12 Posts of Christmas {12} Odds n' Ends

Here's just a few random highlights from the weekend.

• I bought the boys matching outfits for Christmas.  Totally cheesey, right?  But they're so adorable!!  And I figure they won't let me do this forever, so I might as well while I can.

• We had a very brown Christmas this year.  In fact, on Christmas day (and the day after) the temps reached into the 50's!!!  Um, seriously?  This is South Dakota.  Last year at this time we were buried in snow with sub zero temps.  Kinda missed the snow for Christmas, but I certainly am not complaining about this weather.  Chris and Brooks played outside on Monday and Chris had his coat off!
• I cooked a 22lb turkey the day after Christmas.  Yep.  Twenty two pounds.  I saw turkeys on sale at the store a few weeks ago and that was the smallest bird they had.  But I figure we like turkey and I can always use the leftovers and make tons of broth.  Which is the reason I made it the day after Christmas.  It's a ton of work de-boning a huge bird like that and I wasn't going to work that hard on Christmas!

•  Brooks' "big" gift from us was a beta fish.  We figured since the dog was gone this was a nice (and quiet) pet for him to take care of.  He was really excited when he saw him.  And when we asked him what he was going to name him, he said without missing a beat "Tom".   Huh.  Ok.  So now we have Tom Fishy in our house.  And Brooks talks to him in fishy language.  "Blub blub.  Good morning Tom Fishy.  Blub blub.  Are you hungry."  Seriously.  This kid totally cracks me up!!

12 Posts of Christmas {11} Baby's First Christmas

Our Mr. Carter celebrated his very first Christmas this year.  Of course, he didn't really participate much, being that he's only 3 months old.  But it was still a special holiday.

They tell me I'm supposed to chew on this.

Merry First Christmas to my sweet baby Carter.

12 Posts of Christmas {10} Christmas morning

I had plans to post this yesterday, but we spent the whole day doing ... wait for it .... pretty much nothing.  Ok, I did a few loads of laundry and washed diapers but our day also included rocking a baby, reading a book, playing outside, watching movies, playing cribbage and so on.  What a blessing to have Chris home for one more day.  We had a fantastic weekend!

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier this was our first Christmas at home.  And I have to say, we really enjoyed it.  It was relaxing, refreshing and we had so much fun!  Here's how our day went.

We woke up and everybody climbed into our bed and read the Christmas story from Brooks' Bible.  Then we headed downstairs and upon seeing the Christmas tree Brooks exclaimed "There's presents under my tree!"  It was cute.  We sat down and enjoyed some delicious apple walnut cinnamon rolls.  Yeah.  They were as amazing as they sound.

Then we opened gifts.  There wasn't a huge amount of gifts but we had so much fun opening them.  The best quote of the morning was when Brooks opened his new sled.  He shouted, "Wow!  A boat!!"  When we asked what he was going to do with his boat he said "I go sledding in my new boat."  What a great idea.

We enjoyed opening gifts but I'm glad our day wasn't solely focused on them.  We read the Christmas story from Brooks' Bible, baked Jesus a birthday cake and them sang happy birthday to him after dinner.  And when someone mentions Santa Clause to my son, he has no idea who they're talking about.  I suppose I'm not anti-Santa, I just prefer to keep the proper focus on the holiday.

We rounded out the morning by playing games and eating second breakfast.  Chris cooked up some scrambled eggs and homemade hashbrowns.  Mmm, delicious.  Then it was naps for everyone and we spent the evening with our dear friends the Gale's.  What a fantastic Christmas.

(Oh, and the Packers beat the Bears.  Merry Christmas to me :)

12 Posts of Christmas {9} Happy Birthday Jesus

To help Brooks understand the true meaning of Christmas (and as a good reminder to us too) we've been talking about celebrating Jesus' birthday.  And what kind of birthday would it be without cake??  So we made Jesus a birthday cake and Brooks helped with the sprinkles.

We're excited to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and enjoy his cake after dinner. 

12 Posts of Christmas {8} The Ugliest Present Ever

So as Chris and I are wrapping up gifts, we come down to the last present - the very.last.one - and we have just scraps of wrapping paper left.  Are you kidding me??  I'm so not running to the store to buy a roll of wrapping paper to wrap ONE box.  But at the same time I'm terribly conflicted.  The two pieces of wrapping paper left?? Totally don't match.  Like, not even close.  We've got blue and white snowmen.  And green and red ornaments.

And I could feel the grumpies coming on.  You know, the "this could ruin our whole Christmas because it's not perfect" kind of grumpies.  But a simple reminder from Chris that this isn't a big deal and a deep breath later, we came up with this ....

There ya have it.  The ugliest Christmas present ever.  (I added the pink bow just to put it's ugliness over the top.) But it's awesome because:

1) I didn't have to do any more shopping (which I'm soooooo done with) to buy more paper

2) Brooks won't care at all

3) I've made what I consider a HUGE step in overcoming my perfectionism.

12 Posts of Christmas {7} My Christmas present from my boys

Let me set up my day for you.  Last night my dear, darling baby decided he needed to eat every two hours. This isn't a normal habit of his, but apparently he needed the extra nourishment, extra snuggle time, extra whatever last night.  And then at 5:30am he was wide awake and ready to start the day.  I, however, was not.  So I put him in bed with me in hopes that he would fall back asleep.  He didn't.  But he was at least quiet so I was able to sleep a little.  But it certainly wasn't quality sleep as my non-sleeping 3 month old kept rolling his head into my chest and flailing his little hands and feet.  Sometimes he's terrible to sleep with!

Ok, so that's how I started my day.  Tired.  Really tired.  We somehow managed through the morning.  Carter was so tired, but he refused to nap.  I had a chiropractor appointment at 11 and while I was in the room waiting for the doc (with my children being watched by the lovely office staff) I was really tempted to lie down and take a nap.  Just 5 minutes.  But I didn't.  We made a quick stop at the grocery store afterwards and on the way home, Carter finally fell asleep.  Glorious.
We came home, had some lunch and put Brooks down for a nap.  So for the moment, there were two sleeping boys in my house.  But it had been about three hours since I last fed Carter so I knew he'd be waking up any moment to eat.  Still, I took advantage of the quiet and laid on the couch with a blanket and flipped on the TV.  Warm blanket, quiet house, tired mama ... yep, you guessed it.  I fell asleep.  And slept for over an hour!!  And it was amazing!
I felt kinda bad that Carter slept that whole time in his carseat, but I really really needed that sleep and I knew trying to move him would cause him to wake up.  That and I figured he'd be waking up to eat soon anyway.  But that kiddo slept for three hours!  That was the best Christmas gift he could have ever given me!!

Then tonight, as I'm still recovering from my sleepless night, Chris said he was taking both the boys out to see Christmas lights.  So as I type this, I'm sitting all alone in our house.  All. Alone.  Wow.  Now, off to my second nap of the day.  Merry Christmas to me!!

12 Posts of Christmas {6} Home for Christmas

Lots of folks travel for Christmas and in years past we've done it too.  Packing up the presents, the kiddos and half the house to drive and see family.  And it's been good.  I loved waking up in my old bedroom on Christmas morning or celebrating new traditions with Chris' family.  And in fact, I would have been sad if we couldn't have gone to see our parents.  But this year?  This year we chose to stay home.  And it's good too.   

We're now a family of four and I'm really excited to start new traditions with my kids.  To wake up in our own house on Christmas morning, in our own beds and open presents by our own tree.  Chris and I have had fun talking about the things we want to do (and have already done) this year.  What "traditions" will we begin?

Will I be sad to not be with extended family this Christmas?  Yeah, a little.  And in the future we may travel to see Papa and Grandma again.  But this year we'll be home for Christmas.  Our home.

12 Posts of Christmas {5} Adrian Peterson

Now, before you even ask "What does Adrian Peterson have to do with Christmas??", let me assure you that the Vikings star running back does indeed deserve mention.  Here's why.

Yep, he's hanging on our tree!  My parents (who live in Green Bay, WI) as a gesture of goodwill, gave my husband (the relentless Vikings fan) this ornament for Christmas.  And I do believe that Brooks loves it just as much, if not more, than Chris.  He carries it all around the house - even more than the other ornaments - and plays with it, talks to it ("Hi Adrian Peterson.  I like your purple helmet Adrian Peterson.") and cares for it like a small person.  (after dropping it Brooks says "Oh no, Adrian Peterson!  Are you ok?")  That kid cracks me up.  Even Carter was taking it in.

And what do I think of this Viking on my tree?  Well, even though I will always be a Packer fan you gotta think .... How COOL is it to be made into a Christmas ornament??

12 Posts of Christmas {4} Winter Wonderland

Last night, since the weather was unseasonably warm, we ventured out to Falls Park to see their Winter Wonderland light display.  Every tree is decorated with lights, the falls are lit to beautiful colors and they play Christmas music throughout the park.  Perfect.

Even though it was in the low 30's (and yes, that's warm for South Dakota), we knew it would get chilly being outside so we bundled up and headed out!

I snuggled Carter in my wrap for our winter stroll. I considered just putting him the stroller, but I really wanted him to see the lights too.  That and he kept me nice and warm :)  He loved looking around for a while, but it did get quite chilly so I eventually threw a blanket over him to keep his face warm.

We went to the top of the observation tower and looked out.

I wish we had a camera that took better night shots, but you get the jist of it.

On our way back to the van Brooks found a stick and insisted on taking it home.  I was going to protest, but he was so proud of his little treasure that we decided to let him keep it.

There's just something about a boy and a stick.  And the funny this is that since we put on him his big, puffy "warm" mittens, he wasn't able to pick up or hold the stick.  So we picked it up for him and he pinned it against his chest and carried it back to the van.  Where there's a will there's a way I guess!

12 Posts of Christmas {3} Frosting and Friends

Last weekend our friends Andrew and Laura came to visit us from Marshall, MN.  It was so fun seeing them!!  Andrew's mom is one of my best friends and he was one of my star kids church helpers when I was in Minnesota.  He and his girlfriend are now freshmen at Southwest Minnesota State University, which is only about an hour and half away from here.  I haven't seen either of them for over a year, so we were thrilled when they asked to come for the weekend. 

And since we had a whole bunch of naked cookies to frost, we put them to work!  Which wasn't really work at all, but you know what I mean :)

so cute!

even Carter joined in the fun!

I'm pretty sure Brooks thought he couldn't eat the cookies, so he started "sneakily" licking the frosting off.  When we told him he could actually eat the cookie, he was a happy boy ...

... and messy.

This is what didn't get eaten!

12 Posts of Christmas {2} Cut-out cookies

For the first time in many years, I decided to make cut-out cookies.  Mainly because I have a two year old "helper" who I thought would have a blast decorating (and of course eating) cookies and because this is one of those fun Christmas traditions I want to do with my family.  So last week after lunch we made the dough, rolled it out and went to town.

And as we were making these, I realized why I haven't made cut-outs for so long.  They take for.ev.er to make.  Rolling, cutting, pulling away excess dough, scooping cookies onto sheet, ball up extra dough and repeat.  Over and over again.  And of course as I mentioned in my last post, with a toddler as your assistant, the project takes twice as long.  So we made one batch of cookies and then I declared it nap time so it wouldn't take us four hours to finish the rest of them. 

this one's for you Dad!

For some reason, they turned out kinda dry.  But I figure with enough frosting no one will know the difference!!

12 Posts of Christmas {1} The Tree

So in an attempt to capture the Christmas moments this year (both big and small) I've decided to do 12 Posts of Christmas.  I can't promise they will be exciting or even worth reading to most of you, but this is my way of remembering, since I don't scrapbook or journal.  (Does anyone actually scrapbook anymore??)  And yes I realize today is December 15 and that 12 days from now it will be Dec 26, one day after Christmas, but given that I have a very busy 2 year old and a sometimes very fussy 3 month old, I haven't had time to get to this until now.  So here goes .......

---------------
The first weekend in December we decided to put up the Christmas tree.  I'm finally getting used to putting the tree up earlier in the season.  In my house growing up, we were lucky if the thing was up and decorated the week before Christmas.  And one particular year we were putting up ornaments on Christmas Eve.  So the thought of putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving was beyond bizarre to me.  But I'm coming around.

I would absolutely LOVE to have a real tree for Christmas.  But every year we're either in a place where we can't have one or we can't afford one.  So out of the box it came.

Brooks insisted on helping put the tree together.  So it took twice as long.  And I have to admit that both Chris and I are task oriented people and like to finish a project quickly.  (hello first born)  So it's a stretch for us to step back and allow Brooks to "help".  But it's good.  We're learning.

Brooks fixed the tree for us.  Whew!  Thanks buddy!

Then came time for the ornaments.

Brooks was a super helper.  He arranged all the ornaments.  And they've since been re-arranged at least a dozen times.  They're basically cool toys you can hang on a tree.  We've found Christmas ornaments in our bathroom sink, on the kitchen floor, in his bed and just about everywhere else you can imagine.  And when we ask him to put them back on the tree, they all get clumped together on like three branches.  (let go of the need to space the ornaments evenly, Ashley.  Just let it go.)  Christmas is so.much.fun with a two year old!!

Oh, and where's the baby you ask?  Here's how Carter spent his first holiday decorating.....

He was having a great time, can you tell??

But I loved seeing his face when he woke up and saw the tree!

The lights are pretty much awesome! 

And now every morning when Brooks wakes up he says "I go downstairs and see my tree".  He's pretty proud of it, and so are we.

Watch Me Grow: 3 Months

Happy 3 months to my sweet, smiley, pudgy little boy!

Who doesn't love a baby in a sweater vest??

Here's some highlights from month #3.

• We finally weighed baby C.  He's a whopping 14.5lbs!  That means he's gained 6 pounds in 3 months.  And he's got the rolls to show for it.  I LOVE having a squishy baby. 
• Carter is a champion eater (hence, the rolls) and he still eats often, usually every 2 - 2 1/2  hours during the day.  He will go longer stretches at night (4-5 hours) between eating which is nice for me.  But when he does wake up to eat, I put him in bed with me, latch him on and we both go back to sleep!
• We co-sleep full time and bed share part time.  Translation: Carter sleeps in our room every night in a bassinet/pack n' play next to our bed.  He starts the night sleeping there, but at some point (usually around 5am) he'll just stay in our bed after nursing.  We love our snuggle time but to be honest I think we both sleep better when we have some space.  If I'm too close to him for too long, he'll start fidgeting and fussing until I move over.  Sheesh.  He's already a bed hog.
• I celebrated Carter's three month birthday by packing away most of his three month clothing.  He's wearing all 6 month clothes now.  And the funny thing is that these 6mo pants that fit him so well are the same ones that fell down off of Brooks when he was six months old!
• Carter is full of smiles and babbles.  He knows his Mama and Daddy well and smiles at us often.  He's even starting to respond to Brooks.  Just yesterday both of them were laughing at each other during lunch.  It was great!
• Carter has a fascination with the light fixture in our living room.  Not sure why.  There's no fan.  It doesn't move.  It's just round and shiney and he loves to smile and "talk" to it.  Silly baby.
• He's just starting to notice toys.  We have a floor play mat that we'll lay him on occasionally and last week he realized that there's toys on it!  He isn't grabbing anything yet, but will swing his arms and hands at them and watch them move.  It's SO fun watching him grow and learn!
• Carter took his first big road trip to visit Grandma Marty and Papa Dave for Thanksgiving.  Overall, he handled the ride well.  We made one big stop for lunch/supper and several small stops to nurse the baby.  The ride there was rouger than the ride coming home though.  The first day in Green Bay Carter spent most of the day nursing to recover.  Grandma and Papa had a great time playing with C.  And Carter loved Papa Dave's beard - he'd just press his face into it and close his eyes as he felt it.
• Carter has become a thumb/finger sucker.  He's not partial to any particular finger, just whatever he can get in his mouth - sometimes the whole fist.  At first we weren't sure that we liked this new habit, thinking of how difficult it could be to wean him of it later.  But when I found that this ...

led to this ....

Well, I can't say I hate it so much.  Carter will still take the touchie (aka pacifier) sometimes, but mostly prefers his fingers or thumb.

Here's a few more pictures of the little one.  (and some of the big one :)

Bath time!

mmm, chubby baby