Christmas Celebrations 2012

The anticipation of Christmas with Garyn was so fun this year. Plus, Tyler and I couldn't wait to announce the news of Baby #3! But as always it came and went by fast.

The Sunday before Christmas, pre-Christmas Eve, we had Christmas with Pop and Josh, Karen, Lorna and Lakelin out at my dad's house. It was our first group to show off the Big Brother/Big Sister shirts off. My dad was the first and he didn't quite let it sink in. I pointed out Ansley's shirt and he read it aloud, then said "Ohhh, I like your shirt!" I looked at him a little pointedly and his jaw dropped and said "What?!" Then when my brother and everyone got there, my niece saw them first and pointed it out to everyone else. I think everyone was a little surprised but excited at the same
time.

Karen, Lorna and Garyn

 

Of course, the kids couldn't wait to open presents. Ansley got the hang of it pretty quick.

 

 

 

I was supposed to work that night, too, and while I was there I got the call that I didn't have to go in. Made the afternoon/night not have to be rushed! We don't get to see my family as much as I wished, so its always nice to hang out.

 

Christmas Eve was spent going to the church service and then coming back to our house ( better known as Nana and Poppa's!) where we had Christmas with them and Philip, Kadie and "Mema".

 

The three cousins

 

 

Our little family, can't believe next year their will be a 5th member!

Philip, Kadie and Emma or "Mema" as Ansley says

 

Garyn got a Mariokart inflatable that he can play Wii in from Uncle Philip and Aunt Kadie!

Ansley was really getting the hang of present opening!

 

 

Garyn was so excited that he got K'nex track!

 

I have to tell you about these K'nex track sets. Garyn decided in early November, I would say, that he wanted more K'nex track sets to go with the one he bought with birthday money. He decided he wanted two sets from Santa. I explained that he would need to pick just one cause Santa might not be able to get both. One morning after that, he woke up and first thing and told me he had an idea: Nana could get him the second set so that Santa didn't have to buy both! Of course, Nana did just that. Also, she apparently "tricked" him. We frequent the toy areas at Toys R' Us and Target. After she had bought the set he realized it was gone but never put the two together. So Christmas, after he had gotten it, he told her she "tricked" him because he thought they ran out but she had bought it without telling him! Too funny!

 

                                           

 

"Mema" got lots of help opening presents

 

 

Ansley got a box full of play shoes from Uncle Philip, Kadie and Emma. She loves to walk around the house in them and somehow stays balanced! 

 

Daddy got an impact driver

 

 

Poppa with his new helicopter

 

We all got other things, of course. I got a purse, some clothes and that night opened a gift from Tyler and his parents both. It was a book of my blog! This blog! I love it and am so glad to have a tangible copy of my writings. 

 

That night was very exciting since Garyn is getting more and more into Santa. He had made reindeer glitter at preschool so we placed it outside to show Santa's reindeer how to get here. And while I was putting Garyn to bed, we even heard bells outside! He went to bed so easy.

 

Christmas Morning, we checked out what Santa brought. They were both ecstatic and didn't know what to say.

 

Ansley got a new doll, stroller and a vanity/makeup set

Garyn got another MarioKart set, just as he planned! he also got swords and a movie

 

Before we opened our presents we had breakfast. Our tradition is to light a candle and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

 

 

Present time!

 

Ansley and Daddy had some tea :)

 

Next, we drove to Georgia to have Christmas with my family. They were next to see the announcement!

 

Not sure why Garyn looked so unhappy...

 

We got there pretty early so everyone saw the shirts one at time practically. But as more knew, they started yelling "Look at Garyn and Ansley's shirts" to everyone before they could even walk in. It was so exciting!

 

Garyn got a gun and holster set!

 

We also went to Tyler's grandparents that night but I didn't get any pictures. It was fun to see their faces, as well, when Ansley first walked in. Tyler's cousin, Josie looked at me and said "Wait, what does her shirt say?" Then they all turned to look. It was a fun way to announce! I had to work that night so I didn't get to stay long which is probably why I had no pictures.

 

 

Christmas went by just as fast as it came. My favorite part was Christmas morning with the kids being so excited about their toys. I couldn't soak up enough of it!

 

 





Intentional in 2013

A very creative friend of mine has taken last year and now this year to focus on being a better person. She has used a word to symbolize what area she wants to work on most. I am jumping on board this year mainly because when I write it on the blog, I tend to stick to it!

I have always done well with my goal setting posts in the past and was already feeling an itch to start them again. When Meghan posted about her 2013 goal to Connect, I thought it might be a good way for me to change up my goal making while still focusing on things I want to get done in order to grow in areas I feel I'm lacking in.

I want to be more intentional with all my actions and time in 2013. I have always thought of this word to describe how I want to be focused and deliberate in every way. I feel this word puts action to thoughts and words. If I am intentional to do what I say and think about throughout the day, I might actually feel more successful and better about how I spent my time at the end of the day.

I want to be intentional about my relationships with God, my husband, my children, extended family and friends! We are also really working on our budget and I need to keep on top of it! Guilt tends to loom over me every time I fail to give my all to those I love; doing selfish desires instead.

With God:

•  intentional to have devotional and prayer time be a priority.
• want to truly focus on Him and His will in my life

With Tyler:

• focus on being positive each day; not giving him the laundry list of complaints
• watch my words, as well, to let him know I love him and am not burned out

With the kids:

• Want to be intentional about our time together
• focus on them and their words rather than try to multitask all the time

With other family and friends:

• Simply to make time for them and follow through with plans made
• want to intentionally pray for them when I say I will

Financially:

• Intentionally watch every penny I spend
• Be creative in ways to stretch the dollar
• Stay on top of my coupons, but know when enough is enough

Sadly, all of these areas are things I have meant to work on in the past. I know they will always need attention, but I have not really changed a bit from where I feel I started. So this is the year! I want God to be a priority, and not just go through the motions. I want my family to see a more positive side of me. I know I am not perfect but this year I want my words to match my actions.

This particular month my goals are to:

1. Continue daily bible study and prayer time
2. Write prayer concerns for others down and take time to pray for them
3. As well, I want to check in on my family and friends to encourage them when needed
4. Have at least one play date/lunch with a friend
5. Work on my attitude towards Tyler when I want to be negative or feel I deserve to be grouchy
6. Play games with Garyn and do bible study time with him
7. Read to Ansley daily and work on her flash cards
8. Work on cutting coupons instead of checking facebook status numerous times a day (AMEN!)
9. Do Ansley's hair bow holder from pinterest and stop procrastinating! 
10. Try to spend less on groceries/ meals and save for those miscellaneous needs that come up

I look forward to setting goals in order to reach my overall goal of being intentional with my time. I so often get into bed at night and think over my day wondering what I really accomplished that was worth anything. I know cleaning, blog reading, facebook and laundry are all going to continue but sometimes I feel those took up the most time of my day. Alas, the next morning, I repeat the same actions and feel guilty again by the end of the day. Ready to change that!
2013 seems like a great time to be INTENTIONAL!

Pre-Christmas events

Well I am finally getting to post about our Christmas activities! While going through the pictures, I realized we did so much, like always, and two posts will be better. This post is dedicated to the things that happened prior to the actual celebration of Christmas!

The kids had a music program at church. Ansley is in musicgarten and loves doing the hand motions and sound effects of the songs.

 

(This is not a great picture, sorry!)

 

Ansley did a good job sitting still, but thats about all she did. She didn't say or do anything but stared at the crowd. :) Thats why the moms were there I guess!

 

Garyn sat great but it was hard to hear him or any of his class really. The music was a little to loud for us to hear them. This program was the weekend after Thanksgiving so it started off our Christmas activities!

Next was the kids Christmas parties at their preschool. I tried hard to get a picture of the two of them and this was the best I got! :)

We made cupcakes the night before. A little chaotic keeping both of them from touching the icing but fun noetheless.

Ansley got lots of icing at her party though! I had to go between both classes and when I returned once, she was doing this:

She is always messy! She just started saying :"I'm mess!"

 

Garyn with his friends.....

He was a lot less messy!

 

 

 Love my two little cuties! I was thinking the whole time during these parties that next year I would have another to juggle around with me while attending these events! I love doing this and will enjoy seeing another little personality tagging along with us!

 

 

We did a hand print craft at home one day.

 

 

After searching through pinterest, I decided to make a wreath with their hand prints.

 

 

I think anytime you let kids play in paint they have fun and you get something cute out of it!

 

 

I couldn't get the picture to turn around for the life of me! But I thought the wreath turned out great!

 

 

 

We had Santa pictures made with cousin "Mema" or Emma...

 

 



I was so happy at how well all three of them did. I was worried about Ansley since she had not wanted to see him when we would just be walking by. But she did great! Even sat still long enough to readjust and get a picture of just the two of them....

 

 

 

This was also a great year for Garyn because he knew exactly what he was telling Santa Claus to bring him. He knew who he was, although he asked more probing questions as to how exactly he gets in our house. It was fun watching his wheels turn and his reactions to your answers.

 

Christmas eve and morning was, of course, fun, but I'll save that for the next post!

 

 

Headliners...

Well, I feel I have so much to update on and not the energy or motivation to do it all yet! So I'm going to run through the headlines:

Christmas was awesome and we enjoyed all those fun moments watching the kids eyes light up!

New Year's was spent at Disney World which was wonderful, as well. We can't get enough of that place!

Our biggest gift to our family was the announcement of baby # 3! We are still a little in shock ourselves.

So let those keep you on your toes until I can conjour up some time to give all the great details!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Just family and good food. Tyler gets 3 days off work and there aren't any last minute gift purchases, wrapping, and tons of parties to attend. You can sit back and enjoy your family's company and the days off. Don't get me wrong, Christmas is awesome, too! Thanksgiving is just a great start to the season.

Garyn's and Ansley's preschool does something cool and has a feast that parents and family can come to. The potluck food was so good, too! We also got to hear a couple of cute little songs 

sung by his and another class.

~My tall boy is in the middle with stripes~

~Wish I had been in a different spot cause you can't see him, but its still cute!~

 

~You'll notice Ansley's tongue is sticking out a lot in this post~

~Wasn't sure which I liked best :) ~

The next day, Wednesday, we headed down to my brother's house and hung out with them. They now have a goat farm and have had a lot of babies in the last couple weeks, so it was our own personal petting zoo!

~Ansley has no fear and would run right out in the field with them~

~These were the cutest of all. Great Pyrenees puppies, only a couple weeks old~

~Got to have a lil' tractor driving...sticking her tongue out helps her focus~

~Now for the real ride with cousin Lakelin~

He is becoming quiet the farmer. The goat farm started because he joined his school's FFA and needed to have a project. You can really see he has a passion for it.

Garyn likes being on top of these haystacks and pretending he is sword fighting. He seriously spends most of the time we are outside on these!

Thanksgiving day was spent with the rest of my family. The kids have lots of cousins to play with...

(sorry for poor lighting)

Most of the girl cousins like to flock around Ansley and dress her up...

~Lauren putting cowboy boots on her~

~Kaysie Lee and Sophie giving her sunglasses...she wasn't too sure about this~

~She just wanted to go be a baby in the nursery...we have Thanksgiving at my

 grandpa's church, if your wondering~

~Then she joined in some singing with Grandpa and Uncle Mike~

BTW Garyn was still over in the gym riding in those cars and 4 wheelers from above picture. The boy cousins tend to entertain him, at one point they were pushing him on a small 4 wheeler so fast I thought there was surely going to be a catastrophe. 

I need to go back to Ansley for a minute and attempt to explain what a tornado she can be sometimes. Or maybe I should say accident prone. Thanksgiving day alone, she sprayed clorox in her face; got acne cream all over her and her shirt; pinched her finger in a guitar case; burned a different finger on a hair straightener; opened the bottle and ate a Children's tylenol, then fell off the back of the couch. Thankfully she survived them all and didn't have to go to the doctor for any of them. When at other family's non-baby proofed house, well even our own for that matter, she needs constant supervision since she's so curious and well coordinated to do things. The very next day we went to Tyler's family's gathering were she only added to the list.

She got into Rachel's , our 11 yr old cousin, make up bag and decided she needed some mascara. In order to do that she climbed onto the bed, unzipped the bag and opened the mascara. I knew she was in that room where Rachel had been putting on her makeup, but didn't realize Rachel had left and didn't take the makeup with her. Once again, no harm and she thankfully only had it on her and not the bed or carpet. You can see she was pretty pleased with her end result!

~We got to see lots of Emma or "Mema" as Ansley says~

~Ansley loves her but likes to express it by taking things from her!~

~Spunky Monkey!~

~And here she is with Rachel. She isn't looking because she is wanting the candy on the counter~

Well, now its time to get ready for Christmas! We were giving thanks all week and weekend for our family and blessings. Now, we need to focus on our greatest blessing; baby Jesus!