Christmas 2013

Christmas this year was not ideal in a lot of ways. We got the flu, came home from our trip later than anticipated because we were all too weak to travel, and we were missing half our family because they are living in Virginia. Honestly, I'm kind of ready for a do-over and for next year to hurry up and be here so we can try again. But, I don't want to skip over the good things that happened, so here are some highlights:

- We were able to do Advent consistently throughout December, and start a new routine of doing Family Bible time now that December is over.

- We got to be with family. Even if it wasn't ALL our family... and we get to look forward to being with everyone VERY soon!

- Both boys were old enough this year to grasp what Christmas morning held, and listening to the squeals over the monitor while I  stuffed their stockings was really fun.

- The few nights we drove around looking at Christmas lights it was beautiful. We live in an awesome neighborhood for looking at Christmas decorations, and I loved hearing the boys point out what they saw and hear the conversations they had:

Noah: Oh look Levi... Christmas lights!

Levi: Oh YEAH! Miss-iss lights! Oh, there's MORE Miss-iss lights. Oh! More Miss-iss lights!

Noah: Yeah, I see them! Look at that one!

Levi: Yeah! Mommy- look! Miss-iss lights!

Me: Yeah! Which lights are you looking at?

Levi: Those. I see it. But you miss it.

And I think my favorite part of this year was how excited both the boys would get when we read a book or saw anything that had to do with the first Christmas. And how Noah would correct whatever show he was watching that claimed to know what Christmas was about (like being kind, or giving presents, or just being a happy time of year) and say, "Uh... no it's not! It's about Jesus!" Yes it is buddy... yes it is :)

Pics from Christmas Morning

Happy boys in matching PJ's... I will milk this tradition  for as long as these two let me!

"Can we open these yet??"

Sweet boy.

Yay! More things to build with!

Snowman pancakes.

Playing with Christmas presents.

It will be sad putting all our Christmas stuff away... but so fun to look forward to celebrating next year!

"Vacation"

December has been a super busy month for us. But, when we were asked to fly down to see Grammy and Grampy in their newly renovated house, we couldn't say no. So we packed our bags and flew on an airplane down to California for a few days. I wish I had more pictures to show from the trip, but we all got the flu while we were there... so we only got one days worth of pictures. And that happened to be the day that Noah and I got to go to Pretend City with Aunt Becky and a boy that she nanny's for named Calvin. It was really fun making a new friend and running around a miniature city doing "jobs" together and earning a "paycheck" to cash out at their ATM's.

Designing their boats to sail in the "lake".

Driving his boat... by using a gun that blew air into the sails of his boat.

Being a dentist.

Crusin' in a bimmer (only in Southern California...)

Being a gas station attendant.

Shopping for food...

Checking out...

And running off to an emergency with Calvin.

I'm so glad that they were the ones on duty that day!

And then this happened...

He hid behind the curtain and I panicked because I thought he had run off... but no. He was just getting dressed for his night job. A DJ-ing Polar Bear.

The rest of our trip was mostly hanging around Grammy and Grampy's house being sick. Maybe not the ideal vacation, but being with family and friends is priceless... even if we're not at our best. And I am so grateful that we had such wonderful family to take care of us, and that they didn't get sick!

Friends

When we first moved to Oregon a few years ago it was a lonely beginning. We had so much going on that it was hard to find the time to get to know anyone. Things like finding a house before we had Levi, moving into said house, having Levi, getting settled into the house, replacing all the windows, remodeling our kitchen...the list goes on and on.

But two years from that beginning point we have found some amazing life long friends that I am so grateful for. Friends like what I remember growing up with. Ones that stop by randomly to say hi, call last minute to see if we want to come join them at a park, have random coffee dates with the whole family, and having the honor of standing with them on their wedding day. I am so grateful to be close to family, and I am also grateful for friends that feel like family too.

Sarah and Tim's Wedding

Christmas Concert and Dessert with the Marshells and Hemphills

Coffee Date with the Gentry Family

Park with the friends

Advent

December is here and thus, we have decided to finally start an advent tradition. We were on our way home from Nana and Papa's house and I started the conversation with Noah (and Levi) about what advent was, why we were going to do it, and why it was important:

Me: Hey boys, tonight when we get home we are going to do something called, "advent."

Levi: ok.

Noah: what is advent?

Me: It's a special time of year leading up to Christmas, where we read our Bibles and get ready to celebrate Jesus. We read special stories that remind us of why we needed Jesus to come rescue us and help us remember that Christmas is about Jesus, not about presents.

Levi: ok.

Noah: oh yeah. I love that story. Where the angel comes to Mary and says, "you're going to have a baby and his name will be Jesus".

Me (blown away): Yeah buddy! that's exactly right! And do you remember what Mary said to the angel?

Noah: Yeah! She said, "oh boy!"

OK, now I get to brag about my kid for a minute. I love that Noah listens when we read his Bible and that he really soaks it in. It amazes me how much he is absorbing when we go through his Bible and how he can retell the story to me pretty accurately. I am so grateful for a kid who is hungry to know the word and excited to tell us what he knows about it. I hope that he keeps that fire and changes lots of lives because of it. I am SO proud.

Oh, and I should also mention that chocolate kisses in our advent calendar after we read help to motivate the boys to sit and do our advent story together. Because, let's be real... reading our Bibles is an awesome thing, but chocolate is a good motivator, too.

Thankful

This has been such a full year for us that it would be impossible for me to mention all the things that I am grateful for. But for a start, let's go with: family, our home, good friends, and our sweet boys.

Family : We have lived in Oregon now for almost three years and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. God spared us from so much moving us across the country from Kentucky (like how Drew's job would have been changed if we had stayed and how he would have been gone every other week, and then how a year into that change would have been unemployed because the company lost his contract). And now that we're here, we get to be in the same time zone as most of our family, with one exception, that we hope might one day change (we miss you Andersons!). It is such a huge blessing to get to watch our boys grow up with their cousins (hurry up Aubrey, Bryant, Stuart, and Emmett!) and get to see them on a regular basis. We even got to host Thanksgiving this year. This is a picture of the kids table, but I think once all the cousins are together we may give them the big table and have to pull out a different table for the adults :)

Our home: is cozy, warm, and so comfortable compared to the harsh cold outside. It has provided so much more space than we need and absorbs lots of people so well. It really feels like home and I don't think we will ever leave. We have some wonderful neighbors that we are getting to know very well and  it is such a good peace of mind to live by people you feel so comfortable and safe with knowing that they have your back. Like the time that our neighbor hooked up a chain to his truck and helped us yank an awful tree out that was in our front yard and had roots all the way to China-- thank you Don! Or that time that our other neighbor came and checked in on our psycho cat Pickles every day for a week and spent 2 hours every day with her while she scratched her and bit her-- you're the best Kathleen!!

Friends: We have gotten the chance to see old and dear friends and also make some few lifer friends that I can't imagine life without now that we know them.

Lee and Emily Sill. Lifer friends that we got to visit in Nashville for a couple days.

Aunt Kari. A good friend from Kentucky that lives up in Seattle now...

we love getting to see her more now.

Our sweet boys: They make my heart explode with happiness. Or a more accurate way of describing my feelings would be to phrase it the way my niece Aubrey once said, "I have sparkles in my belly!". They are so different but love each other so much. I am so grateful for how they need each other, play with each other, take care of each other, and laugh together.

  

I feel so rich. 

The "quiet game"

After quite a long day where naps were more "good intentions" and less of a reality... we still had to jump in the car and head out for an errand. I felt like I had two little birds just cheeping in my ear consistently with the LONGEST run on sentences that I couldn't even track with. It kind of reminded me of the scene in Elf where Will Ferrel is rambling on and on and right when you think he's done talking he starts again and says, "I PAINTED A PICTURE OF A BUTTERFLY!!!" *sigh* Anyways, I turned to Drew and said, "I don't know how much more chatter I can handle... let's play the quiet game! Whoever can stay quiet the longest wins."

And just like that our car went dead silent.

10 seconds later I am the first to lose the game because I can't stop giggling over the fact that it worked.. and so quickly.

Noah + Levi =1

Mommy=0

Batman and Robin

Tonight was the first Halloween that these two will remember... and it was a good one. We started off at one of our neighbors houses showing  off their costumes, then we all got grilled cheese sandwiches at Dee's (where Nana and Papa used to take everyone after trick or treating), and we ended the night at Jack and Sam's neighborhood filling their bags with yummy treats from nice neighbors, it was a really fun night.

The gang.

Anxious anticipation at the very first door knocked at.

Picking what was going to go in your bag was the hardest part...

And, I loved over hearing the conversation between these two buddies. They chatted the whole time and gave themselves pep talks when they saw older kids in scary costumes...

Noah: there are some yucky costumes over there.

Jack: Yeah, but they are just pretend.

Noah: Yeah, I know. And we're brave.

Jack: Yeah, we are. But if we saw real monsters, we would hurt them.

Later on... we were asked to go up to a door with some really creepy decorations. We tried to avoid the house, but the neighbor was standing in his yard inviting us to walk up. We didn't feel that we could turn the neighbor down because we didn't want to offend him so we went... but we gave the boys a super quick pep talk on how everything is just pretend, and that they are brave and scary guys are always afraid of the good guys because they know the good guys are always bigger and stronger. We told them to just say "BOO!" to anything they thought was scary... so the whole way up to the door we heard Noah saying, "BOO! BOO! BOO!... BOO!" He was so proud of himself for scaring all the bad guys :)

I love my brave boys. 

TWO

Levi, you are two today. TWO. I can't believe it. Time with you has gone by so quickly... and I want it to slow down a little so I can keep you under our roof longer. You are growing up to be such a sweet, tender, funny, happy, CURIOUS, and determined little man. You have an amazing spirit of adventure, and you love your brother like crazy. You're not discouraged by the word no (we're working on that)... and you're not intimidated by anyone... even kids that are much MUCH taller than you. But I'm not going to lie... I like that about you. And I think that one day you will be unstoppable at whatever you set your mind to. We just pray that whatever you decide to put your energy towards that it will be for Jesus. We are so proud of you... and can't believe that we get to be your mommy and daddy.

Here you are last year:

Here you are this year (we made you a pizza, since it's your favorite):

Love you dude. Our family wouldn't be the same without your spunky, cheerful, silly self.