Our Trees.

Saturday night, both boys went to bed early. By 7:00 the house was quiet. I turned off all the lights and brought out all the presents to wrap by the light of our tree. Papa came down around 7:30 and joined me. He rested on the couch and chatted with me while I did all the wrapping.


I really love the style of our tree. Our house doesn't have a good spot for a tree. The best spot I can find is in our tiny dining room. We move the table around a bit and put the tree in the corner in front of a window.

James and I like to keep our tree simple. Oh, and a real tree is a must. We love the smell.

Our first few Christmases together, we didn't get a tree. We lived in a small townhouse and didn't bother. Our first year in our Cape Cod, we decided to get one. We both agreed to keep it simple: white lights, minimal decorations. That first year, our tree consisted of lights, some cranberry garland, and pinecones I collected from a nearby park.

We might not have gotten a tree the next year. I don't remember.

The year Lane was born, I spiced up our simple tree with a few birds. I thought they went nicely with our "natural" theme. I'm pretty sure I didn't collect any pinecones that year - having just given birth and all.

The next year, I added a few more birds to the collection.

Last year, we didn't get a tree. The Sunday before Evan was born, my mom was over. I ran to Kroger to pick up a few items and saw a little tree in a pot. I brought it home, decorated it with our cranberry garland and placed it on our mantel.

A few days later, Evan was born.


This year's tree has a few more birds. No pinecones. No cranberry garland - so little hands don't put little cranberries in his little mouth. A few strands of white lights.

I think it is lovely.

Oh, and the bottom half is naked. See above regarding little hands.

So far, the boys don't seem to mess with the tree. Lane does like to plug it in though.

For those of you who think it might be mean not to let Lane decorate the tree, don't worry. This year, I got him his own little tree - just for his room.


He loved decorating it. Or decoration it, as he says. I bought a few small ornaments, which I adore. All are knit animals that are dressed for winter. I think I'll probably find something to do with them once the holidays are over but it is still cold outside.

That's how cute they are.

Evan Eats.

I've been a real lazy mama lately. Truth be told - my kiddos have been eating way too much fast food.


I'm going to make it one of my New Year's resolutions to get back to better eating habits.

With that being said, one day last week, I picked up some Wendy's on the way home from picking up Lane at preschool.

Lane went down for a nap. Evan had a little snack.


He was not impressed with the chicken byproducts trying to pass as a chicken nugget.






He had more fun taking the nugget and placing it in and out of the box.

Bad mama for feeding my baby gunky food.

Good mama opportunity to let my baby practice some developmental skills.

Or so I told myself.

Here's my hint that I need to spend some time on Sunday nights preparing lunches for my boys.

Evan fed his nugget to the dog.



Hint taken.


And just to make you laugh....

Here's a picture of Evan later that day. We were all outside on the back deck watching some deer in our neighbor's yard. Giggie was going in and out of the dog door. Then he accidentally closed himself inside.

Gave me the perfect chance to take this awesome photo.

Oh no she didn't.

Let me tell you about some funny things I did on Tuesday. Tuesday mornings, Lane goes to school. That means Mama & Evan time. We usually hang around the house, play, cuddle and do some cleaning.

With a dishwasher full of clean dishes, a sink full of dirty dishes and a content baby in his room, I went to the kitchen to do a little work.

Now, I've got three years of mama experience under my belt. I know better. A quiet house - unless, of course, your babes are napping - usually indicates something naughty is taking place.

I made my way through the bottom shelf of the dishwasher and almost all the way through the top shelf when it hit me.

I didn't hear a peep coming from Evan's room.

What do you think I found when I went down the hall to check on him.



This is his favorite thing to do - take out all of his clothes and throw them on the floor.

It makes him very happy.

It makes me have to clean up a mess that was not a necessary mess.


I couldn't get mad at him. I've got no one to blame but myself.

Oh, but it gets even better.

Later that day, I set out to make a chicken pot pie.

I had the chicken part ready when I realized I didn't have any eggs to fulfill the pie part of our dinner.

James was home so I left the kids and rushed up the street to Publix to pick up some eggs.




I wore these shoes, which are not really shoes at all. They are slippers. However, I think they are cute enough to wear as shoes if need be.


Oh, is that a skirt I'm wearing over my jeans.


Why no. That would be my apron. Ran out of the house. Drove to Publix. Walked around the entire store getting eggs, something for dessert and milk for Evan - and did not even realize it until I got to the register. That's when the check-out girl commented on my outfit.




Thankfully she didn't say anything about my lack of make-up or my messy hair.

And that my friends is what happens after three beautiful years of being a mama.

You go out in public looking like this - and do it with a big old smile on your face.

Goofball.

For about a week, I could not figure out what was going on with the marker lids. I kept finding them all over the floor - or even better, in Evan's mouth.

For some reason, Lane stopped putting the tops back on his markers. Each day, as I picked up lids in the most random of places, I would explain to Lane that he must put the lids back on his markers. If he didn't, the markers would dry up and he would not be able to color with them even more.

Or worse - Giggie could choke on one.

Still - dried up markers and lids all over my house.


Then he busted out with this.

Which explains why I have marker lids all over my house.

He's a monster. A scary monster. He chases Evan.

You can't be upset with that.

Right?

Evan Eats.

It has been a while since I updated you on our little man's eating habits. His new favorite: lima beans.

Better known as mama beans around here.

A few weeks ago, I opened a can of lima beans to serve with dinner. As is his new custom, Lane asked, "What's that."

"Lima beans," I informed him.

"Oh, mama beans," he said. "I don't like those."

Which is also his new standard answer. And, yes, he does like them. He used to eat them all the time - back before he started asking what he was eating and just ate what I served him.


As for my other baby, he loves him some mama beans. On this particular night, he was having a yummy dinner of noodles, carrots from our crock pot roast and mama beans.

Notice how he picked out all the lima beans first. Then the carrots. I think he left most of the noodles. That's just filler food.


He did have to stop mid dinner to answer his hand phone. This poor baby always has someone calling him. He's just so busy - and popular.


MMMMM. Mama beans.

Do your kids eat them?

Cold, lazy days.

As much as I like to go, go, go in the spring, summer and fall, as soon as winter arrives I become a house hermit. Really, I don't want to do anything except stay at home in my warm house and snuggle with my loves.

I guess it is kind of my way of hibernating. For the last week or two, the boys and I have not done much at all except go to the gym in the mornings, head to the store to buy the necessaries and run a few errands.

I'd made plans for a mama night out with one of my besties last night, but the weather was cold and rainy and windy - so we postponed. There was only one thing to do - a lazy day at home with lots of blankets and pillows.

After I put Evan down for his nap, I gathered a bunch of blankets and pillows and filled the living room floor. I turned on Boomerang and let Lane watch an episode of the Snorks while we cuddled together.

I was loving it. After a while, Lane wanted to head upstairs for his nap. We went up to my bed, cuddled in together and he fell asleep with his hand around my neck.

Since it was so cold - my usually naked child broke down and put on a pair of sweatpants.

After a short nap, I surprised Lane with a "cool" afternoon project - decorating gingerbread men. (Cool is his new word. Wow, that's cool, he will tell me about 50 times a day.)

First things first - taste testing.

Then he set out decorating his Lane gingerbread man.

Papa got home a few minutes in to decorating and right about the same time the Giggie baby woke up and started stalking the table.


Lane decided I could decorate the mama and papa gingerbread people. This is my version of me.

This is my version of papa. Lane added the finishing touches - two different color eyes.


Then Lane decided Evan could decorate his own gingerbread man. This made Evan so happy he threw his man down and broke off his leg.

Lane decided he would take over from there and try to fix the leg and show Evan how it was done.


Then Evan decided he would rather eat his man than decorate it so Lane did the majority of decorating. I finished off the baby gingerbread man by adding some eyes and a smile.


The finished product. Our gingerbread family.

We left the happy family of four out on the counter over night so the icing could set.

Then, this morning Lane woke up, gave some snuggles, and went right down to check on his men.

Papa got up with the boys and let me hang in bed for a few extra minutes. When I got downstairs, I went right to the couch to kiss my Giggle baby good morning.

Then, I asked Lane, "Lane, would you like ham and eggs for breakfast?"

"No," he replied. "I eating gingerbread cookies."



And this is what our family looked like at 7:45 this morning after Lane finished with them.

I let them hang out today but have a feeling they will find their way to the trash tomorrow.

Three.

This dear boy of mine turned three years old yesterday. Three. I find it hard to believe.

Last night, as we snuggled in bed with our boy, papa and I reminded him - as we do every day - of just how much we love him. How he changed our life. How he's made us better in every way.

There's just so much to say about our boy.

He's a goofy little guy - who struggles daily with his relationship with his brother. He loves him. This we know. He just doesn't know how to share with him. I often find myself working as a referee when it comes to toys and sharing and Lane.

While we never have any problems with other children, Lane just doesn't want to share his toys with Evan.

Sharing love and attention - that doesn't seem to be so bad. He's adjusted to having a sibling quite nicely. In fact, any time Evan isn't around, it doesn't take Lane too long to ask, "Hey, where's Evan."

It makes my heart melt each time.

Oh, he knows how to make my heart melt. He gives kisses at just the right time. He reminds me he loves me just when I need to hear it. He kisses my boo boos and always tells me how pretty I am.


We sailed through the twos - only feeling a bit of the so-called Terrible Twos in this house. Sure, we endured some hitting and temper tantrums. However, when you consider a new year ushered in a new family member last year, all went well.

I've learned that a cranky Lane is usually a tired Lane, so when the lower lip starts to pout out and the tone starts to get sassy, I usually just pack everything up and get my boy somewhere to sleep.

He's a stubborn guy, but he comes by that honestly. I don't think age has anything to do with that character trait. He insists on having things done the way we always do them. He doesn't handle change in routine well. And when he makes up his mind that he's going to do something - or not going to do something - well, you can take his word that it will - or will not - get done.

At three years old, we have been potty trained for at least six months. We sail through each day in big boy underwear, and rarely do I need to remind him to use the potty. I feel comfortable leaving him at school all morning long or at the childcare room in the gym - knowing an accident is very unlikely.

All of this pertains to pee pee in the potty. Because we are still working on the other half. Lane made up his mind that he will not put his poo in the potty about seven months ago - and here we are. He kindly asks for a diaper when he needs to go. If a diaper is not available, he will kindly wait until one is. We don't have messy accidents, and James and I gave up fighting with him about six months, when he told us he will stop using a diaper on December 4.

I'll let you know how that goes.

He's got a little bit of his mama and a whole lot of his papa when it comes to personality. When it comes to looks, we just can't decide who he favors more - James or my dad. It is so easy to see both of them in him.

Like his papa, he can be the center of attention in a crowd - if he wants to be. However, he prefers to spend most of his time watching and taking it all in. He likes to scout out a situation first. He keeps to himself for a while - preferring to acquaint himself with his surroundings. Once he is comfortable, he will open up. Usually, he ends up enjoying himself in most situations.

He's always loved the outdoors - and that hasn't changed. When I find he might be grumpy, or just in need of a little change of scenery, I'll take him outside. Some fresh air and nature seem to make him happy. He doesn't need a swing set or toys, he's quite happy with some leaves, rocks, sticks or dirt - and can keep himself entertained for quite a while.

One thing he gets from his mama and papa is his love of snuggling. While he doesn't give out much affection toward others, he showers his two favorite people with so much. We end each night snuggling close to each other. He can't fall asleep without his papa cuddling him. Each afternoon, I put Evan down for a nap and then Lane and I head upstairs for a little snuggle time. He always falls asleep with his arm wrapped around my neck. When papa comes home from work, the two kiss and hug until his little heart is content. I hope he never grows out of this stage.

I wouldn't call him a people person. He's not fond of strangers talking to him or touching him. He won't open up and talk to just any one. He likes his personal space - and will openly tell people to step away if he feels the need. However, once he decides you are his friend, you can be sure he will love you with all his heart.

We constantly talk about his best friends. Andrea, of course, will always be number one, even as we introduce more little people in to his world. He's made his very first friend on his own - a little boy from school - and Lane loves to talk about this boy and imagine they are playing together.

He's got a few other little friends he sees each week, and he knows when to ask for which friends and where he might see them.

He's smart as a whip. He's been able to recognize the letters of the alphabet for almost a year now. He can count to 20. He picks up lyrics to songs in just a few listenings. He remembers everything - the names of restaurants and stores. Where we went last week, and the week before and the week before. The name of each and every one of his 50 something Monster Jams.

And he doesn't forget a thing. If I tell him we can paint tomorrow while Evan is napping or that we will get ice cream if he is a good boy - you better believe we will be painting and getting ice cream. If I offer him a marshmallow as a snack, he will remind me that George roasts marshmallows in his book. When Evan wears his monster truck shirt, he will tell me that the little boy at Chick-fil-A had that shirt when him, and Evan and Memother were there. He remembers the baby giraffe at the zoo is named Lily. All black Jeeps are like his Mamaw's Jeep and all 18 wheelers are like his Pop's.


He's got such an imagination. This might be one of my favorite aspects of three. The way he plays. We imagine there are lions and alligators at the park. Bears chase us around the house. Sometimes, when all of his monster trucks are lined up in the living room, we are at Dixie Speedway getting ready for a show. Other times, we are in a creepy, haunted house running away from a bad guy. He cooks me dinner multiple times a day and insists I enjoy a root beer with each meal.

He's always busy. He doesn't require a lot. We don't have many fancy toys. We don't watch much TV. We play with his cars. We visit with our friends at all of our favorite places. We work on projects - painting, drawing, cooking, creating with blocks.

We talk a lot. We talk about what we did the day before. What we will do that day. Where we can go. He asks a lot of questions, which James and I are always happy to answer. He yearns to learn. We try our hardest to quench his desire for knowledge.

We've work our hardest over the last three years to give him any and everything he could need to make him happy.

I can honestly say I could continue to work my hardest for eternity, and I could never repay him for all the wonderful things he's given me.

I love you, Lane Thomas. Happy third birthday.