More Christmas Lovin'

mmmm...that extra jolt of espresso..does 2 tired parents some good!
Beautiful sight from my kitchen counter....

Christmas Eve snack..cookies & milk

and frozen blueberries

my little decorating elf, Santa mut have enjoyed the most sprinkly cookies by the sprinkle master himself!

the only decent photo we have of the boys before Parker got "overheated" and needed to strip down:)

A white Christmas indeed! We enjoyed so much snuggling up with our matching Christmas jammied little boys..watching paper fly across the room and exclamations and shrieks of each gift being opened, it was great. Although next year I have decided to get up before the kids and start that caffeine line stat. I suppose 6:30 am is satisfactory for a 4 and 15month old to arise for Christmas morning festivities, however, I didn't wake up really until my much later around noontime jolt of espresso...thank you Krups!

In closing this year, I am most thankful for my two little espresso's, the little bursts of enegry they are, supply me with enough wonder and thrills to fill my tank in all reality. I am looking forward to what 2010 holds for us, so many things to learn and love and experience....

Christmas Lovin

Our little Christmasy house...

Christmas hugs from a special friend, Brianna

Brotherly love...Big brother gives a lift to

little brother...

My favorite things of Christmas time..."lovin" of the season. Lights, hugs, and cookies!

It amazes me how much love these little boys have inside their little hearts so young.

Their hugs are infectious, real, and full of umph! Their hugs are from the heart

and I love to watch them spreading their Christmas cheer to one another and special people in their lives. I shall post more of my Christmas favorites later...most appropriately with a glass of milk to compliment them...

Trimming the Tree Trauma

Parker's placement of ornaments...

Mommy's redistribution of ornaments...

It's that time of year...the trimming of the tree. Each year, I look forward to more and more having help from a little Christmas elf that becomes more and more capable as he grows and matures. My job has always been to open each Hallmark ornament box, find a hook, find a spot on the tree and then balance it out with some other colors...all alone..So this year when Parker was old enough to handle hooks and was actually excited to help me I was ecstatic! One request for "puppy chow" was already handed in by the mister, so I thought..ah ha, what a great tradition to start. I'll make puppy chow and enjoy munching along with my little munchkin while we happily trim this sparkly tree! Little did I realize my expectations were so unreal. Of course I figured it would be a challenge to unwrap the ornaments fast enough for an impatient toddler, while keeping a 1 yr. old out of the tree. Jack was already fussy all day, growing teeth seems to take precedence these days over anything else. Dad was already on the job of assembling the greenery and soon discovered a section of the pre -lit green was not so pre- lit after all! I was at his beckon call to be of assistance and on kid duty since we both were being used for jungle gyms by both boys as we sat on the floor in the midst of this tree. Parker soon figured it would make for a fun game to play "basketball" with the tree, tossing a small ball in the branches and watching it tumble down, conveniently landing right in Dad's way. I'm fairly sure I saw some steam exiting Tim's ears....but then, finally, after rigging a butter knife into the fuse (while the tree was electrically illuminated of course) Parker threw one last toss into the tree and bam, the lights were fixed! Freakishly weird, it worked whatever he did and Jack trounced off with the butter knife in his mouth. I quickly confiscated it and thought, well this is most likely the most difficult part of the night, that's over. Meanwhile I managed to melt up my gooey ingredients for my new tradition of puppy chow and unwrap a few ornaments for Parker to put up. He licks the bowl and then decides to play in it, dumping glasses of water, napkins and such..you name it, he dumped it!I proceed on to getting things in order for the tree. Tim finishes giving Jack his night time bottle and puts him in his bed. Shortly after I hear him crying and something seems not quite right. Sure enough, he had thrown up all over his bed. I dash to the bathtub with pukey baby, wash, then dry, then turn loose to find a diaper. Meanwhile Parker is mastering the hose on the vacuum to vacuum up pine needles off the carpet when I hear from his little voice over the noise of the vacuum "Mommy! Jack is peeing on the carpet!" ..."Yes!" I exclaim.."this just makes the evening so festively wonderful! "

Unfathomable that all of this went down in just a span of one hour...but, the tree is done. And then RE DONE by Mommy. Notice Parker's ornaments seem to "hover" around the center of the tree, around his height.:) If there ever was a Griswold Christmas reality show, our family would take the prize!

My Moments of Thanksgiving

This is what I am most thankful for..captured in black and white, images that seem to stop time...

Dreams in the Kitchen

Cooking with Mommy....

ahhh..I always envisioned the day I would share the kitchen with my girls. We'd put our little pink, ruffled aprons on and our pony tails would be swishing around as we laughed and stirred our yummy goodies. We'd giggle and dance around the kitchen and enjoy the aroma of our sweet creations bubbling up in the oven.....and then....oh...wait..

yes, God gave me not one, but TWO little BOYS! A baker and kitchen utensil lover self that I am, I know in my heart of hearts that I must prevail in my dreams of having kitchen time with my kiddos, whatever gender/species they may be...Now I realize I may have to set aside the dream of the pink, ruffled apron wrapped around my young lad, but still, a Mom's gotta have her fun. I have decided, yes, I have boys, but what better tool can a Mama give to her boys than a way around the kitchen! Someday, they may knock a lady flat off her chair with their culinary skills, what lady wouldn't want that?! So I have made it a point to invest not only in their future, and the satisfaction of having my "dream" fulfilled, but to invest in the future of their perhaps lady that wears pink, or ruffles or...leather it may be. I may not see a little pony tail bobbin' on top of that kitchen chair he's standing on ramming that mixer into the sides of my stainless steel bowl, but I see those little "ham sandwiches" happily dancing from side to side, a chocolate mustache so wide it could be the new Pringles logo on the can, and a happy tune humming above the speed of the mixer motor. Nothing is more sweet to me.....

Birthday Boys

It's exciting to me to reflect and compare each birthday and now with 2 sweet boys. I love noticing their similarities just from their milestone pictures and their differences. Each year, more growth, more knowledge obtained, tasks mastered. A little more water sprinkled in their gardens. I love birthdays, love taking a moment to celebrate and reflect on what the last year has taught us and what we have learned. And of course, I love the cake! Parker 4..Mommy...well 30
Parker 3

Parker 2

Parker 2

Jack 1

Jack 1

Parker 1

Brothers, Pumpkins & Skeletons...

Look Mom, it's my first Twix bar and I totally know what to do with it!

What a variety of animals, anatomical frames and westerners!


Cousin photo op, and this is how it's done..

"Here kids, you all sit here and smile at the camera...."

yeah right...

Are these not the cutest set of bones you'de ever seen?!

I'm off to school little brother, here's your kiss for the day

......and your squeeze:)

my knees will never quite be the same again...next year Mommy's gonna have to sit this one out!

there's something so very funny about a horse's "arse"
isn't there, Jack?!

My pumpkins and me!

Our Great Vacations of the West Coast & AZ

The Great travels of the west coast...ahh. We had so many great trips while living in Vegas. Only being about 3 hours aways from the great L.A., we indulged in our inner childhood and hit Disneyland and hit up the famous Newport Beach too. We had a great friend who lived in L.A. the fabulous Becca Wagoner we visited a few times. One summer, we crammed ourselves and our wiggly 1 year old Parker into the car and ventured the California coastline! We hit L.A. first, then up to San Francisco for some fine chocolates and seafood dining..such a great city! We are fortunate to know good friends (sort of relatives:) Erik & Rachelle and stayed with them in their hometown, Sacramento! From there we picked up our vacationing Aunt Linda who resides in the lovely Lake Tahoe area, and headed up to the Lake.

The following summer we took our first family with friends and their families vacation! Us and the other football coaching families packed it up and headed to the great Flagstaff, AZ. The house was wonderful, the kids ran all over the place while us adults kicked back, ate lots of cheese, wine, and talked and laughed.

We also hit Phoenix a few times, visiting our long lost Stone Ridge neighbors and great friends, Lizzy & Rodney who had relocated there. Lucky for Tim, the Cardinals always seemed to be in town playing ball, so we hit them up along with some great restaurants and an overall fantastic getaway with our friends.

Such great memories, so many wonderful friends plunked down all over the continent it seems. Memories I will always treasure.

This stop in the Great San Francisco I think

you all can tell was more about Me than the boys...

Downtown Flagg was full of these various

types of PDA..my son was one of them!:)

Flagstaff was beautiful...just a glimpse of the

serenity of the Northern Mts. of Arizona. Our first

family vacation with friends and a great one!

hmmm..blueberries AND powdered donuts?

Busted! Parker & his first girlfriend, Lili vacationing

in the grand Flagstaff, AZ house

Is there really a better place than

Tahoe to learn your first game of

golf?!

The beautiful Lake Tahoe, visiting my Auntie

Linda and my cousins, Bren & Audi

Who's getting more excercise, anyway?! silly

parents to turn a 1 year old loose on Newport

Beach...

A walk with Dad on the beach..

I love this picture!

Laughter, what gets me every time

I totally believe that laughter is the best medicine. If you don't agree with me, sit down and force yourself to watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, it's anything but a vacation. I found myself entangled in the Griswald's family chaos late last night, not even in the Christmas season but rather Halloween and it still has the same dumbfounding effect. So many characters to laugh with and at, it's hard to chose who makes me giggle the most. I would have to say Aunt Bethany makes it to the top of the list along with her clueless and rude couterpart, Uncle Lewis. Such a beautiful version of the pure insanity and humor that comes along with the insanity in the genre of people.

Our Life In Vegas

It is snowing in Las Vegas! hadn't snowed in

10 yrs. but we caught the joy of it one

"winter."

Our glorious pool with cascading rock fountain..

The Red Rock Canyon, just right up the road

from us.

One of my favorite sights on the strip..the Eifel

Tower!

Our condo on Jade Creek
and Clubhouse

Living in Vegas for the first four years of our marriage was spectacular! We learned so much about life, adjusting to a different city and it's customs, and how to weather any storm together; to lean on one another. With a few near mishaps, we thankfully ended up buying our 1st choice of condos that was located just 1/4 mile from where we both taught at a wonderful private school. Tim taught math and I taught social studies. We loved living in sunny Las Vegas, beautiful blue skies, not a cloud around, lush landscaping, beautiful stone and stucco buildings and my favorite, palm trees everywhere you looked just swaying in the breeze. While only 20 minutes away from the oh so fabulous Las Vegas Boulevard "the Strip", we were peacefully located on the western mountain range of the Spring Mountains in a nice part of town. It was tough to have a "bad" day there! Sometimes after a challenging day teaching, we'd unwind at the pool with Milano cookies in hand and doze off in the warm sun with the sway of the palms in sight and sound. We made some great friends, had fun nights out and in too, always had a flock of out of town relatives and friends that came to visit, it was great! We managed to make 3 turkeys, every Thanksgiving we'd make all the fixins' no matter if it was just us or not. Life was fantastic but still very real. I had my first baby out there and experienced all the highs of that as well as the scary moments as I went into preterm labor at 28 weeks. I was "sentenced" to bedrest for 3 months. We lost 2 Grandpa's and an Uncle back home in the St. Louis area and lost a baby of our own; all on our own. I've come to realize all these hardships and joys have really woven us together closely. It's no joke ...for better or worse, in sickness and in health...Vegas a great experience to learn and believe in these very things.

Melt Your Heart Moments

Some of my favorite moments watching and loving my little boys. Tender moments where their already forming testosterone has been set aside...they settle for a split moment to snuggle and smile. And then moments where they arrive home with their first bouquet of wildflowers picked just for you, their Mommy. Taking care of these 2 little men has called to my attention their very need for shaping and reassurance in this world....a nurturing to become great and mighty men, but have a gentle heart and calming spirit.