Playing Catch Up...

...both on this blog and in my life.  Things have been crazy, and I’m finally trying to get caught up after the holidays and a whole lotta sickness around here. Maybe if I’d actually take care of the must-dos instead of writing blog posts about baking I’d get things done. Is that what you were thinking? I know. Call it ADD but whenever I set out to get a project done, more times than not I end up doing something completely unrelated or unnecessary. And more times than not, paint chips and fabric swatches are involved. Oh, well.

So in order to cross one of the 583 things on my to-do list, here goes nothing...
 

Christmas was a blast!  I went to Phil and Barbara's house (Susannah's parents) for a lovely Christmas Eve celebration.  When I got home, Steve and I stayed up late working as Santa's elves.  We really like the idea of getting the boys one big present for major celebrations, and this Christmas we found the perfect thing -- a train table.  Not just any old train table, but an uber cool, super duper train table.  This thing has a helipad, a crane, a police station, and about a million other pieces.  Steve and I were actually giddy as we pulled everything out to put it together.  "Look how cute this is..." and "OMG, the crane really works..." and "Luke is going to love that these pieces are interchangeable...". 

One of Santa's elves. 

Note the beautiful pearls given to me by Barbara and Phil earlier in the evening.

We stashed the table behind the tree and covered it with a sheet.  We I then wrapped the box so the boys would have something to open.  They were tickled....

Not the best picture, but I assure you they were tickled.

I should also mention how excited Luke was to put out cookies and reindeer food the night before.  Here's the note we left for Santa...

As you can see, Luke had some concerns, so we decided to handle them in a letter.

If you're extremely bored you can click to enlarge this picture.

It's really a shame that Santa gets all the credit.  I mean, really.  What a crock?! :)

My dad came over with the most delicious smoked turkey from Central Market.  We had a lovely and low-key Christmas dinner.  This turkey was later turned into sandwiches, quesadillas, and gumbo.  We've decided this may just have to become a tradition.

Tom the Grandpa carving Tom the turkey.

A few days later we headed to Gun Barrel City, TX (Luke called it Gumdrop Barrel City -- love that!) for Steve's dad's 70th birthday celebration.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I have no pictures.  We arrived there and found that my memory card was full.  Bummer!  The party was tons of fun, and I really enjoyed meeting more Boeses and flipping through old photo albums.  And we always love to hang out with Steve's siblings, nieces, and nephews.  I think Gary was touched by the party and the sentiment, which after all was the intent.

We headed home to start preparing for my family's belated Christmas celebration only days later.  Not long after we got home, the sickies hit.  UGGGH!!!  I was miserable, the kids were miserable, Steve and I got snappy, and I didn't get done everything that I wanted to do before the group descended.  Some things were checked off the list, like taking every. single. pillow. we. own. to the laundromat.  Have you ever done that?  Not fun.  Most of the grocery shopping got done but most of it never made it into the house, just dumped in the garage and shoved in the fridge.  Some cooking got done, some didn't.  You get the picture.  We had 19 people packed into our house like little sardines.  I was sick for most of it and spent a lot of time in bed.  We did make it out to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday at Z Tejas.  Again, no pictures were taken by me.  Bad girl! 

My grandparents stayed longer than the rest and I slowly got better.  I always have so much fun hanging out with them.  Gram and I worked on the roman shades I'de been wanting to sew for FOREVER, and Pop tackled numerous other projects around the house.  He is soooo handy!  Here's a sneak peak at the shades.  If you've ever sewed with me (okay, that sounds really weird and incredibly boring), you know that I'm a complete freak about everything being absolutely perfect.  I blame it on the fact that my first sewing projects were quilts, which are practically like a mathematical equation.  But really, I think it's just my OCD that kicks in.  My poor Gram.  She probably wanted to strangle me every time I insisted on measuring something for the umpteenth time, but she hung in there with me and we got them finished.  Sometimes we would just break out into giggles.  I love her!  The kitchen will be finished soon and I'll post more then.  Aren't you on the edge of your seat?  Kidding, of course.  Oh, and don't hold your breath because there are still like, um, five decisions to make so that should probably take me another, um, ten months?  Get it?  I over think everything.  EVERYTHING.  But it's paying off, I love how the kitchen is coming along.

This Christmas our family was showered with many wonderful gifts by many wonderful people, and one of my absolute favorites was my new camera.  Yep, I am a proud owner of one of those fancy schmancy cameras I've mentioned before.  After much research, I decided on the Canon Rebel xsi, and my way-too-nice grandparents purchased it for us.  It was a major splurge.  I never thought I'd own or even ask for such a nice camera, but I'm a sentimental gal and I want to capture my children's youth as best as possible.  From what I've seen, this camera will do it beautifully.  Thank you so much, Gram and Pop.  Your generosity is overwhelming.

(Granted I have no idea how to work the thing. 

I couldn't even figure out how to turn off the flash for this pic.)

And on to the true purpose of this blog, to track the boys' progress...

Zach is 19 months and really coming in to his own.  He went from my sweet little stumbling, mumbling, love bug of a baby to a full-on active, talkative toddler in the course of what seemed like just days.  He's got down all of the important words like "cake", "mine", "hot dog", "golbish" (Goldfish crackers), "Booze Cooze" (Blues Clues), "woovie" (movie), and "watch" (as in he'd like to watch the aforementioned movie, Blues Clues, and yes, sometimes while snacking on Goldfish)  Yet another example of the difference between raising Baby #1 and Baby #2.  What can you do?  And yes, he has many more words including most of your basic zoo and barnyard animals, foods, toys, body parts, etc.  I promise we don't just sit around eating junk and watching movies all day.

What a love bug!

And Luke?  Oh, Luke.  He is smart, he is sweet, he is funny, and he tests me every single day without fail.  I love him with every ounce of my being, but sometimes he really takes me to my limit.  I often feel as if he was put on this earth just to test my patience.  He has an incredible sense of humor, but we're struggling to teach him when it's appropriate and when it's just downright rude.  Grandpa Boese and JuJu, please forgive us if Luke tells you to "Get a grip!".  We're trying.  Easier said than done with a three-year-old (soon to be four-year-old), but we're getting there.  I take parenting very seriously.  Duh!  That sounds stupid, who doesn't?  My goal and my job are to produce intelligent, confident, independent, yet thoughtful, sincere, and humble human beings (sure, there are more things, but these were the first ones that came to mind).  Easier said than done.  I struggle with how to guide him towards these while still letting him be the little spitfire that he is.  A tall order to say the least.  It really is true that, "these things should come with a manual."  :)

Luke's latest and greatest:

Luke and his best friend Kayla.

See why I was in need of a good camera?

It was nice having the two contained, even if just for a bit. 

Thinking about getting one of these for the house. :)

He's playing soccer for the first time after three seasons of t-ball.  He seems to like it, and I like that it's a bit more team-oriented than t-ball.  Kayla is on the same team, and sometimes we have lunch or ice cream after the games...

Much better action shot with the new camera, don't ya think?

Looks like he has a uni brow in the making.

He also has a birthday coming up.  While starting the party plans last month, we discovered he was not interested in a party.  What?  Huh?  I thought all little kids wanted parties.  Maybe he acquired my gene for steering clear of birthday attention?  What he opted for instead, was a "fun day with Kayla".  We've already made plans to do lunch, visit the Austin Children's Museum, and maybe grab some frozen yogurt afterward.  No complaints here, sounds like more money for the college fund (the party venues I priced were in the $400 and up range -- Yikes!)

So, THERE!  I'm caught up.  Thank goodness.  Thanks for sticking with me.  xo, Jess

PS- A big thanks goes out to Gary and Julie for watching the rug rats last weekend while we went out of town for Steve's holiday work dinner.  I hope they weren't too hard on you and you've caught up on your rest. :)