Christmas 2014

 Well, all of our Christmas festivities have come and gone and although we're sad to see the holiday season to go, I was so happy to have my house back in order! And I finally have a few minutes to upload all of my pictures, which means blog time! Christmas this year was amazing. Christian was the most excited ever to see presents under the tree, we got to see lots of family and friends and eat way too much good food.

On Christmas Eve, we always go to Dustin's grandma's house and then my grandparent's house. My aunt takes family pictures every year, and this year was no exception. Our family just keeps growing, so it took a good minute to fit us all into the frame! 

After the festivities, we put the boys to bed and set up all the gifts. Luckily we had wrapped them as we bought, so we just had to take them out of storage. 

We were pretty exhausted after our long day, but we put on our comfy pajamas, grabbed some old fashioned cokes out of the fridge, turned on Elf and did our Christmas exchange.

I was the most excited about my new white dishes! My mom got me one set and Dustin got me another. No more mismatched hand-me-downs for this girl!

Christmas morning was a blast. We actually had to remind Christian that Santa Claus came during the night, because he decided to sleep in (of all days!!). We opened our stockings first and then headed downstairs to see what kind of goodies Santa dropped off. 

"Presents! Presents! Presents! Can we open them?!" He was pretty excited to say the least. Gavin wasn't interested in anything but escaping to the stairs. He didn't even care about the wrapping paper, which shocked me. He did however love his two new toys from Santa...for a couple seconds...and then he was back to climbing stairs.

After opening presents, we made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Christian didn't have the time to eat because of all of those new shiny toys, so Gavin snuck behind us and finished his breakfast. He was really sorry about it. ;)

One of his favorite toys was from us...a fireman outfit! Lunch made by a fireman? I'll take it!

Gavin loved the kitchen, too. Although I think he was slightly disappointed when the food wasn't real.

The day after Christmas, we took it pretty easy. Christian and I had "lunch" together again. Cheers!

Friday night, we went to a friend's Christmas party while my mom watched the boys. And no friend's night out is complete without a trip to Taco Bell! I feel like we're 21 again...except without the hangover since I'm not a big drinker. A glass of wine is all this momma needs to have a good time!

Saturday was a super lazy day (thanks to a fevery baby...see below) that ended with a family game night.

Christian won...again. We don't ever let him win when we play games, but he always manages to beat us anyway.

We finished the weekend off with a double-date night to Eddie Merlot's with our friends from Germany, but somehow managed not to take a single picture!

And that sums up our Christmas festivities! We are very ready to ring in the new year. We will be having a New Year's party here at the house with friends, games and food. I am pretty excited about 2015...Gavin's 1st birthday, some family vacations, new babies joining our crew and who knows what else! I'm not sure that I have any real New Year's Resolutions...I could say the typical "I'd like to eat healthier, exercise more, be a better wife and mom, yadda-yadda...", but let's be honest, I'm doing the best I can right now with two wild little boys! Haha. So I'll just say, my New Year's resolution is to do the best I can every single day. If it's not perfect, oh well! 

I hope everyone has a fun and SAFE New Year's Eve! 

I'm going to attempt to do a blog before NYE of my favorite 2014 moments, but if that doesn't happen....

Cheer's to 2015!

Christmas Eve Eve

On Christmas Eve Eve, we always pack up our gifts, put on our pj's, pick up Arni's pizza and have Christmas at my mom & step-dad's, where I grew up. 

Things have changed so much since our Christmas mornings growing up, but we've adapted to our new traditions and are enjoying making memories with my boys. Christmas will never be the same after the loss of my brother, but we are so thankful for Christian & Gavin. They help us all focus on happier things...and to watch their eyes light up helps us to fill that huge void that will always be a part of our family. Still, I miss him so much and I would give anything for the boys to be able to know their Uncle Cory. Christmas might not ever be the same, but we are making the best of it any way we can. Arni's pizza helps. And Cory wouldn't want us to be sad during the holiday season, as he so loved Christmas. I will take the boys to visit him at cemetery, drop off a picture that Christian colored for him, have one of those good & long ugly cries, and then do what he would want-enjoy our Christmas Eve & Christmas morning with family. 

Back on track though, we attempted family photos...and there were no meltdowns, so I won't complain. Of course, Gavin isn't smiling and Christian looks terrified. And Gehrid has the flu, so he had to stay quarantined away from us. No flu here, please!

Opening gifts with my mom is always entertaining, because she cries everytime. This year was not a let down! Christian passed out our gifts and was very good about being patient and waiting his turn to open presents.

He got a robot dino and was terrified of it at first. Once he warmed up to it, he loved it, but then wanted to hide it from Gavin. Pesky little brothers.

Mimi became Gavin's best friend when she shared her cookie with him. He also became the cookie monster and could spot one from across the room. He's no dummy!

We got home and I had fun putting away all of my new goodies. Momma always gets me the best stuff, and this year was no exception. All kinds of home decor, white dishes, a very nice bottle of bourbon for the hubby and a Home Goods gift card. I cannot wait to use these bad boys!

Christian & daddy playing his new Paw Patrol game...he loves it!

And because I'm sure I've received all of the cards we are going to get this year, my Christmas card door...I LOVE getting Christmas cards, so thank you everyone!

My new white dessert stand with my mom's famous cookies on top. 

And then there's this. Let me just tell you about this. Christian has been asking everyone and everything for a Batman robot. I don't know where this obsession came from, but he just needs a Batman robot or he'll die. Well, they make a Batman robot, but apparently it's the gift this year. No one has had it since black friday. And since we are new to this whole parenting thing, we had no idea that when the gift of the year is gone, it's gone. And the only way to get it, is to hope and pray one becomes available at the last minute, or pay double or triple the cost online because people are price gouging. So Dustin has been watching all day, every day for one to become available. We bought him a bunch of other Batman stuff in case we couldn't find this toy, but we knew it was the robot he would be waiting for come Christmas morning. Well over the weekend, Dustin found one. Hallelujah! However, we aren't sure when it's going to get here....so we're praying & hoping & crossing our fingers and toes that it shows up tomorrow. We'll see. If not, hopefully there are enough other toys to distract him from the one thing he really wants. And we learned a valuable parent lesson...buy the toy of the year early!

And that's been our Christmas Eve Eve. Tomorrow is a pretty calm day with just a few last minute errands, but then a jam-packed evening. We have Dustin's family Christmas, my dad's family Christmas and then Dustin and I do our Christmas after the boys go to sleep. 

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and if you're spending it missing special loved ones like us, here's a big internet (((hug))) from our family to yours.

Thanks for reading!

Lights, Presents, Family & Friends!

Whew, what a whirlwind week it has been! I can't believe all the things going on right now, but I absolutely love all the hustle and bustle. But it's important to take some time for yourself during naps & preschool to sit down and unwind...and devour a freshly glazed donut. I may or may not have also devoured a blueberry cake donut. I'm a sucker for the donut shop in our town, what can I say?!

We picked up big brother from school on Thursday and went home to set up our train around the boys' Christmas tree. They loved it at first, but then Christian couldn't stand it when Gavin would try to knock it over. He decided he would rather not play with it when "bad baby Gavin" was around. 

We started our weekend off with a trip to the underground MegaCavern to see Lights Under Louisville. This is absolutely one of our favorite things to do during the Holiday season. I grabbed the boys from their carseats (no worries, folks...you drive 2.5mph in an assembly line of cars) and let the oohing & aahing being. Despite Gavin's distracted and terrified faces, he loved it. He danced to all of the music and cracked up at some of the lights. Christian had a ball...he got to "drive" the car, which was the most exciting part of all for him. 

After the lights, we went to the roadhouse, where once again he devoured the rolls and begged for more.

On Friday, we went to C's preschool Christmas party. We decorated cookies, made an angel, played a guessing game with his teacher and chased after Gavin as he explored the classroom. He was like a little puppy dog...all of the kids kept following him around and petting his head.

After the party, we finished up our homemade ornaments and hung them on the tree. This is a tradition I started with Christian and can hopefully keep up with until they're mean teenagers who are too busy for their mom. Cue sad, crying face.

We played down in the basement, so I attempted to feed Gavin his lunch in the bumbo. This was a huge fail, as everytime I tried to give him a bite, he would throw his head back and forth and I would get sweet potatoes all over the place. He thought it was a fun game though!

After he was finished bathing in his lunch, he decided stealing brother's lunch would be a good idea. Christian didn't agree.

Mmm, toes!

Saturday morning snuggles with dad are always a big hit around here.

Saturday evening we had our Christmas with my mom's family. We always cook way to much food, open gifts from each other, play a $5 white elephant gift exchange and have one too many inappropriate conversations...AKA we have a great time. ;)

We also discovered Gavin LOVES pickles...FINALLY! Someone else in the house who can share my obsession.

My mom got a selfie stick for her white elephant gift...which was a total blast to play with!

After the Christmas party, we headed to our friend's birthday party where we got to visit with our friend who has been stationed in the army for the past 3 years. He is on leave now for Christmas and the birth of sweet baby Gemma, who is due any day now. We are beyond thrilled to have them both back in the states for a short time, and we're probably going to go into a depression when they leave again. Cue more sad, crying faces.

And we finished our weekend off with my dad's side of the family's Christmas...the Thomas'. I'm not going to lie, the attempt to get all of the great-grandkids in the picture cracked me up. Luckily, they cooperated for all of the other pictures!

And that was our festive weekend! We are so excited about the next couple days...there is so much going on right now, it's crazy! But good crazy, so we are ready! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and gets everything they wished for!

'Tis The Season!

Well, you could definitely say the Wilson family is in the Christmas spirit! We've been holiday-ing it up around here, and we still have so much more to do before the 25th! Just a little recap of our past week...

I took some pictures of the boys for Christmas card photos, and here are just a few of my favorites.

We had lots of pouts, painted ornaments at preschool, watched Rudolph, Mickey's Christmas & Frosty more times than we can count, and are eating almost every meal with reindeer or moose ears.

We visited Santa at Bass Pro Shop...both of the boys did so well! Gavin fussed at first, but then Santa started talking to him and he calmed right now & stared at him like he had 3 heads.

Carousel rides!

We had lunch at Texas Roadhouse, where Gavin has officially been initiated into our roll-loving-family. He probably ate more rolls than all of us combined.

I ordered & mailed out our Christmas cards...the pre-addressed envelopes were free with my order...win!

I finally (after years of wanting to do so) started my snow globe collection. I've always loved them & can't wait to pick out a new one each year!

I took a picture of some of my favorite ornaments...I mean, of course they are of the boys!

We had our first Christmas with the Wilson family. Gavin opened his first ever Christmas present! And yes, of course he cared more about the paper than the actual toy.

We went to Christmas at the Galt House...and we we're pretty disappointed. We went a few years ago and there was a huge Christmas display of lights and blow up figurines that Christian loved. This year, it was based off of A Christmas Carol, so the entire display took maybe 30 seconds to walk through and Christian hid his face from the creepy music and ghosts. It wasn't at all what we expected, but the tickets were free through Dustin's work, so we couldn't complain too much.

They also have a little Christmas town set-up after the lights display which Christian enjoyed, so it wasn't a complete fail. Plus, Santa! Christian's new BFF.

AND Gavin has been in the best mood ever today...which needs to be praised, documented and shouted from the rooftops! I also got a bunch of new Norwex cleaning supplies from my party last week, so I plan on spending the rest of the day cleaning, organizing and getting the house Christmas ready!

And that's been our week o' Christmas fun! Hope you all are enjoying this holiday season!