Christmas is over?

Yes, Taylor, Christmas is over. I know it may not seem like it, but you had 5 Christmases in 2 days. Whew! I think we are all still recovering. Our family is so blessed to have so much of our extended family close to us. We are also very blessed that almost everyone decided to get Taylor and Josiah new toys. Now, where do we put all this new stuff?. We convinced Taylor that it was okay to get rid of some of his toys that he never plays with and we got rid of a few of the baby toys that Josiah no longer plays with. I refuse to get rid of a lot of little baby toys due to the fact that everyone I know that gets rid of all their infant/newborn stuff gets pregnant right after they give all of their stuff away. I'm not ready to make that commitment, yet.

All in all, we had a good Christmas and Taylor finally got into the whole Santa thing. The best part of the Santa festivities is when Brad played Rudolph out the window and Taylor's eyes got big as saucers and did not say a word. He wouldn't even walk to bed. I had to carry him. He usually stays up for a little bit and looks at books, but Christmas Eve night he stayed tucked in staring wide eyed at the ceiling and did not move a muscle. The next morning, he walked into the bedroom and sniffed. I asked him what he was doing. He said," Do you smell that?" I said," What?" He said, "I smell presents. Come on, let's go check." And so began our Christmas marathon house hopping. We are all still recovering. Only to do it all again next year.

A "Moo"ry Christmas

Taylor made his debut in the preschool choir on Sunday night. He was quite a little showman if I do say so myself. Apparently, he is going to be a microphone hog. He stood in front of one microphone and pretty much held it the entire time. If someone would get too close to it, he would every so kindly push them back to their spot on stage. He was very excited to be on stage. He would sing and dance with the music. He just couldn't stand still. Definitely his father's son. He was also little Brad when we were all lined up and ready to go into the sanctuary and he announced "I need to go poo-poo." He had to wait until the last minute to tell me that.

Taylor and the rest of the preschool choir were the animals in the nativity scene. He was a cute little cow if I do say so myself. He is also the only boy in the preschool choir and the girls think he is pretty hot stuff. So much that one of the girls who was dressed as a camel decided to pull Taylor around on stage by his horns on his costume. Her dad personally apologized to Brad and I on facebook for "marking her territory." We thought it was hilarious and hope that someone has that on video!

As one era ended, so a new era began. Miss Diane who has been working with the preschool choir for 20 years finally decided to pass on her baton to my friend and I. So, for the next year or so, I will be helping with the preschool choir. Pray for me! This could be a daunting task considering I told myself I would never teach kiddos that little. Of course, I also said that I would always be taller than who I teach and look how far that got me.

Twenty Nine Years and counting

No, I'm not talking about how old I am, but that's awfully close. (I still plan to ride out 28 for another 3 weeks.) I am talking about a Christmas tradition that started the year I was born. The first Sunday in December is Christmas tree day every year. Ever since I was born(and before that, according to my mother), we have gone to Schmitt's Tree Farm in Holt. We take a hay ride up on the hill to the Christmas tree forest and then go from tree to tree until we find the perfect tree. This little tradition just started out with my mom, dad, sister and me. Now, it has grown to include two husbands(my sister's and mine. We're not Mormon), and 5 little boys.
Taylor was finally old enought to know what was going on. He brought his chainsaw to help Daddy cut down the "perfect tree" as he called it.

Here he is in action:

Josiah wasn't quite old enough to get the full effect of walking in the forest. So, he got hauled around in a sled, instead.

I'm pretty sure the one thing we will remember this year is the cold weather attire Josiah had on that morning. He was fighting a cold and I didn't want him to get any more sick in the cold weather. So, I put him in his winter coat, snowpants, scarf, and mittens. We stood him up and he fell right over because he was so bundled up. Pa rescued him.

He was definitely warm, but immobile. I couldn't resist and had to video his attempt to get from point A to point B while we were waiting for the tractor.

Don't worry, Santa. We'll be back next year!