeks apart in age.

Meme gave Holden a huge cup cake when he looked up at her with those big brown eyes. And after that, he was on a sugar high! At age 93 (I think) meme still loves to be the host and cook an entire spread for her family. And so we let her. What a blessing that we still have her with us. She is a healthy woman who thrives on doing her job as a homemaker. And she does it well. Here she proudly sits with all of her great-grandchildren.

We had a wonderful holiday with family this year. I don't have many pictures from the week because our camera hardly made it out of our car. Shame on us! So the pictures I do have were stolen from my sister. But it was a wonderful long weekend with family. Just as years past, we have much to be thankful for!