Delightful December {2016}

Oh December, where did you go so fast?  With a new baby, I had hoped things would be a little slower for a while.  I do appreciate all the time we spent together though and all the memories we made pending our big family move.  Of course, as I sit here in a mostly empty house waiting to make the big trip further south, I am feeling nostalgic about all of these memories.

Baby Grayson arrived and came home to enjoy his first Christmas. 

Mattox is always the life of the party these days.  He adores his new baby brother and loves goofing off with daddy. 

We were all ready for Christmas before Grayson's arrival. 

This baby enjoyed lots of peaceful napping. 

Big brother Brody loves his new baby, but he practices caring for his teddy bear. 

Movie night at home with popcorn and blankets on the living room floor.  I think we finally watched the Angry Birds movie. 

More goofing off with Mattox while baby Grayson sleeps.  Mattox made me wear some old 3D glasses he found.  Yes, he put them on me upside down. 

Loving on his new stuffed crocheted fish from our dear friend Natasha.  Her sweet friend crocheted it.  I really want to learn to crochet well enough to do this.  My sweetheart Brody drew this lovely picture for his sister all by himself and surprised me with it.  He wanted to wrap it up as a present for Mattie. 

I just had to take this little quiz to see if I am still a good historian.  I love history and took enough college courses to double major in it although I only got a minor in it because I didn't want to have to do a second senior thesis on top of the one for my major.  My undergraduate school required all seniors to complete a senior paper in their major before graduating. 

Mattox gives his baby lots and lots of love! 

We attended our church's Christmas Eve service a few days before Christmas.  I didn't want to wake Grayson up to get him out of his car seat yet because he would have been ready to eat so we didn't get in the picture. 

Baby Grayson was 3 weeks old for his first Christmas.  He wore a special little crocheted Santa suit I made him.  It didn't fit the greatest, but he still looked cute. 

Baby's first Christmas.  He received his first Bible from his Great-Aunt Dava who has been giving these little monogrammed Bibles to our children at birth.  I love them all and especially Mattie's. 

This little rascal loves to feed himself these days, but he also loves to make a mess.  He likes to pour his drink out on his tray and play in it. 

Eddie and I don't take a lot of selfies or pictures together these days so I loved this one we took on the way to our family Christmas celebration. I love my little artist as we creates his masterpiece. 

Oh yes, have you met Mr. Adorable?  I love this baby so much! 

Our Christmas decorations this year were finally complete when we added our special new ornaments and our handmade art project.  The boys created the tree together with all of their handprints.  Baby Grayson's is at the very top.  I used my own fingerprints for the lights because it was just easier to do my own.  Evan's handprint is the Santa, Brody's is the elf, Mattox's feet and hands made the reindeer, and Grayson's feet made the mistletoes.  

On one of the last days of the month after Christmas, we had unusually nice weather.  We met daddy for lunch at Mellow Mushroom and then went to enjoy one last visit to Pullen Park.  It was a little sad to think we may not come back to this park again for a very long time.  

A ride on the train was a necessity, but we weren't sure it was going to happen because the line was so long and they were stopping the train rides at 5:00 when we arrived just before 4:00. 

But we made it onto the train at last and enjoyed the ride.  Even Grayson rode.  Baby Mattox rode this train at about the same age when we first moved here so it was kind of a special ride. 

Our boys love trains.  

Then, we took one last ride on this beautiful old carousel.  

Mattox rode a beautiful horse while Brody rode my favorite...the rabbit! 

Yes, Evan insisted on his old favorite, the ostrich.  He is so silly.  Baby Grayson and I enjoyed our seat on the sleigh. 

Then, we said a final goodbye to the old caboose. 

Some memes I enjoyed this month that popped up on my social media feeds:

This kind of sums up my take on the political atmosphere today. 

Yep, getting accused of racism for expressing an opposing view seems to happen a lot these days too. 

I probably need one of these shirts.  The struggle is real.