2010

2010 was such a great year for our little family.

We had a wonderful snowfall in February.

1st in.... a long time... I think I was in middle school the last time we actually had snow that stuck.

Wesley became a big brother & Charlie & I the parents to 2!

This was definitely the best day of 2010 & Wesley kept that face for days every time he saw his brother. Instant love.

Charlie received a promotion at work.

Wesley turned 4!

Mom moved out leaving us with an apartment all to ourselves.

To decorate as I please....

And I did :)

It went by way too fast... kind of in a bit of a blur but it has been amazing.

Here's to hoping next year is an even better year! 

Sharing

O my boys....

How I love them so.

And moments like last night just tug on my mama heart strings with an intensity. 

The littles and I sat in the floor watching Toy Story 1 & 2 on Disney. Wesley wanted a snach, dry Cheerios.

I poured some Cheerios in a bowl and he sat down beside me in the floor and started chowing down. 

Oliver being Oliver of course freaked out wanting some and it was the cutest thing... Wes started feeding them to him.

He'd never had Cheerios... or anything solid other then the little Gerber puffs so I was a little nervous at first, but he ate them like a champ!

Wes just kept alternating between feeding himself and Oliver.

Every now and then he'd take too long for Oliver and he'd scream at him lol.

Finally Oliver just started diving in and getting his own.

And, so exciting, Oliver started getting up onto his knees!! 

Wes was pretty excited about it too.

Crawling, the easy way, should be coming very soon!

The cheerios ended up in the floor, where they just kept eating them lol. 

A couple of times Wes got tired of Oliver eating all of his Cheerios but after reminding him we had plenty more, he'd shove another into Oliver's mouth for him.

They are so funny, and fun and sweet to each other. I hope it stays this way forever... Fat chance I'm sure.

So I'll enjoy it while it lasts 

Gift Wrapping

The boys each got a present for one another this year. 

We picked out Wes' gift from Oliver of course but we gave Wesley $10 and took him to the store to pick out whatever he wanted for Oliver. 

He picked a really cute dump truck, and was so excited about it. 

When we got home I let him wrap the present all by himself. 

He cut the paper.

Check out that concentration face.

Folded the paper over...

And had me tape for him.

After each piece of tape was added we said "BAM!"

And then put it under he tree.

He did such a good job! I was quite impressed! 

And he was very proud of himself. 

Next year I've decided instead of picking out a gift for each other they'll each pick out a gift to donate. They get enough stuff.

{Baby's 1st} Christmas!

And what a magical Christmas it was.

Christmas Eve morning the boys got to open their gifts from each other. 

Wes was so excited for his gift and Oliver seemed to enjoy his as well. 

Well... he did like the paper better. 

We headed off to mom's to watch some Toy Story 3 that the boys got from Ariel and eat some finger foods and open gifts. 

Once the sunset and the stars were peaking out we headed out to check out some Christmas lights on houses, 3D snowflake glasses in hand.

There were lots of Oooowww'ing & Aaaaahhhh'ing and lots and lots of Christmas carols being sung, mostly by me and mom, at the top of our lungs!

We got home and were all pretty tired but we did stay up long enough to open just a couple more presents.

Wes has the best surprised face lol.

Wesley NEVER puts up a fight to go to bed. 10pm on the dot he knows it's bed time and always goes down easy. Every now and then he'll get up after only a couple minutes and say he can't sleep but I take him back in his room, give him extra lovin's and he's out... not that night. 

We put him in our bed so that when he woke up we would too. We refused to let him wake up and go in the living room without us. After about 30mins of fighting with him he FINALLY gave in and went to bed with Charlie who fell asleep too.

While they were asleep I went ahead and made Charlie's stocking and woke him up.

He got my stocking ready while I put together the boys and then.... the real 'fun' began.

We had to put together their new train table which took way longer then we expected, and while Charlie was getting the pieces all ready I started blowing up the ball pit/bouncy. We finally got the ball pit blown and and had a mini panic attack when we saw how BIG it was! In "Charlie land" he say that it was 4ft wide... turns out to be more like 6! We did not think it was going to work and we were going to have to return it. We decided to finish putting up the table and just see if there was any way to save it... Charlie REALLY wanted to be able to keep it. We got the table all finished and did lots of furniture moving and purging and finally figured out the perfect layout for the room.

Let's just say that room could never be mistaken for anything other then a playroom!

We didn't get done until after 2am! And I never got to sleep until around 3, and kept waking up.

I finally just decided to get up around 8 when I heard Oliver and mom in the living room. 

I walk around the corner into the dining room where the tree and gifts were all set up and see this...

Apparently he woke up early just so he could play with the presents first! 

And he was having a blast!

I got tired of waiting up for Wes and went and woke up him and Charlie.

At first he was pretty groggy and wasn't wanting to wake up, but after hearing that Santa had some a couple of time he was up and ready to go. 

First thing he saw?

Maw Maw.

And he was SO excited she was there.

Second?

Presents!!!

Batman Cave!

He sat and stared for a while... taking it all in.

Then we dug into the rest of the gifts from us.

Everyone got totally spoiled. 

Mom a new diamond necklace.

Charlie his fav bottles of alcohol and a steering wheel/ foot pedals & 3D glasses for playing games on the computer.

The kids... well they got a lot.

And me... well I got a lot too! Including a Zebra snuggie, some awesome crystal Zebra earrings and a purse all picked out by my hubby all on his own.

But my FAVORITE presents were a tie between my Pier 1 cupcake cookie jar I've been wanting for.ev.er., it seriously brought a tear to my eye I was so excited when I opened it! I never would have thought Charlie would have remembered. And my book light, which I've gotten lots of use out of already. 

My husband out did himself.

After all the gifts were opened we asked Wes to go put some of his toys in the playroom.

I ran in ahead.

I'm sure he was wondering why we were already having him put away his toys...

He walked in, and well, his face says it all

He kept saying "it's the train I wanted!!!" and ran straight to the table and started playing.

Then he dove in the ball pit and went to town with Oliver who LOVES the ball pit.

We had an amazing dinner cooked by your's truly.

It included

Green Bean Casserole

Spiral Ham

Corn

Rice

Gravy

Stuffing

Baked Mac-n-cheese

And for dessert my wonderful husband had gotten me and Chocolate chip pecan pie from Cracker Barrel. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm my favorite! 

We were all completely stuffed and happy and having so much fun together. 

Oliver played his little heart out.

Seriously he played for hours and hours until he finally passed out for a long nap.

Wes ran from room to room playing with different things and stopping every now and then to watch Charlie play the DS or a racing game on the computer.

I really don't think our Christmas could have been any more perfect. Any more special. 

It was our 1st as a family of 4 and it was awesome. 

Happy New Year!

9 months {young}

My littlest lovey dovey do whop is 9 months. 

And like a fine wine he just gets better with age.

He's so full of life.

So full of joy & happiness & laughter. 

He's SO cute!

I mean I know I may be biased but jeesh... this is one freakin' adorable kid.

From his chubby little cheeks and understated blue eyes that constantly changed between shades of blue and gray, to his infectious smile that lights up his ENTIRE face.

Nearly every day Charlie comments that he thinks he's getting cuter.

So I must say I find it to be a huge compliment when people say how much he looks like me :)

And keeps us laughing with his never ending array of silly faces.

And when he does silly things like this...

I love him with 1/2 my being (the other 1/2 dedicated to his brother of course).

He loves to play and crawl around. 

And everything... I mean EVERYTHING goes straight to his mouth.

He's trying so hard to pull up onto things, mostly me in the mornings when we're doing our morning cuddling. But he just can't quite get onto those knees like he wants. 

He got his 1st big boy hair cut from maw maw.

He did really good with a sucker in hand to distract him.

And came out looking as handsome as ever.

He also got to open his very 1st present today one his very 1st Christmas Eve. 

His present from his big brother who helped him open it.

& tomorrow he'll celebrate his very 1st Christmas!
And our 1st Christmas as a family of 4

He loves bath time & puffs.

People watching and snuggling.

Banging on the floor and screaming.

Crawling down the hall and peaking around the corner to find you.

And playing in the playroom with his big brother. 

He's a mama's boy through and through and will come and find me if I leave the room and get the BIGGEST smile on his face when his eyes meet mine. 

There isn't one thing I would change about him.

He is who is is for a reason and every bit of him is perfection.

I love you every.day. Oliver Gage.

More and more.

Tradition

Every year since Wesley was born we've bought him an ornament that represented who he was or what he liked or just something that reminded us of him that year. 

Of course his 1st Christmas he got a Baby's 1st Christmas ornament with his name on it. 

2nd Christmas I saw the Jack-in-the-box from the old Christmas movies and had to get it for him.

He was REALLY into coloring (still is) so for his 3rd Christmas we found him the perfect ornament of a polar bear coloring.

Last year we let him pick out his own ornament and he went with Handy Manny (one of his favorite cartoons at the time)

This year he wanted Buzz Lightyear & I found the perfect one! 

I found a Buzz with a LGM! It matches their Halloween costumes!

Last year I was pregnant with Oliver but I still wanted to get him an ornament and found a cute little bear with a star. We plan on putting his name on it but haven't yet.

This year for his 1st Christmas I really wanted a Monkey Baby's 1st Christmas ornament and couldn't find one ANYWHERE! But I did find one that is so very appropriate... a silver spoon. It represents his love of all things edible haha. That kids loves to eat. 

This year Charlie and I decided to get each other ornaments every year too. 

We will have a VERY full tree someday. 

I had a great idea for an ornament for him but ended up waiting a little too late to get it but I did find one I liked that reminded me of him.

It has all of his favorite colors, and well Charlie is a bit of a jester lol

He really liked it

He got me Argyle, sparkly, awesomeness. 

Also this year we got our 1st Family ornament that we are so so so in love with!! 

And I had a little fun with some 3D Snowflake glasses Charlie brought us. They are SO fun! I can't wait to go look at all the Christmas lights with them Christmas Eve!