Christmas Day 2014

Christmas morning finally arrived. The plan was to open gifts at home as a family and then head over to Dustin’s parent’s house. Since Everett and Reid are too little to know what day it is the day started like any other. For Christmas we had bought our drum loving little boy a drum set and we were pretty excited to give it to him. We decided the best route was to preassemble it and sit it under the tree for him to see. When it was time I sat in the Living Room with the camera and Dustin let him loose. Unfortunately he didn’t understand and ran into the bathroom instead of the tree but once he understood he raced for the drums and began to play them immediately.

Christmas Eve 2014

Christmas Eve was spent at my parent’s house with my family which meant all four of my brothers, my sister, parents and my brother’s fiancée. It was relaxing, except for trying to keep Everett out of the dog’s food bowl, and simple which pretty much meant it was perfect.

Christmas Pictures 2014

Last Christmas my sister-in-law threw out the idea of having pictures of the grandkids done as a Christmas gift for Dustin’s parents. Because it turned out to be such a great gift that we all enjoyed this Christmas it was a unanimous decision to do it again.

Like that last year we turned our house into a very make shift photo studio and Dustin took the pictures. And this year we included the grandparents. Unlike last year we had added an additional kid, Reid, to the mix and because of his age, Everett had no desire to sit still. Dustin and I tried to get a few shots of the boys before everyone arrived and managed to get a few.

Insta Post: Catching Up

Before I get to ahead of myself I decided I better post this draft I've been sitting on. The pictures are "old" but I want to blog them because I am so afraid I will lose the pictures I post and some of them are worth keeping.

The best part of the day is starting my mornings with two little cuties named Everett and Reid. Plus a cup of coffee. Every morning I am reminded that I am blessed to have the privilege to stay home with my boys.

Highlight Reel: Enjoying

Our household lately has also been home to a cold that has passed itself around for the past few weeks. We’ve all gotten it at least once, some of us more than that. So in between blowing our own noses and trying to recover we’ve been caring for miserable and sick babies. This has meant staying in more often than normal and a lot less sleep at night. Despite this there have still been enjoyable moments and so this post is all about slowing down and enjoying those moments.

Enjoying: Watching my three guys together.

Snow & Santa

There are two things one looks forward to when December arrives. Snow and Santa.

Undeck the Halls

We were going to have a new family tradition, one that I remembered my own family had when I was growing up. After Thanksgiving the Fall decorations were taken down, put away and all of the Christmas decorations were pulled from their year long storage and Christmas slowly made it’s way through the house. Christmas music played in the background, cookies made together that day were served along with hot apple cider and the whole family gathered around the Christmas tree hanging ornaments from the years past. It was one of my favorite moments of the Christmas season and I so wanted to recreate that for my own little family.