it's been a bit

To my 2 (or 3) faithful readers... i am so sorry that i've been MIA for a month and a half. it's been busy! We had a great Thanksgiving surround by lots of great family and food. I survived a bad case of the flu and luckily didn't pass it on to anyone else in my fam {i think God knows that i can barely handle my own puke, let alone anyone else's!!}.

How have we been celebrating the season? Well right after Thanksgiving we started our Elf on the Shelf. You can learn more about him HERE. He's been busy- but sometimes he doesn't move, and Luke is quick to point that out! Here's a few of his locations as of late...

We also started a new family tradition of going to the zoo lights! My mom and Gary came too! It was kinda cold and a bit rainy- but the boys didn't mind at all. They LOVED it! I think the train was the best way to go- you're covered and you get to see all the lights!

We also got a tree that weekend. They boys had a great time running around at the tree farm looking for the perfect tree. It was too cute!

i'm cutting down the tree!

jack wants to help!

Luke also got to go on a field trip last week to Wentzel Farms! Auntie Maris was there and between her and one of the other moms- i got sent some cute photos of that day! Luke's face cracks me up!!

this one makes me laugh every time!

luke loves to pose with statues!

This past weekend was a super busy one! But before we get started running around- we usually start our mornings off with a good breakfast with bacon. I snapped this cute one of the two littles... so adorbs.

bacon lovers

Saturday afternoon, my mom, aunt corriney and I baked family tradition spritz cookies and Jack got to have his first one. He LOVED it!

yummy!

 We also had our first of many christmas gatherings! We were at Auntie Jens (and Tayo and Uncle Jeff's) enjoying yummy gourmet grilled cheese and soup!

jack did NOT want this picture- can you tell?

cutie by the tree

aunt jaime and jack

 And i always love it when Maris sends me photos of Luke being silly (she watches him for me 3 days a week and gets him to preschool). This one cracks me up every time. and yes, that's a plug-in protector smooshed on his nose. hahahahaaa

 HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We survived Christmas

and I'm living to blog about it. I have a bunch more pics on my camera that I need to download- but here's just a few from the weekend. Luke LOVED Christmas this year. He had a great time opening his presents plus everyone else's. hahaha

my 3 boys

Happy with Tayo

christmas at nana's

opening presents

rockin' dads new shoes from Santa

Also this weekend- Jack learned to roll from his back to his front! He's getting there! here's the cute video!! oh and please ignore how retarded I sound on it b/c 1- I did end up with a bad cold over Christmas and lost my voice and 2- I'm an excited mom- so I get a little TOO animated. sigh...

Gingerbread Train

I won't lie- it's been a rough week with Luke. He's battling some serious asthma and coughing fits and he's been kinda a nightmare (who am I kidding- he's been a TOTAL NIGHTMARE- just ask my mom). I'm blaming it on what I call the Christmas Crazies. I'm actually anxious for it to all be over in hopes we get our sweet Lukey-Boy back.

On Monday mom and Luke did put together his first ever Gingerbread Train while I was at work. I have to say- it makes me totally Laugh Out Loud every time. Mom said he did all the decorating himself. She just glued the big pieces together for him. So for your view pleasure (and yes, those are headless GI Joes stuck in the icing)....

i think this is my fav one. hahaha

Less Than One Week

The excitement of Santa visiting in less than a week is mounting in my house- is it in yours?

the rest of November

I don't even know how it's December- let alone only 20 more days until Christmas. Time has FLOWN by! What's happened since my last post? Let's see- we survived Florence. Barely. My mom was a total saint going on that "trip" with me and the boys. I went for work, so I had little time to spend with them. We ended up having little to no internet service and NO cell service unless we stood in the middle of the parking lot. Thank goodness it had a cool indoor pool! The last night there Luke got really sick- so i think we got like an hour of sleep total (maybe even less for my mom).

After that came Thanksgiving. My in-laws were in town for that whole week- so it was busy and fun times with them. Luke loved having them just downstairs so he could go down and visit whenever he wanted. And with Aunt Jaime, Uncle Kelly and Stella (the dog) here for a few days too- he was in HEAVEN.

We (the hubs and kids) went to my mom's for the turkey dinner- and then my sister-in-law Jen's house for games to meet up with the rest of the Ausborn-Strabyrd-Merrill Clan.

Gary's Perfect Turkey

Auntie Kel- the human jungle gym

Jack with his ladies

The boys with dad and their auntie

Jack Snuggles

Luke Stories

The Ausborn-Strabyrd-Merrill Family Photo

And now- well, we're just getting ready for Christmas. I need to get my Christmas cards designed, printed and in the mail. So if you want one- email me your address to hckdesign@gmail.com! But the tree is up and the lights are on the house (thanks husband!). I'm going to need a LOT of this over the next few weeks: