Wordless Wednesday

Transition Time

It is time in this household to make a bold move. Garrin has officially been moved into Trevin's room. Garrin has spent the last 17 months in "our room" (we have a really big bathroom/closet that his bed has been in) and now it is time that his noises wake up his brother and not me. Garrin has always been a good sleeper it was just a matter of getting things organized enough to house a 9 year old and a toddler in the same room. As I mentioned in a previous post, above average Joe has built shelves so I can now place things of value too high for Garrin to destroy. His pack n' play (we never got a crib) is now positioned right next to Trevin's bed so that when he wakes up in the night he can climb out and land on his brother's face. I'm really looking forward to the next couple nights.

So far he has gone down for his nap with only minor resistance. Let us hope that this will be an easy transition for all!

***UPDATE*** Both boys slept marvelously through the night and at 7am Trevin came in carrying Garrin this morning. So Cute.

Spilled Milk

You know, it started out fine. I was the first one out of bed (not surprising) and got everyone fed, cleaned and dressed on time for departures. This happens about once a week because I like to do my grocery shopping early in the morning when I am one of about 3 people in the store. Just makes it much lest hectic. I even bought some new storage devices because above average Joe has built shelves in the boys room so I can now organize it so, so well. When I got home it's always a bit of a juggle to get all the groceries and kid upstairs but I normally conqure the task with little aggitation. This morning that aggitation multiplied to the point that I now have to have Garrin's memory wiped because he heard several curse words come out of his mommy's mouth (and that never happens!...I always wait until they are out of earshot).

I had Garrin, the last bag and 2 gallons of milk in my hands and had to close the back of the jeep. I couldn't get it done without dropping one of the gallons of milk on the ground causing it to explode. (enter explatives here) For some reason this little mishap is still gnawing at me. I have gone and "washed" out the garage and gotten everything put away and still have this list of tasks to complete but I feel completely defeated all due to spilled milk. I may cry.

Feel free to tell me about how you cried over spilled milk to make me feel better...

Yes, I know...

I'm lame because I have no posts of our Christmas extravaganza. Well, let me tell you why. Both Joe and my (and Trevin's dads) families ALL LIVE CLOSE BY. So you know what that means for Christmas? TRAVEL. Now, I am a fan of traveling, always have been. But when it's 20 mintues here, hour and half there, 40 minutes after that...it tends to create long and dearly depressing days spent in cars hauling all the new schwack that MUST BE TAKEN EVERYWHERE FOR EVERYONE TO SEE!

Not sure why I was feeling so scroogy this particular year but I didn't even really break out the camera and take pictures. Before you all pass out and cry your hearts out for my missed scrapbook opportunities know this...I don't scrapbook. AND I did use my brain enough to get my video camera out and use that a bit so there is SOME documentation that we celebrated Christmas about 4 times on Christmas. No kidding. We started at my mom's and when Trevin was dropped off (from his first present opening ceremony) we all dug in there. Then we had breakfast and went home to our christmas opening. Then we got all packed up and went to above average Joe's parents. We even contemplated going to my grandparents house as well but I could not take another car ride that day.

All in all it was a great Christmas and all of us were spoiled above and beyond. There are some pictures on my sisters blog of us at my moms (babes blog) but otherwise I don't really have any pictures and I'm sure I'll look back on that and regret it eventually. I have also stripped the house down of all Christmas decor as well. I just couldn't wait to get my house back to the working order that I know. Call me crazy.

New Years was VERY uneventful here. Trevin goes with his dad who lets him stay up all night long. I have a toddler in the house and know that he'll be up at 7am regardless of how late I go to bed so there is no reason for me not to get some sleep and turn into Dragon Lady to jump start the new year. Above Average Joe and I did manage to stay awake a whole hour later than we did last year though. We made to 11.30 pm. rock on.

I will be posting more now that I have this guilt ridden post off my chest.

Dr.? Dr. Who?

So I had to take this chance to be all braggy about my family. Well, not my WHOLE family but one in particular that has made a bit of a name for himself. My eldest brother Justin (pictured in the top center) has just gotten the green light to officially add the title of "Doctor" to his name. I swell with pride even though he won't hear me utter that title to him unless it is in some sort of sarcastic manner. Now, with this title he is not able to help the sick. That task will still be designated to myself or my sister with our nursing degrees. HOWEVER, if you need a bridge built or a structure tested to make sure the foundation will hold strong when a 5.8 earthquake hits...he's your man. My brother, the civil engineer with his shiney new Phd will now be moving his family to Auburn University to teach others with his doctery skills. Good job, bro. Much love.

Oh Christmas Tree

Every year my above average Joe tries to convince me that we should buy a fake tree. Every year he gets rebuffed. I remember as a kid always going to pick out and cut down our tree as a family and I plan on keeping that tradition alive for my kids. Yes, I know it's more work for my poor pack mule to haul the tree home, up the stairs and into the perfect standing position to please me but the smell that fills the house is SO worth it. As a youngster I remember watching my parents debate over the merits of certain trees. My mom always like the tall lean trees and my dad believed the fatter the better. I have joined both my parents likes and really enjoy tall fat trees. The pickins were a bit more slim this year than in years past so this year we have a bit shorter but fatter tree. My dad will be so proud.
This is was we started with. I put on the lights all by myself because it's easier that way. I have both white and color lights for the tree. Then the decoration crew came in to help out.
Now I know that as a mother I will not be able to decorate my tree to my perfect taste until I send them all off to college so I am just happy that they will have these memories of making their Christmas tree all pretty.

I have the simple ornaments that are very child friendly and I have some cute memorable ones as well. I also have the glass/plastic ornaments as well and had deep, resonating fear that Garrin would break all of them as soon as he could get his hands on them. Garrin has broken one of those ornaments but it was purely by accident so I'm not as worried anymore.

Garrin was really good about actually putting the ornaments on the tree. Of course, he couldn't quite master hanging them so they more just "set" on the limbs. And he prefers the "bundled" look of the ornaments so there are about 10 just sitting in this one little spot of my tree, but I think it adds some character. Everyday I take a few out and hang them again and every day he gets them off and lays them back where they belong. There are always a few stray ornaments on the table or on the floor but I'm not nearly as worked up about it as I thought I might be. In the end the boys did a great job and now they are just so excited to see some presents under there! Merry Christmas, everyone.

OBX 2008

Since a picture is worth a thousand words I will simply leave these many pictures to show you how much fun we all had on our vacation. I loved seeing my family and spending time with new friends doing things that we rarely get to do. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday as well.

ps. each poster may only use one crack about me in a wet suit!

These pictures are of us in Blacksburg VA where we spent a few days with my bro and his clan before returning home to UT.