Christmas 2015

We had a great Christmas this year.  It's hard to switch life-long traditions.  For my entire life before Luke and I were married, my Christmas morning and day consisted of a super relaxing eat-cookies-for-breakfast, stay-in-jammies-all-day.  Luke's side of the family is pretty much the opposite.  About 9am on Christmas morning everyone gathers for a big family and friends breakfast.  While I like the idea, actually doing it has been more of a challenge for me, especially since the last 5 years it has taken place at our house, and also because Luke is usually gone at his dad's cooking when the boys get up and I call him to come home.  Having kids and letting go of the idea that Christmas morning should be spent with them opening presents and having as much time to play with their new toys as their little hearts desire while Luke and I look on has been hard to let go of.  It's taken years, literally, to adjust (although in my defense I only get one shot at it each year), but this year was truly great.  I am no longer sleep deprived from being up with babies in the night which, takes a toll.  It takes a while to change habits, to adjust to new things, especially when you don't anticipate that they'll ever change.  This year was the first year that I really felt like this is our Christmas now.  Not like I was just "doing something different".   This is our family tradition.  Just like I had Christmas Eve celebration with my Nana, cousins, and Aunt and Uncle, and then Christmas Day at home, the boys now have their Christmas morning breakfast and celebration with their grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles.  They're going to love it.  THIS is Christmas now.  The breakfast is the part they're going to look forward to each year.  Getting to play with their cousins and see everyone and talk about what they got for Christmas.  I'm sure all this sounds silly, but it was a big year for me.  My heart is full!      

Opening their tickets to Monster Jam!

Christmas night we went to Rebecca's for dinner.  Will said he wasn't feeling well.  At dinner he sat by Rebecca and she was helping him dish his food.  I told her a few green beans, a little corn, a small piece of ham, etc. as things came around.  She took it all literally and this is what his plate looked like.  ha! We joked that times were tough this year....  

Lo and behold, he cleaned his plate!  And got an amazing cupcake for all his hard work.  And then amazingly, he felt all better.  

Sweet Dane boxed up some treasures he cut up for Mom and Dad.  :)  

Dane's First Fieldtrip

I was so grateful to be able to take the day off and go on Dane's first school fieldtrip. We went to the children's museum. Had a great time. 

On the bus

Enjoying the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles exhibit with Douglas, the other little boy who was with us for the day.  

 We saw a live performance at the Lilly theater while we were there. 

And of course went down the slide by the water clock. 

Great day with my little love. 

Reese and Missy feeling the love. They do this each day. Missy head butts Reesy, then sometimes attacks her (sorry Reese!)   

 

Brought the boys up to Greenwood to watch a helicopter set air handlers on the new Costco where Luke is working currently. Pretty neat to see...except Dane slept through it. 

Christmas Eve 2015

Christmas Eve. The boys are so excited! With our Santa scare this year, I am reminded that as with most things parenting, just as sure as I get decent at something, things change. I feel like I finally have the traditions down. The cookies for Santa, the letters, the Elf, the specific books we read, and on and on, and then Will's little "friend" goes and almost blows the whole thing! (I'll post about that soon)  So I'm savoring every moment this year with my sweet boys and we read three Christmas books tonight. One of them being the one we do actually read each year. My mom gave us The Night Before Christmas pop-up book that we read each Cristmas Eve and the boys loved it as much as ever. They picked their favorite pages: 

Dane

Will:

And Brinkley spent the night with us tonight so that was a bonus. 

(Poor Will's poison ivy. He is icing it...again, next post :(

Go Big Red

First IU game for Mr. Dane tonight. We had a date. :) Thanks Nana and Grandpa for the tickets! I love my littlest man ❤️

Missy Cat

Her favorite place to lay is on freshly folded clean laundry. 

Great Day!

These are the moments I love most. When things are quiet and relaxed. This day has been perfect!   We got up and the boys watched a movie while I picked up (puttered around, it's in my genes- thanks Mama) and then the boys cleaned out the garage while I cleaned a corner that's been needing it for a while. Then we all took a nap. Love family naps! Then we all took a walk with Papaw. And not to mention it was close to 70 degrees today, December 12!!  (and now it can snow anytime, thank you)  

Now Will and I are hanging out (he's playing xbox while I read) while Daddy and Dane went to pick up chinese for dinner.  I love my boys!❤️

Toffee Elf

My little elf is helping me with the first batch of toffee this year 

Fur Babies

My view on the treadmill, like usual :). I love my fur babies! 

(Roscoe is almost always guarding me- facing away from me pointed toward the door. Including right now as I am posting this. What a good boy.)

Snowy Glowy

Snowy Glowy arrived from the North Pole last night.  Apparently he wasn't in the Christmas spirit yet this year :/. Is still don't think he is, but the boys had stopped asking if he was going to be coming this year so I guess he figured it was now or never. 

This morning Dane came to me and told me, very seriously, "Mom, I don't know if Will is going to be on the nice list or the naughty list." 

Football 2015

I don't think I ever posted at the end of Will's football season.  He had been hot and cold about football over the past couple of years (as have I- dangerous game!) but he decided to play this year.  Tackle for the first time.  He was on team Hoosiers which was fun (for me.  Not for Luke:) He did so well.  He tried so hard and he did awesome.  He had a few really great tackles and he scored a touchdown.  His team won the overall Championship.  It was so neat to see these little boys playing this big guy game.  They learned plays, they were expected to keep their attention on the game and not horse around, they were expted to give it their all.  His coaches was amazing, I really liked them.  They yelled when it was appropriate/deserved and they were so respecful and great with the kids.  The boys would be practicing and running play after play.  Running laps if they weren't paying attention.  All serious.  Then they would take a water break and start horsing around.  They would all start tackling each other.  One after another, knocking each other down.  Seeing all these little boys dressed in their football pads, helmets, jerseys, playing this game that is complex (comparatively, to other kids sports) was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.  

On our way to one of his games.  Luke took this and said when he got out his phone to take the picture we were holding hands.   But then we weren't.  :)  Still love it.      

His HOOSIERS team

End of their last game.  Won the championship! 

Will was invited to play on the All-Star travel team.  They hand pick kids to make one team from Martinsville to play in travel tournaments.  It was pretty cool for him to make the team, especially his first year.  Most of the other kids had been playing two/three years already.  

They played in two tournaments.  One in Decatur and one in Mooresville.  Both tournaments had initial games where they evaluated the teams to figure out the seeds for the tournament.  Then once the tournament started it was sudden death.   In both tournaments they came in 2nd which was really great.  They got to play in both final games which was fun.  It was so neat for Will to be on a team where he was with other kids like him.  Tough.  Ready to play serious.  Hard-working.  Once again, his coaches were great.  They told him when he did a great job and told him when he needed to do something differently.  Luke and I both felt like Will was ready for this next step in athletics.  He has had a great time playing soccer and basketball through the Y.  It's a great beginning to team play.  But he was ready for this next step.  It was a great experience.    

Will really fell in love with the game.  He would come home from school and play in the front yard as long as I would let him.  He is so sweet.  

He was also named player of the week and was recognized at the high school game.  :)

His final game. 

There was a rainbow before the game started.  My Nana came :)  THen it proceeded to rain the entire game.  We were soaked and freezing.  I definitely got my first lesson in fan Ins & Outs.  Some things I have learned (unfortunately didn't quite take these to heart until the season was over)... Always have many warm blankets, gloves and hats in car at all times.  Always have two umbrellas.  Always have spare towels to wipe off wet bleachers.  Always have money on hand to pay entrance fees and concession purchases.   I don't think PaPaw missed a game.  Opa and Oma, Nana and Grandpa, and Aunt Terri and Uncle Mike also came to a lot of them.  Sat through the rain, wind, heat.  You name it.  

 

Last picture after their last game.  The Martinsville 2015 All-Stars. 

Coach Prosser and Will. 

Thanksgiving 2015

We were excited to get up to Michigan again this year for Thanksgiving - especially as we weren't able to come last year.  It is also our first trip in the new car - and we were packed to the gills!  Good thing I have an expert packer as a husband :)  

Will decided to start out the trip doing a math workbook.  Cutie!   Dane still was battling a stomach bug that he had had for a few days at that point. (hence the towels under him and his sidekick bowl)

Dane and I decided to do a little decorating. 

This was my first attempt at making the whole Thanksgiving meal by myself.  Everything turned out well!  I brought backup instant gravy and pre-made rolls just in case, and I'm happy to report that I didn't need them.  The only problem was that Dane was still getting over this stomach bug, so he ate enough to feed a small bird. And an hour or so before the meal was ready Will said he just wanted to go to sleep. Hmm. When we woke him up to eat he kept saying he was just so tired.  He ate a roll.  One roll.  (and soon we realized he was coming down with the dreaded stomach bug:(   Luke doesn't really care for turkey so he only ate a little bit.  So literally we ate our meal and hardly put even a small dent in the food.  Luckily, my favorite meal ever is leftover turkey on the homemade rolls.  

The loves of my life.  My heart is full. 

Reesy even got her own Thanksgiving dinner.  :)  (of plate leftovers - of which we had plenty!)

We adopted MissyCat from a shelter near here.  I swear she LOVES Michigan.  Almost like she knows she's home.  She loves going out on the porch.  When it's just the 4 of us here (she gets shy when others are here) she is all over the place.  She even laid on my lap!  She never does that. Poor Reesy didn't know what to think. 

With Will being sick, he took up his post upstairs.  I decided it was time he was introduced to Gremlins.   We watched it together.  :)  I kept asking him if he thought it was scary.  A little, he said.  But he liked it. 

The beautiful lake on Friday.  

My Trailblazer

We got our Trailblazer when I was pregnant with Will. It has had its fair share of problems over the years, but overall I have loved that car. It has been the perfect car to tote around babies and toddlers. It was safe (911 would be called if airbags deployed), it had a DVD player (best invention known to man) and it was spacious and comfortable. Recently the check engine light came on and I had ignored it for a few weeks. Also, my brakes seemed like they were pulling (Luke said they looked ok, so we weren't sure what the problem was) and on top of that, I was noticing a strange smell. We took it into the dealer and the estimate to get it fixed was more than what Luke and I wanted to pay. So we took it to a mechanic and after he'd had it for a week he looked at at Luke and said "if it were mine I'd trade it in". Luke had been eyeing the Jeep Renegade.  Last Friday we went to look at it and immediately I knew it would be too small for our family of four that includes two rapidly growing boys. But we saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee that caught our eye. We test drove it but we weren't sure (Luke hadn't talked to the machanic at that point and I was still kind of hoping we could have our Trailblazer fixed). The next morning was when Luke talked with the mechanic and we found out the extent of the estimate and problems. Then it all seemed to fall into place, quickly.  We took my car home, cleaned it out, took it to the dealer and viola! (The day was a bit more complicated than that - Will developed a scary cough that morning, I took him to dr. Croup diagnosis. First snow of the season that day. Etc ,etc)  Our old Trailblazer served us well.  I loved it.  But we are pretty excited about this new addition!!

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