Is It Christmas Yet?

Day 3

Oh my goodness, I am exhausted. Not from the Christmas fun, but from life. Today was a take it slow day due to all the excitement the night before. Like I mentioned yesterday, Austin got his shots after a delayed one year check up. He really has a bad reaction to shots, and last night proved to be no different. Eric put him down at one point, out of necessity and Austin cried so hard because his little legs hurt to walk. He actually got down and army crawled into the kitchen just to be picked up again. He never has army crawled, even when he was little. And night time was worse. He woke up so often crying in pain. It just breaks your heart you know. Eric and I prepared ourselves for a long night, only to have our plans change at 10:30pm when Tanner woke up screaming cause his ear hurt. This is his third one in a year, so we recognized the signs immediately. Unfortunately there was no calming him down and apparently this one was pretty bad because he too had a sleepless night which meant we did too. I visited the Dr. nice and early again this morning only to joke that I would probably be back in with my oldest tomorrow. I am praying that the comment I made DOES NOT come true. But even without the fun times the kids are creating I am sick and over worked with a months more work to do.

But even with all the things on my plate I was determined not to let the 25 day count down fail. So tonight, we packed up and went out to Granite Bay where they have their annual nativity viewing. I took some photos for the even the first year, and it has been wonderful to see how much it has grown.


The kids really wanted to see all the different donkeys and sheep and Tanner couldn't have been more excited when he found a camel. We didn't stay long because little fingers can only not touch something for so long, but it was truly beautiful to see.



We still had a little time before bed when we got home, so we brought the tree in from outside. Ty helped 'direct' it and Tanner was in awe at the size of the tree in his house. After we got it set up we did need to move it back a little so Eric got down to move it with his feet. He quickly had one furry and one little helper to make the job... easier?


So the tree looks great and the front room is really coming together and should be done by Saturday night. Those pictures should be awesome!

Wrapping, Planning and more Wrapping

DAY 2

This year I do have a goal of having all the gift wrapping done before the 15th. I am a chronic procrastinator with the wrapping and usually I am up way too late on Christmas Eve, making a late night run to the store for more tape, and totally irritated that I hadn't wrapped the presents sooner. So this year, it will be done early. But not this early. Ha, who am I kidding. With my goal of the 15th in writing, I will probably wait to the 15th. But today, I got my fingers warmed up.




The kids and I are going to low to no cost decorations around the house this year. So today, we turned up the holiday meter around the home by doing a little wrapping of our own. What did we wrap you say? Picture frames. Yep. We covered all the picture frames in the living room to give it a little color. The boys helped with the tape, which actually ended up double the amount of tape being used, but they really enjoyed their job. We have a few big frames that we cover (like 40x30) and all Tanner could keep saying was, 'Wow, that's soooo big Mom.' We are going to add bows in the morning cause we ran out of time tonight. But I think it is something fun and different.





Austin wasn't feeling too hot today after he got some shots, so he just sat and watched as his brothers made him laugh. Hopefully he'll feel better soon cause everything is more fun when Austins is involved.


And then we sat down and made a list of everything we want to do this month. I already had a great list put together, but I had the boys add some suggestions, and prompted some others. We then made a calendar and added some things to it. We taped the list on the back to fill things in as we go. I didn't want to commit to too much right now as I know things will change, but we have some great ideas in the works and I can't wait to see the calendar fill up.



Now off to clean up the mess and finish the frames that the tape, ummm, "missed" while getting wrapped.

25 Days of Christmas

DAY 1

Happy Holidays Everyone! Christmas is here once again. For me, the season always seems to be gone for way to long, then it hits you in the face before you are ready for the full impact of the season. Last year I had just had little Austin which truly changed my regular Christmas routines. Memo to me... no more babies around the holidays. (Well, I guess that only goes for the one more we are planning on in the future unless I completely loose my mind somewhere along the way and want more in which case I really hope someone throws cold water on me and reminds me that four is my personal limit, for sanity reasons.) Anyway, back to the topic at hand. So as I was say, last year wasn't very festive for me. I remember barely getting my tree decorated in time of the holidays. Eric was about to start at a new company and we buckled down on the gift buying, and I mean really buckled down. (Which was actually a plus, but really threw off my groove of Christmas shopping, which I actually LOVE) We looked at Christmas lights regularly with the kids, but there were no other decorations around my home to help make my days merry and bright. I remember I went right back to work taking pictures after the baby was born and was SWAMPED with work onto top of having a new born. So blah, blah, blah, long story short, the season came and went last year and I didn't ever feel a thing in the way of the Christmas spirit I love so much. So this last week, as I prepared for the month ahead, I took some time to sit back and enjoy life. The week of Thanksgiving was one of the most enjoyable weeks I've had in a while. I spent time with my mom, my family, my friends and my work. It was a busy week, but every day held so much joy and love I couldn't help but want that to spread over into the next month.

So I have decided, to really make this Christmas real and tangible, my family and I will do something in the Christmas spirit every day. Yep, EVERY SINGLE DAY. It might be doing decorations, or caroling. Maybe just making some Christmas cookies and watch a Christmas movie as a family. I know this weekend we have several things planned, and by tomorrow the family and I will have something on the calendar to do each day until Christmas. I am especially excited to teach the boys about the true meaning of Christmas and hope to have them understand what it means to feel that spirit of love and joy this holiday season.

So today, being the first of our 25 days, what a better thing to start with that getting a tree. We headed out after dark to find the perfect tree.

Eric and I toyed with the idea of a fake tree, which I had not intention of ever considering.... ever! And after we looked at some last night, we both came to the conclusion that fake trees just aren't our style. (No offense to anyone who sports a fake tree. More power to you. But after 26 years of real trees, I can't give it up.) It is a process for me to find a tree, and gratefully Grandma and Grandpa also came along so I could inspect the trees one by one while the kids ran around the lot.

Austin snuggled right into Grandma when we arrived. I caught this cute picture of him smirking as he rested his head on her shoulder as he had the warmest spot on the lot.

Tyler freaked out the tree lot dog at one point and in turn really worried me too. He was playing in between the trees, and while we knew the general area he was in, no one really had an exact whereabouts as to his location. As Eric got closer and closer to him, Ty let out a loud growl to scare him. Apparently it was a rather loud growl because the dog on the lot heard it too and came braking and snarling in Ty's direction. My mom hairs went up and I quickly looked around for my son. My mom took off running to find him too. Luckily the owners called the dog off and Eric was close enough to Ty to keep him from any real danger. But god to know that Ty can growl well enough fake out a dog.

After the perfect tree was found, we all headed over to Starbucks for a camel apple cider and a quick update of the days events from the whole family. We ended back a my place for a few quick Christmas gifts (I'll grab pictures of them in the morning) from my mom, just to help keep this holiday going in style.

This is my day #1 of my Christmas count down. I can't wait for tomorrows events. Keep the good times coming!!