A Carruthers Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with John's family. I was very thankful that Nate was feeling better... and looking a little better!

Doesn't Sandra Lee call this a tablescape? Or is that just what it's really called?

My chunky-hunky-monkey.

Uncle Reed helping James shoot his new gun.

 Of course, what would a Carruthers even be without a little wager.... I believe Taylor and Matt both won some cash with this stunt.

James loved opening gifts this year.

Uncle Matt got James a remote control monster truck. Dare I say that James is a better driver than I am?

The best gifts are the ones that come with full assembly!

And last but not least, Matt's new shirt. I love it. I don't want one, but I love it!

On the 2nd Week of Christmas...

The second week of Christmas was nearly as uneventful as the first!

So uneventful, in fact, that I grew crazy and took this motley crew for a freezer-walk. Brrr.... I'm definitely a fair-weather-walker these days!

You wouldn't think he's the most protective dog I've ever owned, would you?

 Then we played in the freezing cold garage for a bit...

I've learned Nate is quite the dare-devil climber these days. That kid can wiggle his way onto anything or turn around and drop off the side of anything. Just the other day, I sat James on the coffee table and (after much encouragement) he was so proud of himself for making it to the floor. On the other hand, I've caught Nate - legs and belly hanging off the changing table ready to drop off.

If we need to burn some energy inside, I'll shut all the doors, block off the hallway and let the boys play on the stairs. Nate intently climbs each stair - enjoying the process, I'd say  ;-). James spends all his time shuffling toys and animals up and down stairs to "follow Mom".

Nate's happy place.

Apparently (fat) Nate can even wiggle out of his (tight) high chair. I found him like this when I came downstairs one day.

And of course, Nate was the first to attempt the step stool. Now it's the coveted activity at our place.

One afternoon, I got so fed up with little toys everywhere, I organized the toy bins and made spots for "special toys" (ie - all the toys with small parts) in the upstairs closet. OCD?..... Maybe. Probably not if you've seen my other "need to organize" areas!

Playing with birthday present boats. It was very convenient that we received two! (Notice the clean play space around them with only one toy to occupy their imaginations! Yeah, that didn't last long.)

The Saturday before Christmas Eve, our good friend Wade (of the Wade and Angela crew) was visiting Seattle for a business trip. We had some people over and it was great to catch up with them!

Lol, yes, this was the best picture I got!

The boys at the "kid's table".

December 20th, we celebrated sweet Claire's 1st birthday. Can't believe that little girl is 1 already!

The after-party music. Courtesy of Kenley and James.

Good Morning after the party, Nate!

...

On the 1st Week of Christmas....

It was a strange Christmas this year. Sweet Nate caught Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease early in the month, but we thought it was chicken pox for about 2 weeks.

Since I knew we'd be home for a few weeks, I decided to tackle potty training full time with James. Oy-vey! I've heard you get "potty training amnesia" just like "labor/delivery amnesia". Let's hope that's the case! On the plus side, after it "clicked", he's been really good with it (except at Mom's house :-/ sorry!). He even managed to potty train Peter (and Elmo, monkey, monster truck, and Nate's dog).

Since Nate was sick with what we thought was chicken pox, he and James had to stay home for the Ronk family Christmas. Here's the whole Fred Ronk family minus James & Nate. Bummer they couldn't be there!

And the insane chaos of the annual gift exchange:

The next day, we needed to find a Christmas tree. Again, because everyone was sick, we decided not to do the big "experience" of finding a tree in the cold and muddy tree farm.

Instead, we headed right up the street where they advertized $30 trees on their billboard. We were barely out of the truck when the owner of the lot nearly ran us over with, umm... helpfulness? After asking how tall and wide we wanted our tree, he walked us over to a tree and barely held it out for us to see. It was "our perfect tree" he said. We both shrugged our shoulders and said "ok, I guess". He and John went into the trailer to take care of payment and I could hear: "Ok, that'll be $79 plus tax....".

Needless to say, it wasn't "our perfect tree" after all!

Next stop - Fred Meyer!

Exciting, isn't it! 

 We also had some very special cousins come over later in the week....

Why am I just now noticing that he's jumping on the couch with shoes on? Where is his mother?

Kenely is very in to giving hugs.

"Bur hug" as James would say. "Grrrr"

The hilariously creepy noises this sweet girl can make are so funny!

Sweet girl!

Movie and Milk time!

Kenley was really into Dora.

James was not.

Love Claire's face! Nate and Claire are about 8 weeks apart in age.... and 9 months apart in size!

Setting up the Christmas tree...

Fearless Nate and Cautious James.

This was the 2nd year in a row we started with good intentions: decorating the Christmas tree slowly and methodically, just to realize kids behind us are caving in boxes and throwing ornaments around the room. Hence, the "red and gold threw up all over this tree" look! Good thing I read this for perspective!!

Tired after all that work?

It was fun to see the boys be involved with Christmas this year. We're still setting up our own traditions as a family, but then again, we don't need to have a "list of traditions" we do every year. It's about being with people we love and celebrating Jesus together!

James came running over to me the other day asking for "sunglasses". I followed him to the office, unsure of what he was talking about. He pointed to the masks (real deal from Italy - awesome!) that Auntie Becca got them for Christmas........  

 Oh, of course, those sunglasses!

I'm back.....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Carruthers!

No, actually, this is more like it......

Hello again! It's January 2nd - which means bloggers are back at it again. I've spent the last hour catching up on sites I read and it's both motivating and depressing... Motivating because everyone is kicking back into high-gear: making new resolutions, getting organized, filling up schedules. But depressing because the Christmas season is officially over and life moves on. I don't want to take down Christmas decor yet.... so I probably won't! I'll make a new tradition here to wait until there are no needles left on the tree.......  :-)

I'll update everything over the last month another time, but this year I've decided to join Keri in making monthly goals for myself. (Darn you, Keri and your good habits rubbing off on me!!!) I'm straight up plagiarizing everything about her lists, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Ok... First, I'm having a hard time not writing anything about this last month - it's been a full one! For now, I'll say that one of the boys had an exciting disease (exciting.... maybe poor choice of words!), one of the boys is fully potty trained, one of the boys is getting neutered very soon, one of the boys is looking forward to a different birthday present, and one of the girls has a new incredibly revealing iphone app. How's that for suspense!

I digress.....

JANUARY GOALS:

- Work out (gasp!)  ...I'm not setting a specific amount here on purpose. I know what I need to do, it's just time consuming, so I wanted to get credit! Lol.
- Implement dates with the boys. John and I have both talked about wanting to spend more one-on-one time with the boys (especially Nate). I'd like to become intentional with at least once a week, taking one boy to run an errand with me or hit BK for an ice cream.
- Go to the Library.  I don't own a library card, but I should!
- Make 1 new meal.  Seeing as we're already 2 days into the month, I don't want to over-do it!
- Deal with the pictures on my computer.  I have so many pictures, it's slowing down my whole computer. (I even just had to pay for more storage with blogger.) I'll move the pictures online to Shutterfly and since I'm still in the middle-technology-mostly-trust-the-internet-generation, I'll also copy them to DVD's and put them in the safe. THEN I can start deleting from the computer.  :-/
- Pray for John, the boys and their future wives every day.  (The boys', not John's!) This sounds stupid and I almost didn't add it, but I like to keep it transparent here. I don't do this like I should... yet.
- Have a play date with someone new.  I have a couple moms in mind!
- Get the garage under control and have the garage door repaired.  This is driving me crazy - must do it!!
- Arrange childcare for our Sunday night connect groups - soon!  Last session was pretty "fly by the seat of your pants". Next session begins on the 15th.
- Have a great 30th Birthday celebration with John!!  (OLD MAN!)

I have a few more I could add, but I can't solve every shortcoming of my life in one month!

For now, I'll leave you with a sequence of a typical (and dark) bath-time:

"Hi Mom!"

"Oh, Hi Mom!"

< Nate goes crazy splashing in the water >

Happy Nate. James distraught that he got water in his eyes. (He's SO a Ronk child!)

"Nate!! NO!!!  Towel, Mama. Eyes. Towel. I NEED towel."  < Crying, sobbing, hysterical... >

Payback. Awesome.

"Mama, I NEED towel."  < Crying, sobbing, hysterical.... >

"What?"