Home again, Home again...

........jiggity jig.

At long last, we're settling back into life as a family of four, and I have to say it feels good. After the kids were in bed last night, Jared and I sat on the back porch until it got dark, and we talked and talked. When you share your life with someone it's easy to just get used to having them around. Being away helped me realize once again, as it always does, how thankful I am that my husband is also my best friend.

Over the last two weeks, we've been so busy with family visiting, danny's birthday and a trip to Boise. But we're home now and we're so glad! We missed our daddy terribly! This morning when Jared went in to get him out of his crib he said, "Hi dad". He's such a little talker -- way more than Morg was at his age. In the last week, he's said quite a few new words. Here's a list: wow, poop (thank you Morgan), bye, hi, thank you, brabra (brother), papa and maa-ma (grandma). He's such a little ham boy, always making us laugh. We love him!

In Boise, we stayed at grandma and papa's new house and helped them pick out furniture and colors for new decor. I went to a yard sale in Meridian on Saturday and loaded up on some awesome vintage stuff for great deals (vintage suitcase $10, teal canning jars $1 each....and so much more!). And of course, a trip to the Treasure Valley wouldn't be complete without going to the TJ Maxx/Home Goods superstore and Vintage Home in Meridian. I come home and realize how lame shopping is in our town.

We also got to spend a lot of time with cousins Faith and Landen. Trains are Morg's new favorite and we were able to get uncle dude's old toy tracks out. He had so much fun playing with them and grandma even let us bring a few home with us.   

Blessings came in the form of both boys sleeping more than halfway home (thank heaven). The drive took just a little over three hours and we didn't even have to stop once. When we got out of the car, Morg sighed and said, "Oh, we made it!"

Yes, we did.

Hopefully later today, I'll have time to upload Danny's birthday and some 'lately' pictures. For now, I have about a million bags to unpack (why, oh why do three people need so much stuff to travel?), laundry to do and groceries to buy. Plus it's hot as blazes already, and it's not even 10am. I see an afternoon in the pool in the near future.

Xoxo,
A tired (but happy) mother.



Here are some pictures from our trip:

{forward facing now, wooohooo!}

{Morg, Landen and Faith}

{trains!}

{my little fart boy}

{tip toes}

{papa and his look-alike}

{zoom}

Happy Birthday to my favorite sis Lis!

Love love love you!

Us starring in some sweet-arse hair commercials in the bathtub

sometime around 1992

PS...my sister was pretty much the cutest little girl ever!

Trip home.

Last week, we took a little drive home to visit for a few days. While we were there, it snowed a lot. Which made it kind of cozy, since Boise doesn't get much snow. We made banana bread and had papa make us nice warm fires. I laid on the couch most of the time. (Thank heavens for my dear mom. And for my dad, who rubbed and rubbed my pregnant feet.)

We also celebrated Landen's two year-old birthday. Morg tried to steal his toys and his birthday cupcake (a yearly ritual). They took lots of tubbies together and had fun playing cars. We took them to Jabbers (a fun little mini world for kids), and made a few rounds to the local thrift stores for Vintage Farm things.

While we were gone, Morgan learned how to say 'Mama Genna' (grandma glenna), 'Poppa Corrie', 'Baby Faith', 'Kickit' (Kricket), and he can count to ten on his own! I'm a proud momma! He also started to say 'where are you?'....which he now goes around saying 'mommy, are you?' 'mommy, are you?' and pretends to look for me, even when I'm right in front of him. Oh, and one more thing: when daddy comes home, or when he sees me around the house, he says 'Hi honey'.

Another funny thing we can't stop laughing about:
One night when Morg and Landen were in the bath, we started to let the water out. Landen started bending down in the tub, saying goodbye to every toy individually. 'Bye cup, bye baby, bye toy.' Then he turned to Morgan's tummy 'area' and said 'Bye-bye Morgan's wee wee.'

 (You know what a wee wee is, don't you?)

Seriously. If this age doesn't kill me, I swear I will die laughing one of these days.

Landen's birthday - notice Morgan on Landen's new bike.

Cake!

Riding in papa's play car.

Girl cousins - minus a few.

Playing at 'Jabbers' in Nampa.

Our little 'girls'. (Morgan was soooooo mad at me!)

Bathtime!

 

Haircut = sucker time. Every time.

Bribes work like a charm with a two year-old. 

Playing cars with papa.

We took a drive.

Monday, after Christmas, we piled in and went sledding. Sledding time with two toddlers = about one hour, or a little less. Landen is just like his momma; a thrill-seeker. And Morgan is just like his, and would rather keep his feet on solid, warmer ground. Landen giggled. Morgan cried. 

And thus the story goes.... 

{Christmas Day}

This Christmas was the best we've had in a long time. With our trunk full of presents, and our bags on our laps, we arrived on Christmas Eve and stayed for nine days. It was so good to be home. Home sweet home. Dad built a fire just for me every morning. We stayed up too late, ate too much, took naps, went shopping, snapped over 500 pictures, and came home with way too much Christmas loot.

Santa was good to us all.

Here are some pictures of Christmas morning....   

{Jared's favorite present}

{Morgan and Landen's favorite present}

Jared and I got matching pea coats!

Our stash. 

{Ben, Faith and Lis}

{Dad and Mom}

{Uncle Dude}

{Best Buddies Landen and Morg}

Favorite Presents:

U2 cds, bread maker, play vacuum, shock collar (works on husbands and dogs alike).

(I love Christmas.)