A long two week Christmas recap

Oh hello.  I know it's been two weeks.  So sorry.  Christmas really did me in this year.  It seems it did someone else in too.

Although I didn't have something every night, it sure felt that way.  Also, I haven't moved my pictures from the camera to the laptop, but it wouldn't matter anyway...I'm at work right now.  So I'll highlight with what I've got on the phone and them maybe tomorrow I'll just have a post with pictures from the camera.  No words?  Yeah right.

The weekend before Christmas the kids and I went with Mom, Dad, and Ashley to Grandy's for Christmas with Mom's side of the family.  We left on Friday after work and came back on Sunday afternoon.  Luke had a great time with his first presents of the season.  He loved the truck set that Grandy got for him and had fun with Hayden (my cousin's son that is a year older than him) Unfortunately I did not get any pictures with my phone that weekend, that will have to come from the camera later. 

The following Tuesday was Luke's class Christmas party and I was able to attend.  Yay!

I sat with him as he ate lunch, made a snowman, and decorated a cookie.  Which you can see from the photo had a plethora of sprinkles on it.  Dude didn't want any of the choices to feel left out.  Also, the weird smile is all I could get from him when prompted to smile on cue. 

Wednesday there wasn't church or Wednesday Nite Bite, so I was forced to prepare dinner for my family.  By Thursday I was totally over it and just ordered a pizza.  I would like to congratulate myself on how little I actually order pizza.  It's a rare treat in this house, which is odd for someone who hates cooking as much as I do.

We found a movie on tv and settled in. 

Friday the 23rd, I had off of work.  Can I just say hallelujah?!  We stayed in our pj's for awhile, before going shopping with Mom and Ashley. 

While we were still jammie mode, I found the boy playing cars in bed.  We had all reached a new low of lazy that day.  But the shopping more than made up for it.  My mommy bought me a pretty new dress at New York and Company.....

which I wore to dinner that night. 

Normally we do Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve, but Ashley had to work that night this year so we pushed it up to the 23rd.  We had our traditional Macaroni Grill dinner and then presents and dessert at Mom and Dad's.  Again Luke had a great time not only opening his presents, but "helping" Evan with her's and mine.  And whom ever else would let him.  One thing Luke received was a new camo duffel bag with his name emboirdered on it, and he LOVED it.  Isn't that the funniest thing?!  Evan got herself a new pair of TOMS. 

Mom just couldn't resist the silver sparkle.  And I can't resist those fat legs with eye catching glitter.  I'm going to be devastated when all her baby fat is gone. 

The next morning was another lazy one.  We hung around the house on Christmas Eve, playing until it was time to go to my grandmother's for lunch and Christmas with Dad's side of the family.  At one point I walked into Luke's bathroom to find him sitting in tub chowing down on his carton of goldfish Nana had put in his stocking the night before.  Just as natural as if that's what everybody does.  So what did I do?  Plunked Evan girl right in there with him. 

And then that sweet big brother decided that his sister needed a hug.
 

I could just cry over that picture every time I see it.  At Grandmother's I finally took the time to repaint my toes.  And then I got a little carried away.

Girlfriend didn't even know what happened to her.

By dinner time we were back home with left overs.  We fixed Santa's plate and milk and letter, got baths, read Twas the Night Before Christmas, and then it was time.  Time for the magic of Christmas to happen.

Christmas morning came at 7 for us.  Cody wanted to watch the kids open their presents, so I held Luke off until 8:30 when he got there.  Santa only fills the stockings at our house and Luke was THRILLED with this little travel mug that looks like my coffee mugs Santa had brought him.  He's wanted his milk out of it ever since.  I fixed this amazing french toast bake for breakfast, and then (since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year), we went off to church.  Cody took the kids with him after the service for their traditional Christmas at his grandmother's for the rest of the day.  I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't a bit depressing to be by myself on Christmas day (granted, I could have gone to the movies with Mom and Dad).  I sat on the couch the entire day watching tv, reading, eating cold pizza, and napping.  I tried to console myself with the thoughts of blessings that I had a whole day to myself, which never happens, but it didn't help much. They got back about 8:30 that night so it was pretty much straight to bed for both of them.  They had a great day though.  Cody's dad found two little functional railroad crossing signs that Luke has been obsessed with.  They travel from room to room with him.

Monday I had off of work too.  I took down the tree, cleaned up the house, got us ready for the rest of the week.  The only time we left the house was for groceries, which is what Evan was sleeping through in that very first photo up there.  All in all, it was an excellent holiday.  I'm so very thankful that I was able to spend the entire thing at home and not have to travel.  Really made it seem like more of a break.  Thankful for family that showered blessings on me and my kids.  Thankful that we made it through our first post-separation/divorce without any fights or issues or anything.  Hopefully it will continue to be a smooth transition in a rough time.  The only thing I didn't get to do that I wanted was Christmas cards.  First time in 4 years I didn't get around to them, but every time I wanted to take a picture something came up or it was raining or I just forgot.  Maybe I'll send out Valentine's day cards this year instead.

Where's the spirit?

At Nana's before church.  That chubby cheeked little girl is now 17.9 lbs and 26 inches long, per her well check on Monday.  That's 75% for both.  At least she's not the 99% anymore!

Blah, for some reason I have not really been able to get into the Christmas spirit this year.  I kinda miss it.  I think it's mostly due to the non-stop pace of life I seem to be living right now.  Every evening I'm amazed the I've managed to get two kids fed, at least one bathed, and both in bed by 8:30.  The day to day just doesn't seem to have room for the extras like Christmas festivities.  Sure we've seen Santa, Luke and I discuss the same lights on the same houses on our same road routes every day, and I'm trying to have fun with Train the Elf. 

Hanging on Mom's tree- my first Christmas ornament

Except Train hasn't moved in two days.  I forgot Monday night, so yesterday I tried convince Luke that he was playing a trick on us and went back to his same spot.  I forgot again last night to move him.  Whoops.  I don't think Train should play the same trick three days in row, so I'm gonna have to swing by the house and run in before church tonight. 

He just had to be right in the action.

I think a part of my Christmas blah-ness is all this controversy about Santa and whether it's okay or not okay to do it.  First I read this article.  It bummed me out.  We did Santa growing up and it never occurred to me that people had this view.  It also made me think about what I was teaching Luke about the meaning of Christmas.  I asked him if he knew why we had Christmas.  His answer?  Santa. 

Fail.

I gently told him no, it's when we pretend that Jesus was born and we are so thankful that He came to save us that we celebrate each year.  It's almost like a birthday party for Jesus.  And then I read this article.  I felt so much better.  I really like what this girl has to say and am planning to read it frequently to keep it fresh in my mind.  I like how she meshed the two things and really would like to be more like it. 

She's actually asleep, but I thought it was so funny.  Can't you see this expression in 12 years directed pointedly at me?!

So all of that has been weighing my mind.  What else has been going on?  Just the day to day.  We had our company Christmas party on Saturday night and I had the best time.  It was a casino themed party and I won and iPad 2!  So thankful.

(excuse the messy background...but look!  Eyeshadow! And I teased my hair for the first time ever!)

The kids have been up and down health wise. You would never know it looking at Evan (except she doesn't sleep quite as well. Maybe teeth?) Luke has been having tummy troubles that I'm pretty certain is due to excess drainage. We've all been a little stopped up in the nasal area. Just been trying to stay positive about life, trust that I'm being taken care of and recognize when I am, and stay hopeful about the future. The lesson a couple of weeks ago at The Village was about how we are hard wired to live hopefully and it really struck a chord with me.

She just couldn't sleep one night.  :(

Sorry for the bummer of a post.  On a positive note, Luke has been his funny self.  Last night we were going over (again) why we had Christmas and he said it was because Jesus was boring.  Oh I laughed.  And then corrected him that it's just born, not born-ing, which is what he was attempting to say.  There is NOTHING boring about Jesus.  Just look at my life.  He's also convinced himself that going to the doctor is wonderful.  Last night instead of sleeping he was calling me, telling me he needed to go to the doctor because his back hurt and it needed to be looked at and fixed.  Apparently he's 3 going on 60.

Movie night on Friday...all three of us huddled under a blanket.  See, life isn't all blahness.  :)

We saw him

Tonight the kids got to visit Santa.  Luke wasn't scared at all, he knew exactly what he was going to tell him.  I even made sure that he knew it was his job to show Evan what to do since it was her first time and he'd done it three times all ready.  But first.....we had to get through pictures.  Oh the pictures.

What do you think the lesser of two evils are- the one from the place with good lighting but Luke's face looks almost high (similar to last year's picture) and Evan's face says "Oh dear. I'm a bit concerned.":

Or the one I got with my camera that is blurry with off coloring because I wasn't able to check the camera settings while trying to juggle.

I know.  We have a great track record with our pictures.  Luke told Santa all about the "ding dings" that he wants, but when I ushered him away from the big guy he looked up at me with these big eyes and asked "Mom where's my toy?"

Fail.  I didn't make the connection that Santa has to find out what he wants before he can actually bring it.  Broke my heart a little because he was being a really sweet boy the whole time.  Lesson learned for Evan girl.

p.s.- Did you see the 6 month pictures I added to Evan's monthly letter?  The one of her laughing has to be my very favorite picture ever in the whole wide world of pictures ever taken.

Picture and a disaster

This weekend Mom and I took Evan to get her six  month photos for the wall.

Yep. They are still siblings.

I spent most of Saturday afternoon trying to make key lime pie balls....turned out to be a horrible mess.  I got some key steps out of order and made the candy coating too hot so it started seizing up.  They were meant to be a pretty dessert for a baby shower today, and they ended up being ugly ugly clumps.  I didn't end up going to the shower today, but Shae said they were a hit.  I asked her if she was just being nice.  Turns out they tasted much better than they looked and there were none left!  I probably should have kept a couple for myself....

What did I do instead of go to the baby shower?  I cleaned.  The state of my house was starting to mess with my psyche, so I spent the entire day (after church of course) cleaning.  Thankfully I got it all done.

One other thing that we started this weekend was Elf on a Shelf.  I'm sure you've heard of it.  What did Luke name his elf this morning?  Why Train of course.  What else would he pick.  And if we weren't so good friends with a certain Mr. Trane Wyatt, then I probably would have made him pick something else.  And this was before he picked up a couple of pennies on our way out the door for bible class (which I'm teaching Evan's class this quarter, starting today) and said "I got my cash Mom, let's go!"  Tonight he was running around the couch and I asked him what a better choice was than running (he got a giant knot on his head from slamming into a wall after running inside) to which he replied "Oh, I'm just being careful Mom."  Sometimes I have no idea what to do with him.

(it's currently more scabbed over and developing a purplish yellow ring around the edges)

Also, tonight I let Evan have her first taste of jar food.  Green beans.  She liked the taste MUCH better than that of the cereal, we are just going to have to work on her not pushing the food right back out with that little tongue of hers.

Six Months

 
My beloved Evan girl.  You are 6 months old today.  I get a little teary thinking about how much time has already passed so quickly and it's not slowing down.  I can't even wrap my brain around the fact that half of your first year is already gone.  It feels like you just arrived yesterday, yet I have trouble remembering you first hand as a squishy newborn.  I've been trying to just hold you and stare at you in the evenings so maybe in 6 more months I'll still be able to remember you as the sweet baby you are. 

And girlfriend, you are the sweetest baby.  I just can't get over how happy you are, all the time.  Even when you were sick.  It's another thing I'm trying to just drink in.  As that brother of yours runs around like a maniac, says crazy things, gets ornery with me, asserts his budding independence and personal views, I just hold you and cuddle with you, convinced that you will always be this sweet and perfect baby.  It also makes me wonder what is going to happen in your life.  What mistakes you are going to make.  Where your heart will take you.  You are my girl. 

Lovie lou, you are getting bigger every day.  You are firmly in size 6-9 months (and can even wear a few size 12 month things) for clothes and a size 3 for diaper.  You still nurse/take a bottle about 5 times a day.  When you nurse and it's either not letting down fast enough or you have to switch sides, your mad fuss has turned in to this squeally whine that totally fast forwards me 12 years. "Mooooooom, I don't wanna stop for a minuuuuuuuute."  You totally lunge for anything within a 5 mile radius of your arms and.....get this.....you can sit up.  Yep.  You balance with you chubby little arms like a baby bird but can stay up right for a few minutes before you eventually topple over.  You still love your big brother and adore all that he does.  You watch him intently, want his toys, and beam with glee when he gives you attention (which is is still more than happy to do). 

One thing you don't love?  Cereal.  I've tried several times now to get you to take cereal from a spoon, and every time I put a tiny bite in your mouth you give me a snotty look with an air of prissiness as if to say "You've got to be kidding. I am not eating that stuff." before you spit it back out.  Today marks the day that I can technically start you on jar food, so maybe when I remember to get some from the store we'll just jump right into that.  Fingers crossed it goes better.

Something else you've started is not only recognizing me as someone special, but being totally delighted to see me at the end of the day.  Your grandparents were dropping you off on Monday and you practically jumped out of Grandad's arms when I walked up.  Does this Momma heart something good.

So Miss Evan Elaine, that is what you have been up to this last month.  We've had your first encounter with sickness (including first breathing treatments and first oral meds), first time with food, first little kiss (I swear the other day you gave me a kiss....you had big eyes and a wide open mouth on my jaw.  More likely it was the closest thing to chew on, but I believe what I choose to believe.), your first Thanksgiving.  This next month will bring your first Christmas and the close to your birth year.  I love you, my darling, and I'm cherishing every moment with you.