Life With Both Hands Full

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Year in Review: 2011

We had a wonderful year and were blessed in many ways. I thought I would share with you this quick recap of our year.

We started the year out with a bang...celebrating the boy's first year of life with a Dr. Suess Thing 1 and Thing 2 Party.

They attended their first festival.

Went to Shreveport and visted Ana (Nahna) and Marc

Celebrated their 2nd Easter.

Had lots of fun in the sun

Got all packed up to move and the house fell through.

Put our house on the market and at 9 pm the night before we were to begin our 9 day vacation to Colorado we had a contract on our house.

Went on vacation to Colorado with two toddlers. Clocked in about 50 hours spent in the car during those 9 days. We also stopped in Kansas to visit Kevin's family on our way home.

Came back home from Colorado and we had less than a month to pick out a house, buy it, move out of the old and into the new one. All hope was restored when we found THE house that was perfect for us.

The boys made lots of messes.

....but their willingness to clean made up for it.

Went to their first college football game.

Dressed up as Fred and Barney for Halloween.

Kevin turned 30.

My children found many ways to almost give me a heart attack. AKA climbing EVERYTHING.

We celebrated our 2nd Christmas as a family.

We celebrated the boy's 2nd Birthday.

On New Years Eve we had their birthday party (lots more about that later). I can't think of a better way to end the year than celebrating their lives. Afterall, two years ago we ended the year by bringing them home from the hospital.

Here is to a great 2012 and that it will be filled with even bigger and better things for our family even though it is hard to imagine things could be much better than they already are. We are so blessed!

Totally Organized Tuesday: Christmas Storage

I know if you haven't already done it, most of you are thinking about the dreaded task of taking down your Christmas tree and decorations. I personally don't take my tree down until usually the second week of January so I won't have too many pictures to share with you just yet but I wanted to share this before everyone has their decor packed away.

Now is the best time to go through and get rid of all of the stuff you probably won't use again. Afterall, most people have "get more organized" on their list of New Years resolutions.

My favorite organizing tip for Christmas storage is to get rid of all those boxes that hold your ornaments and use these ornament storage containers by Sterilite. It doesn't take up as much space as all those boxes and makes it easier to see everything. I also should add that almost all the ornaments below are glass and none of them broke being transported in these storage boxes during our move.

I also like to seperate them by color so if I change the theme of my tree and only need the red ones next year I won't have to drag out the gold ones.

I also have some red ornament storage boxes that have the ornaments for the boy's tree.

The fabulous parties I am linking up to:

Lil Luna
Organize and Decorate Everything
Crystal and Co.
House of Hepworths
Delightful Order
Gluesticks
Tatertots and Jello
Be Different Act Normal
I Heart Naptime
Tip Junkie
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Let Birds Fly
Somewhat Simple
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Tidy Mom
320 Sycamore

Monday, January 2, 2012

Birthday Dinner

We took the boys to a local restaurant called Goodfella's for their birthday. Now for those who live in our area and have been to Goodfella's you probably know this is not really a kid friendly place and are probably wondering why I would pick there to bring my little ones instead of a place like Chuck E. Cheese. Well two years ago on the day after Christmas we had Christmas with my mom and then went to dinner at Goodfella's after that we decided we would hit Best Buy to get a video camera so we would be ready for New Years Eve which was the boys scheduled c-section. All of this stuff was very insignificant until I went into labor while in Best Buy. So although my husband probably wishes the tradition was to go to Best Buy, we go to Goodfella's every year on their special day. So for the past three years and hopefully for many years to come you know where you can find us on the 26th.

Giving Scooter some love...

I love this sequence of pictures...notice Grant has the same face and Gabe has many different faces. He was mad because I made him wait until we sang before he could dig into the cake.

All was well again when baby got his cake :)

Monday, December 26, 2011

Happy Birthday Gabe and Grant!

I can't believe it has already been two years since I delivered the most precious gifts ever given to me.

Gabriel Wayne and Grant Owen

I want to keep you little and shelter you from this cruel world forever but at the same time I know this world is a much better place because you both are in it.

My sweet Gabe, you are the leader of the bunch. I guess that is fitting since you are the "big" brother (by a minute). You have no fears and when Grant is unsure about something you show him that everything will be alright.

My silly little Grant man, you can make anyone laugh with all of the faces you make. You also know how to comfort Gabe when he is upset. You know just the right toys to bring to make him laugh.

Here is the slideshow documenting their second year of life. I don't think I could have found a better song than "Smile" to decribe how I feel about them. Even on the bad days, they find ways to make me smile.

Happy Birthday Baby Boys! I love you both and can't wait to see all the great things this new year brings for us!

You can see the slideshow of their first year here. I am proud of myself for keeping it down to one song this year ;)

Photos are courtesy of BLM Photography.