Christmas 2013

Today has been a wonderful Christmas day.
Very low key and enjoying our little family.

Trip put Brooks to bed tonight and asked him what his favorite thing about today was.
And he said, "My favorite thing was that I got to play with you a lot".
Wow
Of all the "presents" he got today, Trip's "presence" was his favorite. (I am such an amazing writer aren't I? You see what I just did right there?)
But really, that's a beautiful reminder of what is most important because it is easy especially with kids now to get caught up in all the gift giving and wanting to make your child's Christmas "magical".
He really does just want us around to play and spend time with him.

Christmas is and I think always will be my favorite holiday.
I love all that comes with it, and now with kids it's all so so so fun watching them get excited about everything.
But I love the hope that Christmas brings. Because the older I get the harder this world seems.
The more hurt I see in peoples lives, sad, horrible things.
And I always wonder how people can make it through this life without the hope of Christ.
The hope that Jesus brought.
Without it, nothing has meaning, nothing really matters.
So I leave with what I think is my favorite Christmas Carol,  Oh Holy Night.

Oh holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ was born
Oh night divine
Oh night divine

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming
Here come the wise men from Orient land
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friend

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name

A few iphone pics from the last few days......

He loved his brothers toy the most

Learning to stand in his crib

Silent Night

Piper waiting for Santa

Brooks and Mason checking on Trip

update

I feel the need to write some stuff down about what the boys are doing.
I don't want to forget these days.

Ford is almost 11 months old. Hard to believe he is quickly approaching 1 year!!!
He is so fun, he is so smiley, and he is so busy!
He loves to sleep, he takes two great naps usually, sometimes just one long afternoon nap.
He sleeps later than Brooks. I think he is going to be a bigger sleeper than Brooks.
He usually goes right to sleep without crying (unlike his big brother)
He loves to watch Brooks and Piper.
He is great in the car.
He is crawling all over the place.
Loves baby food.
Not really pulling up yet.
outgrowing his car seat!
He is about 22 lbs and he is my little buddy!
He is our "chill" baby and I love watching him grow

Brooks is more fun by the day! We always say that we wish we could freeze him

He is rapidly approaching 3 years!

I look at pictures of him and wonder how he has gotten so big!

He says the funniest things, and absorbs everything around him.

He loves school, and he just told us this week that his best friend is Luca in his class.

Teachers say he listens well, he loves music class, and he has a great smile :)

He loves playing with other kids in general, especially his cousins and Daye. 

He LOVES all his cars and trucks and is asking Santa for more cars and trucks.

He is super excited about Christmas time and his new Elf who he named Chippy.

He believes everything and his excitement is awesome. I wish I could bottle it up.

He loves Mickey, and Bernie, and his grandparents.

He is potty trained and very particular about what he wears.

He loves Sharptop Cove and the Chandler boys!

He loves talking about the "campers" with Young Life and loves going to club with daddy.

He loves babysitters and pizza.

He loves Aaron Murray and the Georgia bulldogs, and often wears his jersey to bed.

Or he loves his superman and batman shirts with capes. 

He hates getting his clothes wet or dirty!

He doesn't like to try new foods.

He is a cautious kid, and is hesitant to take risks with most things.

He loves his cowboy boots, and his rain boots.

He does not like to wear jackets. 

He loves wuamba land at church.

He is a chatterbox, especially in the car! 

He brings us so much joy and it is so fun to discover more and more about who he is and who God is creating him to be. 

donuts with daddy before school, being silly

painting

strutting his stuff at Sharptop

before seeing the Rudolph puppet show

Life is full! 

Thankful

I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with Thanksgiving
Psalm 69:30

So so much to be thankful for today and everyday.
Thankful for family, friends, and health
and most importantly the hope found in Jesus that gives this crazy life purpose.

I pray I can have a thankful heart everyday and every circumstance that comes my way.

Burts Pumpkin Patch 2013

so very thankful for these precious boys

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sprinkles

Just a brief entry to capture a quick thought.
I have so much I want to catch up on here, Ford's 9 months, the mountains, the pumpkin patch,the beach, halloween.....
and thoughts from this incredible book that has been so good for my soul in this season of my life,

a quote from this book,

"This journey of mothering is a challenging marathon of moments, hours, days, months, years, and decades. And yet, in each moment, God has sprinkled across our paths beauty, love, and joy"

Lately I have felt the challenging marathon of moments but I had a sprinkle moment tonight when Brooks ,without any prompting, got up in my lap and sat inches from my face and asked me to read his Elmo book to him and then asked me to sing to him with a huge grin on his face.

I am trying to stop and appreciate these sprinkles of beauty, love, and joy. 

These sprinkles are evident every day, somedays they are just harder to find, but they are there!!

Because you are you and you are mine

Dear Brooks and Ford,
I treasure you both,
you are part of me,
you are my heart,
I have moments when I just need to write it down.
I love you,
I can never say it enough.
I love you just because you are mine,
that is all,
it's not because of anything that you do,
it's just because you are mine.
I love you because I can.
God gave me that ability,
to love you just because.
So remember,
I love you because you are you and you are mine.
I love you Brooks because you are you and you are mine.
I love you Ford because you are you and you are mine.
Nothing you can say or do that will ever make me feel differently.
That is all.
Love,
Mom

And remember what we say every night before bed....
God loves you the most and knows you the best

Disney World

Last weekend we went to Disney World with the family.
I was hoping for the best but not really sure how Brooks would handle it all at his age.
My expectations were exceeded!
He loved it and he was able to hang during our long days!
He loved being with his cousins, I think this helped with any lag time in lines or timidness on rides.
They all kept each other going.
I am so glad we decided to go with family our first visit.
It made it even more fun.
It was so fun watching Brooks experience it all for the first time.
There is something about Disney,
I think it's the way you carry your childhood experience from there, and you associate it with the excitement that you got as a young child into adulthood!
Yes it was hot,
expensive,
crowds,
hot,
expensive,
long days,
but it is all worth it to watch their little faces on the rides and watching fireworks and seeing the characters.
I am glad we took Brooks at this age because the excitement he got seeing the characters was awesome.
He loved getting their autograph.
My favorite moment of the trip was at the parade at Magic Kingdom when Brooks saw Mickey, after he had just gotten his Mickey stuffed animal from Me-Maw, he held his Mickey up to the Mickey in the parade and said "Mickey, I got you, I got you, I got you Mickey".
So innocent, so precious! I wish I could bottle up their little faces and excitement.
He is still talking about it.
I am thankful for the memories for me and Trip more than anything.
So glad my parents got to see the kiddos experience too.
It won't be our last trip for sure.
Can't wait until Ford gets to experience it.
He and Liza hung out at the hotel with a sitter each day which was perfect!

He loved the monorail train, we could have just ridden that around all day

at the Grand Floridian for Cinderella dinner

Prince Charming

petting zoo at Animal Kingdom

His first real ride at Animal Kingdom, a little timid at first but he loved it

so excited waiting for Pluto and Goofy's autograph

waiting

before the Lion King Show

Dumbo ride

Winnie the Pooh character dinner

Story time with Belle, Brooks was a tea cup in the little show

He loved hugging Belle, and gave her a kiss and wouldn't let go,
everyone in the crowd laughed

fireworks after parade

only family pic, take what you can get, hot and sweaty

worn out after long day at Animal Kingdom

Liza and Ford strollin' at the hotel

People Mover 

waiting for the parade

Ford on the people mover

car ride home, exhausted

Astro Orbit ride