Peace Out 2016!

I'm finally getting around to blogging about our Christmas. We are currently enjoying the last day of our 17 day break from school and work. It has been very relaxing and it's surprising how quickly I forgot about all the luxuries included in staying at home. Such as, completing all of our laundry in one day and getting all the beds made in the morning! Woohoo! It's been glorious. I really have been able to get the house organized and attend to a lot of other nuisance chores during the break, which sounds boring but overall eases my sanity. The sane version of myself is much more pleasant, for everyone. And I have so much enjoyed all the extra snuggle time with my babies in the morning. We have spent many days just lounging around the house, any boredom easily cured by a tickle fight. We ventured to the movie theater and spent time with friends, including a play date with one of Lyla's favorite classmates. We also enjoyed our annual Gingerbread House tradition with Charli & Hali. Oh, and Max put in some hours (um 1/2 hour) at his new job. Hehe! I'll have to elaborate on that in a separate post.

I feel like our routine with school has kept us so busy over the last few months, this break has given us the chance to slow down and just enjoy each other. I think that's exactly what the holidays are all about for most of us, anyway. However, as Christmas neared closer and closer, I felt myself pushing away this undeniable feeling of sadness. I adore my little family so much and I'm truly grateful for the time we have been able to spend together, but the quiet holidays always make me miss everyone in Idaho a whole bunch. I miss the experience of BIG family gatherings. I honestly love bouncing around on Christmas to various family members houses. I keep reminding myself that life always comes back around full circle and I know eventually we will enjoy a Christmas in Idaho again... I just have to be patient. And patience is not my strong suit. Ha. In the meantime, I have been trying to appreciate all the aspects of small and quiet holidays. I think it's important to soak up every season of life we experience, or at least give it a good effort. Haha! It's tough for me sometimes, but life could always be tougher.

Okay. Anyway, I wanted to share our Christmas morning. Christmas day could possibly be my most favorite day of the year to be a parent. As cliche as it sounds, it is seriously magical. The best day ever. I freaking love being Santa Claus. Max woke first and was not in the most pleasant mood. Keep in mind, he is only three so a lot of this Christmas business doesn't click for him quite yet. He mostly follows Lyla's lead and/or level of enthusiasm. As always, he made his way into our bed by morning and I exclaimed, "Max, it's Christmas!" His grumpy response, "No it's not. It didn't even snow." I giggled to myself, then reminded him about Santa and finally he remembered. I got out of bed to grab Max some fresh clothes, because of course, Christmas morning he had to pee himself. As I was rushing to his room, he made it clear that he wanted to wake up Lyla. "Don't wake her up Mom. I'm going to do it." We got him all situated in dry clothes and then he bolted out of my room. So much for cute Christmas jammies on Christmas morning, right? Oh well. I watched as he ran into the living room to check their stockings, he gasped, then immediately ran to Lyla's room. I could hear him say, "Lyla Lyla, It's Christmastime. Your dolly!!!" They both darted out into the living room faster than you could imagine. Kirk set up the iPad to record their entrance, but the house was still so dark you can't see the image very well. However, you can definitely hear the little pitter patter of their feet running across the house and I loved that just as well.

We opened presents and by the time we finished the living room was complete madness. I'm always slightly disgusted by how spoiled our entire family is between all the gifts that get shipped from our loved ones in Idaho. But we are lucky they love us so much! We remained busy the rest of the day, playing with new toys and games. Lyla's main gift from Santa was an American Girl doll. And Max asked for a Batman Transformer. Apparently Lyla also asked for a black kitten, but Santa didn't get that memo --- and I'm not so sure he would have fulfilled that request anyhow. Ha! Regardless, the kiddos were very pleased with all their new treasures and we had such a fun morning. We enjoyed french toast for breakfast and set up our new Alexa speaker from Grandma Paula. I only mention this gift because I was cracking up when Lyla asked Alexa to get her a glass of water. She was so impressed with all of Alexa's other abilities, I guess she figured a glass of water shouldn't be too difficult for her to manage. Spoiler: Alexa was unable to fulfill Lyla's request, but luckily Lyla was born with these amazing things called legs.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to Charli & Jeremy's for a delicious meal and more gift opening chaos. Hali received a new trampoline for Christmas and the kids are obsessed with it. I felt tired just watching them. However, it really did the trick to drain their batteries, particularly Max. That boy is an energizer bunny all day long. We had a fun day and I'm grateful to Charli & Jeremy for always inviting us over for Christmas. I think it's obvious I am very devoted to my role as Santa, so my enthusiasm for cooking on Christmas has really been lacking the past few years. Sooo if it weren't for the awesome Stout family, we most likely would have ate..........boxed mac and cheese. Phew! I'm glad we dodged that bullet and were treated to amazing-melt-in-your-mouth ham instead. Plus, I can always count on them for one Christmas Day adventure, and being at their house helps with that irritating "lack of togetherness on Christmas" feeling that's been floating around for me this season. I know, you're sick of me whining. Perhaps I should call the waaaambulance. Is that joke still cool? Idk.

SO! TOMORROW is my baby girl's birthday. Did I mention she is going to be FIVE??!?! Someone pinch me. I know I'm going to be blogging about all that, so I returned to Slackerville to get this Christmas post wrapped up. As for wrapping it up, I don't have many complaints about 2016. It was decent. We are all still here, breathing and whatnot. I am feeling even more hopeful and optimistic about what's to come for 2017. I can still remember a time when I thought the year 2017 seemed so far out of reach, yet here we are. It is the future! I'm looking forward to more adventure, laughter, and LOVE.

Please enjoy these photos that I sloppily attached to this post............................you can mail your complaints to Slackerville, USA.

That one time Lyla wanted "just onion rings" for dinner.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR. HAHAHA

I asked them to yell "SANTA"

BLESS THIS MESS?

Sorry Tay Tay, I have a new personal make-up artist now. 

December is here! Is this real life?

We had a fun visit from Grandpa Rick and Becky this week. It was a quick two days, but I've learned to take what I can get. We have been so lucky to have several repeat visitors since we moved to Texas, so I feel like we have already cycled through most of the touristy stuff. The one new attraction I've been able to share with our family is the kid's school. Grandpa and Becky were able to enjoy lunch with us and see the kiddos in their classrooms. It was nice to show them what daily life is like for us these days and I'm fortunate to work somewhere that doesn't mind if I bring in guests every once in awhile. It's a pretty laid back atmosphere, both from a working perspective and in the classrooms. Also, as the ongoing tradition continues through the generations, Grandpa treated us to ice-cream after school. That will always be one of my favorite and most memorable traditions of my childhood. 

Lyla singing her Christmas program for Grandpa and Becky. It doesn't get any better than a private performance!

This weekend it finally started feeling like Christmas for me. We went to a fun party on Friday night and then Lyla & I spent most of Saturday Christmas shopping for family and friends. She is a good little shopping buddy these days, very opinionated too. Ha! Sunday included a visit to Santa at the kid's school. The school PTO organized an event with different craft booths, hot cocoa, and photos with Santa. I figured it was a good opportunity to cross Santa off the list. Lyla has been talking about asking for an American Girl doll for what seems like an eternity, but the moment she approached Santa it's as if she was starstruck or something. I was rather confused as she uttered the words, "fairy barbie" when he asked what she wanted for Christmas. I was actually thinking, "Uhhh Lyla!!!! That was SO last year." Max pretty much had the same experience. He has been going on and on about this Batman Transformer toy, yet he was only able to squeak out the word "dinosaur" when Santa asked him. *eye roll* I told them it's too bad they froze up under pressure because now Santa isn't going to have any clue of their true desires. As always, Lyla was quick with her response, claiming it was fine because she also wrote him a letter. I was unimpressed with the Santa at our school event and felt he could have been slightly more enthusiastic anyway. He even had a real Santa beard, so I was really expecting that kind of physical dedication to match his energy on the inside. It did not. 

I suppose if an unimpressive Santa is our biggest problem in life, then we don't have any problems at all. I have been thinking about this concept a lot lately and how our life problems are all about perspective. The beginning of the month really started out with a Scrooge-esque attitude for me, especially in regards to the holidays. It only added fuel to the fire when I started assembling the Christmas tree and learned none of the lights were working. I had a little tantrum over it. Then I gave Christmas spirit another attempt with some good ol' fashioned baking. Burned my cookies. Que tantrum number two. Oh yeah, and how could I forget the major pity party over the disappointment of my Christmas cards. It was obvious hibernation was going to be my only destiny for this year!!! Good grief, listing it all out like this and I am actually embarrassed by how pathetic I am. 

Okay. Anyway! Along with all my pitiful behavior, I also have these light bulb moments when these small realizations show me that my problems are not actual problems. We have a good life and most complaints are simply comical. My family is together. We are healthy beings. And my kids are so very loved. There are a lot of people in this world who would give literally anything for even one of those things. Que perspective shift.

And with that, my 2016 Holiday Mantra: Even if our Santa Claus clearly hates his job, our Christmas tree is [was] not shining brightly, and our cookies have black bottoms....this life is still so good. Merry Christmas! 

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

Dad was able to make a surprise visit for Max's Christmas program! Yay!

My Saturday shopping buddy!

These are my people! How did I get SO lucky?

Don't be fooled by his good looks. He was the worst.

We are so lucky to have such great friends in our lives too!

Christmas: 2015

We had such a wonderful Christmas! There were a few years in a row that Christmas brought on a lot of feelings of sadness for me, but my kids have most definitely helped me rediscover the magic that surrounds this beautiful holiday. We enjoyed Christmas Eve at Kurt & Olivia's, followed by preparing for Santa's arrival with cookies & reindeer food, then a Christmas movie at home. Kirk really wants to get the kids hyped about watching 'Home Alone' on an annual basis, which I think will be a great tradition. Max was especially interested in the movie, seemingly fascinated with the main character, Kevin, and his bravery against the bad guys. However, about half way through the movie Lyla stated that she was ready for bed because Santa was coming. Per her request, I tucked her into bed and she fell asleep in literally under two minutes.

Santa, along with his elves, stayed up for several more hours perfecting the presentation for Christmas morning. I had to laugh at myself because my own anticipation kept me awake much longer than I desired. I finally fell asleep and woke up at 6:00 a.m. eager with excitement, once again. I bounced back and forth between reality and dream land until 7:30 a.m. when the kids [finally] woke up. The first sound I heard was a loud expression of surprise from Lyla in the living room, I sprung out of bed to find her perched on the couch clinging to the 'My Size Barbie' delivered by Santa. I think Taylor caught a video, as she was the one who followed her down the stairs in the morning. Kirk and Max followed behind me, but Max was still very groggy. He perked right up upon seeing his gifts from Santa. I had to help both of them out to discover the treasures hidden in their stockings --- aka the best part. I guess I will give them a couple more years to figure that part out. And the madness unraveled from there. It was seriously so great. The morning was filled with true joy & we were all so very spoiled.

I have to stop to tell a quick story about the gift Lyla & Max picked out for me, with limited help from Kirk. He claims he was nothing more than their ride to the store and form of payment. I was teasing Lyla a few days before Christmas, asking for a hint to my present. I gave her ideas to tell me if it was something I would wear, something to eat, something for the house, etc. She finally said, "okay okay, I will give you one hint. It's something slippery." The moment she said that, Kirk started busting up laughing. I remained dumbfounded, circling around the idea that it must be something for the bathtub or shower. As he continued to laugh, Kirk urged me to think a little deeper. Well it turns out they got me slippers. Hahaha! Slippery Slippers. Oh man...so funny. I'll never forget that one.

We enjoyed doing absolutely nothing except spending time together and playing with our new toys on Christmas day. It was so great having Kirk home for some extra time off. We finally made ourselves look presentable and headed over to The Stouts for dinner. The kids ended up swimming afterwards, which is a Christmas first for all of us. I learned from my Google research it was the warmest Christmas day in Houston since 1964. I will always vote for a white Christmas, but swimming was still a rare treat, especially for the kiddos. We are so lucky that we've been able to experience the best of both worlds.

I can remember back to my childhood and my parents would let the Christmas madness linger around for nearly a week. My brother and I would take such pride in our piles of loot, as if we had won the lottery. Maybe my mindset will be like that when vacation mode is centered around the kids school schedule, but for now it is basically opposite. You can call me names if you want, but the piles begin to make me feel insane. I most definitely embrace the chaos on the first day, and even the second day I tell myself messes are fun, but the third day rolls around and I'm ready to wrap it up. Since we decorate the day after Thanksgiving, I feel like once it's all over I almost look forward to putting my house back to normal. Nothing against Christmas, I just become overwhelmed with all the extra clutter. Plus...it's time to switch gears to Lyla's birthday in one week. Hello!!!! We are super duper pumped about that.

Here is a link to a short YouTube video from Christmas morning: https://youtu.be/9i7Gl5r1beM

We hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! We hope you filled your happy tank to the brim!

Cookies Made With Love... & Possibly Saliva

The Kindness Elves have been with us for a little over a week now, helping us spread Christmas cheer in various ways. They have made some suggestions that Lyla has been apprehensive about, such as donating her neglected toys. She tends to favor their suggestions that don't require parting with any of her treasured belongings, like this morning when she found their note with an idea to make cookies for the neighbors. She was definitely on board with that one. Max hasn't shown much interest in the daily notes from the elves, but he still goes along with whatever we are doing. So that's how we spent our Monday! Olivia came over to help us make the treats and I'm glad she did. Lyla & Max contributed when it came to combining ingredients in the bowl, but it turns out they are more interested in eating candy kisses than helping to unwrap them! And we had close to one billion to unwrap. Thanks for your help, Bya! And for the reindeer antlers!

Max's apron covered in red velvet cookie dough reminded me of the TV show Dexter.

The cutest reindeer posing for a photo before heading out for cookie delivery.

Merry Merry Christmas!

FOUR MORE DAYS!