Christmas surprise

We had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. The boys are very happy with their gifts and have spent hours playing with them today. Thank you family!

We haven't done anything today because we are still recouping. Even the simple act of posting seemed tiring but I wanted to share one picture from Christmas. The boys in their pajamas watching the snow fall outside. We were surprised and thrilled that it snowed since we weren't expecting it.

Our tree is now so crispy I worry it will turn to dust if any of us even brushes up against it. I hope tomorrow we feel rested enough to get rid of it but it's really...really...looking sad.

More pictures to come...

Merry Christmas...

Solution

Ian wonders around the house carrying his Cars cars with him everywhere. Since he's slowly collecting more and can't fit them all in his hands, we had to come up with a way to help him. Aprons can be so helpful that way. :-)


Tonight we are headed here and we're all excited Great Grandma is going with us. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Mornings

Sorry we haven't been blogging much lately. We are enjoying the holidays, going to see light displays, drinking hot cocoa, and reading new winter books that we just bought (and one that was given, thanks Bonnie!). And I'm sneaking in crocheting in any free time I have. We are keeping very busy and aren't taking out the camera much. I did snap some photos of the boys a few days ago though. We've noticed that Ian wants to play more with Sawyer now that Sawyer's crawling around everywhere. Ian will yell to him from a different room..."c'mere Sawyer!"...and look to see if he's coming. He's sharing toys more and will even give him a car and tell him to start driving. This is really, really getting fun.

This is about 99% of the photos I get of Ian: blurry and driving fast.

Sawyer is now a pro at crawling and can move very fast. And in the last couple of weeks he's started to pull himself up on his knees. But I was shocked when he crawled into the kitchen and opened one of the drawers and started pulling everything out. I can't believe it's starting already!

The color on this picture was weird but it was so cute of him that I had to include it.

And already the big brother, Ian is cleaning up Sawyer's mess.

We will be baking and decorating cookies this week, wrapping presents, and seeing more light displays. We are really looking forward to Christmas next week with the boys.

Lights, felt, and yarn

Here's proof of Jeremy's work on our house last weekend! He did a great job putting up the lights and I'm so proud of him. The bottom colored lights are wrapped around garland so it even looks nice in the day time. Ian loves seeing all the lights on 'Ian's house'.

Our Christmas tree (missing several ornaments because Ian thought they were actually balls and threw them across the room).

I started fiddling around a couple of days ago with some yarn and crocheted some flowers. Well that was all it took...tonight I went out and bought 12 skeins of yarn to start a new blanket. I'm so excited to get going on it!

Here's a felt garland that I finished last week. It turned out so cute and I love the way it looks next to our stockings. I can't say enough how much I love the world of blogs. There are amazingly creative people out there and it's so fun to see what they are up to and to dream about all the things I'd like to make. One day at a time...

Sunday Random

Today is the 2nd Sunday of Advent so we will light another candle tonight. This one for peace.

This morning we went out to a delicious breakfast at a neighborhood cafe that we just recently found. Then we headed to the store to get some lights to put on the house. Jeremy is currently outside bearing the cold to put them up for us...er..me. And he's doing it gladly. I'll have to take a picture when it's all done.

Here's a few random pictures of some things around our house. I've been experimenting with our camera because it does way more than I give it credit for. "Auto" works just fine for me but really...it's been begging for us to try a different setting so this is me trying. Some are grainy and out of focus but I love them anyway.

Advent calendar

The ball of lights that I have finally been able to use this year.

Is it wrong to adore your salt and pepper shaker?

My favorite mug from my new favorite place in Astoria.
The best couch blanket...ever.

And I just couldn't resist...Sawyer was in bed and Ian was being so cute.

See the pacifier? This is toddler for 'cool'.

Christmas tree hunting

On Saturday we ventured out before the storm to search for our Christmas tree. We went to a new place this time and ended up enjoying pony rides and hot cocoa as well as finding the perfect tree.

We weren't sure if Ian would ride the pony by himself but he did!

We were trying to get him to smile for the camera but he wouldn't. I think he was concentrating on not falling off.

Sawyer all bundled up because it was cold out. It had snowed earlier that morning but unfortunately none of it stuck around.

Searching for that elusive perfect tree...

Taking time out for a quick picture.

Ian told us he found the tree he wanted.

But we convinced him that we should take a little bigger one home. And here she is...

Taking advantage of all the mud before we headed in for hot cocoa.