It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

...Christmas!!!

We will be traveling a bit over the Thanksgiving holiday week, so we decided to break the Cardinal Rule of "not putting up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving." However, we only put up the decorations that are kind of a pain in the rear - like the lighted garland that goes over the garage door, the front door and the entertainment center. It's a pain to put up every year, but it's so beautiful and really makes me happy once it's up. And, even though we put up those items, we aren't lighting the outside lights until after Thanksgiving. So really, we're still kinda playing by the rules. :)

Here's a sneak peek at the indoor decs:

(Entertainment Center garland with Christmas Village set up on mantel area)

 (Parker loves this by the way. He makes me hold him up and talk about each and every building and what's going on inside as he points to them and babbles at each one. So cute!)

 And the tree:

(Notice - no ornaments yet.)

I'm very excited to get home from vacation and get out all of the fun decorations. I have a feeling Parker is going to love the blow-up Frosty the Snowman this year. And Payton can't wait to get Percy the Elf out! So many fun things to look forward to.

And since I'll be taking a blogging hiatus this week with the boys being out of school and traveling for a couple days, here are some random photos from the past couple weeks to tide you over till I get back...

We had new attic stairs installed last week. Our old ones broke and the company had gone out of business, so we got some spiffy new stairs that are SO much safer. Even the boys can climb them (with supervision of course!).

  The boys had so much fun up there - I was tempted to close up the door and let them hang out for a while! :)

Parker and I enjoyed our first candy cane of the season at Publix last week. It was yummy. 

Now that Payton takes showers instead of bathing with Parker in the tub, the boys have found a new way to play together during bathtime..

Payton fogs up the glass with his breath:

 Then draws things in it for Parker.

Then they banter back and forth at each other.

Sometimes ending in a kiss-through-the-glass!

Brian and I went out to dinner with a group of amazing friends last week. We were celebrating a new job for our good friend, Neal. It was a celebration in the sense that we know he is going to touch so many lives and be a huge impact for God in his new church. But at the same time, there were some tears shed at the idea of them moving to Virginia Beach. We love them so much. It's going to be a very hard goodbye.

(sorry for the horrible pic - the lighting was bad, on top of having the hostess take the pic who didn't know how to use an iphone camera :))

Here's one of me & Neal's wife, April. Such a sweetheart.

And one last random pic to share. I never want to forget this stage of Parker's life.

He is a very strong-willed child, but at the same time he can be so sweet and cuddly.

This is his favorite position in the world. Sitting with his bunny, blue blankie in hand, paci in mouth and gently rubbing his nose with the corner of the blanket. It's just so. darn. precious.

Okay, that's it for me.

I'll be back in a few days to share fun vaction pics.

Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving with your family & friends.

And remember... we all have so, so much to be thankful for.

Seeing the Light

Just when I felt like I could take no more, I think I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Brian seems like he's recovering from the flu and hopefully will be back to 100% by tomorrow or the next day. Parker is still struggling with a cough, and we may end up at the pediatrician if it doesn't clear by tomorrow, but if that's the worst that this week has in store for me, I can handle it.

The mornings have been so incredibly beautiful this week. The temps are lower, humidity is down, and we even got to wear our sweaters this morning for our walk around the neighborhood! Imagine that! :)

We used to walk Rohy every morning together as a family. Then when his hips started bothering him, our walks became shorter and shorter and eventually evolved into just a couple of driveways. After he passed, we stopped walking in the mornings all together. But I have revived the morning walk with Parker the past few days and it's been so nice.

We saunter around the neighborhood while it's still cool out and the birds and squirrels are busy gathering their breakfasts. There are no noisy lawnmowers running and rarely a person in sight. We get to explore Halloween yard decorations, collect acorns, and chatter to the wildlife. It's probably one of my favorite times of day.

Yesterday, Parker discovered that he could climb into the basket underneath the stroller. Apparently it's quite cozy in there because he refused to come out and ride in the stroller seat. Again this morning, he climbed right into the basket and rode down there the whole time. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts!

And yes, I realize that it's probably not the safest place for him to sit, but we are just walking very slowly around the neighborhood, so I think he'll be okay.

One of our neighbors a few houses down has really decked out their front lawn with all sorts of spooky Halloween decorations. I really thought they might scare Parker at first, but no. He loves them so much that every single time we walk past the house he has to greet every ghoul and skeleton and show me how scary everything is.

This morning after our walk, we met up with an old friend up at Starbucks. Before she got there, we had a little mommy-son breakfast date. He sat up at the counter with me and felt like such a big boy!

After we got our coffees, all 3 of us walked over to the fountain and enjoyed the beautiful morning. We got to chat for a long time while Parker splashed his hands in the water, pushed his stroller and made me chase after him more than a couple times. :) It was so nice to catch up with my friend Jen. Now that we have school-aged kids at different schools with different sets of friends and different schedules it's hard to find time to get together. But I realize that we need to do it more often.

And since I didn't have the energy to post these over the weekend, I also wanted to share a few pics my friend Kristen took during the Gator game on Saturday. She has a really nice camera, so enjoy the rare quality of these photos on my blog. ;)

Parker with her sweet daughter, Avery.

Parker enjoying their dog's bed. (He used to do this in Rohy's bed too - I guess it's the perfect size!)

Here's wishing the rest of the week continues to get even better.

I've got a fun girl's trip planned for this weekend, so I'm hoping everyone is healthy in time for my departure (including me!).

Recently

Life has slowed down significantly in the past week. Within about 10 days, we had our last baseball game (e.g. no more weeknight practices), our last Bible study (that we hosted in our house every Wednesday evening), and Payton completed his first year of Cub Scouts (which also means no more weeknight meetings).

Maybe this is a little taste of what life will be like in a couple weeks when school lets out. Only 16 more days left... not that Payton's counting or anything. :)

So, with a little more freetime on our hands, we've been...

Attending a LEGO workshop at our local library with Payton's budding, Max & Quinn:

 Playing "baseball" on the back porch:

 He's definitely been watching his brother!

 We just have to remind Payton that if he wants to hit off the tee, he has to go outside. That kid can whack a ball!

 Painting with sidewalk paint:

 Which of course includes painting yourself too!

Rollerblading while letting go of helicopter balloons:

(What? Like that's not normal?)

Going to the park and experiencing nature:

And getting big-boy haircuts:

 He looks so big to me now!

 Of course he wouldn't sit still for a good picture, so this is all I could get.

Totally shows his personality though. :)

And while our calendar has let up, don't think for one second that life in this household has slowed down one bit. In fact, I think with little man practically running now, life has sped up quite a bit!