Traditions

I enjoy traditions and like that I have something I can look forward to to each year.
This year I started a few new traditions that I plan to carry on next year.

The first is a good old paper chain so that Brad can count the days until Christmas.

The second is one we already have done-
A felt Advent calendar my mom made when I was younger.
I need to fix it up for next year, the string that it hangs on slides on the dowel and wrinkles the felt and it needs to be ironed.
Side note: Do you see what Brad is wearing? Yes, his Peter Pan costume. This is a daily thing in our house. :)

The next tradition:
A ginger bread house.
Mine was a flop.
I followed Martha Stewart's instructions but it was warped and there was no way it was going to stay together.....even if I hadn't made my Royal Icing too runny.

So there was Plan B, which was not as glamorous. But at least I had some Graham crackers and canned icing in the house! I was still able to use some of my Royal Icing to pour over the top and then the sides.

Here is the finished product:

I really hope that I can do better next year. I might have to buy pre made gingerbread but I really wanted to do it myself.
I'll have to research it I guess.

And the last tradition:
I made Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls with maple frosting and I am so glad I did!!
They were so delicious (a little undercooked in the middle, so now I know to bake longer next time- but still good)!
I made the dough the night before and the next morning Bradley and I put them together (the dough is wonderful to work with, I describe it as "heavenly").

Brad was very patient waiting for them to come out of the oven because it wasn't until about 9:30 that morning that we finally got to eat!
Well worth the wait.
I am definitely making these every Christmas. :)

I hope to carry on these traditions next year and who knows, maybe we'll start some new ones again.

All is Merry and Bright

Here are a few shots from our Christmas.

Sweet Tyler hanging out by the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.

Photos of the Brad in Tyler in some new pajamas.

I had to show two pictures because it is hard to get them to smile at the same time. :)

Christmas morning, waiting for Bradley to wake up.

Where did Santa's cookies go?
Bradley wanted us to get more for him.

This is actually a Christmas Eve shot of Tyler with his gift from Uncle D.

Daddy and his boys on Christmas morning.

I hope you all had a blessed day celebrating Jesus' birthday.
We had a lot of fun this year now that Bradley is two and it was extra special because it was Tyler's first Christmas.

Santa Train

This December we did a first with the boys, we went on train that had Santa Claus!
I made the boys matching train shirts, not in Christmas colors, so they can wear them for the remainder of wintertime.

Santa!
By the way, a train car filled with a bunch of excited children making non-stop noise, and not being able to see outside due to the lights on in the car made me a little claustrophobic.

Bradley talking to an "elf."
I guess he was not so sure about it. :)

Little Tyler was fussy at first, then slept for a while and then woke back up again.

He was a tired baby.

It was a fun ride for Brad.
The ride lasted an hour, we had hot cocoa (just warm really, for safety!:), a cookie each, the elves walked around and talked to everyone, and they had Christmas music and the story from The Polar Express playing on the speakers.
This was our second of three train experiences this Christmas season.

Maybe we'll make it a family tradition!

Christmas Decorations

I love Christmas decorations.
They are so beautiful, warm, and cheerful.
I made something the other day that I have not made since I was a kid-
paper snowflakes!

I made one out of thick, white drawing paper, and then the rest with tissue paper, which was much easier to cut.

I also made a "Merry Christmas" banner.
I did make a tiny mistake which I did not notice until after I took this picture.
Can you see it?

I promptly fixed it!
Thankfully the tape came off the back of the red "s" so that I could take the paper off behind the letter, turn it around, and put it on the other side so that it was facing the proper direction.
You should have seen me writing an "s" in the air trying to figure out how it should go.

I really love my nativity set that I bought last year.
It's simple and beautiful; all of the Willow Tree products are.
It has been on the floor (in a different spot than this, I just did this for a picture) and thankfully Brad has not bothered it.

This is my tree, from the outside at night. I just love pictures of glowing trees and I kind of wish I could keep a tree up all year long. :)

Every year I get more decorations added to my collection for Christmas, and I love it.
How do you decorate for this holiday?

He's The Best

For Thanksgiving this year David fried a turkey for us.
We love, love, love deep fried turkey. It takes about an hour, depending on the size, and it is so moist and perfect!

It's a lot of work for David. He sets it up outside and then after the turkey is done he waits for the oil to cool so he can filter it back into the container for us to use again. Then he has to clean the pot and anything else that might have gotten oil spilled on it.

I love that I don't have to worry about cooking the turkey and can just take care of side dishes.

This year David looked up the best way to carve the turkey so that all the meat was trimmed off the turkey.
He then lined it all up nicely in sections on a sheet pan.
While we were waiting for the rest of dinner to be ready he had this in the warming drawer of our oven.
He did this all himself- he's the best!

I'm so thankful he is our boy's dad! :)

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!!
It is a gorgeous day out today.
While Brad is napping I'm taking a quick moment to blog about this cuteness:

While I was doing dishes Brad climbed up on the stool, put on the ear protectors, opened the empty honey jar and dipped the flag in to get the last bit of honey.

Then Mommy gave him a baby spoon so he could get the honey better. :-)

Spring and New Life

While walking in a mall this past week, Brad and I saw an Easter display. There were bunnies and flowers and eggs. There was also a chair waiting for the Easter bunny (he wasn't there when we were) where little children would get their picture taken with him.

Bradley was very interested in the display, as you can see.

It probably had something to do with the bunnies that were moving. He was saying hi to them and told them "bye"when we left. :)

I definitely want to teach Brad that Easter is so much more than bunnies, eggs and candy. I have nothing against these things, not even a picture taken with the Easter Bunny.
But we need to remember that it has a much bigger meaning than that.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we could have eternal life in Heaven with Him.

And yes, bunnies are cute and so are painted eggs. But it's good to remember that they are a part of this "holiday" to represent the new life the comes through Jesus Christ.

What are your family traditions or what do you teach your children to keep Jesus at the center this time of year?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!
I won't make any resolutions but I will hope and pray that I will be a better person this year.
I am committed to working on my relationship with God and spending more time in His Word.
I hope to have a stronger relationship with my husband and communicate with him better.
I want to be the best mommy I can be to my beautiful little boy.
And I hope that I can be a better daughter, sister and friend.

That being said, I wanted to share the fun I have been having with Lightroom Beta 3.
I downloaded it a few days ago and I have enjoyed using it so much that I will be very sad when I have to delete it in April. :-) I hope I can save enough extra money to buy the full version!
Here are some photos that I have changed with Lightroom:

Waiting to go down my mom's driveway (I didn't have my four-wheel drive vehicle that day and I didn't want to chance getting stuck!).

A friend's beautiful baby boy.

First haircut from his grandmother.

This is more dramatic if you see the "before." Lightroom just made the sun flare POP!

Just me on Thanksgiving day.

Christmas card photo shoot.

Happy New Year! Hope it's as happy as this little guy's precious face:

Christmas

Christmas Gatherings

This year was my baby boy's second Christmas but really it felt like his first. Last year, he just was a 2 week old baby, sitting in his baby papasan seat while mommy and daddy opened presents.
This year, however, he was able to walk, babble/talk, interact and play with other family members. My husband and I had a lot of fun getting ready for Brad's "first" Christmas.

Here he is Christmas Eve in the afternoon, being a cutie, and interacting with his Papa. He had a lot of fun with my dad, his wife, and my brothers.

My brother thought it would be funny to put ear muffs (for protecting their ears from the noise of shooting guns- at clay pigeons, or just target practice) on Brad. He wanted them off after this picture. :)
He was starting to get tired. And he stole one of my dad's presents- all-natural veggie wash.
Next was Christmas Eve for dinner at my mom's house. My Grammy, G-G to Brad, gave him a Thomas the Tank Engine toy.

My mom got him an Elmo chair that she found on Ebay. We knew he would like it because when I clean my great aunt's house, he plays with the one there she has for her grandkids.
By the end of the night he was a tired boy, so we didn't go to Christmas Eve service.Christmas morning was fun. We weren't sure how he would be opening presents because at his birthday party he didn't seem to care much. I think it helped that he got an idea about presents from his birthday because he actually seemed to do better on Christmas.
Here he is opening a farm tent/tube thing we got him.
This is a Leap Frog magnetic alphabet set that we got for free from Pampers. We collect Pampers points when we buy diapers and wipes so I had enough to "cash in" to get this.
My little boy is so cute; he helped put an "ornament" on the tree. Can you guess which one? Nope, not the real ornament on the right, he put the ornament box on the tree on the left! I thought it was pretty smart that a one year old got the idea of putting things on the tree. I'm a proud mommy, though. :)
Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go.
Here is a picture of my little boy in the car on the way to my mom's house. We only opened our stockings Christmas Eve. Brad got his big present then; she had books and clothes for him Christmas day.
I was very excited about the Pioneer Woman's cookbook. Yes, this is the third post I've written about it! Yes, I'm wearing pajamas; they are comfortable!
My husband opening a shake mixer.
My mom got me a new jacket, and a gift certificate to Panera Bread. My dad got me a gift certificate to Panera Bread, too. I am very excited about those and I feel thankful because eating out is something I enjoy but I don't always want to (or I should say my husband doesn't want me to) spend money on. :-)
My little boy "talks" on phones and cell phones whenever he can! Oh, and he was wearing his pajamas still, too!
Christmas dinner at the in-law's. My baby boy was tired out.
He got a drum (there is another drum stick, he must have dropped it).
Tired baby. It probably wasn't a good idea to have him drink orange juice, water would have been better, oh well. :)
Back home; Christmas night.

Tired baby having some quite time with Mommy looking at the ornaments.
He had a blessed second Christmas with family. We are very thankful that we spent time with all of our family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.