Little Dude Walking!

For Christmas Little dude got a walking toy and it's actually been just the thing he needed to boost his confidence and get him going on his own!

These are from Monday afternoon using the walking toy:





And since then he has taken more and more steps on his own! As soon as I get that video uploaded I'll post it too. :)

Mama got her Christmas wish!!

Christmas 2011

We started off our morning a little rough because Little dude's ear infection spiked a fever in him during the night so mama and he did not sleep much at all. But it was going to be such an exciting day so I got over it as quickly as I could  moped around for awhile, had some coffee and decided to choose joy for the day.

We went to our church for the Christmas service. We thought it was really special that it was on a Sunday this year! After we said hello to everyone we headed home and I let the littles open their stockings while everyone else got Christmas dinner ready. We also waited for some more family to arrive.

Once the roast was settled in the deep-covered oven dish, roasting something delicious, we decided to open gifts and then eat after. The first gift that was opened was the baby Jesus from our Nativity scene! It's a tradition we started this year and I hope that it gives them the visual of how Jesus is the gift we anticipate first and foremost. His birth into the world meant our Savior had arrived on the scene and He is the reason we even have anything to celebrate, because of His death on the cross we have the opportunity to spend eternity in the presence and glory of God!

Next we dove right in to opening gifts. Little Dude slept for most of it but he was able to tackle his pile once he woke up. He didn't seem to mind!

The rest of the day was spent playing, eating and just hanging out. We are so very blessed and I'm thankful to have available all that we do. I pray that we don't take that for granted this next year and remember those that need us to give of our abundance and even to sacrifice for others, the way our Savior did, making the ultimate sacrifice simply out of His love for all of us.

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas!

Merry Christmas with Nana!

I made the kids outfits and LOVE how they matched. :)

Saying 'Cheese!'

Listening to her recorded storybook of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and saying 'Cheese!'

She LOVES her Itty Bitty Baby she got and all of the accessories! 

Grammy was very excited about her gift and Little Lady was loving helping everyone open their gifts!

The necklace the kids got Nana for Christmas! She had to open her own oyster to get the fresh water pearl that was inside. :)

Trying on her 'Princess Gigi' outfit. She has worn the whole thing since she got it!

Looking through the 'Jesus Storybook Bible' we got for the kids.

After his nap. He was so excited about this one and of course it was the most twisty tied of all the ones he got...

Christmas EVE 2011

We had an Ugly Christmas Sweater party at our house on Christmas eve! It was a blast, but apparently ugly Christmas sweaters are a hot commodity so they were hard for us to find. 

{Forgot the flash so it's really dark :( }

We had fun any way and the winning couple really took it all the way and it made for a fun evening. :)

Our friend and who the kids have named Pops came prepared with a fun game of live Angry Birds! Well, none of the game pieces were alive but there was a real sling shot, pigs and birds to launch.

The trophy for who ever could get all 3 pigs down with using just 3 birds.

We also played White Elephant with old 'stuff' from around the house! The most stolen item ended up being a potty training doll.... Every one brought a delicious Mexican dish to share and we just enjoyed being in the company of some very near and dear friends who are really more like family to us. :)

Merry Christmas!

Joy to the world!

Our Savior is born!!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Foto Friday

My sweet little sassafras!

Little Dude {14 Months}

You are my Little man! In many different senses of the word, and I adore you more and more every single day. 

I can't believe how much of your little personality has come out these past few months and let me just say that you had your mama fooled believing you were a passive, quiet, laid-back kind of kid during the first year of your life!

You have decided to challenge your mommy and daddy in ways I never experienced at this age with your big sister! Every single day you are fighting to establish your independence and let us know that you want to do things the way you want to do them. Such a strong will for such a little dude!

You have finally tipped the scales at 20 lbs!! The only reason we know is because you had your first ear infection and we had to take you to urgent care on a Sunday morning to get you some antibiotics! Poor guy. :( Other than that you have had a clean bill of health so far, only going to the doctor's office for your well baby check ups. 

I'm experimenting with your sleep schedule to hopefully get you on a more do-able one before itty-bitty gets here {in 1.5 months!!!} but so far you are letting me know loud and clear that you have your own plan and you'd like to keep it that way. But mama is desperate for you to sleep later than 5 AM every morning!!

You were waking up at 4:30 AM and while some may count that as progress, I'm still hoping for a little more give from you. That's why I've been taking away your morning nap only putting you down for one nap, when your sissy goes down. {Except when you had your ear infection, you needed all the sleep you could get!} But so far I'm just left with a fussy, sleepy 14 month old most of the day.

Resulting in this: falling asleep in your chair during snack time...

Although you aren't walking....yet {all I want for Christmas...} you have taken an interest in making laps around the kitchen and living room while holding on to mama or daddy's hands! They say practice makes perfect. You love to just stand up in the middle of the room and then just stand there while everyone says "Yay, Bubba!!" and claps. Then we all coax you to take a step towards us, at which point you drop to your hands and knees and take off, usually grinning ear to ear. You are a stinker!! Or should I say Stinker Pot, as your sister so graciously calls you!

Your favorite word as of late is "No" and I wish I could describe in writing how you say it because it isn't just a plain "No" but with a little attitude at the end. The real challenge is to keep a straight face and remain firm when you tell us no to something. Both daddy and I want to crack up and laugh at the cuteness of it. But we can't let you know that, because you are, undoubtedly, testing your boundaries {already?!} and we want to establish with you that you, my sweet little man, are not in charge. :)

The latest trick you are most proud of is taking your dirty diaper to the trash can, crawling of course, and standing up to lift the lid and drop it in. I think you have purposely been filling your diapers more often just for that simple thrill of getting to throw away your diaper. But you are so proud of yourself when you do it and other things too! You love to clap for yourself and say "Eh ob, Bubba!" {Good Job, Bubba} when ever you do something you dub worthy. And of course, we all follow suit and clap along with you. ; )

Another new word in your vocabulary is "elp" {help}, and there are others but I can't think of them right now. You're just at the stage where you understand so much more than you can express in words and I try to figure out what you are trying to tell me but I fail many times. Then we see the very short fuse you have {and admittedly got from your mother}.

Over all, sweet boy, you are a delight to our family. And even though you know just the right buttons to push {and at such a young age} we wouldn't dream of doing life with out you and can't wait to see how you continue to grow and develop into just the little man God created you to be!

Catching up

Sometimes I have to wonder why I even have a blog....

Just thought I would that out there. The lack of posts this month is a product of our stage of life! But there are so many things I want to record about this stage of life that it simply bums me out to not get it down and documented.

Oh well, not much I can do to change it now. We are in to our third full week of the new job, leaving the kids and I homebound for most of the day all week long. There are some great things about it and we are still working on our finding our groove. Maybe our groove will be to keep changing it up, like I have been ever so many days.

I am quite frankly a get out and do things kind of person. While that is a good thing for my most often melancholy disposition, it can be a way for me to 'run away' from the things I need to get done. {Enter over flowing laundry hampers, floors hidden by toys and toilets not fit for guests...} Not that I've just snapped into the roll of super-house-cleaner since our housebound lifestyle has begun. But it's easier to motivate myself to do productive activities that show for my day.

Although from the outward appearance my life doesn't look more organized that it was before, but I definitely feel a peace about our schedule and house hold. Not to mention the money we have saved! I am guilty of boredom/ "feeling down" shopping. I go to stores with every intention of "just looking around" but knowing full well that I am completely incapable of doing just that.

This Christmas season has probably been the most enjoyable that I've had in a long. I haven't been stressed about gifts or plans or expectations. Just going with what we feeling like doing when we want to and if we don't do something it's really going to be alright.

I'm looking forward mostly to my mama coming into town later this week, a Christmas eve spent with some friends we love and then Christmas day celebrating the birth of Jesus and experiencing the joy of the through my littles.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!