Christmas Decorations & Details

It was so fun having the house decorated for Christmas!  We decorated on Dec. 1st and 2nd, and like last year, I started taking ornaments off the tree on Christmas!  I think once all the new toys come in, I'm ready to make room for it all by taking the Christmas decorations down as soon as possible.  By Dec. 26th our tree was down, and almost everything was back to normal by the 27th.  It definitely seemed to take longer putting everything away!

Some of the details I loved this year were the wrapping paper I found at Home Goods, the cards & photo gifts for family members, the adorable Christmas cards from our immediate families, and our little white houses from Target!  I don't think our decorations changed too much this year, but it's always fun to add a few new items around the house and to add ornaments to the tree.  Brady came home from preschool with two adorable ornaments!  I ended up switching all of our framed photos on our middle floor to Christmas pictures, and Brady got to have a tree in his room this year!  Maybe one day we will decorate the outside of the house.  ;-)

This was our fifth Christmas as a family of four.  I can't believe how much the boys have changed over the years!

I took a "morning view" video back in 2015, and because it was so cute, I kept taking them each year around Christmas to see how much the boys had grown...

Brady loves Tyler's new gift...

December Fun

This month was very busy, as December always is!  Tyler and Brady had two snow days, along with a two week winter break.  Thankfully, Dan was home with us all but three days of winter break.  He and Tyler saw the movie, Jumanji, and went to a Maryland basketball game!  Dan showed Tyler his old dorm, as well as the Memorial on campus in honor of Dan's dad.  After the game, Tyler wanted to see the house where Dan and his family lived in Maryland, so he took him to see it.  They spent a lot of time outside this month playing soccer.  Thankfully, with some warm days, Brady was able to go to his favorite playground a few times.  We also took a few a few trips to the library, and Brady loves playing at the train table!  :-)  He was very busy with speech this month, and has been saying, "Dada" a lot.  He is also imitating us when we say, "shh" which is adorable!  We discovered the show, "Little Baby Bum" on Netflix, and Brady loves it.  

Both boys enjoyed having lots of visits from my parents this month, and Tyler got to have a playdate at his friend Sam's house.  He and Dan also went to an indoor ropes course.  Dan got to hang out with his friend, Marco, twice this month, and I got to have both a lunch date and a coffee date with my friends, Angie and Michelle.  My parents' babysat the boys so Dan and I could have a dinner date on Dec. 30th.  New Years Eve was the 48th anniversary of my parents' first date!  :-)

On Dec. 28th, I went to brunch with my mom, my aunt Kathy, my cousin Justin and his wife, Christine, my cousin Connor, my cousin, Kelly, and my cousin, Christian.  We were celebrating my aunt Barbara's 60th birthday!  Dan and I also got to go out for a 40th birthday celebration for my friend, Chrissy!  Dan had a few days off in December before his time off for the holidays, which was so nice!  Tyler had fun at the holiday party at school, and at the singalong.  He got to play outside with his friend, Aidan, over break, and visit Jenna at my parents' house.  We loved seeing all the Christmas lights in our neighborhood (my favorite house looked like a lit up gingerbread house!) and Tyler did a few trial taekwondo classes!  He and Dan are loving their new & improved "bro cave" (or "mancave").  They both got upgraded chairs for Christmas from my parents!  :-)

Brady got the shortest haircut he's ever had!