Our Christmas

I swear, the holidays just go by faster and faster every year. This year was by far the most magical since having children. Jackson really is starting to just get it, and while he may not be sure how he feels about Santa Claus, he was pretty excited that the big guy brought him some presents. Lincoln is just as cute as a bug and follows Jackson around, trying so hard to be just like him. So truly, watching those two brothers enjoy the magic of Christmas was one of the sweetest experiences I have had so far as a mother.
This year was the first year we really did our ELF tradition. A fun history; we had three elves in our house when I was a kid, and they magically moved and got into all sorts of mischief every night. We are talking two decades before the Elf on the Shelf trend, and I am forever a bit salty that my parents didn't jump on that idea and create a money making franchise like some other person did ;-) So, instead of having the Elf you see in most homes, I was able to find the exact elf that my parents had, and love pointing out the my boys that our Elf is just like the one at Grandma and Grandpa's. I feel like it will make it so much more special as they grow older! Our Elf was a relatively lazy guy, but he did get into some trouble a few times. My favorite was when he created a zipline across our kitchen!

We wore matching family pajamas, a Christmas miracle in and of itself. Mike is not the festive pajama type, but he got on board and Jackson thought it was the best!

I dressed Lincoln up a la Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation, and probably got my favorite photos of him of all time. 

Merry Christmas, shitters full! ;-)

We had lots of fun drinking coffee (or milk for Jackson) out of these adorable Santa mugs. I just love all of the festive little things that make Christmas so much fun.

We spent Christmas Eve with my in-laws, and I captured zero pictures. I am the worst at getting out the camera when we are in the midst of gift openings and family dinners. But trust me when I saw the boys had a blast!

On Christmas morning, I also captured ZERO pictures. But Santa surprised the boys with a play kitchen, and they have been living in it ever since! Lincoln takes it so seriously, placing items in a pot, and stirring it, placing it in the microwave..he takes it SO seriously, it is too cute to handle. We had breakfast and home and the boys spent the rest of the morning playing with all of their toys.

After naps, we headed over to my parents for Christmas dinner. Below is the one piece of evidence that my children actually received presents this year. I was so excited that Mike and I got a new camera-after permanently borrowing my sisters camera (seriously) for the past year, I think both she and I were pretty thrilled I finally had a DSLR of my own!

 The boys got a photo by the tree with grandma and grandpa, and as usual, this is about as good as it was going to get. Boys will be boys.

 Lincoln was so sweet looking at the candles in the front windows. I just love the magic in the eyes of children during the holidays.

 I mean, this picture just about does me in. I want to bottle him up and keep him like this forever.

Another family photo, but no one is crying so I call it a win. 

And one last shot with my love, because holidays are the one time that I can force him to take a picture with me ;-)

I had the rest of the week off with the boys, but it was literally below zero every single day and FREEZING so we did a lot of laying low and playing at home. It was a great recharge week and I think that, while we were sad to see our mini break come to an end, returning to a schedule wasn't the worst thing.

We rang in the new year with dinner at my parents and everyone being in bed by 9pm, because #adulting. We are ready to take on 2018!

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas, I truly love and appreciate every single person who continues to follow along our little corner of the world here at Stang&Co!

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A Little Bit Of Life Lately

Well, I continue to fall off of the bandwagon with blogging. Woops. To be honest, I have really lacked motivation to sit down and write. So often, ideas and motivation come to me, and I find myself writing a post without feeling like I have to. But lately, that just hasn't been happening for me. So often I find myself missing this little space and the awesome connections I have made through it, yet I also just can't bring myself to write if the words aren't flowing. So, instead of staring at a blank computer screen willing the words to come, I have been playing with the boys after dinner, watching my favorite fall TV shows that are finally back on (AMEN!), and spending lots of time in the kitchen on the weekends with the windows open, soaking up the beauty that is fall in Minnesota. Blogging is important to me; it has been the most incredible outlet, it has introduced me to so many amazing mothers from around the country who have become a real life support system for me, and it has been the creative outlet I need to feel like I am doing something for myself. But that is what this space is, something for myself. And so, if there is one thing I could freely spend all day talking (or typing) about, it is my sweet family which inspired this whole space from the beginning, so a life lately post is what we are going to end up with here!

I keep thinking the stages my boys in are so much fun, but I don't know if I could have anticipated just how sweet having two silly toddlers truly is. Jackson continues to talk up a storm, and has so many opinions lately. He loves to tell jokes, and will always tell me 'mommy, that's too silly'. Both of our boys are absolutely obsessed with the movie Moana lately-I have no idea how we just viewed it for the first time in the past few weeks, because the music is so amazing I listen to it even when the boys aren't around ;-) When Maui's song comes on, both Jackson and Lincoln get up and dance like fools. Lincoln is so darn precious, and he will spin around in very large, wobbly circles, and is so proud of himself. Those boys so often make me catch my breath because I am so overcome by their sweetness. Of course, they have plenty of salty moments too!

We got a bObi robotic vacuum this summer, and it has been one of the best additions to our home ever. I have it programmed to run mid morning during the weekdays, so I make it a point to clean up the living room and kitchen floors of all of the boys' toys, and come home to freshly vacuumed floors. It even knows how to find its way home, so it goes right back to its docking station to charge for the next day! Of course, after overcoming their initial fear of the thing, both of my boys basically consider bObi to be our family pet, and treat it as such. Lincoln has figured out how to turn it on, and we have now been forced to place our little bObi up and out of reach because Lincoln will abuse the darn thing all evening if we let him. In fact, he has received his first time outs due to his abuse of the bObi, and this has also resulted in some of his first full blown tantrums. We are talking arched back, hands in the air, rolling around on the floor as if the world is ending tantrums. And we aren't even halfway to year two yet; Lord help us!

 

Jackson is all about anything festive, and it has been so fun to whip out all of the pumpkins and fall décor and watch him get so excited about it. His favorite piece of clothing (today, at least), is without question his ghost shirt. I got one for both him and Lincoln and I have had to do emergency loads of laundry because he wants to wear it every. single. day. While it may not be good for the wear and tear of our washing machine, I just absolutely love having the opportunity to see all of the little joys in life through the eyes of a child. They truly bring the magic back into everything. It's so true when people say the only thing better than holidays AS a child are holidays WITH a child.

 

 

 

So that is life lately. Lots of lazy days, lots of snuggles, and lots of pumpkins ;-) Thank you to everyone who continues to follow along, you keep me coming back to this precious little corner of the world!

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