New Year's Eve.

One last post for 2012?

We spent the morning at the library's storytime instead of working on Christmas pictures and blogging. James had fun but Wild Will had even more fun. Y'all, he is so stinkin' hilarious. Pretty feisty little guy. James picked out five Peter Rabbit books, per his latest obsession. And then at lunch today he used the word obsessed correctly. I can't even remember what it was about but Eddie and I looked at each other in a "What?!?!" kind of look.

Those boys.

We're closing out a pretty big year for us. 2012 was full of fun and challenges. Holy cow was the year from 2-3 full of drama and emotions. Preschoolers are seriously emotional little creatures, aren't they. James grew, we all learned, and we lived to tell the tale. We're finally starting to get a hold on how to discipline without losing our minds and he has become a super little helper.

We met Will for the first time in 2012. That little stinker totally had us fooled! As an infant he was so relaxed and quiet and go-with-the-flow. Did you notice me call him Wild Will? He has become the busiest, sneakiest, into-everything-all-the-time baby boy! With James it drove me crazy but I am learning that this is just what being a boy is all about.

We made new friends and tried to keep into contact with old ones. We tried new things and went new places. We learned. We laughed. We cried. Mostly, we just tried to survive the day! I sure do enjoy my three guys!

From our crew to yours, Happy New Year!

I'll be back {at some point} with the Santa recap, the Hasty/Smith Christmas weekend, New Year's Eve and Day, and possibly a recap of 2012. Because Eddie loves those. He'd never know what we were doing if not for my blog. {That was definitely sarcastic font.}

Enjoy!

Mac Love.

This post is coming to you live from this sweet thing:

Ain't she purty? (Anna if you look closely, you'll be mortified. That picture won't make it's way to the old blog ANY larger than what you can currently see. Pinky swear.)

Because I have this fancy new setup (apparently there are blog-loving members of my family who heard my cries of despair over the slow death of my other computer - thanks, Dad and Laura!) I will finally be able to complete our year! Santa, other stuff from last week, and the grand finale of our FIVE Christmas celebrations (only five that included gifts...there were really more than five!) will make it's way here to you in the next day or two. Promise!

We have some very, VERY low-key plans with James' favorite girlfriend and her family tomorrow night but I am betting that Eddie and I aren't awake to ring in the new year. 2012 was full of excitement! We're tired!

25 Posts of Christmas: Reindeer Food and Christmas Eve

Once we returned home on Christmas Eve we were ready to tackle a list of to-do items that we mark off each year. Since we'd already realized we couldn't go to church, we moved on to the next item on the list: Reindeer Food.

This is a tradition I started with James last year. I didn't do it this way growing up. I do seem to recall leaving vegetables outside for Rudolph and his friends, but everyone knows that Santa's reindeer LOVE sugar. SO...sugar they got! {If you'd like a different "recipe" you can always make your own up with whatever is in your cabinets OR head over to Pinterest where there are 1,000,0001 ways to do this, I'm sure!}

Step 1: Pour oatmeal into a bowl. Ours happened to be the instant maple sugar flavor {if my mother in law is reading she's grossed out that it's instant. Ha! Eddie's choice, Mrs. Bobby...I don't eat it!}

Step 2: Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Stir.

Step 3: Add cranberries. Stir.

Step 4: Go outside and sprinkle on the lawn.

Or dump on the lawn if you're three!

We hope the reindeer enjoyed!

We also made brownies for Santa but I didn't remember to take pictures! Boo! He seemed to enjoy those as well! They were good!

Tifton Christmas: Sunday and Monday

When we woke up on Sunday morning we headed straight to Grandmama and Granddaddy's house. We'd originally planned to do Christmas with them on Monday but then decided it would be easier for us to get back to church on Christmas Eve if we did it Sunday morning instead. Never fear, our Christmas Eve plans were thwarted anyway!

The boys thoroughly enjoyed seeing all that Grandmama and Granddaddy had gotten for them. Rotten little things. Will got a scooter, a train, and various other fun things and James racked up with lawn "tools" and playdough. His favorite things! ;) Eddie and I got lots of fun goodies as well.

Look at all those gifts! Almost as tall as he is! 

 Will got a little scooter and immediately knew how to ride!

But James needed to help, too.

One of the traditions at Eddie's parents' house is to get scratch-off lottery tickets. We usually win a few dollars and another ticket or two. Well, lo and behold - I won $500 this year! Yowza! I could not believe it. I never win anything! Merry Christmas to me!

James decided he wanted to get in on the scratch-offs after that!

Later, Nancy and Caylor came by and had lunch with us. James has been asking me to help him throw and catch with his baseball glove so I quickly sent him out for lessons with Coach Nancy. Apparently, we have another ambidextrous person in our family. He seems to favor throwing with his right arm and batting left-handed.

After naps and showers we were off for a few Christmas parties!

First stop was the Perry's for Dinner Club. Shelley made spaghetti and meatballs and they were GREAT. James had the time of his life playing with all the "big kids." 

Later, I scooted off to the Bowers' house for the 12th annual high school girls' Christmas dinner and arrived in time for dessert!

Since last year we've had two get married, one get engaged, two of us had babies, and one is expecting! Can't wait to see what 2013 brings! I love doing this every year!

Sunday night was phenomenal. I'm using sarcasm font. When I got home at 11:30 Will was asleep and I climbed into bed with a headache and sore throat. I'd had fun out but I was starting to feel pretty yuck. Between 1 and 6:45 Will woke up every. single. hour and needed to eat. NEEDED to eat. Ha. At 6:45 I woke Eddie up and told him he needed to do something with his baby. And then I slept for 2.5 hours after that. When I finally stumbled out of bed I felt like I'd been run over. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. My face was swollen and I self-diagnosed a sinus infection. It's been pretty awesome, boys and girls. Because I wasn't feeling well I moped around Mom's house until the last possible second and then we went to the Freshes' for lunch.

We still needed showers and the boys needed baths before church so we struck out to head home around 1:30. As we pulled onto the interstate it occurred to us that Will wouldn't be allowed in the nursery since he was still sick. Doh. James was absolutely HEART BROKEN because we'd told him he could go to big church with us. He was pitiful. But we knew that Will wouldn't last in big church so we just had to change plans. Booo hooo!

The boys were both exhausted and slept the whole way home. I think we could've driven two more hours and they would have slept. Ha! Christmas is exhausting!

More Christmas Eve fun to come!

Tifton Christmas: Friday and Saturday!

We left for Tifton on Friday night and returned Monday afternoon. We packed a lot into a few days but it was fun and well worth it. We may never travel with Will again (he hates riding in the car and is awake every HOUR at night when we're not home), but the rest was fun! {The problem with traveling "home," of course, is that there is SO MUCH that we feel like we need to do! We are never able to get it all done.}

James "colored" on the iPad on the way to Tifton. I don't usually let him do this {as I surf the net on my phone...what a great mom!} so this was a BIG treat.

Reindeer slippers from Cacky! 

We played a bit, but I think we were all sleepy after supper.

Saturday morning we got started with the first of our Christmases!

One of James' big gifts from Poppy and Cacky was something he didn't even know existed. He watches Choo Choo Mickey on a repeat when he's at their house {we've actually had to designate that it is only to be watched at rest time and before bed...} so Mom got him the Choo Choo Mickey Express!

Will has not a clue what he got! :) He was just happy to roam from person to person. He did get a school bus! He loves to drive the one at Cacky's that we have from when WE were little.

I reminded everyone before we started that if someone allowed me to take their picture, it very well might end up on the blog. They still posed for some!

James' other big gifts were a robe and a sleeping bag.

John and Kayla filled a HUGE stocking with Dollar Store gifts for James. This was one of the biggest hits!

After we finished, we showered and got dressed and went to Grandmama and Granddaddy's for the afternoon.

James tried out Parker's new toy:

This was the first time he went down so they just did it halfway up, but let me assure you that he went from the top after that. This is the kid who we can't get to climb up to the top of the playground a ChickFilA. Crazy kid! He did this over and over and over. That thing FLIES. We had to have someone stop him at the end of the driveway because it would go so far and fast that he would've wound up in the street!

Grandmama got a new Christmas tree train this year! It was fancy!

 

 

Caylor and Nancy came by for lunch and played Hungry Hungry Hippos! {and whatever else James wanted to play!}.

Back at Cacky's for supper and playing with more Dollar Store fun! Smurf beard!

More later!

25 Posts of Christmas...Decorations!

I didn't do much this year in the way of decorations. For one thing, try finding the TIME with a baby and a preschooler. Also, it's difficult to put things within reach of a certain little person. However, I did put some things out. Most of it is the same old, same old. I have a little green and red theme going throughout the house. And I have a thing for nativities (Eddie teases me because I say NAY-tivities...welcome to Georgia, y'all!). My new thing this year was a cheap-0 $20 tree I bought from our photographer that I used to hang my Twelve Days of Christmas ornament collection. I have three now with my eye on another at Target if the price is right tomorrow. It is my FAVORITE thing this year, for sure. It just looks fantastic. I missed getting a picture of the front door and of the mantle, but that hasn't changed from last year.

Dining room:

Den:

James' ornament this year. I try to get something that matches what he liked or his birthday party theme from the year. Obviously, this year it was dinosaurs!

And Will's first ornament! It says "Baby's First Christmas" on the back.

My dad carved this nativity.

James' Georgia tree. He'll get the glass Georgia ornaments one day, but not anytime soon. I need a helmet for the topper but haven't found the right size. The "skirt" is a piece of his bedskirt. He has definitely done the decorating himself! I'm also looking for football lights or garland. I think that would be CUTE. The bulldog on it I got this year from a vendor at that show I did in Tifton in November. It's wooden and matches the bulldog I bought for his bedroom door. I love this!

Mr. William did not get his own tree this year but he will next year! I'll be on the lookout for one tomorrow when we do a little shopping. His tree theme is going to be trains/planes/automobiles. Can't wait!

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