Christmas Morning

Thank goodness I'm a light sleeper, or we'd miss a lot of cute stuff. So Christmas morning, I heard B tiptoe down the stairs around 6:30. I was expecting him to wake up early, but I was also expecting him to bust into our room. But I guess he was remembering our don't wake Mommy and Daddy before 7am rule, and he didn't come in to wake us up. Then we heard him go back up the stairs, and back down, back up, back down, until he stayed down. Nick peeked in to see him sitting on the couch just taking it all in. Then at 6:58, he couldn't take it anymore and ran into the bedroom to "wake" us up. Lawson was still sleeping, so he ran upstairs to wake him up. Lawson does NOT like being waken up, so he was up there for a while. I kept hearing "Lawson, Santa came! Lawson wake up! Lawson let's go downstairs, Santa came! Lawson, there's PRESENTS!" Finally the little guy slowly made his way down. He was still half asleep when he took everything in. Briley on the other hand was bouncing up and down. We always start with stockings. This year Briley finally realized that the paper in his stocking is the same paper that Santa uses for his presents. He thought that was pretty cool. His paper this year was Lego and Lawson had super heroes. We almost lost Lawson to his tool bench. Love, love, LOVE their faces. Skylanders were a big hit. Where's Lawson? The aftermath... WHAT a morning! I know these days won't last forever, and I know presents and Santa are not the reason for Christmas. But I sure do love making these memories, watching the excitement, and living the magic with them.

Christmas Eve

We woke up on Christmas Eve morning with our elf, Zicked, in his last location of the year.  He left a message for the boys. Briley was very attached to the little guy this year and was really sad that it was his last day. He even asked why Zicked left an exclamation mark at the end of his sentence b/c that wasn't happy at all :) He drew a heart below the message to tell him he loved him. That afternoon we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church. The boys got to come in to service. Lawson kept asking if he was being quiet (very loudly). They both really enjoyed it, and I loved sharing that time as a family. When we got home, the boys exchanged their presents to each other. Each year we go shopping separately to pick out a present that they can give to each other. They are excited to open an early present, and I like that it doesn't get mixed in with the excitement of Christmas morning where they may forget what the gift was. We also spread our reindeer food, got Santa's plate ready (he requested less cookies and only water this year b/c he was on a diet), we also left carrots for the reindeer and Cookie Crunch for Rudolph b/c Santa told us that was his favorite. We had to switch into our pjs for one last picture. We always read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. As I was getting the upstairs straightened up before bed, I walked in to Briley already reading it to Lawson. Watching my boy read warms my heart. As the boys were tucked all snug in their beds, Santa came to visit. A certain mommy and daddy went to bed with just as much excitement to see the smiles on their faces and excitement in their squeals when they realized that Santa had come. My favorite night of the year...

Christmas in Memphis

We started off our weekend before Christmas making Christmas cookies. Lawson was a big helper this year. Then we headed to Memphis for our first stop at Mamaw and Papaw's house. Grandma Payne, Aunt Chris, Aunt Anita, Aunt Heather, and Aunt Nat were all there. This was baby Halle's first Christmas, and the boys were SO excited to see and play with her. Lawson liked holding her, and Briley made her laugh and squeal. I'd be lying if I said it didn't give a big case of baby fever. Briley also had a date with the tooth fairy that night.
The next day we headed over to GG's house for traditional lasagna dinner. We try recreating Christmas Eve, but we still miss GG's on the real day. That morning we woke up for Christmas with Mimi. We had breakfast and headed home, where the boys were VERY excited to dig into all their loot. We are so lucky to have a great family, and the boys were extremely spoiled. We made sure to do lots of talking about Jesus and the reason for the season!

Gatlinburg Weekend

We went to Gatlinburg for Nick's birthday last week. We love going in the winter to get us in the mood for Christmas. This year was warm, but it made it nice walking around.   The boys like the candy shops and arcade.  This year, we took the tram at Ober Gatlinburg.  Riding the train in the air was their favorite.  We also took the chair lift up the mountain.  Lawson loved the hot tub at the hotel.  We also made sure to get my Bananas Foster french bread for breakfast.  It was a fun little weekend away.

Someone lost a tooth!

Ok, this has been a hard mommy moment. B lost his first tooth this week, and my heart is broken! I remember watching that little thing break through his gums. I rubbed oragel on it, let him chew on frozen washcloths, and stared at it for days. Then, all of a sudden the stinker is literally pulling it out of his mouth so that the tooth fairy will come! He woke up the last morning of school before Christmas break and pulled it out. I'm so glad it happened while he was at home with me :) Before After We had to bring it to Memphis with us, and the tooth fairy visited him at Papaw and Mamaw's house.

Christmas Parade

We started of the holiday season at the Hendersonville Christmas Parade with friends.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving celebrations came along. The boys had feasts at each of their schools. My parents came in town, and we celebrated an early Christmas. Then we headed to Aunt Tammy's farm in MS for Thanksgiving. The boys had so much fun with their cousin Austin. Lawson cried when it was time for him to leave :(

Sleep

Lawson went through a patch of avoiding naps at home.  I would find him in the funniest sleeping positions.

He fell asleep with Daddy a few times too

Fall

School finally started, we got back to the real world, and fall came around...

Dentist appointments, celebrating no cavities with donuts (ha!), and haunted gingerbread houses Fall family pictures on a HOT day. The boys stripped immediately afterwards, and we ate at Mellow Mushroom that night. Lawson was obsessed with his Hulk costume. Here are the pics from his first Build a Bear that he talked me into. "Puppy" is now a necessary bedtime animal. B had a rough first few weeks of school. He did not like it. According to him, it was "too long, too many days, and not enough playing" HUGE adjustment! We missed about 6 days of school the first month due to real illnesses and a few fake ones as well. The worst was his stomach bug. A few days later, he woke up with a rash, by the time we got to the dr, his entire body was a red swollen mess! Turns out that it was the virus left over from his stomach bug. Crazy! After talking with his teacher, we've turned things around, and I think he's really enjoying (tolerating) school now. First Kindergarten field trip to Honeysuckle Hill Farm We celebrated the end of soccer with a party at Monkey Joes. Nick did an awesome job coaching!

Playing Catch Up

Oh my!  I've been a bad, bad blogger.  Life has been crazy around here.  I've been taking tons of pictures, mainly on my phone, and just haven't had a chance to upload them.  So in an effort to get our Christmas pictures up, I have get the past 3 months of pictures up first!

The boys were in heaven playing with pvc pipe at Lowe's.  Our weekend project was getting a newborn stand built for the studio.

These precious little things are the main reason for blog slacking.  Since opening the studio, business has boomed more than ever, mainly newborns.  I am in heaven and thankful everyday for this opportunity.  The only problem is that I pretty much have a full time job on part time hours.  It's had me stressed a bit, but I wouldn't change it for the world! Date night at Pro Bullriding. It was so much fun! School started, and I officially became a carrider mom. It was not nearly as exciting as I thought. 45 minutes stuck in the car with a busy 3 year old was MISERABLE! We ended up switching to the bus in the afternoons, and it has made life sooooo much easier! School ended up delayed for 2 weeks. We had to get creative finding things to do. We had so much fun enjoying our unexpected, extended summer. Bowling, roller skating, and bumper cars... Lawson took off of his roller skates! We had a blast bouncing on the trampolines at Sky Nashville. Our downtown playdate: we played at the park on the river, crossed the Pedestrian bridge, and walked to Spaghetti Factory to eat in the train. Lawson started school on time. He LOVES his teachers, Miss Sheryl and Miss Krista. Finally, Kindergarten testing and first day of school for B! More date nights :)