Merry & Bright

I hope that all of you reading had a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year! We sure did around here. It was really cool to have all of Jason's immediate family here for Christmas, and I am so thankful they were able to make the trip. It was the first time since Jake was only a few months old that we have gotten to spend time with Jason's sister and her husband. They now have a 6 month old! It was cool to see all the boys together. It will be even cooler to see them together in visits to come as they grow and play together. We did attempt to get a picture of all 3 together, but as you can imagine a 10 month old, a 6 month old, and a 2 year old are not the easiest people to photograph at one time - especially when the 10 month old was ready for bed ;)

Many of the others included a crying Connor. I did manage to get a few pictures of Edgar while the boys were napping one day. He is a cute little man:

The boys did have a wonderful time on Christmas morning. Jake thought it was fabulous to have a few new things, and Connor was amazed at all the stuff that was on the floor for him to get to pick up and throw. We didn't go crazy with the boys' presents. We never will. Christmas isn't about presents and stuff to clutter the house. They got a few things and were just as happy as if they had gotten a room full of stuff.

Santa does have 2 "must do" rules in our house:
1. Santa DOES NOT wrap presents. Holy moley, the man is going around the world in a night - he ain't got time for that. (channel Sweet Brown)
2. All annoying plastic has been cut, toys have been taken out of  boxes, batteries inserted. I remember that being so annoying when all you wanted to do was play with your new toys and you had to WAIT for what seemed like forever for your parents to get that stuff out of the box.


There was a mountain of presents to open for the nine people that were here.

Santa piles

Connor getting his read on



The dress up kit was a BIG hit



Our pirate knight

Needless to say, the boys slept well that night. The giant sword pictured above has been put away in a closet since it was used as a true weapon on the wee one. But these days, most things are used as a weapon on the wee one.  As the new year rang in, the boys and I were fast asleep while Jason finished his shift at the hospital. Yesterday, we celebrated the day with our small group from church and then some football. Yep, total party animals.

I have said before that I don't make resolutions. They just make me stressed and then leave me filled with guilt that I couldn't accomplish things I thought were important at the first of the year. I want to work on several things over the year but I want to it be a learning journey instead of a set of unattainable goals. I want to read more, stress less (good luck on this one), be a better friend, work on raising young men who are polite and God-fearing, be a better partner to the hubs. All of that and more, but those aren't really resolutions. They are more of a day to day process that will take all year and beyond. Maybe we will even add to the familia this year - who knows? I am looking forward to seeing what 2013 hold for us.