#303 - December 2013

Life in the big city has turned out to be quite busy.  I never realized (or appreciated) how much 'spare time' I had until I no longer had it.  To be honest, I don't know if the lack of time is due to our new jobs, being in a new city, or just having two children who demand every waking hour of your day!  It's probably a combination of it all.  Regardless.... here we are, nearly five months later and I haven't updated the blog.

So, let's go back to December 2013.

December was the month of the big move to Atlanta.  It also included Owen's last day at Blessed Sacrament School in Savannah, our going away party at the Von Breunings, and one last visit from Mom, Leighton, Jen and Kaylin before we moved 5+ hours away.  We said good-bye to our many Savannah friends, many of whom had become like family to us, including our nannies Gabby and Haley.  We said good-bye to our home there, which will forever be special to us because it's the first home of our children.  We also said hello to Atlanta, or Dunwoody, specifically, where we bought our new home, found our new church and began settling into our life here.  Just a few days after we moved into our house in Dunwoody, Lou's family from Michigan came to visit us.  They were here for Christmas and were a big help in getting us unpacked.  So, December 2013 was a big month for us.

Haley with the boys during our last week in Savannah

Gabby and the boys.  

Celebrating Christmas, in Savannah, with Nana, Pop Pop, Aunt Jen and Kaylin.

Since the movers came during Owen's last week of school, Benjamin and I headed to Atlanta to meet them to unpack the house while Lou and Owen stayed behind and came three days later.  Before the furniture arrived, Benjamin and I decorated the Christmas tree.  The boys really didn't care where we celebrated Christmas as long as Santa knew where to find them!

Our beautiful Christmas tree in our empty house

Movers are here!

We had over 200 boxes.  That's a lot to unpack!

What do two little boys do when the adults are unpacking?  Well, play in the boxes, of course!

Abuela Isa and her grandchildren on Christmas eve

Owen with his Tita and Tito

Christmas Eve, 2013
Owen - 5
Benjamin - 2

Christmas morning

Christmas presents!

Enjoying Christmas morning

Our little Georgia boy

The Georgia helmet and jersey were Owen's favorite Christmas presents, by far!

Santa successfully found us!

The boys have adjusted just fine to Atlanta

More to come....

#206 - A Special Request for Santa

This year, Lou had to work on Christmas Day, so we made a special request to Santa, who happily obliged - he visited us a day early!  What a kind man that Mr. Clause is.

Since about Halloween, Owen has been looking forward to his visit.  He's been building a Santa wish list for weeks, and the promise of his arrival (and the threat of his cancellation) has been enough influence to keep Owen in relatively good behavior.  I'm not quite sure how we are going to get him to go to bed at a decent hour without bringing up the "Santa's knows if you are good or bad" line.....

Just like I'd always imagined, Owen came running into our room the morning of "Christmas" so excited to see what Santa had brought.  He climbed up into our bed and pleaded and pleaded for us to get up and out into the living room.  It was awesome.

Our family picture before all the present opening began

Owen dove right into his stocking before tackling the presents under the tree

Our two boys on Christmas morning 

Opening their joint present from Nana - a new crab trap!

Tearing away the paper

Benjamin just hung out all morning taking it all in

More presents.  Each one brought a big smile!  Santa was very good to us this year.

One final picture of Nana and Benjamin!  What a doll.

We were very blessed this year.  It was nice to spend it at home, but bittersweet to be away from the rest of our family.  We stayed in our pajamas until late in the afternoon when we headed to the Children's Mass at church.  It was a long mass - nearly two hours - and the boys were itching to get home and play with their new toys.  I can remember exactly what that's like!

Merry Christmas to you!  Hope you had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of Jesus!

#205 - The Shy Bell Ringer

Owen's preschool had a Christmas program, and our little boy was one of the bell ringers.  Check out the little lefty below.  He was so shy and quiet during the program, which we are not used to seeing at all.  His personality is quite different at school.  Our outgoing, rambunctious toddler at home is a reserved, rule-following student in his classroom.  Imagine that.

#204 - A Visit to Santa

The weekend before Christmas, Aunt Jen and Kaylin came to Savannah to visit us.  It was a great visit, and the kids had a blast playing together.  We even braved a trip to the mall to get some last minute gifts....not the best idea.  But, on Sunday, we went up to the Lodge for Breakfast with Santa.  I was quite impressed with the event - lots of Santa availability and pretty good food.  Neither Owen, Kaylin nor Benjamin were scared of Santa and sat there patiently while we snapped up tons of pictures.  When Santa asked Owen what he wanted for Christmas, Owen quietly asked for a fishing pole.  Uh oh....  Santa had not heard this request yet this year, so he had to get very busy getting a fishing pole ready for Christmas Eve drop off.  

Kaylin - 3, Benjamin - 6 m and Owen - 3

The two cousins
It was so sweet seeing them play together.  I love how close in age they are.

Kaylin is such a kind, pretty girl.  She gives lots of hugs and kisses, and has grown into an independent child.  She looks exactly like her mother did at that age.

Look how much Kaylin is grown.  Owen really isn't all that bigger anymore.  He used to have a solid 6 inches and 5 pounds on her.  Not any more!

Aunt Jen and Aunt Katie
When I see us together in pictures, I still think we are in high school, living at home.  You blink.... and the next thing you know, we're both married with kids.  How did that happen so fast?  

Thanks Jen and Kaylin for coming to visit us!  We hope you come back very soon!  (And that fishing game has been played every single day since you left - Owen loves it).  Love you!

#149 - Christmas 2010

With family in two different states which are on opposite ends of the country, we've pretty much perfected the alternating holiday compromise. This year was our "Michigan" year, and we decided to take a big risk, and drive up there. We had about 11 days off work, so plenty of time for the drive. The trip was much easier than we thought (at least on the way up there), and the visit with our Michigan family was as fun as ever. Not only did we get to celebrate Christmas with them, but we got to announce my pregnancy!

It's always a little bittersweet though, as inevitably, we will miss out on something, and this year, it was spending time with the Florida family. We love you!

Michigan was cold and snowy the entire week. The Tylutkis live on an island between Michigan and Canada, and the island is full of deer. We saw many of them during the week:

Owen started calling them reindeer. It was fitting.....

There's nothing like waking up Christmas morning with the entire family there. By some grace of God, Owen actually slept past 6 am that morning, so we were all somewhat rested when we shuffled down the stairs to check out the loot.

Abuela Isa outfitted the boys in matching Detroit Redwing pajama bottoms:

And, Grace had the girls in matching Yorkie pajamas!

Santa was good to all of us. Owen's gifts included some Thomas stuff, some Mickey Mouse stuff, and lots of toys and clothes including a basketball hoop. He loved watching Noah and Grace open their presents too.

Here's Noah displaying a frame of football cards from his Tito Louie.

After presents and a yummy breakfast, we spent the afternoon playing with our new toys and then getting ready for Christmas dinner. We took our obligatory family pictures in the dining room, and I think they turned out really good this year! Owen was hamming it up for the camera!

The picture is priceless - let me explain. During our visit, Owen spent one afternoon making cookies with Abuela Isa. At one point, after the cookies came out of the oven, Owen, thinking nobody was watching him, snuck a piece of cookie off the tray. But, Abuela Isa saw him, and gave him this look out of the corner of her eye. He thought it was hilarious, and for the rest of the week (and since then), he would imitate the way that Abuela looked at him. He turns his head to the side and looks down at you. It's the cutest thing. When this picture was taken, we said, "Owen, how did Abuela Isa look at you when she caught you eating that cookie?" And, here's the look!

From left: Mark, Noah, Susan, Grace, Isabel, Owen, Lou and Katie. And, Cocoa of course! She was the best dog while we were in Michigan. On the ride up there and back, she barely moved from her seat the entire time.

Our (growing) family.

Lou took this picture. I have no idea why Owen was so upset!

Here's hoping that you had a safe and happy holiday season. All our love!

#148 - Our little snow angel

Our trip to Michigan over Christmas was wonderful. So many special memories were made. All year, we had been hoping and praying for snow on Christmas, and we were not disappointed! There was a bunch of snow on the ground and it snowed a number of times while we were there. Owen was very eager to see the snow and partake in building a snowman. He must have talked about it for weeks before the trip.

One of the special things we did was go to Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village. The entire village was decorated in classic Christmas style, complete with carolers, Santa Claus, horse-drawn carriage and Model T rides. It was cold (about 20 degrees when we were there), so we dressed in layers and bundles. Owen was able to borrow a snow suit from a friend of Susan's and he was as happy as can be!

Owen was transported around the village in his wagon, covered in blankets, but I think he was oblivious to the cold. He had such a good time with his cousins and his Tita, and was so excited to be out in the snow. He got to build a snowman, make a snow angel, and even slide down a snow mound.

Many thanks to the Tylutkis for getting us tickets to Holiday Nights! We loved it!