Our Christmas Season

It felt like a really busy Christmas season this year, but we got to have so much family time. At first Christmas being on a Wednesday felt hard to plan, but it turned out to be great because there was just enough time before to get things ready, and after to recover before going back to work today. 

We celebrated with Darrin's immediate family last weekend. Miles drove us there. Darrin is the best driving coach ever and Miles listens to him really well. He provides constant teaching while Miles is driving. I pretty much just let him go and that did not work best for him. I have to say, I rather enjoyed riding in the back seat minding my own business. Carson sat in the third row minding his own business too!

Our group has grown and now includes boyfriends since my nieces are older. They are a great group of kids. 

Carson was very excited about opening presents. 

Toolboxes from Granny & Pa.

They've reached the age where readers are necessary to play cards.

Crystal brought her dog. If I was ever going to get a dog, this is the kind I would get. She was great. 

Ain't no tired like teenager tired. 

On Christmas Eve, we went back to Granny & Pa's to celebrate with the extended family. When I married into this family, we used to get together and play games and eat every month to celebrate birthdays. Then life got busy and everyone had kids. Now we only see the cousins 2 or 3 times a year. We played a game called electricity. You sit in a circle and hold hands. Someone starts the current by squeezing someone's hand. The person in the middle tries to find the current. 

I don't know how they talked Darrin into this. 

We usually draw names, but we didn't exchange gifts on Christmas Eve this year. Carson and his cousin, Emmitt, exchanged gifts because that has always been a highlight for the little ones. 

We came home for some of our Christmas Eve traditions. Opening their boxes is one of their favorite things. They both got pjs, candy, custom jigsaw puzzles, reindeer food, and cookies for Santa. Miles got the game Codenames. Carson got a book of mazes and the new Dog Man book. 

They put together a puzzle with the MLB mascots.

We had some special guests this year. Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jeree, and my niece, Anna, came from Texas.

It was so nice of them to make the drive to see us and visit all our TN family.

We always have the best time talking with them and catching up. 

Obligatory Christmas pj pic in front of the tree on Christmas Eve. 

Putting out reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter).

Carson left a note to thank our elf, Elfredo, for coming. He is the sweetest kid.

Santa came! He brought Miles a pickleball set, Carson a remote control monster truck, and a four square net for the pool for the boys to share.

Some of Miles gifts were a new catcher's mitt, a new high school baseball jacket, snow boots, cologne, and a push-up board.

Carson got a new bat, a silent basketball, baseball sunglasses, snow boots, and a suitcase. This picture sums up Carson's personality...wild abandon.

No net, but they tested out the pickleball set. I wish Darrin and I had time to play because I think we would really like it. We used to love playing couples tennis when we first got married. We played endless nights with our friends, Ricky & Mitsie, and those of some of our favorite all time memories.

We aren't really a tradition kind of family, but caramel French toast on Christmas morning is definitely one.

We enjoyed having Marmee, Granny, and Pa spend the night on Christmas Eve. 

What it's like being the only female in your house when you are trying to get one single family picture. 

Another Christmas is in the books. After Christmas, I got a pedicure and a massage. I call it my mom tax for all the work it takes to create Christmas magic. It was wonderful and it just might become a new tradition. 

The Christmas season is great and all, but now it's time to get ready for the best season of all....baseball season!!! The countdown is on.

Weekend Wrap Up

I've been having trouble uploading pics to the blog, but Darrin helped me finally find a solution. It's still a little bit of a work in progress, so just a few random pics from the last week-ish for tonight's post.

Carson had to sit with us in church because they had abbreviated children's classes this holiday week. He's always really good when he has to sit with us.

Carson is a major fit and feel kid with his clothes. Miles used to be that way when he was much younger, but Carson has held onto it for longer. I'm still hoping he outgrows it. I see glimpses of him getting over it, but then there are days like this. This is the softest jacket I have ever felt, but it he didn't like the way it felt over the long sleeve thermal shirt.

Shenanigans with Darrin and his cousins. I feel certain he didn't know what was coming or they wouldn't have been able to talk him into this. 

Carson is having the best year with two of his very good friends in his class. He makes friends wherever he goes, but this is the first year he's had some close friends in his class. He and Charlie (middle) went to daycare together since they were one.

Our Elf, Elfredo, was a lot of fun this year. 

I'm sure he was ready to go back to the North Pole because coming up with mischief every night had to be exhausting :)

Carson had his friend Max over for a little while after church. They played Legos almost all afternoon. Carson randomly gets on a Lego kick. He likes to build random things instead of putting together sets. Following the directions in a booklet has never been his thing. Totally opposite from Miles. 

Now for a few fun things we got for Christmas. Marmee got the boys ring holders. Such a great way to store their rings. 

Granny and Pa got the boys their own toolboxes with some tools. The plan is to add a tool for their birthdays and Christmas so they will have a full toolbox one day. They had a chance to use them already.

A friend got me a Hydrojug and I love it. As much as I love my Stanley, I love my Hydrojug more. I like that it's leakproof and the way it looks. 

Carson picked out gifts for each of us at Santa's Workshop at school. I got this which is proudly displayed at work. 

Miles has been having some nagging knee pain, so we took him to a church friend that is a physical therapist. He has helped both of us with our back pain and we still do the exercises when it flares up. I think Scott will be a key part to keeping Miles healthy during the next four years of baseball. As much work as Miles puts in, we decided it was only fair to make this investment so he could feel as good as possible heading into the season. 

Carson has learned how to make grilled cheese and it's his new favorite past time. If you are hungry, Carson has you covered. 

After an extremely busy Christmas break, I had planned to read all day since I go back to work tomorrow. Naturally that didn't happen, but I feel very organized and prepared to not only go back to work, but also to start the new year. I organized my desk area and moved some things around to hopefully make blogging more accessible. We'll see if it does the trick! Now it's time to read and soak up my last few hours of downtime before bedtime. I'm back to little to no proofing to save some time, so forgive the typos.

July Recap

July recap minus our beach trip because that will take more time to unpack. We celebrated Carson's 8th birthday. 

He had a pool party because I said when we put the pool in that every party from now on would be a pool party :)

I ordered cupcakes in my Walmart pick up and they gave us pink and purple because you don't get to pick your color. I had to go pick out some acceptable boy cupcakes.

It was a rainy night and kind of cool for July, but all of the moms were determined to check this party off of our to do list. They hung out with me in the rain watching the boys while the dads somehow ended up inside. 

On his actual birthday, he opened his gifts from us which included a new glove. Always baseball necessities for gifts around here. 

Miles started playing for a new team called Beast Athletics. More about that in another post. He was thankful to continue this journey with Tyler.

I was thankful to continue with my Tyler's mom too!

I had a flat tire and Darrin came to my rescue. It was so weird. I got the notification that the air pressure was low and then I watched it go down fast while I tried to get somewhere that Darrin could change my tire. Before I even got pulled over, Darrin had gotten the notification on his Ford app and was calling me. Technology is crazy!

I bought a hair halo that I will never use, but I didn't think it was terrible...just a little too fake on the ends.

Carson celebrated Charlie's birthday with the arcade and a sleepover. 

He's been waiting for his chance to go to a sleepover. He loved every minute of it. He loves his friends so much.

And then you can sum up the rest of July with baseball, baseball, and more baseball. The amount of games and the length of the games is intense at this age.

That's July!