Half of my brain wants to relish in the remaining holiday moments...drinking hot cider by our sparkly Christmas tree that I refuse to take down for another week, reading Norman Rockwell's Christmas book a time or two more, and jotting notes and ideas for next years magical season...whereas, the other half of my brain is going "Holy Moly!! Could our Holiday season have been anymore crazy busy?!" (as I start yet another list of "to do's" shaking my head at the growing numbers of things yet to be marked off)
I think that on the Jones side of the family, the year has been one not to be forgotten. Two moves, a new baby and a wedding..my poor mom. :) Between my brother and me alone, her agenda has stayed quite full. Mom, one of these days you will have your time...time to actually start and finish your own house projects. Thank you for being the mom that you are who drops anything and everything for us at any given moment. You are amazing.
2010 has been quite the experience and excitement. In April, our family moved from our little apartment complex of 5 years to a house in the suburbs with the space to accomodate our growing family. During the summer months, we traveled to Mississippi to see family and spent quite the time here. The rest of the time was spent "moving into" our new home and getting settled and ready for baby #2, who arrived on October 11. We were blessed to be able to have our family staying with us most of the fall and winter; in years past, we might only see them a few weeks out of the year due to work schedules and other conflicts. For Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, Clay's family was able to come up. In between the two holidays, I flew with the two boys (by myself for the first time) down to Grenada for my brother's wedding and stayed for over two weeks. Arriving back late on December 14 with hubby gone and family flying in early on the 17th, made for quick and simple Christmas decorating this year. Clay and I had decided to continue our tradition to host our 2nd annual Cookie Swap at our home for our Sunday School class so when the Nolen's flew in on Friday and Saturday we put them to work baking, cleaning and helping with the boys as we all prepared for the event Saturday evening. Thank you for being so flexible and jumping into the party scene with us, guys. Ya'll were sweet to help us out. I'm so glad ya'll love a party as much as we do. :)
Sunday, I think we all practically collapsed and did NOTHING. Monday, we hit the slopes at Welch Village for an all day adventure. The rest of the week was a blur. If it hadn't been for the hundreds of pictures I took throughout the 12 days, I probably wouldn't remember a lot of specifics...my mind seems to focus and remember certain moments and a lot of time the details are forgotten...hence, my love for photography and scrapbooking. :) Shopping trips to the mall, receiving, addressing, and mailing Christmas cards, more Christmas baking, last minute Christmas shopping, doctor's appts, fireplace evenings sipping hot cider while visiting...great memories made. I hope that Parker will look back on this year's Christmas season and smile at the opportunities and moments that we shared together as a family.
Because blogging has been low on my priority list lately, I have a backlog of about 34 "post ideas" that I finally starting jotting down in a notebook so as not to forget them. Though I'm not sure how I'm going to condense all this, I'm sure for the sake of my time and everyone else's boredom ;) I will come up with a shortened version of our traveling and seasonal memories and events.
To start...a picture of the boys and myself at the airport the Sunday after Thanksgiving...can I just say it was a miracle we made it to Memphis and back to Minne with all those bags. :)
2 check bags, 2 carry-ons, 1 travel seat/stroller, 1 purse, 2 kids and a backpack, 1 diaper bag...and a partridge in a pear tree.
The entire airport experience there and back actually went really well...I felt as prepared as I could be traveling with two for the first time. Parker and Cooper were both truly amazing and it made me such the proud mama to receive some of the nice compliments we did after the plane landed. Parker of course had his backpack filled with special airplane goodies that kept him busy and happy. Cooper was either eating, sleeping or looking around quite happily admiring the view. :) It was a great way to start our trip...
...now the car ride from the airport to home was an entirely different story, but we won't even go there. Let's just say it involved a lot of crying, attempted consoling, spit up, messy diapers, pouty faces and relief to finally reach our destination (I am referring to both ends...from Memphis to Grenada and from Minne to Eagan).
I don't know who was happier...our family to see us or us to see our family.
...Parker loved being able to venture outdoors to play in Rassie and Papa's yard
...more Mississippi Memories coming soon...
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