Monday, November 28, 2016

Hello Monday.

Good morning! It’s Monday. I love Mondays. I particularly like this Monday….after the crazy of last week (snow days, no school, Thanksgiving) I feel like I need a good Monday to get my brain and body back to normal - haha!

We had a great few days, though. Very relaxing, yet I seemed to get a lot done that needed doing. And good thing. December is not a super busy month, but what we do have - requires a lot from us if that makes sense. But December is going to be great and I’m ready for it! 

Up first, for your Monday….

Those legs. I love the chubby!
I purchased 6 month pajamas (not sure what I was thinking)
but now have to return them for 9 month ones - he is growing!


Here he is, coming to attack me and the camera!


Friday night, Jaxen had to blow-dry his and Zane’s hair
while we were getting ready for our Hanging of the Green Service.


Sneak Peak at Zane’s Christmas Jammies!
(I’m trying to not post “Christmas” stuff until Dec. 1…for my sister…haha!)
But I can no longer put dishes in the dishwasher with this guy around.
He pulls everything out and makes my job really hard now!


Good thing he naps so I can get a few things done!

We have had 2 very rough nights with him.
Last night - he was up (and crying) until 1:30am.
Not sure what the deal is…I’m sure it’s a phase, but I finally felt caught up on sleep!
Oh well. Life goes on. Tired.


And the best for last…

My cute littles on Sunday before church.
Love these boys so very much.


Friday, November 25, 2016

Our Thanksgiving Day + Random Pics

We were invited to spend Thanksgiving with some friends from our church, and we had a very nice day! All I was in charge of, was mashed potatoes. And I decided the day prior to also make deviled eggs. My husband thinks every holiday should have deviled eggs. So - my Thanksgiving food prep was easy peasy!


Because I knew the day was going to be low-key and easy, I decided to make our favorite Blueberry Coffee Cake for breakfast. Yummy!


We enjoyed some coffee cake while watching the parade. Jaxen really enjoyed the parade this year, it was fun to see him get so excited to see all the characters he knew!


I made us take a Thanksgiving Selfie before we headed out to lunch.



We headed out about 11:30 and got back home around 4:30. We enjoyed some really yummy food and great company! I say this every year…but I am thankful for friends who include us in their family when we cannot be with our own family. 

Our night was spent relaxing…watching football, eating some leftovers we got sent home with, playing with the boys and I even had a bit earlier bedtime!


Now…here is lots of random for you… I apparently haven’t blogged in awhile!


Anyone else feeling this right now?!


A good picture of Zane’s first tooth! 
Man, he is growing up :(


I made a new cookie last week…Andes Mint Cookies.
I don’t like mint, but everyone else said they were delicious!


My two boys before church last Sunday!


Jaxen loves to enterain Zane while he is in the bath and 
Zane thinks Jaxen is the funniest ever!


After Jaxen goes to bed, we always have a few hours of just Zane!


I love this picture of Nik and Zane.


One more example of how we were not fully ready for winter…
This summer we bought Jaxen some new snow boots on clearance.
And put them them away and didn’t look at them again, until this week.
Well, guess what?
They are two different sizes and they are both right feet! Seriously?!
We cannot return them either. Store was closing.
Jaxen is wearing them, anyways. 
Because anytime I suggest he wear his other snow boots he throws a fit.
Not the battle I’m going to fight. He can wear two right boots and one too small if he wants!



That’s all for today! Have a happy Friday!


Monday, November 21, 2016

The First Snow

Winter came…and it came with a vengeance!

It started snowing Sunday morning and will probably continue until sometime early tomorrow morning. I’m not sure how much snow we got…but it was quite a bit. The snow itself isn’t so bad. It’s the raging, fierce winds that have come with it. These winds are terrible! So it just blows the snow sideways and makes it feel way colder than it should be!

At 5:30am my phone rang with an announcement that school was cancelled for the day. And guess what? We all slept until 8am - I couldn’t even believe it!

Once we got up - the first order of the morning was to start cleaning up all the snow! Here is a picture of Nik starting the snow blower…but really, this pic is meant for you to see the snow drifts at the garage door.


And below is a picture of Nik starting the snowblower. We were not super prepared for winter. I thought we were…but when we went to get shovels, we had none. The parsonage in Watertown had a few shovels in the garage when we moved in - so we never bought any. So - when we moved…we had none, and forgot. We also threw out our car scrapers (they were well used), which we also forgot.


So - Nik used the snowblower so we could get our vehicle out and Jaxen and I tried to sweep our porches off - but the snow was too much for just the broom. 


After just a few minutes of being outside - Jaxen was ready to come in. He was so excited about the snow (and building a snowman…he even asked if I had carrots) but that wind just made it too cold for him!


After awhile I loaded Zane up and we made our way to the Syracuse area (driving between 30-40 miles an hour, because the road conditions were not great, and the snow was falling pretty heavy). I had an appointment that I really did not want to miss, plus we needed groceries in a bad way, and we needed a snow shovel and car scrapers :)

We made it there and back safely (4 hours later). And for dinner I made chili and homemade cornbread in a cast iron skillet. The chili was fantastic…but the cornbread was the star! Yum! It was the perfect supper to ring in winter with our first snow!

And I just have to share this next picture…it made me laugh!




Sunday, November 20, 2016

Leaves

I did not have plans on Thursday to rake leaves, but after checking the forecast I decided I better forego a nap and get to work! And good thing…because as I type, it is snowing outside! 

So after about 3 hours my front yard was finally all raked. I took a picture half way through...


And this is what our big beautiful maple tree did to our backyard!


Soon many leaves!
We were trying to complete the back yard before dark (did not happen)
and after school Jaxen wanted to help...


His favorite part was jumping in the leaves!





After that…it was bath time!
Jaxen asked if Zane could bathe with him, and I think Zane had more fun than Jaxen.
Just look at that face :)




Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Home.

We are home from our trip! And I have to say…our trip back home was a lot less frustrating than our  trip going. And I thank the Lord for that! We did not sleep long (or well) the night before we headed back home. It was late when we got to bed, Zane woke up 2 different times to nurse, and even Jaxen was super restless and kept waking up. So, needless to say…I expected the day to be pretty bad. But it wasn’t! Jaxen took a little nap on our first flight and he did so well the rest of the day. Zane was only really fussy at one period and pretty much slept or nursed our entire last flight.

We were home by 9pm last night. 

Thankfully, Zane went to bed at 10:30pm (woke up twice the next two hours) but then slept almost 7 hours! I’m so thankful for that. Currently he is napping as I throw together this blog post and Nik balances our checkbook.

Jaxen slept in as well. And we let him sleep until he woke up, and then we took him to school late. I’m hoping for a restful evening for the boys and I (Nik has a meeting) as we catch up on some rest and get back into the swing of things. 

And now the fun begins…jumping back into our routine and hitting the ground running with lots of stuff going on at the church. Plus, did you know that Thanksgiving is next week?! What?! Yea, I’m a bit behind.

A few pics from our day...

Sitting in the airport, waiting for our first flight.

This guy was pretty happy!

Zane wanted to play so bad on the plane,
so I finally sat him down on the floor and he played away!

We had a 4 hour layover and while Zane was napping, I laid him on the ground.
He was sleeping so great…until a door slammed by his head and an alarm started going off.
He then woke up, and was not happy about it!

Nik and I were trying to take a selfie and got photo bombed by Jaxen.

So then we took a picture all together.

And Jaxen asked if we could do silly faces.

The view on our last flight was pretty awesome!

So - that was our trip home!

My goals now: shower, laundry and grocery shop.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Fun with Family

This past week we have been hanging with Nik’s family.
It has been a nice break from our normal life,
but it has also been good to spend time with them.
We don’t get enough time with our families throughout the year
so we have to jam pack it in, in the few weeks we see them a year. 

But no matter how much Nik and I have enjoyed it…
we have a little boy who has had even a better time than us!
Jaxen got to hang with his cousin, Kyleigh, and he had the best time.
They fought, played, screamed, pushed, and loved on each other for 6 solid days.
He is going to miss her. 

I did not take many pictures of our time with family but here are a few...






While we were there - the boys opened up Christmas!
And I took one picture :)


We also celebrated Kay’s birthday.
Guess where she picked to eat lunch?
Chick-fil-a.
Yup…she probably did that for us. Haha!
Jaxen and Kyleigh did bring her balloons and cupcakes.
Because Jaxen says when you have a birthday, you are supposed to eat cupcakes!


Zane is super attached to me…but he did finally warm up to the family,
and by the last night - he would let anyone hold him and play with him (for a bit).
He loved them all (even from a distance) and I think they like him too :)






We had a great time hanging with our family
and we can’t wait to see you all again!