Happiness and Cheer

Christmas was wonderful. It was so fun to have Joe understand, and be excited for Santa to come. My parents' family is still small enough we can all stay in one house and spend the Christmas Eve and Day together.

Lily, being silly.

Will was most excited about the graham cracker Santa gave him in his stocking.

As long as I can remember we have had special scrambled eggs for breakfast Christmas morning. My dad makes the eggs with onion, chorizo and cheese, and they are yummy. This year my angel mom made some delicious orange bread to go with the eggs.

The grand-babies in their Christmas PJs (thanks Ash!).

After allowing enough time for our breakfast to digest two of my sisters and one of my brothers took a little run. It was so fun. We were blessed to be able to spend this Christmas with family.

My Baby

Joe woke up from his nap today rather groggy. I don't think his nap was quite long enough. He was cranky, even when I asked him if he wanted a popsicle he whined "no" (I know, it's the middle of winter, but this kid loves popsicles, and asks for them all the time, even when we have just been out in the cold). So, I asked him if he wanted to rock with me, and he did. I scooped him up, he wrapped his arms around me, and we cuddled in the rocking chair. As I felt how small he was in my arms I was happy; happy that, although he is growing like crazy, and looks and acts more like a kid every day, he is still my baby.

(Joe playing with some of our Christmas decorations)

10 months

This darling baby is growing up so fast.

He is such a content baby. He just started showing interest in pulling himself up, which he can only do half-way. Although he has the ability to crawl the normal way, he prefers to do his army crawl with which he has become very efficient. He loves watching his brother, and laughing at the silly things Joe does. His laugh is one of the best sounds in the world. Bath-time is his favorite, he goes to town splashing and playing. He loves munching on animal crackers and drinking water out of a straw cup. He usually squawks to indicate when he needs or wants something. He doesn't like when I leave the room, or exercise with him in the room. The blender terrifies him, so we never use it when he is even close. He loves to explore his surroundings. He is one happy baby, and shows it with his sweet smile.

I love my little Will.

Thankful

Has Thanksgiving really come and gone, already? Well, it may have past, but I'm feeling so very blessed. Zach and I broke my family's longstanding rule of no decorating for Christmas, or listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. I will also admit that this was not our first offense. We put up our Christmas decor just five days early, and while we decorated we listened to Josh Groban's Noel album. I fell in love with the song, "Thankful" last year, and love it just as much now. Not only is the music beautiful, but the lyrics are perfect. If you have a minute, listen to it. And here are the lyrics:

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more

There's so much to be thankful for

This reminds me; to forget myself, remember my blessings, have hope, and that if I want something to change, even the world, that I need to start inside and work out.

The Feast

Oh, Thanksgiving was wonderful. We stayed in our home in Omaha. What a blessing to have wonderful friends to spend the holiday with! We had quite the spread, all the traditional elements plus some.

The Menu

turkey

mashed potatoes

gravy

rolls

stuffing

cranberry relish

homemade mac n' cheese

green salad

yams

sweet potatoes

corn

layered jello

Pies

chocolate cream

apple

pumpkin

Nantucket

pumpkin

topped with homemade vanilla ice cream

Delish! A few things to remember

• Let the turkey rest a little longer before carving to avoiding scorching Zach's hands
• Don't forget any dishes that were prepared the day before (cranberry relish)
• Don't accidentally put double the gelatin in only two of the layers of jello
• Serve the pecan pie cold (helps cut the sweetness)

We finished the night off playing a couple games of Apples to Apples.

Christmas Cards with Shutterfly

Last year, Zach nixed sending out Christmas cards to our friends and family. This year Zach has no excuses, because we can get our Christmas cards for FREE, because of Shutterfly's awesome promotion. I'm excited to pick our cards from their darling collection.

Some of my favorites:

This one is so fun and colorful

just picture Will and Joe's faces :)

However, I'm thinking this one

might be a little more appropriate for my little stinkers.

Or maybe something more traditional, and simple like this one

I really like Shutterfly. I've used them for a photo book for Zach last Christmas, and few a couple years now, my sister and I have done a photo calender for my parents. Awesome.

I may be one of the most indecisive people you know, though, so I'm going to have a hard time choosing from the many styles they have. And then I will still have to choose a photo!

Housebound

And why have we been cooped up? Joe has Roseola. I had never heard of it before in my life, but apparently most kids get it by the time they are two. Hopefully, we won't be discovering any other illnesses this winter. Thankfully, it's nothing serious, just contagious. So we've been trying to steer clear of any other kiddos. Hopefully his rash will be gone tomorrow or Saturday and we can get back to life.