February: Snow

Dearest Colt and Jax,

February came in like a lamb and went out like a lion (my blog, my idiom).  I remember the first part of the month being beautiful.  So nice, in fact, that we went to birthday parties outdoors.  The weather was too pretty for pictures, I guess.  But I had my camera handy when Mother Nature suddenly remembered that it was winter and decided to make a statement.  

It started with a dusting but left ice for days.

Then it really started coming down and every school district within a 20 mile radius was shut down.

And, just when we thought winter was over, another storm blew through!  

Because it was so out of the norm, it was fun and exciting!  

A real winter - all the way down here in Texas!

January

Dearest Boys,

The bummer about blogging 6 months after the fact is that the memories aren't fresh.  If they're in my mind at all, then they're down-right blurry!  That being said, I barely remember January.  (Note for the future, Tiffany:  Don't take a 6-month hiatus from this!)

I know we started off at the Vaughn's house at their annual black-eyed pea party.

And I also remember the weather being AH-MAZING for January.  There were a few weekends where neither of you had a single activity planned.  In hindsight, I think we should've taken advantage of the downtime with a movie marathon in our pajamas.  In actuality, we trekked to McKinney and visited the Heard Museum since we'd never been there before.

They had a fun dinosaur display and y'all obliged me for a few shots:

Next January, remind me about that movie marathon - ok?

: )

You're a good year, 2014!

Dearest Jax and Colton,

Our final week of 2014 was spent in Indiana visiting family.  

We stayed with Grandpa and Grandma and got to see Uncle Mike, Aunt Jess, and Cousin Hailey often.

No opening presents until we take a cousin picture : )

We played at the house, took Daddy out for his birthday, and went to church - but didn't take pictures of any of that.

However, I did try to capture y'all bouncing around at Sky Zone (a trampoline park) one day.  Not an easy task as you barely stopped moving!

We also tried to photograph your first adventure in ice-skating.

  

Jax, you gave it a good try but didn't enjoy falling on the cold ice.  Colt, you sort of tried it but spent a lot of time crying on the sidelines.  We just thought you were anti-skating.  We soon learned that your mood was thanks to a nasty cold! It came in just in time for our 15 hour trek home. We ALL got it and the drive home was less than ideal, to say the least.

Hopefully, we can recreate this group shot again soon -- but at our house next time!  : )

Despite ending the year with sneezing and coughing, we all agreed that 2014 was a good one!

Christmas

Dearest Boys,

Christmas morning was simple but joyful!  We slowly opened presents, ate breakfast, then played with all the new things.  

We cleaned up before going to Grandma and Grandpa's house, where the fun process was repeated.

This basketball goal was their big gift to you, Jax.  At first, you didn't get it and just thought they had borrowed it from their neighbor so that you could try out your new basketball!

Colt, your big gift was this dino-bot.  He's quite interactive and loud!

Of course, y'all are our "big gifts"!  : )

Traditions (Take: 7)

Dearest Boys,

So pretty, right?  I could leave it at that and have you thinking that December was a beautiful month full of wintry wonders.  Or I could be honest and tell you that I'm typing this from MARCH 5th (2015) and that the picture above was taken just hours ago!

I've practically abandoned this little hobby but I'm not ready to give it up entirely yet.  There are still memories to record, pictures to save, and anecdotes to preserve.  But it wouldn't surprise me if the Blog Book for 2015 was very sparse.

So...back to December...when we fit in our favorite traditions and even added a few extras.

Y'all helped us decorate and you wanted to be involved with every aspect of every (All 5!) tree.  Your enthusiasm for the holidays comes honest.

In a first for us, we bought snowballs!  The Harycki Fam hosted a snowball fight in their yard so we met up with the Vaughns and had at it!  

(Ironic as we had a legit snowball fight amongst our family in the backyard just hours ago!)

One of the loveliest moments of the month was being serenaded by THE Mr. Timberlake at the AAC.  Michelle and I got great seats and screamed like 13 year olds hearing NKOTB back in '94.  We also stayed in a hotel downtown and had some shopping fun the next day while everyone else was working.  This is a December tradition that I'd like to repeat annually!

 We also fit in a visit to the trains at North Park.  This is one that I feel like y'all might be outgrowing.... (and I'm actually ok with that).

 

A tradition that I'm in no rush to lose is our annual visit to Bass Pro!  Grandma came along this year and participated in the fun (but she won't let me post the picture of her on the carousel!).

I managed to miss the opportunity for a pic, but Bass Pro gave us a cute one of you two sitting on his lap.   

Another element of fun was your holidays parties at your schools.  Jax, I took a short break from my own class to pop over to your school and help with your party.  Your school has a tradition where 1st graders make these adorable snowmen shirts and then you wear the shirts for years to come on certain days.  You looked so cute in your over-sized design : )

Colt, I ended up getting a nasty stomach bug on the day of your party so I had to miss it.  Your dad was a trooper and joined you instead -- but he only took video, no photos, of the sweet songs your class performed for the party guests.

That stomach virus ended up getting passed through our family and traditions went out the window for a few days.

At the very last minute, we fit it one of our favorites --

And, before we knew it, it was time to make cookies for Santa and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus!  I loved having both of you sitting between us in church on Christmas Eve and y'all loved it when the lights went down and the candles were lit.

What's crazier than all this fun?...Is that we packed even more into our final week of 2014!  Maybe I'll tell y'all about it in a few months...