So in Love

Our baby girl is finally here and she was SO worth the wait.

Eloise Anne Daniels

Born Sunday March 11, 2012 at 5:33 am

7 lbs 11 oz, 20 inches long

I wanted to write down our birth story before I forget all the details. I've never felt closer to heaven than that first moment that I saw her, what a miracle.

This is going to probably be long because I'm going to go ahead and include all the details. :) Feel free to skip to the pictures at the bottom.

So my due date was Tuesday March 6th and at my appointment on Wednesday my Doctor mention that he'd be out of town until late Saturday night and then he'd be leaving again the following Monday for a whole week. He's the only Doctor at his office that will do a VBAC so I either would have to be induced or have a c-section (or just go into labor) while he was there or go into labor naturally while he was away and use a doctor that was out of network. My Doctor scheduled an induction for Saturday night which was the most random time EVER, I fought and fought it, but he was extremely stubborn saying that he had to leave Monday and didn't know how long labor would take, I was happy to later tell him "I told you so." I was starting to really just hate him with all my heart and was SO angry and I knew that was not a good attitude to go into the labor room with towards the person who could potentially be required to save the life of me or my baby. So I decided that I was just going to have a positive attitude about it and be okay with getting induced. Zac gave me a blessing Saturday morning and I felt so much peace with everything after that. I knew everything would be okay and it didn't matter so much when she came. I started focusing on the end result of holding that sweet Eloise in my arms and the details didn't bother me so much anymore. (I will say that I will be using a different Doctor next time, he's a great guy and an excellent doctor, but I need to go to an office where there is more than one Doctor available who is willing to do a VBAC so I don't get put in a hard situation again).

I really really really wanted to go into labor naturally before Saturday night. I tried lots of things did tons of walking and thought laborish thoughts, but nothing seemed to put me in labor. So we went in at 10pm Saturday night. By 11 pm they started the pitosin (sp?) on a low dose. That was one of my requirements for going in that late was that we were going to go as slow as needed and not rush the meds. Contractions started slowly around 11:30 and slowly got more intense and closer together for the first couple hours. I'd sort of sleep in between until they started hurting. I got checked around 1:30 (actually 2:30...day light savings) and was at a 4 and 100% effaced which seemed good. I figured that at that rate she'd be born around 10 or 11 in the morning.

The nurse was coming back in at 3:45 to check me again so as I laid there and the contractions started bothering me more. Around 3, I just figured I'd wait until she came back to ask for the epidural. About 3:30 I woke Zac up (I was pretending to sleep so that he wouldn't worry and could get some sleep) and told him I was ready for the epidural.

Bad news, the anesthesiologist was just starting someone else's epidural so I'd have to wait 20 minutes or so. The nurse came in and checked me and I was at a 6. The next 20 minutes felt like about 4000 years. All of the sudden my body decided to have a baby and each contraction got MUCH harder and the distance between became suddenly nonexistent. All I could think was "if I'm only at a 6 those women who do this all natural are TOTALLY NUTS!!!!!!!!!" I didn't behave very well for those 2o LONG minutes, I'm very happy that there is no recording of me crying for my epidural very 10 seconds and begging Zac to drag the dang guy in. I finally started chanting to myself "you can do this, you can do this" during the contractions. It surprisingly helped a lot, lol. I bet it was quite a sight. I tried biting my fingers for comfort and one time accidentally got Zac, sorry!!! Honestly, my hat goes off to any woman who does birth naturally, or maybe I just think you're totally insane because that was ridiculous!

Finally he came in (it was about 30 minutes later) and while he was prepping me the nurse checked again. She said "oh your at a 10 and ready to push, I'll go get Dr. Beckett." No DUH, I could have told you that!

All the while this older anesthesiologist gentleman is whistling and cheerful as ever. "I'M LITERALLY GOING TO DIE RIGHT NOW IF YOU DON'T HURRY." While he's putting in the needle I started having a contraction and felt the need to push (and die), so I did thinking "maybe this will make it stop hurting," nope it did break my water though.

If you're wondering why I still got the epidural when I was that close that would be because of the chance of my uterus tearing, because of my previous c-section, while I was pushing.

We waited for the epidural to sink in and all the sudden life became very very good. It went from an awkward air of "this woman is totally nuts" mixed with "I'M GOING TO DIE!" to everyone happily joking around and talking about the miracle of modern medicine. We were quoting Brian Regan and just had fun. It took a few contractions to push her out and all the sudden she was here at 5:33.

Eloise screamed from the beginning and we were happy to know her lungs were fine. When I saw her she was so perfect. My heart melted and I got to experience those tears of joy. I was so amazed that she was here and mine and that she had been inside of me. I felt instantly attached to her and like the grinch, my heart grew 3 sizes that day. You just can't believe how much you can suddenly love someone you've never seen before so instantly.

She ripped me or "shredded" me as the doctor put it when she came out (thank you darling girl for that) so the doc spent the next 2 hours trying to put me back together. Apparently I was loosing lots of blood and they were having a hard time stopping it. I felt very grateful for my doctor at that moment, for his patience. I told him my feeling was back and the epidural had worn off and he had the anesthesiologist give me another dose of epidural love. That is when I loved those two men the most.

Finally around 8 am humpty was put back together and we got to spend some blissful time with Me, Zac, and Eloise. It was a really special time, I felt so close to heaven and to them, I wish I could have recorded those feelings and emotions.

By the end of the day I was totally spent and my voice was gone. I still haven't gotten my voice back but all the whispering is helping Teagan be a little quieter so that's been nice. :) We went home Monday night and things are going great here. I can't believe how much different this recovery is than with a c-section. I couldn't believe how fast I was able to get up and walk and bend over and all that after she was born.

Things at home are going well, I've been so blessed with help from everyone, especially Zac. He is the ultimate champ and has done all the laundry, ironing, and meal cleanup. He's been keeping Teagan distracted so that I can try to rest and is very sweet with Eloise. We've had so many people bringing food and sending love, and helping with Teagan. I feel so grateful that I have so many people close by who are willing to help. Zac's parents took Teagan for the next few days while Zac works and I'm so grateful for the chance to sleep and recover without neglecting my firstborn. I'm excited to have my sister and mom come help here in the next few weeks too. How in the world did I get blessed with the best family ever?!?!

Here are a "few" pictures. Hopefully you scrolled past the long wended story and just enjoy looking at our sweet little girl.

Proud brother. This is the first time Teagan got to hold her. He thinks she is pretty special and is already working on getting her to laugh. He is constantly asking to hold her and play with her and is always giving her the sweetest kisses. I have caught him "baby talking" to her when she's laying in the bouncer, it is THE sweetest thing. I love these two so much!

Proud mama. I cannot believe how HUGE Teagan seems now that we have a mini. I'm so grateful for my kiddos. I can't imagine life without them.

Proud Grandpa! He was a little smitten with the darling. (How did we miss a picture with Grandma Durtschi???)

Proud Grandparents! They told me thank you for having their grandbaby, I thought that was a very nice thing to say and told them you're welcome. :)

Proud Great Grandma. This is Lois, the first woman Eloise is named after (my mom and I are the second two). Eloise will have quite the name to live up to, this is a pretty special lady. :)

Teagan wanted Zac to read him a book at the hospital and insisted that Ellie listen too. Her eyes were wide open and she was taking it all in...she can probably read now.
Wherever Teagan is sitting or laying he wants Eloise right by his side. I can see a beautiful friendship in the works.

Our first family picture. We remembered to have the nurse take this picture about 30 seconds before we left the hospital. I realized we hadn't taken a picture with all four of us yet, it was a close call!

Zac working his comedy routine trying to get Ellie to smile. She stared right at him and didn't look away, but no smile yet.
He's getting better and better at holding her, pretty soon I'll have him changing diapers and rocking her to sleep.
Every morning Teagan loves to help pick out the outfit, headband, and bow. This outfit was especially exciting because we had a blue butterfly clip to match the blue butterflies on the dress...oh dear.
I'm just going to say it. This little girl has THE CUTEST face I've ever seen. I just stare at her sometimes in awe of how perfect she is.
We were worried that we had a fussy baby, but then found out she was just hungry. We gave her some formula to hold her off until my milk came in, and she cheered right up. Now that my milk has arrived we are realizing that we have one delightful little girl. She is a great eater which I'm so grateful for. She sleeps a ton, but I keep reminding myself that every baby does that the first week. I wouldn't mind if her sleeping and eating habits stuck around a while though! She only cries when she's cold or hungry so it's very easy to appease her. There is definitely an adjustment period and hopefully by the time Teagan gets back this weekend I'll have things a little bit more under control.

Hooray for Eloise being here, I would do it all again twice for her...10000000 times if I could skip that 30 minutes!

Brag on Your Kid

I haven't done a Teagan post in a while and I figured now was a good time when I'm not super busy with a new baby.

Can I just say that Teagan is a delight. He is constantly making me laugh and he is so sweet. Such a tender little boy.

Here are some things that he's doing/enjoying lately.

-Teagan loves to pretend play. Whether with super heros, stuffed animals or anything else he can get his hands on he is so creative. The things he comes up with are hilarious.

-He counts like this 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,18,16,19,300! I'm tempted to never teach him the correct way because I love it so much.

-He is learning lots of his letter sounds and is getting better at recognizing what letter words start with.

-When we do "cheerio math" he is a wiz. I either change the number of mini cups or the number of cheerios and he has to figure out how many to put in each cup to make them all the same, he gets to eat the leftovers. I am amazed at how well he does with it.

-He can memorize like nobody's business. I think he has 8 or 9 Articles of Faith, the Pledge of Allegiance, and several scriptures and songs memorized. We only work on it for about 5-10 minutes a night so I'm really proud of him.

-He loves to build. He creates really cool building and "stuff" out of dominoes, cups, legos, cardboard boxes, and blankets. Of course he loves to break them when he's done. :)

-"The Bernstein Bears" is his favorite book series. He has 6 of the books and would have me read them to him all day if I had the time. He knows them all pretty well and is quick to correct me when I try to skip parts. He realized one day that our family will be just like their family (dad, mom, boy, girl) and was so excited and is determined that we are dressing up as the Bernstein Bears for Halloween.

-He is an expert helper and is seriously going to be a huge blessing for me when the baby comes. He sets the table, helps clear the dishwasher, starts the dishwasher, helps carry dirty clothes/towels to the laundry room, helps fold clothes, wipes off counters, takes out garbages and is learning to vacuum his room. When he gets to do a new chore he gets SO excited because he feels really big and helpful. I love having him work by my side and am trying to enjoy every minute before he realizes that he hates chores and it becomes more of a battle.

-He is great with other kids and is a peace maker. He shares so well and is quick to figure out a solution to any disputes. You could say he's a little bossy, BUT he is willing to compromise when someone holds their ground (luckily a lot of the kids he plays with are also oldest children so they don't let him get too bossy.)

-He is very aware of other people and their needs. It amazes me when he notices that someone is feeling bad and he does something to make them feel better. Sometimes I'll see him giving me a silly smile and if I ask what he's doing he says "I just wanted to make you happy mom." I'm trying to smile more so it can go both ways. :) He's always finding Jax's special dog and bringing it to him when he's sad.
-Zac has always been the favorite parent, but I think he's finally found a place for mom. He goes to Zac for all things fun and exciting and comes to me when he's ready for a snuggle and some loves.

-He listens and picks up on everything so Zac and I are having to readjust music, TV, and especially the way we talk. Why does it sound so much worse coming out of their mouths?

A couple of funnies, I can't remember anything else, I really need to start writing them down more often!

The other day I was talking to my mom on the phone about teaching your kids to save for college. I said something along the lines of, "And if they want to use their savings to get a car I'll just say nope, it's for college or a mission." Teagan pipes up "Just so you know mom, I'm getting the car!"

Randomly in the car one day: "Mom, you can eat lotion if you want, but just so you know, you're going to die."

I lost my tablet the other day and was trying to find it and Teagan was so excited and was following me around the house saying over and over in a sing song voice "rules is rules mom, If you don't take care of your tablet then you won't have a tablet anymore, rules is rules!"

We love our little Teagan. He is so wonderful and I am so grateful for him. He's not perfect, but neither am I so it works out pretty good if we can remember to cut each other some slack once in a while. I can't believe he's 4, time really flies.

Eloise

Only sevenish more weeks until our little darling girl will arrive. This pregnancy has gone SO fast. I don't know if it was the holidays or what, but I am happy about it.

The last few days I've been working on a couple sewing projects for her room. I made these fun curtains:

And this cute little soft blanket. Please don't look too closely, I am not a perfectionist and have adopted the "good enough" attitude that helps projects go about 100 times as fast. Kudos to my sister Julie for that advice!

We are all so excited to meet her.

-Teagan is always talking about baby Ellie. He makes sure to hug my belly when he goes to bed, if I try to hug him back he says, "No mom, I'm hugging Ellie right now, not you."

-Zac and I are reduced to tears about anytime we hear something sentimental about having a daughter

-Teagan has named his bear "Ellie" and takes care of her all day, it is the sweetest thing. He changes the diaper, feeds her, puts her down for naps, reads to her and always makes sure she has a snuggly blanket. I know he is going to be such a sweet older brother.

-I've had way too much fun shopping the sales for baby girl clothes. I've been banned from buying anything else until she's here (except diapers).

-Zac gasped when he saw all the clothes in her closet (I have all the dresses and outfits from 0-18 months hanging up so it does look like a lot) and Teagan was so excited and said "Look dad, the drawers are full of clothes too!!!! Girls are just too fun!

Any predictions on her birthday? I'm due March 6th...My sister is begging for me to plan a c-section for February 29th, but I'm going to just wait it out until little Lois decides it's time to come (we're hoping for a normal birth if everything goes okay, I'm not anxious to have another c-section!). Teagan came 3 weeks early and it's hard for me to not consider mid-february as a possibility, I'm trying to stay focused on the first couple weeks in March so that I don't get disappointed. I wonder how many more posts until she arrives....

In case you thought I was perfect...

Do you ever read a book and just idolize and love the characters and want to be like them? I definitely do, if only I could be Bella! haha But seriously, when I read the Anne of Green Gables series I was so determined to be just Like Anne Blithe. She was the most patient, loving mother and wife. I would talk about her to Zac as if she was a real person, "well, I'm going to try to discipline more like Anne from now on..." Then he would kindly remind me that she is a fictional character.

Well, I'm reading "Little Women" for the first time and I just can't get enough. Marmee (Mrs. March) is the most wonderful person. Part of me is reading thinking, "How can I be more like her as a mom to my kids" the other part is thinking "Thanks mom for the wonderful advice, I will try to control my temper better!" Of course the book is fiction, but I love how she just parents with love and has the sweetest way, what would it be like to be like that?

I really do try to emulate these women, honestly, I think about it all the time. I set goals, make reminders, read books often and really make an effort to be a better mom, but then something happens and I fly into a range.

Go back with me to Saturday. It actually begins Friday night when I stayed up WAY too late so I will use that as a slight excuse for my actions of the day.

Saturday morning two people woke up on the wrong side of the bed, me and Teagan. Things went from bad to worse that morning. What began with a "it's time for our chores" ended in time outs, threats (not followed through in case you were wondering) and lots of raised voices and frustration. (usually chores aren't a big deal around here)

Next came the haircut. Teagan isn't a fan of haircuts and usually whines, but Saturday he was particularly against the idea and was SCREAMING and covering his head with his hands. His tear/booger streaked face of course accumulated a ton of hair since it was wet and he was miserable. I was loosing my temper and Zac came to the rescue by putting Teagan in a head lock while I finished the haircut. I think at one point all three of us were screaming at each other at the same time. It was such a wonderful, happy time. Just what we'd all been imagining for our Saturday morning.

After cleanup we all took some time apart and came back and became friends again. We all had the appearance of having ourselves back together so we decided to continue with our Saturday plans and go shopping. (What were we thinking, honestly????)

We only went to one store and it was fine. Then we went to go to lunch at Rumbi. While Zac and I ordered, our angelic child went and reserved a table for us. We, of course, trust him because he is four and everyone knows that four year old boys are mature enough to take care of themselves at restaurants. So we order our food, only to be interrupted by a yell and a crash. When we turn to see the noise we see that a table has been tipped over and a little girl is under it and Teagan is on top of her. We race over, put the table back, apologize like 50 times and then the girl's mom says something like, "he was on top of the table and I could see it happening in slow motion..." that's all I heard... at this point just imagine my normal face turning from pasty white to a deep scarlet, smoke starts emerging from my ears and I really loose it. I grab Teagan and carry him out to the car like you do when you are enraged with your child (you know, they're parallel to the ground and you're holding them off to the side with one arm). Zac patched things up with the family (they were really nice about it) and was out in a second. Teagan received corporal punishment and the lecture of a life time on the way home.

It was really fun, I hope next Saturday is just like it!

Later that night I asked Teagan what his "High" and "Low" of the day were. It broke my heart when he said "my low is when I was laying on the table and it tipped over and hurt that little girl, I didn't know the table was going to tip over." His low wasn't getting spanked (not a very frequent happening around here) or getting sent to his room or lectured. He really felt bad. At that point, guilt started setting in. The realization that we handled the situation BADLY and overreacted and were way too hard on Teagan started really setting in.

Ugggghhhhhh....why is parenting so hard? Then of course I remember Mrs. March's speech to her daughter Jo about holding your temper. I think I was more embarrassed about being THAT family with THAT kid than I was actually concerned about the behavior. Why didn't we just silently march him out of Rumbi and drive home in silence and talk about it after the smoke had stopped erupting from our ears. He already knew he was in trouble and was scared for his life as it was. Silence would have been more effective (although I don't think he'll be climbing on tables when we're out to eat any time soon).

My point is that I used bad judgement as a parent. I hate that. I just want to always do it right the first time.

I was reading a great article Monday (click here to read it) and I loved it so much. Not only was it a great reminder for me to not judge other parents, I was able to get rid of some of the guilt. I love the part where the writer says "In truth, I’ve yet to meet a mother who doesn’t adore her child and isn’t trying her best." SO TRUE!

Okay, I adore my child, I am trying my best, I'm bound to mess up because I'm about as human as they come, but lifelong damage hopefully won't be done. Trial and error is about the only way to go and course corrections along the way are going to hopefully lead me to being an expert by the time my kids are out of the house. And then I'll have to sit back and watch as they mess up with their kids....oh the circle of life. They'll get mad when I try to help and tell me to back off because they're going to "learn for themselves" and "do it their way." Oh boy. Do you think God just sits up there and laughs at the ridiculousness of us? Probably.

I'm grateful for second chances, repentance, learning from mistakes, kids that love and forgive you even when you totally mess up, a spouse to learn from and brainstorm with when I'm feeling lost, articles and books that help me see a bigger picture and inspire me, and sleep.

Chirstmas 2011!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, it was a little crazy, but a good kind of crazy. Now that the company is gone, it feels a little empty around here.

The sad news is that I left my camera at Teagan's preschool a few days before Christmas and just got it back, so all of these pictures I had to steal off my mom's camera (it took us a long time to figure out how to take a non-blury picture) and my little sister's camera. At least there are pictures though!

My mom made these awesome crepe paper balls for every single member of our family. I bet she spent 30 hours or more making them!!!! As you unwrapped the ball there were treasures hidden in the layers of crepe paper. It was like opening a stocking. The kids and adults had a lot of fun with it! That was a labor of love if I've ever seen one, I was very happy that we opened them at my brother's house though, they were a bit messy. :)

Christmas Eve Zac and I hosted our first ever Christmas party. Note to self...have it on a different day next year(maybe a week before Christmas), it was a little too crazy to have so much going on! But we had a blast.

It started with a yummy dinner and then we moved on to the musical sing-a-long which was my favorite part. Everyone was kind enough to play along with my dorkiness and they brought their musical instruments and we had a little talent show. :)

Jingle bells was awesome on the violin, I can't wait until Teagan is old enough to start lessons!

Zac wowed us with a fun game of "Name that Tune" on the trumpet. He is such a good sport! I think that this was my favorite part. (that is our niece, Lily who LOVES Zac)

Zac is a pro...he didn't even practice for this, just whipped out the trumpet from 9th grade and was sight reading. I was so impressed! If I had to break out my middle school instrument (the violin) it would be a scary sound!

My mom had her Ukelele, how did we forget to have her do a solo for us?!?!?! Next year for sure!

We had several piano/xylophone duet attempts, good times...I think I better start practicing for next near right now, I am not a performer! Whitney and my mom were dreams though!

Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer is always a treat when you've got this cute family singing!

After everyone left we opened our Christmas PJs and got a picture of us in our beautiful sweaters, I think I will always wear mine from now on. :)

Teagan didn't fall asleep until 10:30!!!!!! So we were up way too late setting up, it was really fun though!

We had to put a few finishing touches on his room, he loved it! I love it too, I'm super happy with the way the quilt turned out and I love the bookshelves Zac built.

Christmas morning started BRIGHT And EARLY (6:20) and was really blurry thanks to our lack of photography skills.

Somebody looks like they regret getting up so early....

Somebody looks excited about getting up early!

This is the gift Teagan picked out for my mom, it's a picture of a metallic rose in a cheap frame. When he saw it at the dollar store he exclaimed, "Grandma Packer would LOVE this!" So funny! We loved having my mom with us over the holidays, she is so fun and we got to play lots of pinochle which is always a plus!

After visiting Zac's family and my Dad in the afternoon we were completely beat (no pictures because I had no camera)! Why did I give birth December 26th? Who knows, but I did, so we celebrated in a very low key style. He got a booster seat and asked if we had any other presents (how could he not be absolutely thrilled over a booster seat?) Alas, that was the only one until June 26th when I've regained enough energy to give him a birthday party.

I did make him a birthday cake and we went bowling. It was fun, but I have to admit I felt a little guilty not making a bigger deal out of his birthday, luckily he has nothing to compare it to. :) He just was overjoyed to have candy letters and sprinkles on the cake, kids are so easy to please!

We had a wonderful holiday season, I felt so lucky to be close to family and to have a home for the first time this year. We loved being able to see almost all of our family over the course of the last couple weeks. If only we could spend this much time with family all year round. Now it's time for us to get ready for our sweet baby girl to come. I have 9 weeks left and I have a feeling they are going to fly because I have lots to do! Happy New Year to everyone!

Lazy Days

Today is one of those days where I'm feeling the pregnancy. Some days I feel normal, others are lay around in my pjs and rest days. LUCKILY, my little boy is almost 4 and he is so awesome to go with the flow. Today he was so excited when I told him we were going to be relaxing and staying home. From the time Zac left (7 am) until almost 9 we laid in my bed and had oodles of fun. I thought I'd share some of our fun games because honestly, they're fun for both of us and sometimes you just need good ideas. These work in the car too!

(A lot of these come from an OLD book my mom gave me called "The Everything Book" it is the best ever!)

-Play "hide and seek" with your imagination. We take turns hiding somewhere (anywhere) and the other person guesses where we are. For example, "I'm hiding somewhere in the basement." Then Teagan guesses where it is, kind of like 20 questions or something.

-You can also hide items..."I'm hiding a pen somewhere in this room." I always end up laughing a ton because Teagan thinks of the most RANDOM stuff! Usually he ends up hiding himself in the snow outside (imaginatively) or hiding a batman toy under the couch or something.

-Play "I see something" (20 questions on a 4 year old level). I just start out by giving vague clues about an object in clear sight, he tries to guess and I give more specific clues until he gets it. Ex, I see something that is bigger than my hand, this something is red, this something keeps me warm at night, this something is fluffy....(it's a quilt if you didn't guess, :) He takes turns with this too so I have to guess what he's looking at, he usually gives clues like "I see something that I use to brush my teeth" lol.

-I drew a big circle face on a piece of paper then we took turns adding parts to the face. We also did this with letters of the alphabet making them into other stuff like monsters and people.

-Coloring was fun.

-Reading books, I let him find letters on the pages and asked him lots of questions to make them stretch out longer.

-We practiced writing letters and he would tell me what he thought the letters looked like, it was pretty funny.

-Take turns humming a song and guessing what it is.

I can't remember what else, but it was awesome for several reasons:

1. I was able to rest and take it easy without ignoring my sweet boy.

2. Most of these activities are pretty educational, I love activities that develop his imaginative skills!

3. No television required. I really do hate putting Teagan in front of the TV, he loves it, but he just goes totally blank and gets super ornery with me. I don't like sitting in front of the TV either, my brain starts to die.

4. I'm feeling like a great mom and I just laid in bed in my PJs for 2 hours, can't beat a good self esteem! (And now I'm ready to get up and get to work)

Off to the laundry and bathrooms...oh joy! I'm so excited for a weekend with my boys!

Christmas time is here!

This Christmas season is officially in full swing here at the Daniels' house. Both Zac and I LOVE to get into this holiday so we have so much fun together this time of year. Teagan is of course game for any festivities and makes it so fun for all of us. This is a LONG post since I have 3 weeks worth of fun to put up. :)

Zac started putting up Christmas lights back in November. He thought there would be too much snow after Thanksgiving, and we've all been pleasantly surprised that the snow has been scarce (cold temperatures are another story). He started with 11 strands of icicle lights we bought on craigslist and last weekend added a few more sets that his parents gave us. You could say our house is brightly lit. I LOVE it and I LOVE having a husband that I don't have to nag and beg to put up lights. He is more excited about it than I am and beats me to the punch. He even put on his "ugly Christmas sweater" to put the lights up, I actually think he is quite dashing in it. :)

That nasty Idaho wind really gives icicle lights a run for their money! It's constantly blowing the lights into the rain gutters and making sections break. We're excited to go shopping December 26th for lights that don't hang! Zac gets up to fix them all the time and some sections refuse to be fixed or stay fixed...

We set up our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving and I love it so much. I love how Christmasy it makes the whole house feel!

One of our favorite family traditions is making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. Every year we make them some time in December and then we blow them up with firecrackers on New Years Eve. The boys are especially fond of this one! Zac's, as usual, is our crowning jewel, he has mastered the art of home making! He was REALLY excited to get his picture taken. :)

My favorites were the little candy people that Teagan made after he got bored of house building. They were so awesome, I love his creativity to no end. He is my light!

Teagans (left), mine (middle), Zac (right)

Just yesterday we went to Zac's parent's Christmas party and had a blast. I hope it becomes a yearly tradition because we had a ton of fun. It was an ugly Christmas sweater party with yummy food (honestly the BEST bacon wrapped steak and carmel I've ever eaten), white elephant gifts, and lots of games.

We had a blast picking out our ugly sweaters together a few weeks ago, I don't think I've laughed that hard in a while. The best part was wearing them to our ward Christmas parties and getting a lot of confused looks and stares....hehehe.

the white elephant gifts at the party were hilarious. My bro and sis-in-law got a yoga mat and richard simmons work out video, priceless! I got the freakiest looking Mrs. Claus ever, so fun!

My camera was being super fuzy so this is actually the best picture I got of the group...I'll have to wait for my sis-in-law to give me the pictures she took with her nice camera. Just know that we were quite a sight with all of the festive sweaters!

One of my favorite new traditions that we started this year is a random acts of Christmas kindness countdown. I saw the idea on pinterest and thought it would be an excellent way to help all of us get into the Christmas spirit. Each day until Christmas we're doing a random act of kindness. We put one on each paper of a paper chain and made them when my nephews were over.
So far we've taped quarters to candy machines, left cookies in the mailbox for our mailman, taken in extra shopping carts at the grocery store, called and wished a special sister a happy birthday, and given a grocery store gift card away to a random person. Teagan was unsure at first (he really wanted to USE the quarters), but now every day he reminds me and asks what we are going to do nice for someone. He really has gotten into giving which makes my heart happy and I have to admit that changing my focus is helping me get my priorities straight too. :) I'm really excited for the one a few days before Christmas where we take balloons to the mall and hand them out to little kids. I think Teag will love it!

Another favorite family tradition is making, decorating, and delivering sugar cookies. We've done this every year since we've been married (6 years in 2 weeks!) and I honestly love it. Sharing it with Teagan is so fun too, he gets so excited and makes every Christmas tradition worth it!

Everything is my favorite at Christmas, but I've loved our nightly christmas devotionals. We've been teaching Teagan a scripture from the Christmas story and then we sing a couple Christmas songs around the piano before Teagan goes to bed. I think this is probably my favorite. I love Christmas music and I'm grateful for two boys who will sing with me, even though ding dong ditching and blowing things up are probably the more exciting traditions. Here is a video of the song Teagan made up for his scripture that he memorized, love the song and love him!

Merry Christmas to everyone!