Christmas preparations

We've certainly been busy, I can't believe that Christmas is just around the corner! We have had our Christmas tree up since the beginning of the month and it has been quite the task keeping the boys away from the ornaments. They are better now, but when the tree first went up Jase (and Owen!) couldn't keep their hands off of them! Thankfully, we bought all shatterproof (aka plastic) ornaments last year so at least the kids were safe when they were playing soccer with them. My friend showed me the cutest ornament idea. You stuff a large clear glass ornament (find at a craft store) with your baby's newborn hat and their ankle tag and hang it on the tree. I love how ours came out! I now have two favorite ornaments!
Greg is finishing up with his final grading, we are all looking forward to some down time with daddy after he completes his work. He's had a very busy semester. From teaching three different classes, doing his research, being an advisor to over 50 students, planning and executing a few events, going to several meetings per week to being a husband and a father, I just don’t know how he did it. Thank goodness this semester is almost behind us. He’s such a hard worker and we are proud of him.
Owen is doing very well in pre-school, and he asks just about every day when he is going to kindergarten. He's very excited to ride the school bus. He has a Christmas concert on Monday at school and then he has a little break until the new year. Jase is doing well; he's sleeping slightly better and he is using more and more words every day. I can't believe that he'll be 21 months on the 1st. I've been taking him to story time at the library every Monday morning while Owen is at school. He is really starting to come out of his shell. It's funny how different he is when Owen isn't around.
As for me, I've been doing my best with the boys. I'm really trying to put them first, instead of all of the things I want to get done around the house. I find that when I can successfully put them first we all have a better day: less frustration, less tantrums and less time outs. There's always time to do one load of laundry here and some dishes there. I'm learning that getting house work done with kids around isn't all or nothing; every little bit counts!
I've been getting to karate a lot more in the past few months and it really feels good to be back in the swing of things. We have a few events coming up in the near future so I am preparing for those and trying to get a women’s team pulled together from our club. I am hopeful that we will be competitive for the spring tournament.
We're looking forward to Christmas and the excitement that it brings. Owen is so excited for Santa to come, and Greg and I are equally excited to see the boys on Christmas morning. We are so very blessed and thankful to have each other and our boys. Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. May God bless you and your family in 2016!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We had a busy past few weeks! It’s hard to believe that today is December 1st! Around the 15th of November we travelled back to PA to visit my brother, sister and mom to have a pre-thanksgiving dinner. We all had a great time. Mom came up to visit from South Carolina so we were all happy to have a turkey dinner with her before she had to head back home. After she visited with my brother and sister and their families, she came down to see us in MD. The highlight of her visit with us was taking a day trip to the aquarium! We all love it there. The favorite of the day was seeing the Dolphins exercising (doing jumps and flips and of course splashing the audience) in their pool. Mom stayed for a few days then headed back home. It was nice to have her here! After she left, we started prepping for Thanksgiving! We hosted it here. We had my dad and his wife as well as my brother and his family come down. The little boys had a blast playing with each other. The weather was perfect, about 60 and sunny so they even got to play outside! Greg prepped and took care of the turkey this year, and my brother handled most of the other cooking. I sure got lucky this year :) Our dinner was delicious and we all had a great day.  After Thanksgiving, we headed up to New Jersey to celebrate a little cousin’s birthday. It was a lot of driving for one day, but it was worth it to have the boys see their cousins, aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa. We were pretty pooped after Thanksgiving and the travel on Friday that we didn’t do much over the weekend. Now we’re looking forward to Christmas!
Here are some pictures of our recent adventures!

Fun in the leaves!

Shark bait with Memaw

Fruit Turkey courtesy of Grandma Sandy

Yum!