Norman Rockwell It Ain't

I always envision a Christmas tree decorating party for our family. Maybe make some hot chocolate, sing some Christmas tunes, pop some popcorn that we will string as garland to put around the tree and then talk about our hopes and dreams for what we want Christmas to really mean this year...............Yeah right! While I have a Clark Griswold moment (setting my expectations a wee bit too high) enjoy the pictures from the Christmas set up.

You have to appreciate a fake tree. I didn't have respect for this little beauty last year. I was still mourning the loss of the real tree. But this year I see the wonderful attributes of our faux little friend. I mean it came in 3 pieces and took less than 1 minute to set up. And no wrapping lights around the tree??? Bonus!

Kate and Carson "helping" with the ornaments.I know exactly what my son is thinking. "Good grief Kate we hit the jack pot! Look at all of these balls to throw around!" And  if I had a dime for everytime we have told them "do not touch the tree!"already, I could have fully funded next year's Christmas. But good grief put something easy to knock over with shiny objects all over it with in a kid's reach? What do we think they are going to do????

Jared and I always bemoan the fact that we have no stocking hangers. And then searching through the heap in our closet we discover these beauties. It's a Christmas Miracle! No really it was my Mom scoring a huge deal on stocking hangers one year and storing them in our closet, but either way we are set with having a place to hang our stockings this year.

My Mom always gives us the coolest ornaments. This is a porcelain one from Washington, DC. As you can imagine this one is at the tippy top of our tree.

Love this one. We had it made at a craft fair the December before Carson was born.

This bad boy has been on our tree since we've been married. Again a gift from Mom. I think if it weren't for Mom we would have no ornaments. No cool ones anyway. :)

The Christmas before Kate was born we went to Chicago for my Birthday and found these postcard ornaments. This one is of the old water tower in downtown Chicago. I miss Chicago at Christmas time. There is just SOMETHING about being there around Chistmas time. The windows at Marshall Fields, the Walnut room, Marshall Fields on State Street, Fannie Mae Candies Apricot creams (remember Mary Joy? I remember those were your favorites:)

Our stockings. Kate's stocking is 2nd from the right. It is made out of fabric from the dress I wore for my stage debut (and final performance as it turned out )as Mrs. Claus in the 5th grade Christmas play. The 5th stocking is for Mimi who will be our special guest this year.

Sweet baby boy. He was a little confused that after being told not to touch the ornaments all night we were actually telling him to touch an ornament for this photo op. We are all about consistent discipline around here.  He happily obliged being that he is drawn to the ornaments like a moth to a flame.

My favorite pictures of the year. There is something about the light of the Christmas tree on my kids faces that makes me sentimental and nostalgic.

Carson is starting a tradition by showing up pantless for all family gatherings. It's becoming his trademark. It will probably stop being cute around oh....... age 15.

I love this one.

See what I mean? No Norman Rockwell here. The boy is pantless and the Daddy is shirtless and Kate well.....not really sure what she's doing. :) I love that we keep it "real"

Nooky

Jared gave me my Birthday/Christmas gift today. A Nook. So I may never post on the blog again. :) Can you imagine? All the books you've ever wanted to read at your fingertips. I'm so excited. It's charging now..........While I indulge my nerdy bookworm side here are the pics.

A couple of weeks ago we got the Target Toy Book in the mail. Carson loves to leaf through the pages like an old man looking through the morning paper. He really peruses. Carefully studying each page. So far I have caught him looking at the book here....

Here........

And Here.

Kate showing the other side of the Thanksgiving story.

And at least SOMEBODY appreciates my wig making skills! He loved wearing this wig unlike a little girl I know.

I think that Kate looks so adorable in the morning. I love her messy hair and her sweet little sleepy eyes. Here she is taking a morning bath.

Daddy and Carson ready to go to Thanksgiving dinner with the fam.

When  someone sees Kate these days the comment I most often hear is "she looks so much older!" I definitely am seeing the change from a baby face to a bigger girl face. I can't wait to see what this next year will bring for our girl.

And if you know Carson at this point in his life you will agree with me that this picture describes him to a "t". Oh dear.

How Carson Got His Daddy a New Job

I have been meaning to post this story for awhile. For me it is just another amazing testament to how much God really does listen to us. So many times I seriously ask myself if God really does care about me. Out of all of the people in the world that he takes care of how could I be that signifigant to him? How could my prayers ever be heard? I know it's childish and somewhat small minded to put God in a box like that. It reminds of that movie with Jim Carrey, Bruce Almighty. He started taking all of those prayer requests and it was just completely overwhelming how all of the prayers would come in one after the other and sometimes simultaneously. But that's Hollywood. And God is so much more than that. So much more.
Monday a few weeks ago I was driving to work. Jared was leaving at noon for his job in west texas. He was going to be gone for a week again. I was overwhelmed with emotion and anxiety about what this meant. At noon when he drove away it was All me. Everything was on my shoulders and the weight felt incredibly heavy.  I was praying out loud but the only words that came from my mouth were, "God please help me. I can't do this anymore." I was spent and had no extra energy mentally or emotionally and it was only Monday! I got to my desk and saw a text message from Jared. "Call me." This was not good. He usually sends me an encouraging message saying how well the kids are doing. I called him and he said that Carson was sick and that he wasn't going to send him to preschool. He said that he was going to call his boss and tell him that he was going to be late getting there. The plan was for me to stay at work and for Jared to stay home with our boy and then leave for west texas when I got home.
I hung up the phone feeling incredibly defeated. Fought back the tears and wondered when this was all going to end. The day went on and Carson seemed to feel better. Fast Foward to 4:30. Jared texts me and said that he has an interview tomorrow morning with Patterson which is a drilling company that is hiring locally.What?!!?! He had walked in an application for this company about 3 months ago and had not heard anything. But that morning after everything had settled down with Carson, Jared got online and filled out an application. An hour later he got a call for an interview! When I got the text I was filled with hope. The next day he went to the interview and was hired on the spot. They assigned him to a rig before he left the office. The rig is 40 minutes away from us. We were beyond thrilled!
This changed everything for our family. Jared would be home everyday. Our kids would see him everyday. This was so significant to me when I realized that Jared wasn't even supposed to be there that morning. If not for Carson being sick he would have never filled out that application and he would have missed the opportunity for the job.
Make no mistake, God listens to our prayers. Now I know even more the truth of that statement. He cares for me. He cared for me and my family that Monday. I won't every doubt it again.

Don't You Just Love Pictures?

Because really. Who wants to hear me blab on and on. The majority of people that visit here just want to see pictures of the kids. Here you go. 

What is making Kate so happy? See below.

Carson is always happy when he's eating.

You see those green things that Kate is eating? They are called peas. She loved them and had 4 servings last night. Of course she didn't touch the grilled cheese I made her. Baby steps. Very small baby steps.

I found this skirt at Crazy Eights. Love that store. I love the fact that this skirt looks like something from the '50s. The cheapskate in me cringed for what I paid for this cute little plaid number (over $10!) but I loved watching her skip into church this morning with this flouncy, bouncy skirt.

And here is the purchase I made for Carson. He happily wore this hat all over the store so I figured it was a winner. He looks so darn cute in it.

We LOVE Week ends!!!!!

Headwear by Carson

Sweetest Smile

Showing off her new found love of poptarts. She calls them cupcakes.

Lovin' the fingerpaint

I am loving her smiling for the camera.

He might never talk to me again when he sees this pic as a teen but I've got many years til then.

Still working on the potty training.

This picture shows that we still have a long way to go!

Jared is working this week (week end) but he's here! We get to spend a few hours with him now every day and that makes all of the difference.

Carson says, "We still love UDI, we just didn't like Pecos!"

  Cuteness in plaid! He was so proud of his big boy shirt.

Oh it was a brother and sister love fest this morning.

A Whole Lotta Kate and Carson

The Halloweening is below but we we had a lot of fun this week end doing other things. First, we did a little pumpkin painting. Then we went to the air show this week end and saw the Blue Angels fly. Carson loved it and every time the planes would do their tricks and fly off he would ask, "Where dey go?" Kate loved it to but was not too happy about the noise at times. I just loved all of us being together and Kate saying at random times, "I love YOU!" Kate is trying to get both of us straight and I realize how much kate has missed us all being together. Several times this week end she would point to me and declare, "That's Mommy!" and point to Jared and say, "That's Daddy!" Kind of like she was getting it straight in her little mind. I loved it. Reconnecting after a busy work week is so important for all of us. We also got both of them haircuts this week end. Carson got rid of infamous bowl cut given by yours truly and Kate got a cute little bob. Finally, we got to know our neighbors a little better with a little driveway running.  Enough with the randomness on to the good stuff!! Warning: Lots of pictures ahead. If you feel like you haven't seen a lot of pictures of our kids lately then please proceed (love you Aunts Care and Stacey and Mimi!) But beware you might get Kate and Carson overload. :)

It took us forever to realize that Carson was setting this bottle up like a football to punt.