merry merry merry christmas

 

we had a WONDERFUL week.  for memory book purposes, here's a recap.

we started christmas with dinner at babe's in arlington on wednesday night with most of my family, then christmas with the link family on thursday morning, our family football game that afternoon, and more good homemade food that evening.  friday evening we had dinner with the pritchards and link's great grandmother, meme, at colonial and christmas at their home.

saturday was christmas eve and jay's parents (nana and poppy) and grandmother (meme) along with my parents (hunny and papa) celebrated together with us at the christmas eve service at our church, wilshire.  our little family even lit the christ candle, and link did great.  he loves light and candles and proclaims it all "HOT" which was hilarious. we had tamales and chili here that night and enjoyed a beautiful night.  christmas day we all joined together again along with my brother, jarrod's family here at our house for brunch and a few more gifts.  lots of fun, lots of family, and lots of worship - of that miracle baby, jesus.  talk about amazing.  thank you, God, for the gift of your Son.  thank you, Jesus for your gift of love.

fall on your knees
oh hear the angel voices
oh night divine
oh night when christ was born...

some pics from our christmas week-

reindeer games

link fam

football boy

finley "walking the aisle" to link.  adorable!

post xmas eve service romp!

stocking stuffers

little drummer boy

wow!  cool!  reaction to the farm...haha

tired little boy

he loves, loves airplanes.  future pilot?!

with daddy celebrating a much needed night out, just us, christmas night at snuffer's.  what a great way to cap it all off!  yum!

much love to you and yours - merry christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!!!!

a lover of christmas already...

a trophy, a broken tent, screaming santa, and a choo-choo

i haven't blogged since thanksgiving, so i'll do a "quick" recap before christmas is suddenly upon us.  :)

jay and i went to waco with some friends to cheer on the bears against our hated longhorns, and they did not disappoint!!  and of course this week i made sure link saw the heisman trophy presentation and he chanted, RGthreeee!  so cute.  amazing to watch the baylor nation accept their first heisman.  love it!

courtney was thirsty ;)

we've also visited santa with jay, papa, and hunny (my parents) and gone to see the trains at north park with one of link's very best friends, finley.  let's just say the trains were the hit, as was time with finley.  as to santa, i LITERALLY do not have a picture (with santa) that doesn't have me in it, trying to keep link calm.  so at this point, we have no pic with santa.  happy family pre-santa pics will have to suffice.  :)

isn't finley precious?  no wonder link has a crush.  he RUNS to hug her every time they see each other.

 HOLDING HANDS.  adorable. :)

he clearly had not seen santa yet in this photo

my dad has white facial hair, so this may have to be our santa photo this year!

and on sunday, link busted out of his crib tent.  he has already pretty much completely broken his pack and play crib tent (yes, we had both.  don't judge. :)), so we decided it was time.  wow.  i had no idea what i was in store for...these last few days we have been operating on very little sleep in this household.  what is up with waking up early once you aren't confined?  this morning he was up at 3:45am.  and the last few, 5:30...what gives??  and of course he just climbs out of his crib and comes in and jumps on our bed, shrieking with laughter.  suggestions??

anyway, today we decided it was time for a big boy bed. we already have a set of twin beds, so it was just a matter of mattresses and bedding.  we pulled it together this morning and had him in his new digs by nap time.  funny that it took me three months to decide on crib bedding and one morning to pull together this ensemble.  pregnancy must make me lack in decision making abilities.  :)

oh, he felt like such a big shot.  first he got to sit at the counter for the first time at HP pharmacy for lunch, then he got a big boy bed, and all this just in time for his afternoon nap.  quite the afternoon for the little man!

you see that finger he has up in the last photo?  probably not a coincidence that he spent the following hour NOT listening to me and getting out of bed at every opportunity.  haha.  but, now, he sleeps.  amazing to think someday he might actually choose to go get in bed on his own.  ah, this too shall pass.  it's so hard to keep a straight face with some of the antics he tries to pull getting in and out of the bed.  and even through the exhaustion, i know i will someday miss the fact that right now he wants nothing more than for me to come in and lay next to him, play with those precious blonde curls, and tell him, "mommy is here."  and i do. and i love it.  sigh.  :)

thanksgiving

the older i get, the more i love thanksgiving.  what a special holiday, just a time to be together with those you are thankful for, wow, what a concept!  haha.  we got to have several thanksgiving meals with special people in our lives.  the first was at our church on sunday, the whole crew of us have a thanksgiving service and meal.  we sat with our sunday school class and shared a fun evening.

next was our friends-giving, which we hosted here at our house with our newly formed supper club.  OH-SO-FUN.  who knew i had so many friends that are such great cooks?!?!  it was amazing and all of our kids had a blast, too.  

the next morning we headed northbound for tulsa to spend the next few days with my family.  i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE getting the whole crew of us together.  even when we do nothing, i just love getting to really spend time with each and every one of them.  we had our traditional link family turkey bowl, my favorite tradition, thursday morning.  you see there is a reason i am a football fanatic.  i was raised by football fanatics!  we had so much fun and quite the workout to prepare us for our big meal.  if you have never experienced a lavon link turkey dinner, you are missing out, because OH MY GOSH, can that woman cook!  my sisters-in-law and i help a lot, but if we are honest, we know my mom does it all!  amazing.  

okay, i'll let my pics do the rest of the "talking"...

the two youngest links - best pals :)

our little rock climber.  i'm amazed at the physical skills of my two year old!

my two favorite monkeys

link playing with our jackets during the turkey bowl

my brothers transporting hot food in the bob stroller.  this is seriously hilarious to me.

can anyone guess when this was taken?  approximately three hours after turkey bowl and approximately ten minutes after turkey consumption.  cowboy game relax time!

at the tree lighting at utica square, one of my favorite tulsa spots!

fine-tuning josh's xmas lights

tulsa v houston game

saturday, dancing to the OU fight song on the way to norman!

day 14-16, more thankful for thoughts...

day 14 - my nephews and nieces.  i'm not sure they will ever know what they mean to me.  i feel so selfish in my love for them - they have brought me so much joy, and what the heck did i do!?!?  and they still do.  carter, kyle, audrey, nathan, asher, carson, caroline and jack...i love each of you with all my heart!!  God blessed me to be your aunt, and not a day passes that i don't pray for and love you.

day 15 - on a lighter note - drinkable yogurt, toddler squeeze pouches filled with nutritious fruits and veggies, chicken salad, cheese, granola bars, elmo whole wheat mac and cheese, edamame...all of the foods that make my little boy happy and healthy.  that and mi cocina.  just 'cause ooooh, is it yummy!  :)

day 16 - this is a BIG one.  a part-time job (with a solid, family business!) that can be done from home.  this is what so many moms hope for and not many can find, and it's perfect for us (which is all that matters - not judging anyone else's choices!).  i am so blessed.  as far as link knows, i never "work" because i can do most everything while he is napping or down for the night.  it takes a lot of discipline (and sleep!) to keep up with both, but it is all worth it in the end.  FOR SURE!

because of said job, i don't have to miss any of these moments from the last couple of days...SO THANKFUL!  and so very blessed.

i'm smiling here b/c he didn't stop smiling, laughing, and repeating CHOO-CHOO at the top of his lungs yesterday riding the dart train home from his first wee volunteer project :)

pajama-knight-face-off.  he was seriously looking tough and talking smack.  hilarious.

at approximately 10:30 this morning, link pretended to be a space commander for the first time  :)

our little climber

watching the thankful posts...

and have been keeping my own private file.  the only way i will keep up with this is to post it here.  i don't want to do this on Facebook, but those of you that are the few and proud will have to live with it on the blog.  :)

day 1 - a daddy that works with the force of a thousand suns to make sure his wife can be an at-home momma to his little boy.

day 2 - the workers at our gym and their effortless devotion to my son, who they call "slim" - he loves them, going to the gym, and being the life of the party

day 3 - football season - and all it implies.  glorious.  college football is a haven for me.

day 4 - my mom.  her complete devotion to her family.  her love of all things beautiful.  her patience with all of us, because she is - and i mean this, completely perfect.

day 5 - my brothers.  how they have earned my complete devotion since the day i was born.  i still worship them and know they can do no wrong.  

day 6 - my church - wilshire is our church home, i'm so thankful that God led us there and showed us where we belong.  

day 7 - our home.  i love our neighborhood and our home.  part of me wishes we could stay right here forever.

day 8 - this time in my life.  i know that someday, as hard as it is a lot of the time,  i will wish for all of this back.  I KNOW THIS.


day 9 - thankful for legs and a body that can run, for the bob stroller, and that link enjoys the ride!

day 10 - my dogs.  i have kids, and i still love my precious pups.  they put up with us and still love us unconditionally.  bless their hearts.  they are the best.

day 11 - compassion.  the holidays are upon us, and watching people show some kindness to their fellow man makes my heart melt.

day 12 - toddler love.  watching link play with his little friends.  hugging, wrestling, sharing.  it's all just amazing.

day 13 - my daddy.  I'm a daddy's girl, and for good reason.  he exemplifies all that i want to be in this life.  love him so!

halloween

super link, the boy wonder!  we are lucky to have a great neighborhood - with many old friends and a lot of new friends, too.  link had so much fun tonight, and so did we!  halloween is seriously one of the best holidays - candy, costumes, and so much fun!!!

a little bedlam commentary with some neighbor boys.  (tra-tra's if you are link...all big boys are tra-tra's.)

hudson, link's across the street buddy. they are three weeks apart!

playing w/ hudson and his sister

link, mom, meg, and charles @ our neighborhood parade.

one of at least three suckers this evening

sweet boy

time for a bath, you think?

giving dad an "O-U!"

picking one last treat for the evening

and the M&M's were a hit!