withdrawls

we finally got access to season one of downton abbey, and powered through both seasons in two weeks, finishing the night before the season three premiere.  of course now i'm like everyone else, waiting seven whole days between episodes.  i'm in definite withdrawals.

might i add that i would love to spend hours leisurely going through downton- it's amazing gorgeous!  additionally i'd like to add that when i first saw pictures of the show, and just how many characters there were, i thought it was absurd! i mean how do you keep up with everyone's story?  but it's fabulous and i thoroughly enjoy each character!!

christmas eve

 ten years ago justin and i had our first date!!  it was christmas eve so he picked me up for a lunch date. we ate at in n out and then followed up with some christmas shopping at the mall (he still had gifts to buy!)  so we've tried to make it a tradition to always have burgers on christmas eve, i love it!  and now that in n out is in texas, we made it pretty official!  funny how it was just the two of us back then, i almost can't even imagine/remember what that was like!  now we celebrate with the boys!

justin, crew and kade

me and brody

this year justin tried to tell the boys our story, which was a valiant effort, but wasn't regarded very highly!  brody seemed to remember some parts, but seemed a little confused that there was a part of our lives where we weren't married.  funny, that seems a little weird to me now too.  i'm sure thankful i've got justin and that we had such a fun first date ten years ago!  

elf on the shelf

we're so lucky one of santa's elves had come to watch our boys throughout christmas time!  i've seen people give such cute names to their family's elf, names like elfie, jingle or tinsel.  our boys picked the name "stoic the red."  catchy isn't it?  the origins stem from none other than "how to train your dragon."  hiccup's (the main character) dad is the leader of the vikings and he is a humongous burly guy named stoic the vast (you know, cause he's vastly huge) so naturally stoic the red came about.  anywho, he arrived here on december 1st:

 along with a book explaining why he was here, to choose and name for him, and the rule that he can't be touched (or he'll loose some of his magic). While you can talk to him, santa's asked him that he not respond back.  each night he flies back to santa to share his report and appears the following morning in a new spot.  Every morning before breakfast the boys scour the downstairs to find stoic the red.  oddly enough he's always out of the boys reach (smart elf)

here's some of the boys favorite places they've found stoic:

on the mantle riding the snow owl

climbing up the cabinets

unfortunately one night he was attacked by a t-rex, i think the attack must have bent him out of shape cause he was a little naughty the next couple of days

 the following morning he was in the golden raisin box on top of the fridge and had spilled a bunch of raisins on the floor

another day he tp-ed the chandelier

he was then caught sneaking hershey kisses

he snuck into the freezer for ice cream

  after that he was nice enough to build us a little lego tree, i think he was trying to make up for his naughty behavior the past few days.

one day brody had asked him some questions about elves (you know, elf logistics) and the next morning we found stoic at the computer, he typed up a note to respond to brody.

the last night he was on the fridge ice/water maker, which was in reach of the boys, and surprisingly, they didn't grab him!

every morning before we'd get out of bed we'd hear the boys' excited hushed whisper of "where's stoic the red?  where's the elf?"  i think every morning i got up with a smile hearing the excitement in their voice over stoic's new landing place!  i might mention that this elf did absolutely nothing to improve their behavior through bribery, but i loved the holiday magic and excitement it brought to the boys!  we're already looking forward to next december!

thanksgiving

this year the ashton's joined us for thanksgiving!  grandma lill, grandpa clarke, grandma diane, shauna, alyssa, ryan and mike all flew out for a few days.  the boys loved having visitors!!  it was so fun to have everyone here!  these pics are from a few of the activities we did:

here's kade, grandma lill, and crew keeping score for a backyard baseball game.

walking to dinner with uncle ry-ry

clarke getting a little crazy on the playground equipment

the clam before the storm

loads of food to load up on!

on friday we went to downtown fort worth to visit the stockyards, we've actually never been (shocking, i know...)  

kade and crew getting ready to watch the cattle walk, and keeping warm in dad and grandpa's coats

here comes the cowboys leading the cattle down the main street.  

i took video of the cattle walk, thinking it was this huge, famed thing.  the video lasted 45 seconds, the picture above pretty much fills you in.

walked around downtown, while alyssa caught a ride on this wooden horse.

grandma lill, grandma diane, shauna and alyssa took the boys on a stagecoach ride, the boys loved it!

after some initial trepidation about a pony ride (and who can blame them), the stagecoach ride loosened the boys up, and gave them the confidence to ride.  thankfully the twins requested that shauna and alyssa walk with them so i was able to watch from outside the guardrail.

the ashton's opted for bbq that night so we hit up hard 8 and the original ashton kids snapped some quick pictures. 

the next day before everyone left we took some family photos.  here's how our little family's turned out: 

we're big fans of grey key photography !

It was a busy couple of days but really fun.  I love watching the boys interact and keep all their family members on their toes!  we're thankful we could have so many visitors to share thanksgiving with!

school pictures

early in october brody's school took pictures and i was so excited to see how they turned out!  we got the digital proof and it was not. good.  his glasses were falling down and they definitely took the picture before he smiled. it totally made him look like an old man, think like carl fredrickson in up.  naturally i elected the retake, we practiced a bit the morning of, and he came home with this:

whew!  that's all brody! 

in november the twins had picture day at their preschool, which seems silly, but i love it!  i was definitely nervous to send them off, who knows how this would go!  at the end of the day my carpool buddy dropped off the boys and said "one of the twins' teacher said not to expect a great picture."  my apprehension mounted.  finally they got their pictures back.  i opened crew's first, and started laughing at this:

such a tough guy- never wants to crack!  i've said it from the beginning, a smile from crew must be earned!  he doesn't normally going around smiling all whilly nilly!  his teacher apologized for his picture and explain that the photographer took a good 20 minutes getting crew to smile and apparently she "did everything short of cartwheels to get that picture" she continued, "at least he looks pleasant right?"  hilarious, and oh, so very crew.

i nervously opened kade's envelope and saw this:

hooray!!  talk about stepping up!  kade's been so shy since starting preschool without crew and i totally thought he'd be too timid to smile, but it's great!!

  I'm happy with how all three pictures turned out, but of course something as mundane as school pictures had to have a little chaos thrown in!  hooray until next year!

we've had a little work done

So we've done some work around our house and i thought i'd share- so, here goes:

I really love when houses have a gallery wall, so i was determined to have one in our home.  we thought the wall at the middle landing of our stairs would be perfect!  i ordered some frames from etsy, selected the photos, picked up an oversized ampersand at target and had justin hang everything up, which looked like this:

i finally had my gallery wall... and i hated it!  things were too small, the colors weren't right and the spacing was really getting under my skin every time i walked by.  then the twins with their raucous behavior broke the glass on like all but two of the frames (and no they weren't within their grasp, be creative, you might figure out how they did it.)  after moping around i had justin take it all down.  i stewed over it all for a while- like a couple months, and finally, after i decided a new color palette, we shopped our house, picked up some spray paint and this was the new gallery wall:

i love it!  but it is a horrible picture.  obviously since the stairs split, i can't get a straight on pic, so this will have to do.  anyway, i love seeing the pictures on my way upstairs and thankfully, they twins haven't broken any glass yet (i'd say knock on wood, but i think i'd need more of a "sledgehammer on wood" to keep us safe.)

our next project was our backpack zone.  which consisted of jackets, backpacks, shoes and socks landing here (the side of our kitchen in the breakfast nook):

okay, i took the pic while everyone was at school.  and that little basket on the floor is for shoes and socks, its been zoo helpful!  anywho, i picked up some numbered hooks from hobby lobby (intended for the kids bathroom) and i thought they'd be more helpful here:

 it so much less chaotic now!!  i really don't enjoy the fighting over who gets to hang their backpack on number one, but at least it's clean, and it makes our school days run a little smoother.

 also, we were having a bit of a grumpy problem in the mornings before school (and after too, but the morning was more consistent) so i thought i'd make a couple signs to help subliminally encourage a better attitude, first up, enjoy the ride:

and across on the other wall is, it's a good day for a good day:

and i can't help but show the sign brody made.  he thinks the whole diurnal/nocturnal thing is really cool, so i simply told him that grumpy's were nocturnal, therefore he shouldn't be grumpy during daylight hours.  i kid you not, it totally worked!!  this sign is his reminder:

now from kitchen to dining room.  this has been our dining room since we moved in (about a year and a half ago)

 we've been saving to buy a formal table, ok a specific table i've had my eye on for at least four years.  so we ordered the table, and painted an accent wall.

 then we ordered a rug and i somehow convinced justin to stencil trees on our wall.  it was a true testament of his love!  those nimble dentist hands went to work and never looked back!  i love how it turned out- i tell you, my man's got some mad skills!

 we ordered a bench for our table and it sits in the little cove along the stairway.  you can also get maybe a better glance at the gallery wall up the stairs.

the trees were actually done using craft paint, which the stencil company said worked best.  i love walking by our dining room.  and as an added bonus, i don't have to hear anymore people mention my empty dining room whenever they enter the front door.

and as for some less dramatic projects, i made this wreath for our entry way (across from the table) for the month of november:

i totally stole the idea from here, but made colors to match our house.

and this was our halloween wreath:

(no spiders were hurt in the construction or display of this wreath.)

anywho, that's the work we've been doing at home.  i tell ya, having kids at preschool twice a week can really help a girl get some things done!

the catch

what is it about parenting in that there's always a catch?  i feel like my kids will act like monsters to get my attention, however their current behavior makes me want to banish them away to time out.  or the time you most need to practice patience is the moment you're about to loose it.  and how come kids respond with "you don't have to yell" when you resorted to yelling after several nonresponces to polite asking?  and why is putting kids to bed such hard work when i'm so close to having a quiet house for the night?  ahhh, parenting... far from the smooth ride one assumes it'll be before that first "little one" arrives.  sometimes it amazes me how such tiny little newborns (under 6 pounds for the twiners) who barely fill out a premie onesie, have the to power to turn the life of a grown adult into a complete whirlwind?  how is it that having one little baby started me on a path of desiring to fill all that little one's needs before my own- telling myself i can get to my stuff in minutes, weeks, years from now?  i'll tell you how; parenting is tricky.  it's complicated and exhausting and it's certainly messy.  there's battles over what's served for meals, who gets what seat in the car, who had what toy first, who gets to flush the toilet and my recently loathed: who was first?  who was dressed first?  who was first to the car?  i want to go to the bathroom first, i want to be first to pick a movie, and first to pick a snack.  sometimes- well often- i feel i'm losing all sanity.  it can easily be less complicated to step back and see this:

these guys are a whopping 5 and 3 years old.  their job is to play.  they're supposed to make messes- like big ones.  they need to run and jump, laugh out loud and squeal with joy.  they have freedom from life responsibilities and should only have demands like putting shoes away and remembering to brush both their top and bottom teeth.  they're little enough to think that camping in a tent (in our toy room) is pretty much a magical adventure.  they think dragons are real and hope to run into a real t rex whenever we're at the science museum.  they think lego building really looks like stuff from real life.  they believe pretend food really can fill them up and they giggle while hiding behind a chair, and sincerely believe i don't know they're there.  they're young enough to believe locking our doors keeps out actual monsters at night and that justin can literally turn into a steam roller and flatten them if they don't jump out of the way quick enough.  it. is. amazing. they believe that all dreams can be achieved, anything is possible and a kiss from me can magically take pain away.  childhood is a beautiful thing.

the truth is i can loose my patience when i need it most, repeated requests can get yelled, and giving a child one on one "face time" can be a rather large challenge.  i think the true catch in parenting is stepping back.  oh how tricky this simply thing is to do!!  realizing the boys are five and three make days run a lot smoother, and a heck of a lot happier- sanity even seems to be within my grasp.  i know my kids respond best when i don't try to parent "above their age."  that can be hard, sometimes i do expect to much of my kids.  not surprisingly when i remember who my kids are, their strengths and weaknesses, can help anticipate fights and conflict before it happens.  do or can i parent perfectly?  oh heaven's no, i'm pretty sure i figured that out the day i brought brody home from the hospital!  but realizing one of the parenting "catches" certainly helps me.

the serious work of play.