Happy 2013!

Well, it's here! 2013. I remember thinking 2000 seemed far away when I was little, and now it's 2013! We rang in the new year the same way that we have every new years eve since we got married in 2007: with the Byingtons, Cowarts, and the Schaefers. It is neat to look back and see how far we have all come and how we have grown in numbers. We have a running joke about who will and won't be able to toast the new year with champagne or sparkling grape juice each year. :) For entertainment, We love to play board games, just dance, and games on the Wii and for snacks we have new ones as well as old faithfuls such as my cookie cake and Katie's sausage balls. We have even had special guests like my bestie Eden Keever join us the year she was in town while her honey was on deployment. I am so grateful to have made new friends this past year, which has been an answered prayer, but I will always be grateful for old faithful friendships like these as well.

Big boy beds... Part 2

I am embarrassed to say that we JUST got them in the bed (9:45pm---VERY late for my 7 or 7:30pm bedtime boys) bc when we went to my parents house to celebrate my sisters' bday tonight, we didn't realize quite how much work we left for when we got back---putting bed rails together and putting sheets on beds. We also got back late from their house. Haha... Ah well. Nothing we can do now! They were very excited about the beds and have requested we scoot rails up higher on bed. I think they're a little weirded out by big hole up by their heads. We pushed them up as far as we could. They'll get used to it. Just part of growing and change! :) They're so much fun and getting so big... Im so grateful for my healthy, happy babies.. I mean "big boys"! They'll always be my sweet little sugar babies though!

Big boy beds... And tears.

So I thought I was pretty fine with breaking down the boys' cribs to move to big boy twin beds with rails... Until I saw it actually happening and memories of bringing them home from the hospital and as infant flooded my mind... And I cried. Haha. :) The boys (H) have been climbing out of the crib and into brothers bed and it's just not the safest thing to be doing.... And really defeats the "confinement" purpose (other than sleeping of course) of the cribs these days. So, we are moving to big beds. Please, please pray for us as my heart hurts some in this change and my babies growing up (plus i looove their sweet Land of Nod filled nursery!) but also because it is going to have some of its own growing pains, I'm sure. Thanks in advance :)

The escapee.

I heard the boys being loud during nap time so I went in to do my mommy thing and get them to lay down and go to sleep and I was surprised at what I'd found. H had climbed from his bed into JH's! JH had moved his bed away from the wall and just close enough to H's for him to climb over for some brother snuggles and mischief. Haha. Looks like we'll be making the transition to big boy beds a lot sooner than I'd expected!

Would love advice on the process... And keeping them in the big beds... Especially if you have twins!

2 of the many things I love...

2 of many things I love about my babies:

1. The sigh of contentment H let out as he snuggled deeper into my arms on the couch while watching cartoons tonight.

2. When I went in to check on them before I went to bed, JH had taken the socks from his feet and was wearing them like mittens. 😍

Happy early birthday, Jesus!

I have started really trying to talk Christmas up to the boys. Fortunately, they are still young enough to not yet know the commercial and materialistic side of Christmas. Well, really at this point they don't know any side. I've been trying to get them excited that is is JESUS' BIRTHDAY! In doing so, we've practiced singing Him happy birthday and I've been talking up that we will make Him a birthday cake and sing to Him for real. I'll still be getting my babies some presents but I just really want to raise them with the right focus and that is the birth of our precious savior, Jesus Christ. It's like the quote from the "Grinch Who Stole Christmas" movie that Pastor Chris used in his second part of "At the Movies" this morning, "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

In our celebrations, we have also set up the Christmas tree and put lights on it... Ornaments to come. I adore having the glow of a Christmas tree in my den. I wish that I could keep it up year-round :)

Happy early birthday, Jesus! We are so thankful for You!

The past week (week of nov 11)

I usually look through my pictures to help me get a good idea of what we have been up to lately. Since my last post we have been to the Vestavia library for "holiday in the hills" open house, which was kind of a bust bc they were out of cookies to decorate (or main reason to go).

We also got a McWane Center membership thanks to early Christmas present from Regenia and Milton! Yay! There was a $20 off deal through Birmingham Mommy, so Regenia have us the green light! I'm looking forward to hours of fun at MC and hoping to take friends with us--I think we get two more adults and 4 more kids in with us?! Amazing! Thank you, Gigi and Papa!!!

On Sunday evenings this semester, josh and I have been doing a small group based on the book "Fresh Air" written by our pastor, Chris Hodges. Love him. Love my church--Church of the Highlands! If you are ever interested in visiting, please let me know because we would love for you to join us! The small group has been such a joy and we have made some new friends I'm really excited to get to know better :) The pic of the snacks is from small group. We take turns bringing it and, like a nerd, it is exciting to me to find out what snack is each week! Haha

Speaking of our awesome church, Sunday was the first of two sermons in a series called "At the Movies". One of my favorites!

Josh, the boys, and I live less than a mile from my parents and we love it! It's is so easy to jet right over to eat dinner together and hang out for a bit. Last Saturday we went over to do just that and josh was excited to get the opportunity to watch the LSU vs Ole Miss game! I'm pretty sure thats who it was...I was distracted with my momma all snuggled up behind her laptop helping her design her Christmas card! Let me just say that there are some SUPER cute sugar babies wishing all of her friends and family Merry Christmas this year :) I'm also quite excited about our card that probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten a Groupon! Yay!

Josh, the boys, and I also made a trip to Yogurt Lab for a special snack one afternoon. Excuse me... josh, Bob the tomato, Bob the tomato (2) and I went. (see pics) :)

My boys also had their month birthday... They are 2 years and 7 months old now. Officially on the downward slope to 3 years old. Unreal! They are so much fun and so funny! The other day JH was eating breakfast and said "I hear poop, momma!"...
...(um what? Hahaha) "Really, baby? Where do you hear it?".
JH: "In my body!" ...
Well, I guess you can't argue with that! Bless his sweet bones.

We also let Miley come sleep in our room again. We had previously given her the boot to the den when we had a bout with fleas. Ugh. It was miserable. I think things have been under control for a while so she's been allowed back in, although I think she prefers the couch in the den and stays there most nights. Haha

One morning the boys also decided they needed to do their bible study while I did mine at the dining room table. It was so sweet and touched my heart.

I guess that's the week in a nutshell :) hope you're well, blessed and have a happy thanksgiving!