Juli & Co.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!




A quick Christmas update...

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day here, as usual. Pawpaw made the drive all the way from Austin to be with us while Grandma spent Christmas with G Mummaw. We started the evening off by opening presents from G & P. They were so excited and kept asking if it was 4 o'clock yet as that's the time we told them they could start opening. Luke got a pair of brand new Vans, a gum ball machine, and a shooting game. Olivia got clothes, a gum ball machine, and a set of Neverland Girls books. Emi got a tiny gum ball machine, a backpack with cute little disney princesses, and clothes.

Next, we went to a beautiful, candle-lit Christmas service at our church. They had glow sticks for the little kids, but you know that just wasn't good enough for Em. She insisted on holding my candle and insisted that I not touch it at all. She kept swatting my hand away, threatening to scream at any moment, wax running down the sides and a huge flame dancing around as she waved it excited. I'm just glad we didn't catch anyone's hair on fire. :)

After church, we headed over to Nana and Papa's for goodies and a gift exchange. Emily fell asleep on the way over, but woke up ready to go once we arrived. We ate way too many cookies and snacks and then when the kids couldn't stand it for a minute longer, we passed out gifts and let them go. Luke's gift from N & P this year was a skateboard ramp, skateboard shirt, and a skateboard rack for his room. Olivia got a pink tumbling mat, clothes, a "this is my handstand shirt" t-shirt, bath stuff, pjs and an Olaf necklace. Emi got the cutest hanging puppet theater, puppets, clothes, bath stuff, Frozen necklace, snow globe, and pjs.

We got back home about 11 o'clock and the kids were eager to get to bed. They didn't want to miss Santa! Christmas morning started about 5:30am with Luke waking up first, of course. :) Luke's big gift from Santa was an electric guitar, amp, and headphones. Olivia's big gift was an octagon back handspring mat, and Emi got her very own American Girl doll and closet.



STINKER!

Wow. 2015. How did this happen? Almost ten years married, mom to an 8, 6 and 3 year old. Dog. House. Yoga pants. Haha. Life really has happened quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I am finding it harder and harder to remember all the day to day moments with the kids. I looked back through the blog and read about things that I would have forgotten otherwise. I will admit. At times, I wondered if the blog was a waste of time. Would anyone ever read it? Would my kids ever see it? Would it get lost in the deep, dark internet? Would it really become a part of our family history? I felt silly, really. I would be filled with guilt at the sight of my kids nearly empty baby books. The thousands upon thousands of digital images stored away on numerous hard drives at the top of our closet. Literally waking up at night in a panic that something would happen to our digital memories and everything would be lost.

But then, after reading back through our lives as I had blogged it, I saw what a gift it was. I was so happy that I took the time to write down my thoughts. The little details of our life that seemed so mundane at the time, but now they are everything. They tell our story in real time, a story that I will not be able to accurately retell as the years go on and as my memory fades. And while I lost sight of this for a little while, I see the importance of it all too clearly now. So as we move into 2015, I am going to begin blogging our life again. For us. For my kids.

So who's with me?? Laurin? Amy? Sonia? LeighAnn? Friends?? Let's encourage and cheer each other on and let's make 2015 a year filled with memories!

Wow. I cannot believe it's been over a year since I updated the blog! So much has happened in the last year, but I thought I would take a minute to do a quick, cliff-notes style update. :)

Emily, 3

Emily is three years old! Not sure how that happened so fast. She is completely potty trained and has been for quite a while. She no longer uses her paci and has finally stopped asking for "milk babas". It's a little sad watching my last baby growing up into a little big girl, but I'm excited to enter this new phase of life. Emily does not nap most days. About once a week, she crashes in the car or while watching tv and will nap for a couple of hours. She could most definitely use a nap most days, but seems to be transitioning away from it and can get cranky in the evening. She goes to bed around 8:30p and wakes around 7:00a. She LOVES books! We read a book every night before bed (and several throughout the day) and then she sleeps that book. She insists it's comfy and if she had it her way she would probably sleep on a pile of hard back books. ;)

Emily goes to preschool three days a week and loves it. She loves doing "homework" with the big kids and love practicing her letters. She also loves ballet and gymnastics and can't wait to be a "big cheer girl". Emily is such a sweet little girl, loves to help anyway she can, and tries hard to keep up with the big kids. She loves to pretend play and uses the cutest little voices to tell stories. She loves playing dolls and is asking Santa to bring her a doll carrying case "like sissy's" to keep all her doll clothes in.


Olivia, 6

Olivia is six years old and is in the first grade. She absolutely LOVES going to school! She loves everything about it and sighs in disappointment on Saturdays when there is no school. Ha. She is still just the most nurturing, sweet, motherly sister and loves helping me around the house. She loves watching cooking shows like Pioneer Woman and Cupcake Wars. She is really becoming such a big girl and bring her purse everywhere. She played soccer for this first time this Fall and loved it. She also did cheer for the second year. Right now, she is enjoying tumbling and gymnastics and is quite good at it. Her best friend is Audrey and they are just the sweetest, sassiest little girls around.

Olivia does very well in school and loves to read. The biggest struggle with Olivia is keeping her room clean. Despite being so organized in so many other areas of life, the girl cannot keep her room clean to save her life!


Luke, 8

Luke is eight years old and is in the third grade. He is still our "spirited child". :) He brings us so much joy each day and keeps us on our toes, for sure. He loves to skateboard and brings it with us everywhere we go. He has taught himself several tricks, just from watching videos online. He loves going to the skate park and begs us to take him. He also started Parkour classes and loves it. I am amazed at what all he has learned in such a short time.

Luke says he would like to try soccer next and is on the fence about doing baseball this Spring.