Precious to Me

There are so many times I wished I could have been the fly on the wall...when the boys were playing well together, or could have just heard something cute the boys said or told to me one more time. I love this. We were all going to bed in our hotel room when we were at the Gaylord Texan for Ice. Never are we all in the same room. Brody in the port-a-crib, Colby in his own Queen Bed, and Matt and I in another. Lights off. Bed time.

Colby - "Brody"

Brody - no answer

Colby - "Brody"

Brody - no answer

Colby - "Brody, will you protect me?"

Brody - no answer

Colby - "BRODY" - much louder now

Me - " leave him alone, he is trying to sleep. So are the rest of us."

Silence......

1 minute later....

Brody - "Colby"

Colby - no answer

Brody - "Colby I go night night"

Colby - no answer

Brody - "Colby??!?"

Colby - " Yes, Brody...will you protect me?"

Brody - "Ok"

Colby - "Ok good"

Silence.....

1 minute later....

Snoring...both of them....

Colby and Brody asleep.

Mom and Dad snickering...trying really hard not to burst out in full laughter as they have this conversation.

Priceless Parenting!

I absolutely treasure these moments as silly and probably insignificant as they are. These are the moments that make all of the hard work and craziness that goes with being a parent totally worth it. Little precious moments of time like this. I need more of this!

ICE

A few months before Christmas my mom called to tell me she wanted to take the boys to this new exhibit of ice sculptures. The theme this year was Snoopy. We decided to go a few days after Christmas. It was so much fun!

It was 9 degrees, yeah, you heard me, 9 FREEZING degrees in the place. It was at this beautiful resort/hotel called the Gaylord Texan. I know, horrible name right? All you can think of is Gaylord Focker right now, am I right?

I could lie and say this was Colby making a freezing face because he was so cold, but no, this is just Colby when he has to wait in any line or when there are crowds to deal with. He is actually really mad. In fact, we are about to be in melt down mode. Grrr.

Yep it is all ICE. Every thing in the exhibit was ice, except for the blanket, and some metal railings. The resort brings sculptors from Harbin, China in to create these displays each year. Each year has a different theme. Yes, the ice is colored. It is dyed during the freezing process. Some of it is clear, but the characters were mostly all colored ice. They used 400lb blocks of ice, and received two truck loads per day for 3 weeks while creating the exhibit. c-r-a-z-y!

Oh yeah, and because it is 9 degrees they give you these special coats to wear. We had on sweaters, our own winter coats, gloves, hats, and then the special coats on top of that, and we were pretty warm. But by the end of the tour we were ready to be back in normal temps!

My mama and her hubby John. It was great to have John there, and I was impressed he braved this kiddo day with us! Thanks John.

In the middle of the exhibit they had these ice slides that you could go down. They were so fun. It was hard to take pictures because the lighting was so dim. Colby went down too fast so I didn't get a picture of him. Matt went, and I caught him at the end of the slide. Darn my heels, had I not been in boots I could have gone, but no heels were allowed on the slides.

Snoopy's dog house. We actually got to crawl through this icy dog house.

The boys loved the ice cave!

The end of the exhibit was incredible, it was just breathtaking. The picture above is a gigantic angel, and then, the entire nativity scene. Beautiful.

Afterward, we all ate a yummy dinner at the Cracker Barrell, and then Gram and John left us and went home. We stayed the night at the Gaylord. It was and incredibly fancy hotel. This is what you saw from the lobby. The atrium in the middle of the three towers of rooms was decked out. It looked like the River Walk- in San Antonio, and it was decorated with incredible Christmas decorations.

This was a real gingerbread house. I kid you not, real gingerbread bricks, icing mortar, and candy everywhere. It was so much fun. Click on the pic below and read the stats be. Pretty cool.

Two huge fireplaces, with fires lit, scaled either side of part of the massive lobby. The guy that took our picture, seriously might have used a camera for the first time, but we thank him anyway. It was such a fun way to end our Christmas vacation. After a ridiculously expensive breakfast, the boys swam in the indoor pool for an hour, and then we headed home for Austin.

Thanks again Mama, it was an awesome idea, and worth every penny!

A Texas Christmas

This year we spent Christmas with my family in the Dallas area. I say that, because we literally span the whole area when we visit, with family members in Parker, McKinney, Frisco, Dallas and beyond. We had a really special Christmas Day this year. Matt & I didn't take many pictures this year Christmas morning because we just wanted to soak up all that this special time is with the kiddos. So we just let the video camera roll, and when I edit that I am sure it will be pretty funny.

Brody got just what he wanted from Santa. Every time I asked him what he wanted he said, "candy" with an impish little grin on his face. This boy loves candy and he asks for it morning, noon, and night. Of course Santa knew he wanted more than just that, so he got a new scooter and a big trash truck too, but he honestly was thrilled to just eat candy in the morning!

Colby's wish came true when he got the two toys that were at the top of his list. The imperial shuttle with a red imperial guard, and Darth Vader, and number two - a rubber shark. Can you believe the size of this ship. The best part about him asking Santa for this was the comment he made to Matt and I. He told us that he was going to ask Santa for this because it was expensive and Santa doesn't have to pay for anything.

After we had fun with all our Santa toys, and opened presents from Mimi and Papa, we headed over to my brother's house and had brunch and presents. And, no that is not me with my brother, it is my "twin" sister Marcie who lives here in Austin with us.

This is my niece, Amber, and my sweet sister-in-law Angela. I cannot believe how beautiful she is, and what an incredible young woman she is turning out to be.

Everyone was there. It really was a miracle. Every single one of us. It was so special.

It was a progressive Christmas. It always has been and probably always will be. We went to my Grandma's house. Again, the whole family. Everybody. All my cousins. Everyone. It was so special, especially for my Grandma. She was just glowing the whole evening.

Pictures like this are ingrained in my memory from childhood. We have a great family. Most meals when we gathered were at this table, although, now that I'm and adult I have moved on up to the big table :) But - if you notice everyone is laughing. There was, and apparently still is great company and hilarious stories to tell each other. This one in particular is about my cousin Brian who has had an incredible life going to school overseas. He was telling us with his brother, Collin, about a time he was photographed for what he thought was an insignificant shoot (to earn some money and do someone a favor) and ended up being on the cover of some published oriental magazine in a lab coat with a hilarious expression on his face.

Nothing, not a thing, has changed about this living room, from the Christmas tree (which I have to add looks a lot smaller now), to the gold velor couch. We all open gifts, and hold up a few funny ones that Grandma has inevitably pulled out of storage. My cousin Scott in the black shirt, was even here from Puerto Rico. He plays for the Islanders and is an amazing soccer player. Meghan, my cousin, has moved back to Dallas after graduating this past spring from college in Colorado. She announced her engagement and will be married in Colorado this coming fall.

This year proved to be extra special. Mostly because we were all gathered together, but also because my Grandma gave each of us girls a very special gift. She gave my sister's and I all rings. Marcie's was the first ring that my Grandpa had ever given my Grandma, Michelle's was another ring that my Grandpa had given my Grandma, and mine was one that she had made using the stones that they had collected during their years of travel to amazing places around the world. My Grandma used to get rings almost every Christmas from my Grandpa. She gave my boys stock certificates which was a tradition that my Grandfather started years ago with each of us. Not only were the gifts incredibly meaningful and generous, but it was just really amazing for us all to be in the same place at the same time.

My sweet mama came and braved it among all the Lyman family, Love you Mama! My dad also gave us girls very special gifts. We have a tender daddy, but it is not very often we get to see that side of him, and it was really special to share that with him. Enough good things cannot be said about this day.

Before The Magic

Decorating the tree. Memorable moments: Colby organized the whole process and was surprisingly good at putting ornaments on this year, Brody helped this year - instead of throwing the "balls" off the tree and onto the tile like last year, Brody's contribution to the tree was a gigantic pile of ornaments on one branch that we all discovered after he had put about 10 ornaments in one spot - cute, being able to see our Christmas tree through the window on the front porch was really neat.

One of our neighbors dad's just happens to be the #1 rated Santa in the country, and he flew in to visit from Michigan. He really is the real deal, we are talking owns his own reindeer, teaches classes on how to be a Santa, has played some roles and everything. The night he came into town, he got all dressed up and carried a huge lantern up and down our street. He was "looking" for all the boys and girls to make sure they were being good. He sang songs with them in the street, gave them candy canes, and then literally disappeared as he walked down the street. Our neighborhood is so dark and wooded all he had to do was turn off his lantern and he really did disappear, but all the kids thought it was magical and were trying to find him. It was a real treat.

Here are the boys - all grins - after Santa left.

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, well, except at our house. The night before we left town Matt and I were crazily wrapping a gazillion packages. Matt went to the garage to get more paper, and I think he almost screamed, b/c this little guy was stuck in our garbage can and was trying to jump out. Kind of cute. No. Matt is more humane than me, my suggestion was to dump this thing in the drainage culvert, so it would never escape...but Matt kindly walked it down to the creek and let it go. All I can say, is you better not return little mouse, especially inside my house! :)

The boys in their new PJs Mimi gave them this year. I am for sure Auntie Mallory picked these out, and the boys loved them! Thank you Mimi and Mallory! We actually got several good pictures, b/c the boys were a little delirious and were calling daddy all kinds of funny things.

Now, who would have thought that big messy puddles in the freezing cold weather would have been sheer joy? Must have been boys b/c I wasn't out there, and they had so much fun. I do remember doing the same thing as a child in this very driveway in the spring time though. They played for a good while just throwing rocks into the giant puddles. Don't mind the electrical cord running through the puddle in the background, it's totally safe?!?!?

I love this picture. I know these are the pictures I will really treasure someday and so will the boys. I just don't get enough of them. Priceless. Gram reading to Brody. LOVE IT!

What would Christmas Eve be without making cookies for Santa. I was so thankful my mom remembered and bought us some cookie dough. We didn't have time to do the whole homemade cutout cookies this year, but the boys had just as much fun decorating with a little frosting and sprinkles.

This is where my mom's tree has been set up since I can remember. I still remember lining up down the hallway in order of age waiting to run in and see what Santa brought us. This year the boys got to do the same. There's a little something special on the tree this year. Do you see it?