Catching Up: Part 2

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! This year, as always, there have been many changes and blessings in the Hall house. I'm a little sad to see 2013 go, but excited to see what 2014 has in store for us!

I said in my last blog that I would go over all the "activities" that we've been doing this month… the only problem with that is I have a hard time remembering what I ate for breakfast. Good thing I take so many pictures!

Corvallis does something every year called Pepsi lights. It's a drive thru thing where you just roll down your windows and look at a whole bunch of lights and different Christmas characters. We let Payton sit in the driver's seat while we drove through; she had so much fun! Carter slept through the whole thing. Maybe next year!

First family ornament!

We had quite the day planned for Kyle's birthday, which was on the 14th. We started out by picking up Grandma Sue, grabbing coffee, and heading to Storybook Land. It takes place every year at the Linn County Fairgrounds, and admission is free (we bring canned food to donate). It's hard to describe… it's a little tacky, a little cheesy, lots of lights, and absolutely magical for kids. We love it! There are a bunch of different little "scenes", and they set up dolls and stuff in them to recreate Disney movies, nursery rhymes, Christmas stories, all kinds of stuff! 

Ready to go!

Love this munchkin

Probably Payton's favorite display… Cinderella!

Toy Story!

So much to look at for little Carter man!

Birthday boy with his favorite little lady

Before you exit Storybook Land they have a Santa that you can take pictures with. I asked Payton if she would sit on his lap, which was an emphatic no. Last time we were near Santa she didn't want to even be in the same room as him! I told her that was fine, Carter could sit on his lap by himself. She was very concerned about Carter meeting Santa, and told me she didn't want me to put him on his lap. Carter, of course, didn't care! He was smiling at everyone as we stood in line.

What do you think he asked him for?

We tried to get Payton to take a picture with Mrs. Claus. You can see how successful that was!

Kiddos with Grandma Sue

She had so much fun… but our day was just beginning!

After running home and eating some lunch, our next trip on the agenda was taking Payton to see the Nutcracker, which was being performed by a local ballet academy at the community college. We thought she would really enjoy a ballet, she loves to watch dancing! Plus I knew there wasn't really anything scary, and I figured she would love all the pretty costumes. I didn't think Carter would enjoy sitting through it though, so Kyle's cousin Sarah came over to watch him while we went.

Waiting for the show to start

So excited!

She was mesmerized…

Payton did so well, she sat through the whole thing and barely said a word. If she made any comments, it was about the fairies pretty dresses. She loved the costumes! Apparently they're going to perform it annually, so she can enjoy it next year too!

After the Nutcracker we swung by the house and grabbed Carter, then met the family at Bo-Macks BBQ for dinner, which is Kyle's favorite. But we still weren't done… next on the list was bowling! I only bowled one game and then decided to take Carter home to put to bed, but Payton would have bowled all night if we let her. All in all, I think Kyle had a really great birthday :) The last one before the big 30 next year!

Hanging with Uncle Bryan at the bowling alley

He was such a happy camper all day!

Kyle's been on break for the last week, which has been really nice. We've still been taking Payton to school a couple days just to give her a chance to run around with her friends, but Kyle has been keeping Carter at home most days. Carter doesn't really care if he gets to see his "friends" or not! I've been working of course, which has been going really well. It actually feels nice to be back, doing what I love to do. When Payton's not in school, we've been trying to keep her busy with various activities.

Gingerbread men before...

And the finished product! We had a hard time keeping Payton out of the candy!

Luckily, I had Christmas Eve and Christmas day off. It's been a long time since that's happened! This year we spent Christmas Eve with the Casebolts, and Christmas day with the Halls. 

Hanging out in front of the tree

Carter looked so handsome in his little sweater vest and button down shirt!

My favorite gifts

Christmas jammies! The tradition continues!

Payton's gift from Santa this year was a Bitty Baby American Girl doll (with matching pajamas!), and a doll crib

The happy face every parent loves to see Christmas morning :)

Kyle thought I went a little overboard on all the gifts I got for our 5 month old

He loved the paper!

Payton opening her gifts with her Bitty Baby at her side

My Aunt Tanya made this for her! As you can imagine, Payton loved it!

We spent both days hanging with family, eating, laughing, opening gifts, hanging out, all that good stuff. Another successful Christmas! Thank you to everyone who got gifts for the kids!

Yesterday we hung out at my parents for lunch, Grandpa Book and Dot came down to see us. We had burgers, but Payton thought I said we were eating "boogers"; she told me that we can't eat boogers because those were gross and they belonged in our nose. That girl cracks me up!

Last night we decided to light our wood burning fireplace for the first time; I don't think it's been lit in over a decade! It was so cozy, Payton was terrified of it at first (of course) but came around when we stuck marshmallows in it to make smores.

Nice and warm, and smelled so good

Yum!

Carter loved watching the fire

Carter's friend Bradyn came over to play yesterday; they're getting so big!

Kyle is still off this week, but New Year's is my holiday this year, so I'll be working. Can't believe it's almost here! 2013 was such a big year for us, can't wait to see what 2014 has in store! Love you all and happy holidays!

Catching Up: Part 1

Since it's been quite a while since I blogged and I have SO much to talk about, I thought it would be less overwhelming for everyone (well, ok, mostly myself) if I were to split this blog into two. I can't believe Christmas is already next week, eek!

I'll start with my little love, Carter. Such a smiley, happy and sweet boy! He has grown so much, we're officially moving into his 12 month clothes already. He has done amazing at daycare, the teachers there have nicknamed him Mr. Giggles. People will actually stop me in the hallway to talk to him and are usually rewarded with a big grin. I've been so proud of how well he's adjusted, and I think he actually enjoys all the interaction and stimulation. There's a big wave of babies his age, one little girl who was born in June (McKenzie), then Carter in July, then two more little boys born in August (Matthew and Evan), and another baby starting next month. That's a lot of little ones! He even has his own crib there, and he's been napping pretty good actually. I was worried about him sleeping with the extra noise, but it doesn't seemed to have affected him too much. He's a trooper! Still sleeping very well at night too, I put him down between 7:00-8:00, and he'll usually sleep until about 5:00 or 6:00 the next morning. Sometimes after his bottle he'll even go back to sleep again until 7:30! On his 5 month birthday he started rolling from his back to his stomach, which is very exciting. Now he won't stay on his back for long! He only rolls to his left though, which is funny. I had a couple nights that were difficult because when I put him down to sleep he kept rolling over and then getting angry that he was on his tummy! He's pushing up really hard too, and has even gotten up on all fours for a second before he flopped back down. He's pushing so hard that he is scooting himself backwards, so couple that with all the rolling around he's starting to get mobile! He can even sit up by himself for short periods of time, probably about 5 seconds before he topples over. So fun to watch him grow!

I love my bouncer!

Hi mom!

Ummm…. really likes to put his mouth on anything he can. Obviously.

Sweet sweet boy

Something I wanted to try :)

Enjoying his first basketball game

Checking out the tree!

Playing with Papa Book on Thanksgiving!

My view in the kitchen every morning :)

Such a big boy!

I want to get moving...

Getting up on all fours!

Payton is doing very well too! I can't believe she'll be four in just a few months. She is very very sweet with Carter, and very patient. Now that he's so responsive and smiley, she loves to make him giggle and talks to him constantly. Melts this momma's heart! She actually wanted to wear jeans and a t-shirt to preschool the other day, and I just about keeled over from the shock. The next day she wanted to wear a skirt again, but paired it with her Nike tennis shoes! She told me that she wanted to look like Daddy's basketball girls. She's gone to a few of Kyle's games, and when I asked her if she was going to play basketball some day she told me no. I asked her what is she going to do? And she told me she's going to coach :) She makes us laugh constantly, and also shake our heads. Just the normal 3 year old stuff, talking back and trying to assert her independence. She is VERY excited for Santa to come this year, this is the first Christmas where she really "gets" it. She even wrote Santa a letter and we put it in the mail box addressed to the North Pole. The other day she saw the mailman and told me that he was taking her letter to Santa! She asked Santa for a new baby doll, a baby doll crib, a princess dress and princess shoes. I got her a bitty baby, which is the smaller version of the American Girl doll, and a doll crib that has pink bedding and even a working mobile. I also ordered her jammies that match her doll's, which I think she'll love. And of course I have a new princess dress waiting in the wings! I think I'm more excited than she is for her to get them! I can't wait for Christmas morning!

Daddy helping me paint

So pretty :)

She was SO excited for the snow! We had several inches that stuck around and school was cancelled for a whole week!

Sledding with Papa Rick

Making Christmas cookies with Grandma Sue and Grandma Joy

Really concentrating...

So fun!

Enjoying the finished product :)

Relaxing during the snow storm

Somehow it's already been 3 1/2 weeks since I've returned to work. It's been a whirlwind, just going all the time. Kyle is gone by the time the kids and I are up, so I get myself and everyone ready, drop them off at daycare, go to work, pick them up, come home and make dinner, and if I'm lucky Kyle is home in the evening to help me put them to bed. If he has a game, then I usually don't see him until much later and the kids sometimes don't get to see him at all. So by the time the little ones' bedtime rolls around I'm not usually too far behind! After all my chores are done of course. Making formula for the next day, washing and sterilizing bottles, folding laundry, putting away toys, unloading and then loading the dishwasher, paying bills, checking e-mail, blah blah blah… all the things I used to have all day to do is squeezed into just a couple hours. I'm not complaining, but I'm trying to justify my lack of blogging :) Nothing has really changed at work, luckily I still remember how to scan! My first day back was exhausting, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Now things have definitely settled into a routine, and although life feels a little crazy right now, I wouldn't change it for anything. Now that Carter is here I am even more aware than I was before of how fast kids grow up. It blows my mind that I've been blessed to care for these two little people, that Kyle and I created them and get to watch them grow. Life is full of so many blessings right now! 

In my next blog I'll talk about all the activities we've been up to… lots of fun Christmas stuff! I'll leave you with some pictures of my favorite kiddos :)

Siblings

LOVE

This is what breakfast time looks like at my house

Pajama day at school

I was in the kitchen and wondered what Payton was doing, and when I looked in the living room she was entertaining and playing with her baby brother. Such a good big sister!

Have a great weekend everyone!