Monday, December 26, 2016

Merry Christmas 2016!

Of course, I had to start with the best family picture we could get amidst all the craziness that is a one year old and three year old around the holidays!  I always try so hard to get just the "perfect" family photo and I need to stop and let my kids be kids..... let them play with their new toys from Santa and teach them the real reason we celebrate this holiday to begin with.... and that reason is CHRIST.... which is the root word in Christmas.  It seems like we get so overwhelmed with the gift giving and receiving and the magic of the holidays that we forget the most magical thing of all.... we have a SAVIOR that willingly came to this earth as a BABY.... and He wasn't born in a palace or even in a hospital.... he was born in a barn....he had a manger to lay in..... this KING came so we could have a direct relationship with our heavenly FATHER..... how often do we forget that?? I found myself getting so overwhelmed this holiday season as I tried to juggle the personalities of two young children that will act up at the most inopportune times.... that will cause me to give the "count" way too often... that will have me enforce timeouts and cool downs... that will have me encourage sharing and kindness (why aren't they born with these attributes?!)... that will have me wonder if they will ever eat a full meal while I am also trying to scarf down all the delicious food that has been prepared.... that will have me worn out from middle of the night wake up calls and early mornings.... but they are also the boys that will give me a hug and snuggle with me and just make me melt... that will say "I love you mommy and I am sorry" in an instant when you are still fuming mad making you realize that its all going to be okay...... they are the boys that will want to read "just one more book" before bedtime or nap time.... they are the boys that could be entertained for hours by hide and seek and peek-a-boo....they are the boys that I need to focus all of my energy on showing them the true meaning of this holiday season.....making me remember that probably the best memory from this time of year is not the cookie-decorating, present-opening or Christmas movie-watching.... its listening to Zander sing in his best voice "Happy Birthday Jesus"..... we need to listen more to what our children are truly saying.... its simply magical!






























Sunday, December 18, 2016

Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

We see Santa pretty much anywhere we go these days.... he was at the grocery store, at my school (notice my principal photobombing my picture with Mr. and Mrs. Claus!) and at Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's place.  Zander will go see him without any hesitation.  And Maddox will sit on his lap but also want to get down and crawl at the same time.. he's really squirmy at this age! Maddox has also started to take one or two steps toward a chair or ottoman.  He is standing more without holding onto anything.... watch out world!





 We traveled back home for the weekend to see all of Zack's family members for the holidays.  Before we headed their direction, I got some extra morning cuddles and book reading time in!  (After all, they woke up at 5:30 a.m. ready to make the trip!)  We spent Saturday with Grannie and the rest of the Cantrell family!






I just love the picture above of Emma Claire and Zack!  It is hard to believe she has grown so much from the little girl below that was in our wedding eight years ago!  


 This is my favorite picture of the holidays so far... I absolutely love Maddox's surprise face!  You will see it one more time below when he opened a present at Granny V and PawPaw's place.

On Sunday, we went to the country house and celebrated Christmas with Granny V, PawPaw, Uncle Grant and Sib.  That mountain centered right above mine and Zack's head is where we got engaged!  It was so fun to have a picture with our boys and that background today!






 Maddox tried to give my present away to PawPaw! It was really sweet! haha