Christmas Day 2013

Most every Christmas, I try to watch "It's a Wonderful Life." It's probably one of my favorite movies ever, not just in the holiday genre. It reminds me that no matter how "crazy" I might feel at times - and goodness I have my moments - I am so blessed. Not just by material things, though I adore our little house. Not just because of my husband, who I grow to love him more all the time. Not just my precious kids, who I thank God for every day and never take for granted. Not just my job, since I am one of those who gets to "do what I love and get paid for it." I am blessed because of HIS goodness, love, and mercy, that came wrapped up in swaddling clothes to be Emmanuel, God with us. I don't want to ever get over it. This year, more than ever, we got to really talk about the true meaning of Christmas with Lailey since she understands so much more. I really want to instill in my kids that the beauty of Christmas is from knowing Jesus, who is our greatest gift. 

Speaking of kids, I don't know how Christmas could be any more fun than with a 4-yo and 2-yo! Oh wait, add in the hubs who loves Christmas and traditions just about as much as they do, and it's always a blast.

This year I tried something new and started a new tradition (new for us, not for lots of other folks). The something new was that Lailey and I decorated wrapping paper (see picture at the top of post). I wanted all my gifts to be "brown paper packages tied up with string." And I had that song running through my head most of December.

The new tradition, which Lailey ended up taking on, was that the wise men from our nativity "traveled" around our living room during the season of advent (this is not a new idea, just new to us). Since she is old enough to understand the Biblical  accuracy of this concept, I felt it fitting. (If you're wondering, the wise men were not there the night Jesus was born; see Matthew 2)  I didn't have too many places to move them since I was nervous that Maddox would get a hold of them and break them, but they still made it around. It was fun to have her move them and explain it to me.

On Christmas morning, after our fun time opening gifts, Grandpa came over for brunch. He also came with presents!

This was actually from Maddox's birthday, but still he loves it.

First ride

Getting the hang of it

Lailey wanted to keep up with the big kids.
I LOVE that we live in a neighborhood where the kids still play outdoors a lot.

Her first and most special baby doll, Lucy, got a ride too.

If you can endure the almost five minutes of video, this highlights some of the musical fun we had during the Christmas season. If you can't take 5 minutes, go to the end to see Lailey's little bit about what she wants for Christmas. I did not tell her to say this, in fact, I was doing dishes when she just started talking about it and I grabbed the camera and asked her to tell me again in hopes of capturing the innocence and truth of her words. Enjoy!

Waffle Cone Christmas Trees

I found this idea on Pinterest awhile back and decided to give it a go today. Icing, sugar, candy, sprinkles, the perfect activity in my 4-year-old's mind. 

As to be expected, only slightly more icing and candy ended up on the waffle cone than in her mouth. A nice aspect of this activity was that she could really do it mostly herself. I only smoothed out the icing a bit at the end to help the candy stick, but even that wasn't necessary. Then she got to shake the sprinkles onto the iced trees (over the sink) which she enjoyed. 

All in all, a fun memory! Now to let them dry so she can eat them. Ah, waiting. Such a hard lesson. (P.S. You don't have to let them dry, but this was my way of spacing out the sugar intake. 😉)

O Christmas Tree, the kindness of a stranger, and one sick kid

Time for the annual let's-go-get-a-Christmas tree! We always go to Waffle House afterwards (Davey does not break tradition), but seeing that it was lunchtime, we made the smart parenting choice to go before. 

Lailey woke up early that morning complaining of not feeling good. Turned out she had a fever. She usually fares well with fevers without medicine, but this time she felt rotten. Tylenol perked her up so much that after letting her weigh in on the decision, we decided to still go get the tree since it was 5 minutes from home and she wasn't really going to be to close to anyone. 

At the Waffle House, she decided she wanted hot chocolate to warm up, so we obliged, splitting it with brother. 

When we were mostly done with our meal, our waitress came up and informed us that the man who had been sitting behind us earlier had paid out check! We were humbled and blessed and left her a generous tip to pay it forward, if you will. We wish we could have thanked him (you can see his head over Davey's shoulder in the first photo) but that wasn't what he wanted. Nice to know there are still kind people out there. 

While picking out the tree, the kids were having a ball steering and riding the small carts that are typically used for plants in the garden section. When you're 2 and your sister lets you pull her around on one because she is a good sport, you care nothing about picking out a tree! We rolled with it and while Davey selected the "perfect" one with a helpful employee, I followed the kids around with the video camera. Now that we're pros at finding the tree that 1) fits in our tree stand, 2) isn't too tall, and 3) isn't too wide for our small living room, it really didn't take very long. 

Lailey has started to really climb our tree. Now she just has to learn to get back down. 

Funny faces from Maddox as he holds on tightly!

It's a good thing we did get our tree that day because the next morning would be the start of 3 days of a stomach virus for Lailey. Really 4 days if you count the day she had the fever. She couldn't keep anything down, not even teaspoons of Pedialyte. 

She begged and cried for food and drinks, but I knew that not following the regimen recommended by our pediatrician would only make her stomach worse and could possibly send her into dehydration. 

When my extremely active, bouncy, energetic 4-year-old did not get out of the bed for a whole day and then only once or twice the next day, I knew it wasn't good. The picture above was when she had stopped with the worst of it and Maddox wanted to be with her and watch shows on the iPad. (That's him under his blanket. Silly kid.)

Lailey is back to normal now and feeling "Great, Mom! I'm better than great!" We are so thankful for many things, every day and on Thanksgiving, but we are extremely thankful that so far none of us have caught the bug from her. 

A Little of This, A Little of That, and a Lot of Cuteness

When Lailey was first born, I kept my small point-and-shoot camera on my kitchen counter at all times, always ready to capture a cute photo or video. Then when I got my dSLR camera a few years later, I stopped that because it was bigger and more expensive and the counter was not a safe place. Then I got a smart phone. Although not a necessity, I thoroughly enjoy using it to stay organized (okay, semi-organized), and capturing memories on the go. I am pretty good at photo storage and organization due to the photographer side of my brain, but sometimes my phone pictures are too good to delete but I don't have a place to put them and so they stay on my phone...indefinitely. I have waited long enough, and this post is the result of my cleaning off many good pictures and saving the memories in one place. After all, this blog is for me. Others enjoy it, yes, but I blog to remember all the wonderful moments that would otherwise be so easily forgotten in the fast pace of life and parenting. So here's to a year or so of random pictures...

This was last December, taken after we picked out our Christmas tree
and were about to enjoy our traditional post-tree-picking-meal at the good ol' Waf.

Lailey learning the very important skill of writing her name this past year. Go to  http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/ to print your own.

A common sight in our house. They love dressing up! Maddox will probably hate this picture someday since he's wearing his sister's dress shoes and carrying a purse. 

Crazy morning hair

This is what we called "redneck hot tub"

A ride at Granddad's house (Davey's grandfather)

"Mom! I just got baptized! In the bathroom sink!"
True story.

My little man loves to wear a tie

Lailey before ballet camp

Maddox learned to climb the ladder at the playground all by himself.
(Sniff) He's getting so big.

Just having a tea party, Mom

I don't think there's a kid who loves the Chick-Fil-A cow more than Maddox.

Makin' some bagel pizzas

On our Mommy-Lailey date - she was sneaking sips of my frappuchino

Love that helmet...and that face!

No words.

Family trip to Lowe's for...something. Not a riding mower, that's for sure.

What 2-year-old refused to take off the birthday sombrero that was bigger than him? Mine!
He loved that hat and the sopapillas.

We painted random shelves we had and put them on our walls
for some MUCH needed movie and book storage.

Play time with puppy dogs

Riding in the "car cart" at the store and getting some snuggles.
Can I tell you how much I love the fact that these two adore each other?
MOST of the time. Don't worry, they're still normal and fight like siblings.

How I found him after nap. He loves his blanket.

Three little Akins at an Akins concert.
Maddox is never without pens for drumsticks.

Ballet camp was fun but Lailey decided on gymnastics instead for the fall. 

My children are rarely fully clothed at home.
Notice the dinosaur tattoo (upper right arm) and the boots.

I turned THIRTY!! 

This child can EAT. He continually amazes people with his ability to put food away.
And he is STILL so tiny!

For once, Maddox is not in on the dress-up action.

"Watch, Mommy!"

Lizard at the playground

No joke, Lailey was reciting her memory work for school this way!
We're all about kinesthetic learning around here.

Happy Hanky-Wanky

Lailey's new hat she picked out

There it is! Fun randomness from this year. Did you have a favorite? Leave it in the comments. :)