December

Where did the month go? I have been a bad blogger...and I mean bad! This month was packed with more fun, more activities, more parties, more everything, and I haven't blogged about one! At least I got Dax's birthday party documented! I feel like it would take months to get on track with everything else. I don't even know if I am going to try. We have had family Christmas parties, birthdays, visits to Santa, bundling up to see Christmas lights, dinners, desserts, Christmas cards, baking, family in town, decorating, cleaning, cooking, Christmas programs, shopping....the lists goes on. Let's be honest, I have probably just been enjoying all the festivities too much to sit down and write about them!

Oh, there may be another little reason why.

I'll give you a hint: A three year old who wants to be silly plus a one year old who doesn't stay still equals two boys who can't seem to look at the camera at the same time.

I tried to capture all these fun moments, this is what I got.

But, I guess if looking at these pictures makes me smile (I mean they are having fun even though I was about to lose it behind the camera! :) )then I captured the moment of how things went for our family this month.

Dax was adorable finally getting the magic of Christmas. He figured out just where Santa lives, what an Elf was, discovered that Rudolph pulls the sleigh with his tiny friends, and learned the first verse of Wham's "Last Christmas". He loved helping me wrap presents, dip peanut butter balls, and turn on all the Christmas lights on both trees and the house every morning by 9am. It was so nice to tell him about Baby Jesus and Joesph and Mary and watch him play with the toy nativity set we have. My mom made the month even more fun by giving our family a Twelve Days of Christmas and a little present to open each day. Dax loved this and it definitely got him excited to open presents on Christmas morning. Of course his Christmas wouldn't be complete without his red airplane from Santa!

Even though Wyatt fought back to back colds with an ear ache, fever, and running nose for the majority of the month, he was the perfect little age to enjoy his first Christmas. He is so much fun and like a typical almost one year old, enjoyed the wrapping paper and ribbons the most.

Austin and I love watching the boys experience things and see their joy and excitement. We are so grateful for family, friends, the gospel and our health. This year, I think I have realized more than any other how blessed I truly am.

Oh, and here's my favorite from the disaster of a shoot. This I can live with!

Happy Happy Birthday Daxton Dear!

Yesterday, our little Dax, our crazy, energetic, little Dax, turned three. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Some days it feels like he has been with us much much longer than just three years, and other days I can’t believe that the 8lb 15oz baby who was born a week late, has been here for only 1095 days.

That isn’t very long.

That’s only a 24 month mission plus another year. That’s only two Halloweens and three Christmases. But, that’s also two houses, two states and a baby brother later as well. No matter how I look at it, time is flying by.

Who knows where it goes, but with each passing day we are more and more in love with this guy. He is such a joy in our home. He says and does the funniest, cutest things and we are so blessed he is ours. He teaches us so much. I can’t imagine loving him more or not having him in our life.
We were so excited to celebrate his birthday with his family and friends...

It’s only in AZ where you can plan a birthday party outside, not have to worry about rain or snow or 30 degree weather, and get delivered a gorgeous, cloudless, 72 degree day. I am not lying when I say the day could not have been more perfect. His friends started to arrive around 11:30 and we ushered them into our backyard. The theme for this year’s party was good ol’ traditional birthday party fun and games and food. Dax helped with all the planning and picked out everything. You’ll see what I mean by everything! :)

I made this banner for Dax and hung it outside. I don’t think Dax cared one way or another about it, but I loved the way it turned out. I might be tempted to pull it out each year from now on.

This is Dax’s birthday tree that I adopted from my sister Jamie’s tradition. I couldn’t find any non-Christmasy ornaments, so I took some pom-poms and made these paper ornaments instead. Under the tree I bought some cute wooden trains and placed them on a train track as one of Dax’s birthday presents. He LOVED them!

Dax loves bean bag toss, so that was the first thing we did. Austin and I made some wooden boards and I sewed up a million bean bags, well 30 or so, and placed them in buckets out on the grass. Dax had seen the boards and had been playing in the backyard for weeks with some other bean bags we have, but was so excited to see all the new ones on his party day. My dad was a great recruiter and got all the kids playing and they all thought it was so much fun. They also played Pin the Tail on the Donkey and they were so funny.

Afterwards we served the kids lunch. It was simple. Pizza, grapes and Capri Suns. Apparently you are not supposed to borrow tables and chairs from the Church, but when you take them at 8:00 in the morning and have them back by 2 on a Saturday, that’s gotta be okay, right? Shhh, don’t tell. There was absolutely NO other alternative. That is the way I had envisioned the patio, and when I heard that it wasn’t allowed, I just couldn’t accept it. I know, I’m going to pay one day, but I didn’t have a choice. And they looked so cute and fit so perfectly around the table, it was all worth it!

Next came presents. Dax got so spoiled! He doesn’t need a Christmas at all now! He was thrilled with everything.

Afterwards we dumped out bags and bags of balloons for the kids to play with and pop. Now I have to tell you something you probably don’t know about me. I can’t blow up a balloon. I just can’t. I bought three bags of 15 balloons, that’s 45 balloons. Austin said he would blow them up. Poor guy had a horrible long week with work and school and his new calling in the Bishopric and I didn’t have a choice. I had to learn to blow them up. So Thursday night I sat down and watched Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Office, (yes I was a couch potato, but I was working) and for dang sake I blew up ALL 45 balloons. Austin came home and the floor was covered and he was so proud. I told him I only almost fainted twice. Not bad. Anyways, the kids loved this. They ran around forever.

Next we sang Happy Birthday. Last year Dax didn't love so much the whole singing and blowing out candles. Thankfully this year he had a little more expression and he was a lot more happy about everyone singing to him.

Lastly came the piñata. Before you scroll ahead and see what kind of piñata Dax picked, be certain that we tried everything to persuade him towards Lightning McQueen, Diego, Mickey Mouse…anything. No go. He wanted the brown and black, original, authentic Mexican piñata…The Donkey. Austin and I couldn’t stop laughing when we were buying it. But Dax loved it. He filled it with Austin with tons of candy and little games and all the kids took turns hitting it. The thing was tough. I finally had to use my mad softball skills and bust the thing open. I truthfully don’t remember ever hitting a piñata before. It was fun!

All in all it was a great day! My mom and dad came and helped and my sister Jennifer took these great pictures for us. They were all such a huge help!

Now I’m off the plan Wyatt’s First Birthday and Austin’s 30th both in January. Help! I'm birthday-ed out and have no ideas for either!!