Christmas Memories

I have a ton of pictures from our 5 Christmas celebrations! Here is 1 from each celebration!

#1...the 23rd with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law!
Dylan has wanted Criss-Cross-Crash for months. Anytime someone asked him what he wanted he would say Criss Cross Crash. He was so excited when he opened this one up! #2...Christmas Eve at my Grandma's. Saylor and her grandma ready for church!! This girl LOVES her Grandma Shaver! Whenever my mom walks in the room she crawls right for her and if someone else is holding her she whines until she's in her grandma's arms. I am so happy that she loves her SOOOOO much because the 3 of us have many, many, many hours of shopping together in our future!! #3...our house Christmas morning! Watching Dylan help Saylor with everything and saying, "look Honey" or "what did you get Honey" and a little of "ahhh, Honey a new toy". It was pretty darn cute!

#4...Christmas Day at my Aunt and Uncle's house! There is nothing better than the love between the cousins.

#5...day after Christmas with Seth's side of the family! Dylan made himself a house with his presents! He is always building something.

We had a great Christmas and now we are ready to ring in the New Year!

Snowball Fight

One of the things on our chain link was to have a snowball fight.

Indoors, with paper.

That's my kind of snowball fight!

We waited for Saylor to go to bed then we got busy!

It was such a fun night.

Full of smiles.

Laughs.

Good memories.

Looking at these pictures makes me realize how much fun we had that night.

Even if the snowball fight only lasted 15 minutes, it was the best 15 minutes of the day.

These 2 laughed so hard.

They played hard.

They made memories together. Our house may not be picked up perfectly.

We may be in our work clothes.

We may be worn out after a long day.

But we made the time for our little guy.

We did something so simple that days later he is still talking about.

We did something that he wants to do over and over again.

We did something that cost us nothing, but that was worth more than a million dollars.

I often hear people say...
I will never be able to buy this or that for my kids.
We will never drive that nice of a car.
We will never live in a house like that.
You know what...neither will we.
My kids will never ride down the street in a brand new fancy SUV.
They will never come home to a big fancy house.
They will never take big, extravagant vacations.
But they will have so much more than that.
They will ride down the street in a car full of conversations, laughing, and love.
They will always come home to house full of family memories.
They will always enjoy a vacation, big or small, with the love and company that mean the most to them.

I know my babies are happy.

I know they are loved.

I know they have everything they will ever need.

And that makes this momma very happy and proud.

Growing

These 2 kids of mine are growing way too fast.

This little guy is already growing out of his jeans we bought THIS year.

They are very close to being high waters.

This cute of a kid can't wear high waters.

Off to the mall we go I guess. And this lady...just got a tooth on the top to match the 2 pretty whites on the bottom.

Before I know she will be brave enough to let go of the sofa and take a step.

This momma is not ready for that.

Family Christmas Party....Tacky Sweater Style

Saturday night my parents had their annual Christmas Party! Every year I am amazed at how much fun we all have together! This year we decided to have a tacky sweater theme! Everyone looked great! My parents also planned games from the shoe Minute to Win It.

The crazy group!! Dylan sharing a snack with his favorite Aunty Whitty!
Let the games begin...
Uncle Mike played one that involved cotton balls and Vaseline. He had Vaseline on his nose and had to pick cotton balls up without using his hands then drop the cotton balls into a bowl. It was quite funny!

Seth and Brady had to throw pencils in the air and then catch them. It was more difficult than it sounds. And these two took it pretty serious!Courtney and Whitney...they had to unroll the streamers, but the streamers had to stay on their body! They did pretty good!!
I can't believe I am posting this one...my sister and I had to do THE HARDEST ONE! They put Oreos on our forehead and we had to get them in our mouth without using our hands. We didn't get a single one. And we sure looked like fools!

These two are such good sports...they are Courtney and Whitney's boyfriends! Their game was called junk in the trunk! They had 6 balls in the tissue boxes and had to get them out by shaking their booties!! It was one of the funniest moments of the night!We ended our evening with a trip to Old Chicago to go caroling.

We were the talk of the bar!

We had such a fun evening! I am so lucky to have a great family that can hang out and have so much fun together!

Where's Saylor

Where's Saylor?I think I see her.

There she is.

Such. A. Fun. Age.

Ornaments

Each year I get Dylan a numbered ornament. Sadly this is the last year I will be able to since this is his 5th Christmas. So, next year he will start to get the son ornaments! Here is his last "baby" ornament! Kind of makes me sad. Another thing that proves he is no longer my baby boy! Hooray for me, I still have 4 more years to get Saylor one!
I love that our tree is filled with ornaments that have a special meaning to each of us.

Two years ago I started letting Dylan pick out a new ornament each year. We go to the Hallmark store and he gets to pick any one ornament. No help or persuading from mom! His first one was a toy barn ornament. It makes noises has you open and close the doors. Last year was a Hot Wheels ornament that also makes sound. This year he picks out a Tweety Bird ornament. And guess what...Tweety talks if you push a button! When he picks them out he has NO clue that they make a sound. But, they all have. And, they are all the most expensive ones! The kid has expensive taste..Seth says he must get it from me!!!

I don't know enjoys getting these out more each year..Dylan or mommy! I love seeing how is personality and interests change year after year with his selection! I can't wait to start this with Saylor on her 3rd Christmas!!

Letter Bingo

One of Dylan's new favorite things to do is review is letters using his flashcards. Ever since starting Country Side Preschool he is so much more interested in learning and I can see such a difference in what he is learning. Everyday I am amazed at what he has learned! One night I decided we would change some things up a bit...we played letter bingo! I did it old school style...homemade bingo boards and macaroni as the counters!!! I just used some paper, drew a very uneven grid, wrote letters and we were good to go!!
Dylan loved it!!! Seth and I would wait for Dylan to find his letter or realize he didn't have it to put our "counter"on. After a while he would show us where the letters were on our board before doing is own. Wonder if he thought we didn't know our letters!!

I am so happy Dylan is enjoying his preschool. We have never pushed him too much academically...we always knew he would get it when the time is right, and really why does a baby need to know how to read! He is such a little sponge..soaking in all of this knew knowledge. What an exciting time in all of our lives!

New Tradition

I love starting new traditions with my family.
Little things that we do, that mean a lot to the 4 of us.
This year I decided to do a paper chain to help Dylan count down the days until Christmas. We will start is December 1st, so tonight we made our chain.
First, Dylan had to cut the strips.
Next, I wrote different things that we would do on each link. Things like..
make treats for the neighbors
watch a Christmas movie
but a gift for someone on the Angle Tree
make a craft
go look at Christmas lights...
Once we had it together it was pretty long. Dylan was proud of it, but kept telling me that they use glue stick at school when they do this! We only had tape handy!Now, it is hanging in our dining room..waiting for tomorrow morning when we can take our first link off! First up..write a letter to Santa!!

Shutterfly

I have seen this on many other blogs, so I decided I would join the fun!

If you are a blogger go here to get yourself 50 free Shutterfly Christmas cards!

I love Shutterfly. I have used the site since Dylan was born!

I order cards from their site all the time. They have so many great choices and classic designs! It is hard to pick just 1.

I also love their photo coffee mugs. I order one for my mom and dad every year with a new picture of the kiddos.

I also love their calendars. They have become a tradition around here! I love flipping over each month and seeing what adorable picture I chose for the month.

And don't get me started on the photo books! I have made so many. One for each year of the children's lives, for our Disney vacation, and for a 1st Father's Day gift. I love them. And, they are so much fun to make!

Now to go and pick a design and a picture for our 2010 Christmas Card!

I think this one is fun and something new.

I alos love this card, but I don't know if I can narrow it down to just one picture!

I guess you will just have to wait and see when it pops up in your mailbox!

Uncle

This week I am thankful for my Uncle Mike.
You may remember me telling you about him last spring.
Oh, how I am so thankful for him.
Thankful that he is there to take his great niece on walks through the hotel.
Thankful that he is around to play with his great nephew.
Thankful that he is there for his big sis (my momma).
Thankful that my beautiful cousins have their dad.
Thankful that my aunt has her loving husband.
Thankful we have many more years of fun family times.
He is a fighter.
We need him.
Our family wouldn't be the same without him.
We love you Uncle Mike!!

Thankful

I found this idea on another blog.

I don't always follow the rules, and this is no exception!

I am a week late.

I didn't write them a letter.

But, I am posting it on my blog..and I know they will read it!

So here is my first "thankful on paper" post.

Mom and Dad,

I am so thankful to have you in my life. And not just as a small part of my life, but in a huge part of my life. Even though I am the big 3-0 now, I still call you daily (ok, more than daily mom..like 3 or 4 times some days).

You have led by a pretty good example too. You have shown what a truly loving marriage looks like. After 33 years of marriage you still enjoy each other. Love each other. Have fun with each other. And want to be together. I can only hope that Seth and I have as strong of a marriage that you've shown me.

You have also taught me how to be a good mommy to my 2 little ones. You have listened when I have called you hundreds (possibly thousands) of times so you could hear them laugh, say momma, ball, or to just listen to a funny story. You have given advice when I was at my wits end. You have complimented my parenting skills, and told me how proud you are of me and how I am raising my kids. And you have driven in the middle of the night to be by my side during the scariest moment of my life.

You have taught me how to be silly, make people laugh, and not take things to seriously (thanks dad).

You have taught me to shop like no other, be a good friend, and clean my house...well I am still working on that last one (right mom??).

I am thankful to have you as my parents.

eye heart u

xoxo

Big Brother's Toys

Over the weekend I was doing some organizing and decided I might as well bring out some of Dylan's toys we saved for Saylor. I will be honest, this girl is not getting a lot of hand me downs. We didn't save too many things...but we did save some big toys! One was this chair Dylan loved. He was 18 months when he got it. Here he is playing on it. Probably between 18-19 months old! And Miss Saylor playing on it at 8 months! She loves it! The music isn't working and she still plays with it. She can't quite get up there herself, but she sure does try!

And this car...Dylan got it for his 1st birthday. It was great for walks with Dylan. He is 1 in this picture, and without pants it looks like! Today my mom got it out of the garage and Saylor loved it just as much as Dylan always did! They went on many walks up and down the street!

I am so happy we are getting more use out of some of Dylan's toys! He also loves seeing his sister play with his old toys!

Our Halloween in Pictures

We had such a fun Halloween! I wish it was on a weekend every year!

We started with some orange pumpkin shaped pancakes.

Saylor enjoyed her first taste of pancake. Next we went to lunch with my parents and Ashley and Brad with these two characters!

Next, we played a new game!
My dad and I pushed Dylan back and forth in this bucket.
Uncle Brad would throw him the football at the same time! Dylan had a blast!!

Next we went to visit Aunt Sheryl, Uncle Mike, Courtney, Whitney, and Brady! It is such a treat when they are ALL home!! Dylan and Brady had way too much fun on the trampoline!

After that we went to Grandma and Grandpa Packard's house.

Saylor got a ride in the baby stroller by Darth Vader (just around the house..it's one of their favorite things to do)!

And finally, we came home and got in our Halloween jammies and went to bed!!

Such a fun day!!

New Student

Let me just start by saying, I work at an awesome school.

With awesome coworkers that are willing to take your class for a while so you don't have to miss things with your own children!

This morning Dylan's preschool had a sing-along.

It started at 9:15.

So I rearranged a few things at work, had someone cover for me and went.

I am so happy I went.

It was so much fun watching him perform some songs I have been hearing over and over again.

And he was the cutest Darth Vader ever!

But we had a few problems when I did return to work...

I realized I had a new student.

One that needed a lot of attention.

One that had to have a desk right next to the teacher's desk.

Luckily he needed to be by the teacher's desk because he's so STINKIN` cute!
Yep, Dylan spent the rest of the day with me at school.
I had NO clue they were dismissed from school after the sing along.
I had no way of getting him to his grandma's and back to school in time.
So, he joined me.
He did 3rd grade work.
He rocked at it!
We started with a spider...



He had so much fun making it (so did his 22 classmates).
He didn't even need my help.
Just sat there and made it (it's peanut butter in the middle of 2 crackers)

Then we made another spider craft.
Again..this was right up his alley!
He was very excited to borrow one of his new classmate's glue stick!

We also did our weekly estimation jar (he was only 7 off),

played some kickball (he got a home run) and duck-duck-goose,

ate lunch with the teachers,

and had a Halloween Parade!

He like the older ladies!

He was holding their hands the entire time.

He did such a great job.

He loves my students, and they love him.

He stood in line with them.

Would randomly turn around and give the person behind him a hug.

Talked to them.

Played with them.

My class was even nice enough to let him get a home run in kickball.

I didn't even have to tell them to be gentle...they ran with him so he went to the right bases,

ran slow so they wouldn't get him out, and cheered him on so loud.

I am truly blessed to spend my days with 22 sweet kiddos.
My new student was awesome...I know we're not supposed to have favorites as teachers..but he is my favorite student ever!!!

Sad he won't be joining us Monday..

but I do have a job to do...

and having a 4 year old around and try teaching 3rd grade would be quite difficult!