Our Journey...: 2013

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

My little guy...

With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I haven't given a lot of thought to Nate's birthday next month. After reflecting about it this weekend, I cannot believe he will be 4 years old!!! WOW! He is still my little guy, and he still LOVES his cars...

What a sweetie pie!

1st Grade Christmas Celebration...

Jay and I both happily took off of work for ET's school Christmas celebration. The families were invited to come and build a gingerbread house for an hour with their kid. It was so much fun!!!

Check out the rainbow fruit roll-up driveway, the car, and the sled!

After it was over I needed to drop Jay back off at work, but ET begged for me to stay to have lunch with him. I ended up coming back. It was the sweetest day!!!! I am so thankful I could have the day off to participate!

Monday, December 16, 2013

It's official - We are one of THOSE families!

I never wanted to adopt an Elf on the Shelf. I honestly felt like it would be too much work. I ended up being suckered into it one day when ET wished, begged, and pleaded his little heart out. To make a long story short, we have a "cuddle" elf. In case you don't know (which many of you don't because I made it up), a cuddle elf is one that you can hold and sleep with. When the kids are away for the day, that is when the elf reports to Santa.
ET has professed his love for his Elf. He truly treats "Ryan" like a real human being. He goes everywhere with him, and he even told me "Mom, I love him like a son, so now I know how much you love me!"
Nate doesn't seem as in love. He cares, just not as much as ET. His elf's name is "Jack." (I am not sure where he thought of that one.) He giggles when he finds him in different spots throughout the house, but he doesn't carry him around with him all day.

I told you....They are inseparable!

On Friday, ET's elf left a note that read..."You made your bed very neat. Now check the fridge for a special treat!" The elf left egg nog and Santa cups! We enjoyed our special treat together while also enjoying homemade gingerbread cookies! The boys were so excited!

Thanksgiving 2013

Unfortunately, I haven't been all that good at taking a lot of pictures lately, but the best thing about a blog is that I can journal what we did each year for the holidays.

On Thanksgiving Day we headed over to Jay's wonderful Grandma's house for yet another AMAZING homemade feast! She really is something else! Everything tasted so good and we had a great time together. The boys even ended our time together by singing "Rudolph" with Uncle Dick and making all of us laugh hard! (They kept repeating the song over and over again and annoying someone in the room). :)

Friday, I refrained from doing any Black Friday shopping, and we put up our Christmas decorations. I love this time of year! The boys were so excited to take out all the decorations and toys that they had remembered from previous years. It was so much fun to see their excitement!

On Sunday, December 1, we headed over to my sister Becky's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family. It was cold and snowy outside, but we had a warm and cozy time together! Here is a group picture that cousin Mark took on his phone...