Christmas has Arrived

Around here, Christmas officially begins 6 seconds after the Thanksgiving turkey is digested. Ryan hikes into the woods, locates the perfect tree and chops it down Paul Bunyan style assembles the Christmas tree while I climb under the crawl space in hopes of locating the decorations before the spiders attack. We turn on holiday music, throw some cookies in the oven and bedazzle our whole house in a matter of 45 minutes. 

Ok that's the way it used to go down. 

This year? It's safe to say that while the the tree is now assembled {lopsided}, the banisters are wrapped in garland and artificial icicles don the gutters, it took a whole lot longer than normal to locate our Christmas A-game. I am going to place full blame on the germs the besieged our house and my own personal fear that the two newest members of our family would band together and make it their mission to destroy as many decorations as possible. I was right, at least on the latter. Honestly? I'm not sure if I spend more time prying ornaments out of Matty's mouth or trying to fish Harley out of the Christmas tree without toppling it over in the process.

Anyways, the holidays have arrived and they are in full swing. Need proof?

The tree is decorated.

Matty finds pure joy in grabbing the nearest ornament...and then repeatedly smacking Harley in the head with it. 

Tiny pine trees have found a new home atop the mantel {And that embarrassingly large collection of video games? Since banished to a bookshelf in the corner}

The Christmas village has been unpacked. However, Thomas Kersey's Coffee House {and the rest of the village} remain dark as it didn't take long to realize how tempting all of those cords were to two tiny little hands.

Christmas pajamas? Yep, they've made themselves right at home in the top drawer of the dresser. 

Good Luck Charlie has been replaced by Charlie Brown. Well, maybe not Charlie Brown, but other holiday classics...Elf anyone?  

No, Ty does not wear glasses...but he IS a pretty big fan of lense-less yellow spectacles. {Have you noticed, he's awesome?}

 

Finally, driveway bonfires? They're no longer enough to keep us toasty outside...hats are once again a necessity. Hello, Minnesota. 

I'm guessing that we'll have no problem getting into the spirit for the remainder of the month...it's jam-packed with fun festivities. I'm just hoping there are many quiet moments in between. Moments to soak in the season and just...enjoy my little guys. 

Our family has grown…

By one elf.

Zippy Charlotte made a grand entrance over the weekend and has been keeping us entertained with his Elf antics ever since. In previous years, we did not jump on the Elf on a Shelf bandwagon for several reasons, but mostly because the whole idea of an elf who watches over your children  and reports to the big guy on their behavior...creeped me out. It’s weird really. And the actual elf? He’s no Will Ferrell.

This year however, feeling inspired by Pinterest {and a little guilty that our fun family activities have taken a serious nose-dive since Matty was born}, I caved. I shelled over the $30 bucks for the elf, jotted down some “Elf” ideas to get me through the week and headed home. On Friday night, Tyler and I sat down, named the little guy and read through the book that accompanied him.  Approximately every 3 seconds, Tyler interjected with:

“So he flies to the North Pole?”

“How exactly does he do that?”

“Mom, he has a plastic face.”

 And when I told him that he cannot, under ANY circumstances touch the elf or little Zippy C. might lose his magic?

“Well…that’s disappointing.”

Needless to say, he’s not as excited about the elf as I thought he would be. Sure, he goes along with it, searching for the elf in the morning and reporting back to me on his nightly adventure. But over the moon excited? Most definitely not.

When Zippy did this? 

Tyler giggled but it wasn’t long after that he asked me when his picture was going to come back and that creepy drawing would be wiped away.

And I haven’t yet heard his response to this one as he had a fever this morning and was still sleeping when I headed out for work. But, I’m guessing he’ll be less than impressed with all those sprinkles on the floor. 

The kid is just too darn smart and a tad too serious. 

And I love him all the more for it.

Chaos

I sat down with the intention of making a little progress on the "photography" section of this blog. You know, add photos, contact information and maybe even a little blurb about my shooting style and how I strive to ensure "Picture Day" isn't awkward and uncomfortable or smack dab in the middle of the Sunday football game.

 It took me approximately 6 seconds to realize that wasn't going to happen.

I'm just going to cut to the chase and say that life lately? It has been complete chaos. Our house looks like its been hit by a tornado. No, not strong winds and minor debris...a legit natural disaster. Dishes in the sink, baskets of unfolded laundry EVERYWHERE and unopened mail piled on the counter. Matty is sick, Tyler is bored {thank you Winter} and Ryan and I? We are so darn exhausted tired. This week has been spent consoling the inconsolable, mopping up baby vomit and screaming "Santa's watching you!" six billion times a day. If you know me at all, you know that when life gets like this, I can NOT cope. 

1. I need clean
2. I need organized 
3. I need structure 

 ...none of which are in the cards.  

So, until Matty stops crying, Tyler stops complaining and the holidays are behind us, the smorgasbord {yes, I said smorgasbord} of shots below will have to do.

Happy Friday! 

Sick Day

While I certainly don't have the paralyzing phobia my husband does, I am not a big fan of germs. Especially when they invade my little guys. On the plus side? I get to spend the day snuggling and firing off work related emails with this peanut.

                                               

{Side note: the Galaxy takes terrible photos.}

Simply Thankful

 Yesterday, and everyday, there is just so much to be thankful for around here...

 

Mornings spent on the couch with a hot cup of coffee, two sleepy-eyed little guys and a husband who lets me relax while he makes Thanksgiving appetizers. 

Tyler is a given.  But the other one? Never thought I'd be thankful for him. But you know what? I am. That cat has become such a good little buddy to Tyler.

 

A healthy, happy family {don't be fooled by those expressions, it was NOT the worst day of their lives.}

 This mom/MIL/grandma. She ranks right up there with the best. 

Before being excused from the table to go play I asked Tyler to tell me one thing he is thankful for this year. His response? Uncle Tom. {Matty is a pretty big fan too.}

Grandpa Steve. Nobody can entertain the boys like he can!

 This boy, who like me, just can't understand what all the Black Friday fuss is about. 

 A sister-in-law who treats our kids like her own {she'll even clean up regurgitated turkey dinners. Seriously, she's that awesome.}

Grandma's mashed potatoes.


Parents. Siblings. Friends. Large extended families. Neighbors we actually like. Leggings. Parenthood {yes, as in the TV show and no, I'm not kidding}. Jobs. A roof over our heads. And so, so much more.

Matty: 9 Months!

Sweet Matty, 

9 months?! It is amazing how ridiculously slow the time passed while we were waiting to meet you, yet the days months since you arrived? They've passed at lightning speed.You have fit so seamlessly into our family. A son, a brother, a new little buddy.

You have both grown and changed so much in the past few months that I often times catch myself taking a second look at you and wondering what happened to that tiny black haired baby who once was. Your hair is blonde now and if I didn't witness it five billion multiple times a day, I wouldn't believe that you throw up three quarters of the food you take in. You have graduated beyond baby foods, 12 month jeans and the weight capacity of your car seat. I'm sorry to break it to you buddy but you are a chunk {at about 23 lbs}! 

This month has brought with it continued smiles, belly laughs and a new sense of curiosity. You have officially mastered crawling and can travel from the living room to the kitchen in approximately 6 seconds. I haven't exactly timed you but I'm willing to bet you move even faster when (1) you want to be picked up or (2) your brother left something tiny {and incredibly tempting} on the floor. Needless to say, we've all gotten quite good at remembering to close the gate and I'd say we're making strides in delegating the big kid toys to higher ground. Harley, however, is making zero progress in avoiding your death grip.

One teensy tiny tooth made an appearance a few weeks ago! I've been checking you mouth for a second on a near daily basis because you no longer sleep through the night. The truth is, you wake up 2-3 times and WE ARE EXHAUSTED. With that said, I don't think daddy or I have the heart to let you cry it out. You're just too darn cute, kid. 

Speaking of cute, you've learned to wave enthusiastically when people greet you. You'll even give us the occasional "Hi!" You're taking everything in so quickly and while we are incredibly excited to watch you learn and grow, I'm telling you, it's moving much too fast. I'd give anything to slow this whole thing down a bit and just soak in today. Please?

Love you buddy....to a thousand planets. 

The Highlight Reel

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a blog and began reading. Prior to that day? I had never read one {yes, I realize it was 2010}. I just didn’t have time to spend online and couldn’t understand the point of reading the life stories of random people clear across the country. Well, things change kids and that ONE blog happened to reference a couple of other blogs and in no time I found myself captivated by families who were complete strangers to me. Captivated by these mothers who cooked meals for their families from scratch, planned elaborate birthday parties for their children and managed to pencil in standing coffee dates with their college girlfriends. I was enthralled by the husbands that seemingly offered endless amounts of support as their wives attended book clubs and workshops and yoga classes. But most impressive of all? The meticulously dressed children who had a permanent expression of bliss plastered across their tiny little faces. Honestly, as a wife and working mother to a {highly energetic} little guy, I couldn’t fathom how those women wore all of those hats so effortlessly when I considered myself lucky if my child {I only had one at the time} was dressed in weather appropriate clothing and had fewer than 4 massive meltdowns before 7:30AM.

I spent nearly two exhausting years following those blogs and trying to determine what they were doing so right and I was doing so wrong. Then? I stumbled upon an eye-opening quote on Facebook {surprisingly, it did not come in the form of one of those stupid, over-posted greeting cards either. I know, crazy right?}

It seems like such a simple idea, but you guys…it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was a much needed, much appreciated reminder. Because at that moment? I realized that chances were those mothers were just as wonderful as they appeared to be in blog-land but perhaps occasionally even THEY threw caution to the wind and declared a “find your own dinner night.” Perhaps that ridiculously elaborate birthday party was planned to dull the pain of last year when they forgot their child’s birthday altogether {or not, but let’s just go with it} and their husbands ARE supportive, but also spend 3 solid hours every Saturday wearing a plastic head set and playing Call of Duty with random 12 year old kids. The point is, that simple sentence reminded me that people are much more likely to throw their highlights up on their blog for the world to judge see than they are those less than ideal moments.

Approximately 6 seconds after I read that quote I made the decision that my future blog {because someday I was pretty sure I would beat the procrastination demon and start one} would not be comprised entirely of highlights. While I want to remember the very few and far between moments when Tyler  recites his prayers seamlessly, without the interjection of fart noises and Matty makes it longer than a 45 minute stretch without covering our hardwood floors in regurgitated peas, I also want to be “real.” Sure there are plenty of “real” days that are also full of complete joy, but I want people to know that there is so much more to our family than what is portrayed in glossy family portraits and the "highlights" of our story. There are days where I am challenged as a mother, as a friend and as a wife. There are days where our house looks like a lego bomb exploded, in turn kicking my OCD into high gear and making me feel as if the chance I make it past breakfast without completely losing my mind is slim to none. And you know what? Sometimes, on those days, it'd be kind of nice to know that I'm not in that boat alone.

Rest assured, this next moment was...brief.