Thanksgiving In Vegas And The Letter N...

The last time I was on here, I was preparing for Thanksgiving and our trip out of town. Now here we are...preparing for Christmas!!! It's crazy that it's just 3 weeks away!!! There's so much I want to cram in between now and then. We'll see what actually gets accomplished, ha...

Finally Back! (And The Letter M)

It feels like it's been forever! My Mac officially died, so I had to wait for Apple to install a new hard drive. Unfortunately, trying to catch up on everything has taken much longer than I would've hoped...

With that said, how is it that Thanksgiving is NEXT week?!?! I absolutely love this time of year! This is when Thanksgiving and Christmas start to merge in this house. Our house is decorated with the harvest theme (it has been since September since I don't care for Halloween), but I have to admit, Christmas music and movies have been in full force for the last week or two. Ha. To add to the fun, there are so many crafts and activities I want to do with the boys that are holiday-themed. Now it's just a matter of finding time for it all. We did start doing a couple Thanksgiving crafts today with Samuel's school, which was fun!

Blogging...

How is it that it has been OVER a month since I've been on here? Is anyone even following this anymore? I wouldn't blame you if you stopped. I truly hate that I haven't found the time to get on here much over the last year. I miss blogging. I miss using this as my little free therapy session when I have something on my mind that I need to get out. These days, I feel like I'm on the go from the minute I wake up to the minute I finally fall asleep. (I doubt I'll ever be able to pass out the minute I hit the pillow like a certain someone that I happen share the bed with...) I've become a true lurker. When I have a spare moment, I catch up on blogs through my phone on my Google Reader (yet, never comment), hit up Facebook to see the latest, read emails that I seem to never get back to in a timely manner, then continue to chase the little man around.

I'm loving life with the little wild man, but I definitely need to work on some time management. He rarely naps these days and when he does, I take full advantage of catching up on things around the house -- leaving my computer desk to pile up in paperwork and dust on the keyboard. As I'm sure fellow bloggers do, I catch myself thinking of a topic that I'd like to blog about later on -- when Sam naps, before I go to bed, etc. Then it never happens. And now, like tonight, I'm finally on here and I don't really even know where to go with it aside from the fact that I hate that this place is starting to collect dust bunnies.

The last month brought on a wide variety of emotions. Joy, anger, sadness, anxiety...you name it. Here are a few events that stand out in my mind...

We made it to Olivia's 3rd birthday and honored her on her day. I'd almost like to say we celebrated her big day, but for such a day of sadness, I suppose that description wouldn't exactly fit. Not to mention Olivia's day is now a day of sadness for our nation as a whole after the events that unfolded. Man. What a day! Nonetheless, we went out on a date to one of the nicest restaurants in town and made a cake for our baby girl. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend that day. It was most definitely a day of peace...and a little hint of joy thanks to the Sam-man.

We also reintroduced Samuel to Santa Claus. He LOVES Tim Allen's version, but clearly not the library's -- I think it was a bit traumatic for him...

Then on the 22nd (which happens to be the day we buried Olivia), Samuel enjoyed lunch with his buddy, Finn, who happened to be passing through town. It's always nice seeing sweet Finn and his parents!

Before we knew it, Christmas came and went. It was wonderful though, since we were able to spend it with Sam. The sweet boy enjoyed his presents and brought much joy to our house that day.

After spending Christmas together with our little family, we headed to our hometown for a week with extended family. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when our flight got pushed back a day due to a blizzard! On the bright side, it allowed for Samuel to experience snow for the first time. To say the least, he didn't like it, ha. The poor boy picked it up, looked at it with a curious/weird/investigative look, then flicked it away in near disgust. Sweet Samuel is a little too used to the desert, I suppose...

Oh and how can I forget? This trip happened to mark Samuel's first experience on a plane. Honestly, I was surprised how well he did! He sat on our laps and played on the iPad and/or slept the whole time. It didn't end up being the nightmare that we had imagined. (Thank the LORD!)

To be honest, the trip home is sort of a blur. We spent time with family and friends which was great, but most importantly, we visited our daughter. Seeing Olivia was the main reason we decided to go home! I hate that it only happens once a year, but even so, we were really glad that we were able to spend time with her at her grave. I think the best part of the whole trip was when a dear friend drove in from out of town to see us and asked if she could join us one day at the grave. Oh, Jackie...that meant the world to us! Very few people (outside Olivia's grandparents) have gone to visit Olivia on their own, so for Jackie to ask...I really can't put into words how much that meant to us. 

It's not the greatest picture of us, but here's Sam with his sweet Aunt Jackie and momma after a day in the snowy cemetery...

And some pictures from one of the many visits with Samuel and Olivia...

One of the gifts Jackie left for our baby girl...

Samuel holding another gift left by Aunt Jackie...

Aside from that, I didn't end up taking many pictures while we were home. I know, shocking! Aside from our time with Olivia, the only other time I purposefully got the camera out was to get a picture of all of our nieces and nephews together. To say the least, it was chaos and if we ever do it again, I'm kicking every single one of my sisters and bro-in-laws out of the room. There were way too many people trying to get the kids' attention, so they were all looking in different directions and it was a room full of what sounded like yelling -- everyone trying to talk louder than the person next to them, ha. Ohhhhh, the joys of a large family, ha. :)

And there you have it. Aside from a hellish experience trying to get home (another cancelled flight and a 10 hour - turn 24 hour - drive due to bad weather), it was a good trip. I'm thankful for the fact that we were able to make the trip and see our baby girl. Plus, Samuel was able to spend time with his cousins, which was priceless. 

With that said, it's nice to be home. Now if only I could get caught up to the point of having some spare time to blog...I suppose that will be my goal for February. Oh, that and getting the Christmas decor taken down, ha. That's right, it still looks like a house waiting to celebrate Christmas around here! While I was glad to get home, El Paso gave me a nice warm welcome with a bad case of the flu which really put us behind in just about everything. In fact, I was just finally unpacking our luggage earlier today -- pathetic, really. One day, I'll be caught up and have free time to sit and really talk, not just give a vague description of what we've been up to. I feel like that's what this blog is these days and to an extent, I'm alright with that since I like looking back and seeing what we were up to at different points in the year, but there are also so many things I'd like to address...I suppose those will have to wait...

And with that, I'm off to bed. While this is a bit late, I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Christmas and may this year be the best yet!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

First of all, can I just say...how on earth are we already counting down to Christmas?! It feels like the last month absolutely flew by! Sam is almost 18 months old, Olivia's 3rd birthday in Heaven is just around the corner, and we'll be flying home to Indy before we know it for the first visit in over a year!

With that being said, we had a great Thanksgiving -- I hope everyone else did too! We made a meal big enough to result in leftovers for a week, we relaxed and enjoyed James being home (after 5 weeks in the field), and talked about all that we're thankful for. Oh, and we joined in on the Black Friday madness...starting at noon on Friday after all the crazies were back in bed recovering from a night of door buster deals. Who doesn't love a good sale!?

I can't even describe to you the joy it brings having Sam here -- especially during the holidays. While decorating the house with our Christmas decor, it brought on feelings of sadness as I unwrapped various ornaments for Jacob, Jordan, and Olivia. But then as I unwrapped Samuel's ornaments, it brought on a big smile. Talk about mixed emotions! The holidays will always be bittersweet. There will always be three stockings that remain empty. BUT...thankfully, unlike years past, there will also always be one stocking loaded to the brim -- Samuel's.

I'm excited to be able to celebrate our second Christmas with Samuel in our arms, just as it was fun celebrating Thanksgiving with him again this year -- never mind the fact that he passed out before dinner was done and didn't wake up until after we were finished putting it all away. The sweet boy.

This is my favorite time of the year and to be able to celebrate it all with our little family makes it that much better.

Annnnnd so....the time has come. I can't end this without sharing pictures, so here are a few from the last week.

Our Thanksgiving -- football, food, and a sleeping boy...

It's a rare moment when he's actually still, so when it happens, I try to take every advantage of it and cuddle with him...

Oh, and here he is after breakfast earlier that day in his little tie. A friend commented on him looking like Rodney Dangerfield. Ha! Love it!

While I need to get some better pics with our real camera, here are a few of Samuel and the Christmas decor. He's in LOVE with his singing basset from Hallmark that he received last year...

Here's our tree designated just for our 3 angels - Jacob, Jordan, and Olivia. In the past, we always put their ornaments on our big tree, but this year decided to give them their own. And since we ordered new monogrammed stockings for the whole family this year, we put their old stockings on this tree as well...

And a blurry cell phone attempt of our mantel. Now if it would actually get cold enough for us to use the fire place, I'd be in Heaven! I would love to be able to listen to Bing Crosby sing, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" and not step out into 75+ degree weather outside. Such is life in El Paso, I suppose...

Oh and I think I forgot to mention, we drove up to Ruidoso for a little day-trip over the long holiday weekend and checked out that cute town. It was so nice to be able to get away to a place with pine trees, grass, etc. Living in the desert has really made me homesick for WA, and while this was definitely not WA, it was close enough. The best part of it though was being able to get some family pictures! Our version of family pictures typically includes a tripod and self-timer. I know. I'm cheap. BUT...I think they turned out alright. (It's just too bad Obadiah isn't in any of them!) In fact, I used two for our Christmas cards this year. Ultimately, I couldn't decide which one to use, so I made two different cards and it will just be a surprise as to which one people receive. Ha.

Here are a few photos from that attempted photo session...

This pretty much says it all...

And I suppose with that, I should finally go to bed.

Here's to a wonderful Christmas season in the month ahead!

Trick-Or-Treat!

Anymore, I never know where to start when I finally get a chance to sit down and blog. There's so much I'd love to talk about, but it just doesn't seem to happen. Soooo...tonight will be about my little Optimus Prime...

Let me start off by saying that I'm not a big supporter of Halloween. I don't even decorate for Halloween, but rather for the fall season. Honestly, I'm torn on even letting Samuel trick-or-treat. However, I do think certain parts of the holiday are fun and I absolutely want to create fun memories with our little guy! I love the idea of having Sam dress up as his favorite character and carving (innocent themed) pumpkins -- I just lean more towards the church-sponsored trunk-or-treat or Harvest festival events where you don't have the creepy/scary aspects of the holiday.

With that said, it was probably over a month ago when I went to Target with a friend and ran across the freshly laid out Halloween section, only to end up going home with a costume for Samuel. It wasn't my plan to buy one that day, but gosh, they were too cute to pass up! I showed Samuel various costumes available in his size and let him pick one out. At first, he was all about Captain America, but once I showed him Optimus Prime, it was all over. He HAD to be Optimus! And who can turn down a cute little boy who is full of excitement?! So it was set. He was going to be Optimus. And being as cheap as I am, I was going to make sure that kid wore that costume OUT! So, I looked up various events going on around town and on post and had plans of hitting up several of them. Plus, with James being in the field, it gave us something extra to add to our calendar...

Our first event included a trunk-or-treat event with the Army base. Sam and I joined some friends and went around the parking lot checking out the decorated vehicles and learned how to say trick-or-treat! He ended up being much more interested in walking on and off the sidewalk and running around a pole over and over again, but it was still fun. After all, he was a proud Optimus Prime!

Excuse the horrible cell phone pic...

The next day, we joined the same friends and had fun at the on base youth center Halloween party. Samuel was able to play various games like fishing for pumpkins (or rather, ditch the fishing pole and just reach in the water and grab one as he preferred!), decorate his own cupcake, get a temporary tattoo, etc. With Sam being at an age where he's running everywhere and exploring, it was fun to let him go/see/do with a ton of other kids. Sweet Sam. He's growing up way too fast!

Here he is looking unsure about the activities going on in the gym...

Later on, he REALLY enjoyed his cupcake...

Fast-forwarding to the next weekend, Daddy came home for a tiny break from the field and we went to Boo at the Zoo. It was our first time at the El Paso Zoo, so not only did he get to check out all the animals for the first time, but he got to do it in style, ha.

Here's Optimus Prime and a bear with crazy long claws...

The best part about the day was that he was able to enjoy time with daddy...

Oh, that sweet boy. I'm glad James was able to join us for one of the many festivities, since he had to head back to the field shortly there after. Field time is never fun, so yay to little breaks in between!

Luckily for Samuel, he had an awesome distraction to James heading back out, as my parents decided to come for a visit. Let's just say Samuel and my dad are pretty much BFFs. I'll go into more detail later about that, but having them here has definitely allowed for a great distraction to daddy being away.

It didn't end up happening until the night before Halloween, but I finally carved Samuel's pumpkin (and one for our 3 angels). It will be fun to possibly have Samuel help with the carving next year, but for now, he just gets to enjoy the finished product...

To finish out the Halloween season, we decided to join friends on post and go down the row of Officer houses (LTC and above) where it's well-lit and soldiers are on duty blocking the road for safety, etc. It was absolutely priceless watching him get the hang of it. At first, he was shy and wanted Grandpa to hold him and take him to the houses, but halfway through, he was carrying his basket and running up to homes that weren't even participating, ha! The night even had a little bit of excitement when he played his game of walking on and off the curb (best game in the world if you ask Sam!) and face-planted into the concrete. The poor guy's lip got beat up pretty bad, but after taking a few minutes to clean it up, he was right back at it...

Samuel with Grandma Julie and Grandpa Grant...

(Grandpa Grant carried the Optimus Prime mask since Samuel has wanted nothing to do with it all season.)

He's such a happy boy!

At one of the homes, Samuel received a piece of candy only to turn around, put it back in the basket, and give the man a high-five. Never a dull moment with this kid. Love it!

Love him...

At some of the homes, he didn't feel that it was necessary to bring the basket with him...

Or he would carry it around like he was too cool for school...

Lastly, the sweet boy and his momma...

While I'm not a huge fan of this particular holiday, we had a blast joining in on the various activities sponsored by the base! So many memories were created in the last month that will forever bring smiles to my face. I love that sweet boy!

And now on to my favorite time of the year...Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Hello?

Is anyone still following this blog? I feel like it's been years since I've been on here! Life only seems to be getting busier, not slowing down. In return, my days of blogging have come to a screeching halt. There are many times that I think of something to blog, but I'm already in bed and too tired to get back up. Ahhh, such is life.

It seems like I could tell you a new story about Samuel daily, let alone bombard you with crazy amounts of pictures of the little man every time I turn around. He's growing up way too fast, and according to his 15 month well visit, he's in the 80% in height, but only the 45% in weight. My skinny little guy! I love him so much, and really...I could just stare at him while he sleeps every night...in awe that he's here. I really don't think that feeling is ever going to leave -- the realization that we have a healthy, happy child here in the home! Really?!?! Such nonsense may sound crazy to you, but that shocking feeling seems to hit me almost daily. Thankful can't even begin to describe it.

A dear friend recently endured her second loss (in 8 months) and it has brought on many feelings about our three that have kind of hidden in the background for awhile now. While I hurt for her and her angels, I can't help but then think about Jacob, Jordan, and Olivia along with her two. I hate that baby loss is so common -- more common than people think. I hate that I've seen so much of it (personally) that it almost feels normal. I hate that as I watch friends and family near the end of their pregnancy, I can't help but think, "You're not there yet, things can still happen." It's terrible, yet I can't shake it. Will I ever? Most likely not.

This blog is kind of all over the place. I'm really enjoying life in El Paso, which is something I never thought I would say. That is...before we moved here. So many people told me horribly negative comments about this town, and yet we've totally enjoyed ourselves! We still miss things that other large cities have to offer that they're lacking here, but it's been a great experience thus far.

Samuel and I seem to stay pretty busy during the week, and while he gets to be around other kids quite often, he has severe separation anxiety. The child care workers at our church (that are also there for my Bible study) know him well, yet they had to page us before the sermon even started this morning because of how much he was crying. The poor guy! He sure loves his momma! He won't even let go of me during the first half of story time at the library, for fear that I'm going to leave him there -- at least that's my assumption by the way he handles it.

To continue on this random post, I think I mentioned how Samuel said goodbye to his crib and is now on a twin mattress. The kid is trying to grow up faster than I can handle! He's doing so much better with the whole sleeping thing now that he has his big boy bed. He still would rather dance the night away than go to bed when other children his age go to bed, but oh well. He's a night owl like his momma -- what can I say? So there are nights where putting him to bed can take several hours, then other nights where he passes out before 8pm. It's always an adventure with the Sam-man. His new bunkbed should arrive in about a week -- here's hoping the transition goes well!!!

So now that I've pretty much covered a variety of topics, I can't go before posting a few pictures...

We had a fabulous time in San Antonio over Jake's weekend (His Angelversary is Sept. 4th, so we've always considered Labor Day weekend a time to remember him). How has it been NINE years since we said goodbye to our first born son?!?! I'm thankful that this is the second Angelversary for Jacob that we were able to honor and remember him with his little brother, Samuel, by our side...

Because the new format for Blogger is not as friendly with the way I add pictures, I'm just going to save time and add a slideshow...

Sooooo...here's a slideshow of pictures from our trip...

And before I go, here's a set of pictures that I took earlier tonight of the big 15 month old...my 2T wearing, 13 teeth biting, crazy, nonstop little boy...

Back In The Saddle Again...

I mean...chair...

Man, I feel like I need to blow the dust off this blog -- I haven't been on here in forever! I constantly think of things that I'd like to get on here and blog about, but I never get a chance to. Oh well. I hope to catch up a little here soon and write about some of the things that have gone on over the last several weeks...like a change in our upcoming move, our trip to Savannah, etc. In the meantime, how could I not skip an hour of sleep to at LEAST post Samuel's 10 month pictures?! They ended up being taken on Easter Sunday since we were out of town on his actual 10 month birthday. So I suppose with that, here are some Easter pictures of the little man, too...

It only seemed fitting that our shirtless boy was enjoying some Yo Gabba Gabba while checking out his Easter "basket." He LOVES that show!

Lots of books, a few snacks, and a couple movies...oh, and some bunny ears -- can't leave out those out! As you can see, he didn't allow for those to stay on for long. Sweet Sam. It's been such a joy being able to celebrate meaningful holidays with him...especially Easter -- a day that symbolizes our eternal Hope!

Due to poor planning on my part (and our super last-minute trip to Savannah), his Easter outfit ended up being in the dirty laundry on Easter Sunday (oops!). However, here are a few pictures I took previously for this holiday season...

I look at those and still can't believe he's that big. He's becoming such a little man! Where is my baby boy? I miss the days when he fit in his chair like this...

Instead, he now refuses to sit still...let alone, SIT in the chair. It's more like climbing...

diving off...

or checking out other adventurous options discovered while on the chair...

or off the chair...

Oh, Sam, how are you 10 months old already????