Smashbug: 2013

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas 2013!

This Christmas was so much fun! It was the first year that Brayden was able to understand a little of what was going on. He was not a huge fan of Santa UNTIL he made the connection that Santa brought toys. He didn't completely change his opinion of him - but he didn't freak out quite as bad. I have to admit though - I love the picture with Santa. It captured him right at the moment of his freak out. He recovered pretty quickly and actually talked about Santa constantly after we left. He's a typical guy - all talk!!!

We had a big get together for Thanksgiving so we decided that Christmas Eve would be a little smaller. Just immediate family. My parents and brother came over as well as Chad's mom, brother & sister. We had a jammie party because no one wanted to get dressed up. I ordered some cute PJ's from Hannah Andersson for the whole family. The kids were good sports and did't put up too much of a fight. Actually once they tried them on they were sold. HA pj's are the BEST! So comfy!

Todd brought a HUGE ham and I made lots of appetizers to snack on. Santa made a visit and gave everyone a little gift.

Brayden is distracted....yet again!

Meme & Grandaddy with their grandbabies

Zach & Santa

Ash & Santa

That's a BIG HAM.

Ash & Peebs

Pooped Zach & Pieper

I love my babies

Mommy & her big babies

Daddy & Bray

I love my Daddy

Mommy & Bray with Santa

Meme & Zach

Meme & Grandaddy came back over at 7AM on Christmas morning so they would be here when Bray woke up. Thankfully he woke up at around 7:15 and went upstairs to wake up Zach & Sissy. He was so excited to see what Santa had brought him! It was fun to watch a little one be so excited on Christmas morning again! We stuck with a theme for gift giving under the tree. Something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read. It helps keep things under control. Otherwise I would end up picking things up throughout the year and the number of gifts and the money we were spending was getting out of control. At the end of the day these kids have everything they need and then some. I'll admit it is hard to dial back once you've set a precedence but I think we did a pretty decent job of keeping it under control this year.

Santa was good to Bray!

Santa brought Brayden a Jeep - which he absolutely loves. He's a bit obsessed with cars so this was just right for him. He's been outside riding it almost every day since Christmas!!

Monday, December 16, 2013

Little Man Turns Two

I can't believe that it has already been two years since we welcomed our little nugget. However, sometimes it feels like he has always been a part of our lives. He certainly has brought a tremendous amount of happiness with a gigantic side of exhaustion!

Brayden has been suffering with a bit of stranger anxiety since his stay in the hospital. Suddenly he would get overwhelmed when there were a lot of people around. He has since gotten quite a bit better about it but we felt it wouldn't be a good idea to overwhelm him with a big party. Besides - big parties for 2 year olds seem to be a little much. We did a fairly big celebration for his first birthday but sort of rolled it into a holiday open house. Instead, this year we were going to invite only immediate family UNTIL everyone came down with the FLU the day before. Horrible timing!

Brayden had school on his actual birthday so I made cupcakes and delivered them for their snack. He was so proud to be the birthday boy - it was so cute! Later in the evening we ordered pizza and ate some cupcakes as a family. Both of the kids were in town and Travis came with Ashley so there were plenty of people to sing happy birthday!

A couple of days later Meme and Grandaddy came over and brought him a gift. We saved his presents from us for that day as well. He got a really cool Cars 2 book with buttons that made the sounds of the cars - which he LOVED! He also got his Amazing Spiderman big boy bike! He picked it out several months before at Toys R Us. It is still a little big for him - but he thinks he is such a big boy when he sits on it. He is starting to figure out how to peddle it already!

Since we decided not to do a big party I used the money we would have spent on the party and bought a bunch of toys to donate. Last year we started the tradition to ask for donations instead of gifts for Brayden. He has everything he needs and will still get gifts from immediate family. I just don't think it makes much sense to bombard him with a ton of toys. This year I wanted to do something for the children at the hospital where Brayden was treated in November. It was hard enough to deal with having our baby sick and in the hospital - I can't imagine having to do it over the holidays. I really wanted to do whatever I could to make it just a tiny bit easier for them. So Ashley, Lizzie and I wrapped all of the gifts and loaded them up in the car.

Ironically we delivered them 8 years to the day that Lizzie was released after having spent 5 weeks there for a ruptured appendix. It was emotional for her to go back. Sadly there were 25 children in the unit. 24 of which were contagious. Most of them had respiratory illness or the Flu. So we dropped them off with Julie - who is the primary volunteer coordinator for the pediatric floor. She is also married to the pastor of the church we have attending over the last several years! She runs the playroom and does a lot of really great things for the kids throughout the year. We said hi to the doc that took care of Brayden during his stay and hugged all of the nurses. It felt really good - we may continue to do little things for the unit throughout the year. What better way to celebrate your child's life than to give a smile to other children in his honor?

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays....who am I kidding? I love all holidays. But the big differentiator of Thanksgiving is that it had nothing to do with buying or giving gifts - the gift is in being THANKFUL. Just being with your family and enjoying each other. For over 20 years we have spent Thanksgiving with our dear family friends at their house. This year circumstances were a little different and we decided to change it up a bit. Chad's mom has been progressively getting worse and we really want to spend as many holidays with her as we can. Her memory is quickly declining and she gets confused and overwhelmed very easily. Bob and Cheryl's kids were all sort of scattered this year as well so it was a good opportunity to just invite them over to our house. They came along with Tony, Kellie and their kids. Cyndi, Anika & Todd came as did my parents and brother. It was a beautiful day so the kids were able to run and play outside while the adults cooked and watched football!

Chad has wanted to roast a turkey for a while so we bought at 20 pound turkey and started roasting it at 7am! He was one dedicated chef and basted that sucker every 30 minutes for hours! It turned out beautifully.... and delicious! Tony fried a smaller turkey and brought it. My mom made some of her AMAZING cornbread stuffing and pecan pie. Nothing is worse than yucky gooey white bread stuffing. BLECH!!!! We are a southern family and do not believe in white bread stuffing. This is something we have had to convert Chad to - his family is from the Chicago area and still make midwestern food. I made two huge batches of sweet potato casserole - one with marshmallows and the other with brown sugar and pecans. Both were delicious. We made some obligatory mashed potatoes and Anika brought some green bean casserole as well. All in all - it was gluttonous and delicious.

We had a nice day that ended with watching some college football. Who doesn't love football on Thanksgiving? We are sad that the Aggies don't play UT anymore on Thanksgiving - it just doesn't seem the same.