Christmas week

Christmas week began the way it should...with lots of snow. This little boy was quite content with a bowl full of the stuff to play with. And eat.

I don't remember what they were laughing at (something inaproppriate, I can assure you) but I just adore these next two pictures, with all their colorful gear and colorful cheeks. And in case you're new around here, this is my sister's daughter, Piper, who's exactly a month older than Bennett.

My parents and youngest sister arrived from Memphis on Christmas Eve. I didn't get any pictures on Christmas eve which makes me sad, because it was the first time my little boys were dressed up since Easter. But it was a hectic night since we always host everybody for appetizers after church services and I was getting all the food ready. I was also being a grouch to my husband who wasn't doing things I didn't ask him to do.
Dawson woke up at 5:40am on Christmas day but thankfully fell back to sleep in our bed for an hour, after throwing a mini fit that we wouldn't let him go downstairs yet. When he woke back up at 6:40, we went downstairs together and found Bennett and Auntie Claire already watching a Christmas movie. Dawson snuggled in there and we waited semi-patiently for Daddy to sleep "just 20 more minutes".

We can never put any presents out before Christmas morning because they'd all be opened. (Jon wrapped a couple of presents for me and left them in the living room and Dawson opened them twice before I locked them away with the rest of the gifts.) I love the magical moment when the boys see the pile of presents for the first time. I still remember those moments so vividly as a kid. (I guess we must have opened presents too, because my parents never put them out until we were asleep on Christmas Eve either.)

I'm so thankful my Dad took these next two pictures. It was a sweet moment, letting Bennett read some of the Christmas story out of The Jesus Storybook Bible:

The boys always get to open their stockings right away and then we have breakfast before the rest of the presents get opened. We like to stretch things out around here. They didn't mind. There was a lot of bacon.

The one time a year I buy my boys matching jammies and I love it. How long will they let me do that?? This year's photo went just slightly better than last year's. ;)

So, Channing has a thing for babies. He's obsessed. He goes up to any baby that's his size or smaller, starts talking in a baby voice (How does a baby talk in a baby voice, you ask?? It's the cutest thing on the planet. Cuter than a pomeranian puppy. His already baby voice gets higher pitched and his face scrunches up and he makes happy little sounds at the other miniature human.) Sometimes he reaches out and gently touches or tickles them or puts a hand on their back. Seriously. Kills me. So I got him a boy baby doll for Christmas. The next three pictures are worth every penny of the $8.99 I spent on it:

 This isn't his mad face. This is just a face he does. Usually when smelling a candle or flowers:

 After our relaxing morning (honestly and truly...it was a really great Christmas morning.), we headed to Jon's parents house. We managed to get all eight cousins in a picture. Almost everyone was cooperating...

There's #8. Slightly pacified to at least sit for a moment with a cookie. (I'm just thankful it wasn't mine this time and that my days with a very spirited toddler are past me! A spirited four year old is very tough. But it doesn't hold a candle to his second year of life.) But seriously, how cute are they all together?? One of the biggest blessings of our life- living close to all of their cousins.

To avoid the absolute chaos that was opening gifts last year, Nana Jude came up with a great idea. Only the child sitting on the stool could open gifts. To which Bennett stated after a couple of kids had had a turn, "I hate this stinkin' rule!" That's the giving spirit, my boy! We also dismissed the kids when their gifts were all opened so the adults could take a long time enjoying our gifts. Although, we came to the decision that we'll dismiss the men next year too. ;)

This was Dawson's face after he opened this Playmobil set, only to find out it didn't come with any "guys". 

Dawson's antics when he received gifts this year were comical. A couple of times, he opened something he wasn't so happy about, stared at it for a minute and then said in a downhearted voice, "Here. You can have it," and handed it to whichever kid he was closest to. 
I'm pretty sure Nana dreamed about this moment her whole life: 

My sis-in-law with the smallest Colyer. Don't let his size fool you. This tiny little peanut took his first steps (at 10 months) only about two months after Channing finally started walking (at almost 21 months!!). They're exactly a year apart.

 Long live the queen.

My brother and his wife flew in from California on Christmas day. They joined us at the Colyers, along with my parents and youngest sister, for Christmas dinner. I'm always gung-ho about taking pictures for our first Christmas celebration and then completely drop the ball for the next one. So there aren't any pictures of my side of the family's Christmas which we had the next day. The highlight for most of us every year is our Christmas brunch. Y'all, my mom can cook like nobody's business. We had baked pumpkin oatmeal and bacon on Christmas morning and then a blueberry baked french toast and ham for our second Christmas morning, the next day.
It's always so much fun to have my brother and his wife around. They don't have kids yet, so of course they have the energy and patience to devote a lot of attention to our kids. And they're also just incredible people. Anyone who meets Sarah thinks she's such a warm and kind and interesting person. We're incredibly blessed to have her in our family and yet, it's heartbreaking we're only with them for a handful of days every year. I'm hoping we can start visiting them out there, in addition to their week here.

We had incredible weather right after Christmas so it was a perfect day for a hike in the woods. 

Auntie Claire has weasled her way into all of these boys hearts. Some more easily than others. They adore her.

My mom was still laughing here. Not for long...on the way back out she was watching her feet, focused on Dawson singing and walked straight into an overhanging tree branch and cut her head right open. She didn't need stitches but there was a lot of blood!

 No outdoor adventure would be complete without a little nature lesson from Aunt Sarah. (She and my brother both teach outdoor education in and around Yosemite National Park.)

 Just missing one Ottley sister in this picture:

My brother wasn't feeling good that afternoon so he stayed home to nap while we hiked. These next pictures are pretty terrible from my phone but they're the only ones with my brother in them! One day we went to the library. Half the group jogged over while my mom and I drove over in the van. Yes, we're the wimpiest about the cold. But mostly I didn't want to haul a load of books back. Mostly. ;) :

At the newly renovated Academy of Wildlife Education at our mall. (If you're local, it's a fantastic place to spend a couple of hours.)

Oh, Graham and Sarah, you bring so much life and energy to this family. Your love for us and our boys is such a gift. Our days with you are a highlight of my year.

And since I probably won't blog again for a couple weeks, I'll throw these on there too. Our New Year's Eve plans got cancelled due to our friends' very sick baby. And then Jon ended up in bed in the basement at 8:45 because he didn't feel great either. I was really bummed that it didn't feel special at all. Bennett was watching a movie on the couch and I said, "this is the most boring New Year's ever, huh?" He agreed. Well, right then and there I realized it didn't have to be. So I said, "Let's make popcorn and go eat it in my bed together!" So I made popcorn and I threw in some marshmallows to make it more fun (we didn't have any M&M's...the obvious first choice). I poured the last of some apple cider we had in the fridge and we snuggled under a blanket together on my bed. I read a book and he watched his movie until he fell asleep. It didn't take any effort and it made for a really special memory together.

On New Year's Day, we took advantage of all of our husbands being home from work and had a Colyer girls shopping day and then came back to Judie's for "high tea". It was exquisite and an incredible way to kick off the New Year. I sense a tradition has begun. 

Well, I should end with all kinds of sentimental words and my goals for the New Year but it took me a week just to get these pictures edited and posted so I'm just gonna call it good and save the sentiments for another day!

December news (can this just count as our Christmas card??)

This post is going to be all over the place. Mostly because I don't have enough time to blog these days so I have to just cover it all in one post but also because my brain bounces all over the place all the time anyway. So we'll go with that.

The first big point in my life worth mentioning is that we recently stuck a For Sale sign in our front yard. It was a little bit sudden, but a long time coming. The journey started about this time last year. God just started stirring in my heart that He wanted me to want more for my boys. You see, we live in the suburbs in Iowa. Adventure is everywhere, I know this. It's just a whole lot harder to find it around these parts. The TV is on far too often at our house because we just get so dang tired of them climbing the walls and destroying things. Bennett is already totally addicted to anything with a screen (which we try very hard to limit. The iPad had to go away permanently, except for road trips, because there was just way too much attitude whenever it was time to turn it off.) I want my boys to want to be outside. I don't want to have to make them go outside. I could just see things getting even worse in the years to come, rather than better. So we started to look for land out in the country (can't even believe I'm saying that. Never pictured myself as a country girl. But that's why I know this is a push from God!) that we could eventually build on. We checked out a few different spots and none of them ended up being right. Then just a couple of weeks ago, Jon came across some land that was in a great location (ie: within 15 minutes of a Target) with woods (our biggest priority). But this land just so happened to have a cute and quirky little house on it that we could move into right away. We're currently in the process of deciding if and when to put an offer on it and what that offer will be (possibly pending the sale of ours. We're not sure yet. We'll probably know a lot more next week.)

I took my first photography class last weekend with a good friend of mine. It was so much fun and I learned a lot. It just covered all of the basics in order to stop shooting in auto mode. I feel like I got a good handle on a lot of the settings and the way my camera works. I'm excited to keep honing my skills. It's a lot of fun to do something like this where you can so easily track your progress. (And frankly, it's fun to do anything at my stage in life that fuels creativity. Finger-painting and play-doh only do so much for me.)

(This has nothing to do with that class but I wanted to share it anyway. I happened upon this lighting one morning at home and took this with my phone. I think I need to recreate this shot with my real camera, just to see the difference.)

We got our first serious snow a couple days ago. It was so beautiful all day. I happened to have my real camera with me when we were driving so I begged them to let me take their picture out in it. That's the problem with getting into photography. I see beauty everywhere now and I just want to capture it! But it does prompt me to have little moments with the boys that I wouldn't have had otherwise. They didn't want to get out, but of course once they did they had a blast.

"Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes..." (Sung in a Julie Andrews voice. Not Carrie Underwood. Let's just be clear.)

I'm so disappointed that I messed up the focus on this one. Sometimes I think a picture is fine when I glance at the little screen and don't realize it's blurry until it's big on the computer.

And in much less important (and far more superficial) news, I've  v e r y  s l o w l y  been changing out and updating some of the decorating in my house. I'm the type of person who doesn't like to settle. I wait and wait for just the right thing, and once I find it, it stays forever. The problem with that is, my taste level far exceeds my budget. So generally, I just leave a spot empty (or, in the example below, cluttered up with crap that's not going to stay there), rather than filling it with something I like ok but don't love. I'm sorta jealous of people who aren't that picky.
Here's one spot in my home that was slightly (actually, horrifyingly) embarrassing. Looking back at these, I sort of can't believe it sat like this for so long. But on the other hand, who really cares? I'm sure no one suffered serious complications, having to look at it. And hey, maybe it boosted some people's self esteem, knowing their house didn't look that bad! ;) I'm all for making people feel better about themselves. So you're welcome, if you came to my house in the last four years.

And the after:
Oh, hello desktop. It's nice to see you again.

I picked up the tiny lamp at a recent trip to Ikea. The print next to it was given to me recently by a new (and already very dear) friend. It says,

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." -C.S.Lewis

It couldn't possibly be more perfect for me. 

 Everything on the left I purchased at an antique store here in town for very cheap. The "let's stick together" print is by katygirl designs. The stuff on the right I've had forever.

I bought a bunch of vintage books recently. Mostly because they look great and they're super cheap. Plus...I just like seeing books everywhere. I chose the middle one about Cornwall because that's Judie's hometown in England. (I know it's not a town. But I don't know what they call it. State? Province? Area? Help me out here, Jude.) The other two just went well with my color scheme (and price point).

Jon comes home in a couple hours after being gone for six days (SIX.) I won't lie, it's been sorta awful. Dawson's slipped back into some very difficult behavior. But it was also wonderful. Because I was majorly blessed by a few people. My mother-in-law wasn't available to help me much so a friend of mine (same friend who gave me the C.S. Lewis quote) took Dawson for me almost the whole day on Saturday. She didn't ask what she could do to help. She just told me he could spend the day with them and came and got him. And didn't bring him home for a very long time. I could have kissed her. Then around 5pm tonight, I got an email from a friend who I've only known for a couple of months, saying her daughter was getting out of dance right around the corner from my house at 6:30 and asked if she could come over after that and help with the kids for an hour or so. The relief I felt was immense. When she got here she told me she felt a stirring to help somebody today and prayed and asked God to show her someone who needed help. It brought tears to my eyes. What an amazing God we serve, who cares deeply for all of our needs. And not only did she help with the kids during the most difficult hour of the day, but she just jumped right in and washed the dishes in my sink without asking. Y'all, this is what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ. These two friends didn't send a text and say, "is there anything I can do for you?" Because I might have said, sure I could use a little help, but I certainly wouldn't have said, "yeah, can you take one of my kids for nine hours?" or "yeah, could you come over tonight at the end of your day when you're probably tired and ready to relax and play with my rowdy boys and wash all the dishes in my sink?" They just stepped up and did it.
Here's my takeaway. Don't feel weird offering help to someone you don't know that well. That will probably mean more than offering to help your best friend. And don't ask, "what can I do to help?" Just get in there and help in whatever way you know how. And if you're the one being helped, don't feel embarrassed about the massive amounts of mess, no matter how gross it may be. I started to feel embarrassed about the dirty dishes she was cleaning but I brushed it away. Everyone's sink has been piled high with a few days worth of gross dishes. No one's going to think you're gross. I am grateful tonight for these women and I will be praying that God shows me how to pay it forward in the next few days.*

*My sister-in-law also came over and shared her God-given gift of cleaning with me but I asked her to, in exchange for watching her son next week, so I didn't know how to fit it in to the story. Regardless though, she needs to be mentioned because she willingly came over for a few hours and scrubbed and shined and vacuumed like a merry little maid. That was a huge burden off of me. We're having our first house showing tonight (Wednesday) so in the midst of single-parenting for six days, I also had to get the house perfect. Talk about an insurmountable task. So Bria, I hope you know how much I appreciated you too!! You are a gift to me.