Weeks in Review.

The last few weeks have come and gone so quickly. We once again find ourselves starting a new year and with that the very beginning of busy season and I'm a bit sad.

I feel spoiled to have had Mike home with us for two solid weeks. I love the holidays. The lights, the feelings, the food, the gifts, the social gatherings and cheery music. It's always bitter sweet to take everything down and put it away. The house seems sad, empty and sparse, not just because the decorations are gone but because daddy is back at work. But even for that I am grateful. I'm grateful we can start 2010 knowing that Mike has a job and we have a home. Sometimes I feel like we call get caught up in wanting more, bigger and better things, but in actuality what we have is just enough. I'm learning to be happy with what I have, which is good in relations to the new family budget we are trying for the new year. Finding peace with where we are and being more receptive to the blessings I have been given. I am blessed and I thank the Lord each day for giving me the opportunity to be with my family. It's going to be a good 2010, I can feel it.

We did a lot in the last few weeks of December. We finished projects around the house and reorganized ourselves, including a master closet makeover and changing a lot of the colors in the house, ran a lot of errands, spent a lot time just playing with the kids, we went on a few dates with just the two of us, played some racket ball, went to the Houston LDS temple, celebrated the holidays, ate a lot of clementines, and we watched our kids grow before our very eyes.

OWEN 14.5 months.Owen is so much fun these days. Always happy and full of loves. He shakes his head no and shakes his entire body yes. He can sign eat, more, done, and milk. He's still saying a few words but finding other ways to communicate. We started the vacation with Owen getting a pretty yucky cold that lasted for a week and then turned into a double ear infection. It was the first time I had experienced draining with tubes, not so pleasant, but I'm happy he has them. He's all about blankies these days and sleeps with about four and carries one around with him, clutched in one fist with the other hand's thumb in his mouth. Owen is learning how to "play" and is starting to push his cars around and make car noises.

CARTER 2.5 yrs. Carter is a handful these days, well, who am I kidding, he's always been a handful. He loves cars, trucks, little people, snowmen, oranges, nuggets, old school Disney movies, watching football, going to church and playing with his friends. Over the break he's started putting more and more words together and trying to talk in small sentences. I still can't understand half of what he says, but he's still learning and can repeat most of the things I say. Right now his favorite thing to say is, "ah man" and he likes to say hi or bye "guys." I picked him up from nursery on Sunday and he turned to his friends pointed to me and said. "Bye, my mommy's here." I was thrilled! Carter has an imagination and likes to use the laundry basket as a boat and pretend he's a lion. He loved everything about Christmas this year and was a blast to watch as he took everything in.

Here are the boys together in their Christmas sweaters playing with the avent calendar I had growing up.

Mike and the Boys after church.

Owen and I Christmas afternoon. This is the best I could do with Carter. He's not a fan of sitting still to smile. I mean who wouldn't want kisses from their mommy, right?I know there will come a point where my boys will no longer let me pick their clothes out. Until then I plan to continue to rock the matching sweaters and gel their hair.