Cute Pic Post -- December 2013

December was a busy and fun month for us. Graham started walking this month which was AWESOME and much-anticipated. Austin's started being quite a bit rougher with Graham, though, and we're not sure exactly why, but it's been a challenge to keep him from doing serious damage to him. They've started interacting a greater degree which is nice to see.

Graham loves making this wide-open-mouth face. He's not screaming or making actually any noise, just loves having his mouth hanging open. Austin loves wearing his Halloween Superwhy! costume around the house.

Graham only goes to school once a week while Austin goes two days, so Tuesdays are our time together, usually involving a lot of errands. Always so happy to ride around with Momma.

I have this habit of accidentally dressing us all in the same color. I had a friend take a picture of us one day at BSF when I realized we were once again dressed alike.

I love watching the boys play with the Little People Nativity. Austin kept saying "The angel goes on top! The angel goes on top!"

He knows how to push it correctly, but seems to enjoy pushing it sideways better.

He's a climber and a destructor, for sure!

Someone got really sick early in the month and then everyone was sick and it was awful. But the sweet cuddling is nice.

You know what's not fun? Spending four hours at the doctors/hospital, getting diagnoses of two double ear infections and two cases of bronchiolitis plus two adult colds. At least it was a Saturday and Seth could come with me.

 Austin had two breathing treatments in office and Graham had one.

 And then they sent us to get an xray and they insisted I try to get him to wear a mask.

 Cute gown for xrays.

It's become Seth's job to vacuum once a week and the boys love "helping" him!

Caption this:

Austin requested this picture. He was proud of his tall Lego tower.

Gotta love sweet baby sleeping pictures.

We got to get dressed up for Seth's work party. I love that dress; I feel like a movie star in it.

Austin's friend Eric conveniently also has a baby brother, Mattijs. At the last playdate, Graham and Mattijs started interacting quite a bit and it was adorable.

I got this box in the mail and thought "um, ok? How should I open it? fire? teeth?"

I'm LOVING my Rodan + Fields business, and while reading this magazine, I found out that Britney uses Rodan + Fields, too! These products are amazing--even Britney chooses them!

Love cuddling with my middle man.

This bear sings the "Night Before Christmas." Gran gave it to us last year and the boys LOVE it, Graham especially. It felt extra special since we'd just lost her a month earlier.

Austin wanted pancakes and insisted on the face pieces--eyes and nose. And then he insisted on me taking a picture of him with it.

Clammering around.

There are no words. I found them like this one morning.

I took the picture for Nonnie who gave us the shirt, but I loved the smile he gave me.

Thanks, Nonnie and Gramps, for this amazingly quiet present. lol

A run-in with the remote controlled car that Turner got for Christmas left a pretty nasty mark on Austin's lip.

Christmas Season 2013 -- Gifts, Decor, and Card

This post is about the rest of the Christmas season stuff that's not already been covered.
Here is an example of the mini facials I gave out as gifts.

Putting together gifts for the boys' teachers...

My Grandma LaPean always sends a cheese box and it was amazing as usual!

This is my favorite gift from Kim and David--I was able to sell my Kitchen Aid mixer and had this to replace it.

I'm also super excited about these bowls!

My parents sent the boys gifts and we opened them one morning a few days after Christmas. They weren't wrapped, but it's still a big ordeal of getting them out of the box. I LOVE that we have a Case tractor now. It's not the pedal tractor I've been asking for, but still Case.

True to form, he sat on the box.

Austin's gift was a farm set, complete with cows and hay bales and big truck he's named Mac.

He loves climbing aboard and scooting around.

And then there are the decorations... We added a few things this year and also purged a few things. I'm glad we've simplified a little, but it's still several tubs of things to put up into the attic!

This is our house at night. The lights on the pillars are new this year.

Anyone see anything wrong with the tree? (I look forward to the year we buy a really nice tree.)

Stockings... 5 because Georgia gets one.

An addition this year was these pictures of the boys on their first Christmases. Sheala gave me the idea of framing a picture and bringing it out each year as a decoration. So excited for this!

Love the new wreath! I bought a string of lights and stuck in it because I love the wreath lit.

The only time of year I actually like this thing is when we can make good use out of it. New this year was hanging ribbon across and using clothespins to hold up the cards.

After the tree was fixed and all the presents were wrapped.

I use lots of Christmas-themed books on the built-in.

Seth was playing around with the settings and I love this one! This is coming in from the front door.

What's your favorite Christmas decoration idea? What's the gift you got that surprised or pleased you most?

Christmas Season 2013 -- Events & Activities

I'm trying something new this year, and breaking up all the Christmas photos into several different posts. For those that subscribe to my emails (always the best option because I don't post everything to Facebook!), that will be mean more emails, but I sought counsel on the decision and it was decided that a few large posts are better than one humongous post.

This is about all the different activities or happenings or events or traditions we participated in. Enjoy!

Austin actually helped hang his ornaments on the tree this year! (We did end up moving them, but only because they're fragile and we wanted fragile ones higher. Not because we didn't like how it looked.) It's a TowMater and McQueen in case there was any doubt.

Seth always decorates cookies at his mom's house. I think it's usually just Seth, his parents and the Grandkids, but Spencer was there this year. (Cheryl and I never go.) I hear Austin was great and that Graham had fun participating in the fun, though not the decorating. I spent my House Quiet time writing my Christmas cards and it was fabulous. It's one of my favorite activities of the season! ;-)

Caught red-handed!

They each got to add something to the frosting and then each got to make a color. Delaney was apparently super great with helping Austin. I don't doubt it because she's always amazing with both of our boys.

Austin actually has the attention span to watch movies now, so we watched several of the classics. This was us watching Rudolph. We watched Charlie Brown and since then, Austin can identify the music from the movie whenever he hears it. LOVE that!

We went around to look at Christmas light several times, but since the camera was off and on working, I only got meager pictures with my phone. Farmer's Branch has a park of lights you can drive through. It's very short, but gorgeous and the boys' school had a fundraiser one night, so we went that specific night.

It's not a great photo, but I need to record that Austin calls them Fowsnakes.

I love a tunnel of lights. My favorite!

There's a park near us that is filled with these trees, all different colors. You can't drive through it, but just passed it. It was super cold that night so we didn't get out, and the camera was broken so I couldn't get any super great shots, but I intend to try again next year. The first one below, I had Seth turn the headlights off so I could better capture how completely amazing these trees are. And the picture doesn't do it near enough justice!

Austin had a party at school. I'm not sure I'll go to one of those again. It's the adults standing around the edges of the room eating nothing while the kids eat their special food. Am I the only one that find that weird? There wasn't singing or a presentation of any kind. Just watching them eat. ?

What sorts of things does your family do in December?

2013's Books

You know what adding a second kid to the family does to your reading? Chops it, people, simply chops it. I used to have a goal of reading one more book per year than the previous year, but that's pretty much impossible now. I've been keeping track of my books since about 2010 when I began using Goodreads (If you like to read, you have to use this site! It's SO helpful for tracking things!), and my reading has gone down, not up. Boo. But I just keep reminding myself that it's a season. All of life is a season.

Anyways, I read 28 books in 2011, and 26 books in 2012 and just 23 books in 2013!

Here is my list of 2013 books:
*Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed; Glennon Melton
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible; A. J. Jacobs
MWF Seeking BFF: My yearlong Search for a New Best Friend; Rachel Bertsche
Live, Love, Laugh, and Laundry?; Terri Bonin
Beyond Ordinary: When a Good Marriage Just Isn't Good Enough; Justin Davis
*The Secret Keeper; Kate Morton
Out of the Spin Cycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load; Jen Hatmaker
*Anna Karenina; Leo Tolstoy
Farewell, Rob Bell: A Biblical Response to Love Wins; Larry Dixon
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking; Susan Cain
*Shepherding a Child's Heart; Tedd Tripp
Raising Godly Tomatoes; Elizabeth Krueger
Read the Bible for Life: Your Guide to Understanding and Living God's Word; George Guthrie
*Pollyanna; Eleanore Porter
The Pollyanna Plan; Talli Roland
Pollyanna Grows Up; Eleanore Porter
*SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bobers Should Buy Life Insurance; Steven Levitt
*Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith; Jon Krakauer
The Well-Lived Laugh: Designing a Life That Keeps You Smiling; Rachel St. John-Gilbert
Sh*t My Dad Says; Justin Halpern
*Life of Pi; Yann Martel
Bebe By Day; Pamela Druckerman
*Sparkly Green Earrings; Melanie Shankle

My favorites (of various categories or reasons) are MWF Seeking BFF, The Secret Keeper (you were right, Ashley!), Quiet, Raising Godly Tomatoes (you were right, Lisa!), and Sparkly Green Earrings.

What did you read this year that you loved?

*= Books I read with Chapters, my book club of over 4 years.

To compare this list with 2012, click HERE.
To compare this list with 2011, click HERE.

The Great Purge of December 2013

I didn't take a Before Photo, but needless to say, when one sorts and purges to the extreme, the green room can get to looking pretty. darn. nice. The boys play with each thing longer than before when there were more things and since there are fewer things, everything has a home and cleanup is easier. LOVING it!

 All of this was either boxed for the attic, sold, donated, or trashed.

It's like I can literally breathe easier --take deeper breaths--with fewer things in the room. So refreshing!