christmas 2013

11 days of christmas

i know, i know.

enough with the mid-january christmas posts.

but we went to nebraska for 11 days.

and i need to tell you about it!

i'll go really fast, ok?

ok!

i think i will use a "letter to roman" to narrative this lovely photo dump.

dear roman,

it was a thursday morning, and i packed up our car, we were headed back "home"!

daddy was going to join us on saturday, but you and i? we couldn't wait!

your aunt liza and cousins charlotte and hazel were already there, and we just had to join them :)

so, amongst the road closures because of the blizzard that had just concluded, we navigated our way home.  you actually slept for about 2.5 of the 5 hours that we were on the road!

but the other 2.5 hours were filled with your favorite, and totally boring to me, non-fiction john deere tractor movies and construction machine movies.

thanks to you, dear romy, i know when the john deere dozer was invented, why it was invented and where.  {something to do with orchards, and yakama, washington}

anyways, we made it "home" and the party got started.

because, hey, we like to party.

1.  beautiful {um, holycow beautiful} beautiful snowy view out my window, on our drive home
2. tryin out your new snow gear at mommy's aunt marce's house.  she's really your great aunt, but you call her aunt marce.  and you also ask to go to her house every single day.
3. there's hazel.  she was taking a bath in the sink :)
4. oh, that?  that's a massive train table that you were obsessed with at gma abbi's house.  you played with uncle cameron and the trains.  and then cameron said you could have it!  so now we have it at our house!  i think he's too old for it now :)
5. ahhh, yes.  that's you with daddy's "sone" {you can't say your "f's" yet}  you are obsessed with daddy's "sone" and can successfully pull up a digger, loader, or dumptruck video all on your own.
6. and there.  it began.  our first of many christmases.  though you can't tell, while you are playing nicely with a dozer and an excavator (i know, listen to me and my construction knowledge!) there were over 50 people in mommy's aunt elaine's house.  you did great!  until you had a meltdown.  then daddy took you back out to his mom's house, so you could go to sleep.  you like sleeping at gma abbi's house because you have a crib in the basement and it's pitch dark!

1.  oh, there's hazel again!  all of these next photos are from our christmas with gma linda and gpa don, in the hotel!  you gave hazel that fluffy hat and mittens for christmas!
2. you had so much fun with charlotte :)  she likes to kiss you and tickle your ear, and you usually don't like it, but you're getting better and telling her that.  she just loves you SO much!
3. you ate lots of cookies.  you were on a silly sugar high one night until after 10pm!
4. there's hazel, charlotte, and aunt liza singing on charlotte's new microphone!  they're gonna be in a band someday.  i think you'll be their biggest fan :)
5. the rest of the pictures in this little group are self explanatory.  mommy's getting tired of typing :)

 after our hotel stay with mommy's family, we went to have christmas with daddy's family!  which means pack up our bags again, and go to another house, and another hotel!  you were a trooper :)  and, well, you LOVE swimming, so you were psyched to spend more time in the pool!

we ended our week with a haircut by megan!  she's mommy's cousin.  you call her aunt megan.  mommy is really close with her cousins so they are practically your aunts too :)

and then, mommy played a wild game with a bunch more of her cousins.  they were laughing so hard, i think some of them pee'd their pants.

you were getting pretty worn out by the last two days, but romes, you were such a trooper!

i counted up and we stayed at:

2 different houses, 3 different hotels, and we had 5 christmas celebrations to attend!

we are so blessed little romy, we have such big families that love us SO much!

every single day, you ask me "can i go to gma linda's house?" and "can i go to aunt marce's house?" and "can i go to hudson's house?" and "can i go to gma abbi's house?"

it breaks my heart that we can't just pick up and head to their houses, 

but we live in kansas city.

and we needed to come back home.

we'll start counting down until our next visit!

who knows, we'll probably have a little baby to take with us that time :)

love, 

your momma!

the tree and stuff

i know. it's january 10th, and i'm posting about a christmas tree.

but listen, i have all these photos that i took.  and i took them for a reason: to remember.

not necessarily to document our beautiful holiday home.  because, just shootin it straight here.....we only had like 3 decorations up.

1. a tree

2. a plastic toddler nativity set

3. a collection of spray painted, sparkly pinecones in apothecary jars.

i know.  and i wonder why i didn't have any bloggers asking me to guest-post a "holiday home tour".

ha. 

haha.

...

our first attempt at decorating for christmas 2012 was a failure.

mr leif hauled out our hand me down, pre lit tree.  which should be handy-dandy, you know, because it's pre-lit.

but with many attempts made, we couldn't seem to connect the three different sections of lights together.  and frustration grew.

so, we collectively decided the tree needed to go back into the box, and back into the garage for a bit.

we tried again a week later, and things went much more smoothly :)

romes went to town decorating with dad.

i've gotten pretty good and smiling and accepting what might not be "what i had in mind" for things like tree decorating.  but how much more enjoyable is it when i just let them do their thing?

so much.

and heck, then i didn't have to mess around trying to put all the ornaments on nicely.

mr leif put most of the ornaments up top and clustered to the front.

and romy played around with a handful of them towards the bottom, rearranging them on a daily basis.

and taaaa-daaaa.

 daddy tried to explain the birth of jesus to romes.

 and, consequently, roman thought mary needed a "lift" to the stable.

much better than a donkey in my pregnant perspective!

 and there you have it, a massive collection of spraypainted and sparkly pinecones on the mantle.

a christmas tree.

and a nativity scene.

those three things concluded our christmas decor.

and......our tree is still up.

i took this photo just this morning!

isn't she a shining beaut!

it probably needs to be taken down.

but those twinkling lights at night?  they're too hard to say goodbye too.

i'm thinking we'll give it another week. 

if you're a PETA person, don't read this.

actually, it's not that cruel.  but some people go a bit crazy when you partake in animal things. 

like horse carriage rides.

but let's just move on.

you can't NOT go down to the plaza during christmas, if you live in KC.

and, you can't NOT go on a horse carriage ride.

(actually, you can avoid both if you want to save money)

but.  homegirl here did not protest, when mr leif wrote up on the calendar for last saturday, 

"christmas family fun day"

so, we finally got that tree up (i'll post about that later!) before roman's nap, and after? 

we bundled up and took off to the plaza.  

first stop?

coffee.  

romy sat there, top of the table, so cute while we waited for our warm drinks (and our cookie!)

he wore his "puffy coat and hat"..... a combo he is FINALLY beginning to accept.

[he was anti-puffy coat and itchy hat for a while, HA!]

and then we waited in line for like 20 minutes.

but this dude was a trooper.

there were people to watch, cars and trucks to admire, and horsey poop to giggle at.

and my only picture of a horse carriage.  is blurry.

but oh well.  we were in mid-ride, and i just couldn't get an action shot.... i mean, we were going like 1 mile an hour.  so you know, just hard to focus i guess?

 mi loves.

here we are mid-ride.

roman was pretty much in awe the whole time.

though, he spent most of the ride trying to find a "biiiiiiiiiiig truck"

he wasn't too successful.  sorry romes, not a lot of big trucks down around the plaza.

a night out isn't complete without noodles.

so, duh. off to our mecca, noodles and co.

 [he's got a thing for the "up-up-up-up stairs"]

we shared a drink.

don't even ask me about his backwashing issues.

 we double fisted our noo-noo's.

 and we did a mini photo shoot right therrrrr in da booth.

 then, he found an "owie"

 which led to labeling the parts on my face?

[be jealous. you know you wish you could have cheesy fingers touching your face, top friday night right there!]

 and.....the end.

we were home by 7:30!

i know!  score!

first batch made. and ate.

little squishy fingers

hotttttt large white tshirt.  even hotter hair style.  

#sexyandyouknowit

floppy finished product.

and in 2.5 days, they were consumed.

never did get'em frosted.

oops.

my brain is working again.

as i opened up the fridge today, staring at each shelf,

intently searching for just the right snack,

the one that might appeal to that darn sweet tooth....

or the one that might strike up my cheesy side.....

perhaps, the one that might load me up carb-style,

i realized something.

how full my mind is.

ideas are flowing.

one thought to another.

thinking, wondering, pondering.

{and i'm not talking about pinterest ideas.}

{these aren't diy ideas, folks}

{these are real life, WOW God...you're speaking to me, ideas}

i've never really slowed down [in life] to experience this.

but i knew i wanted to.

i remember, wishing SO badly that life would relax a bit.

and though, as a momma of a toddler boy ON.THE.GO, i'm not necessarily slowing down physically.......

i'm definitely not strung out in 8 different places anymore.

rather, i'm learning to be intentional about just a few.

when i was working, and going to school, and being and mom, and a wife, and well....a sister, a daughter, and a friend? i was tapped out. emotionally.

i could attend here and there, but really?

truly?

i was surviving.

survival mode.

get up, get dressed. feed the baby. pack the bags.

speed over to day care. rush off to work. leave work, some nights, off to class.

home to cuddle baby, eat something. shower. goodnight.

repeat.

lots of times.

truth is though?

i thrived. i thrive with having to compete.

and for a while there, i was competing with life.

every day was a marathon, and when i hit the pillow, i knew it would happen again the next day.

now let's be real, most have it way more tough than that.

some are battling illness, or balancing the schedules of multiple children, or single-momming it, or whatever other trying things there are going on out there....

but,

for me?

i was at my max with thriving.

though i was making it through.

that's all i was doing.

the motions.

now, however, i've discovered that something so significant was missing.

my thought process.

i didn't know what it was like to truly think or ponder.

i didn't meditate on His precepts.

i just acted. go. go. go.

but now?

i'm learning what it's like to be still.

thinking, pondering.

it's as if i can breathe a bit better.

.....

i've been wanting to blog like crazy,

but i'm torn between what to put out there and what to keep in the comfort of paper and pen, in the privacy of my own journal.

the intention of blogging......for me?

what is it that i'm after.

i don't know.

for the most part?

it's an outlet.

even as i type now, my fingers just go, and half the time i wonder if what i'm saying is crazypants.

i don't picture a particular reader, or audience.

i don't hope to be the next megablogger.

i just type when i have a moment.

i suppose i'll just keep on, keepin on.

i do however have one guideline for 2012:

"may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, o Lord, my ROCK, and my REDEEMER."

psalm 19.14

and because this post wasn't random enough.

or just in case you are bored out of your mind with my rambling.

here's entirely way to many photos that i've dumped from my phone.

let's get you up to speed with the life of the leif's here folks.

before the holiday craziness.....birthday celebrations! and painting with friends! and sitting in cars at costco! and radiating with joy over the littles singing at church!

and in the heart of holiday prep......running errands with mom in my christmas sweater! and reading books with daddy by the tree! and trying on mommy's old high school volleyball shorts! and picking up a prime rib for dinner! [YUCK. i don't like raw meet] and trying out my early gift from grammy!

and smack dab, right during the most wonderful time of the year......road trips to the NE! and snuggles with charlotte! and dumping out grammy's puppy's water. everywhere! and getting happy meals, because we drove across the whole state of NE! and enjoying the great weather!

and now that it's january?...........chuckling at baby's shoes / daddy's shoes! awwww! and dumping out the parmesan cheese EVERYWHERE, and then licking it off the floor! oh, a few days before the cheese? dumping the rice everywhere! and most importantly? playdates with friends :)

whew.

there ya have it.

good night ;)

PS-i bought ONE veggie tales dvd for roman. and now?

i WANT ALL OF THEM.

the end.

christmas 2011

we spent christmas in nebraska :)  with our families :)

10 days, 7 gatherings.
whew.

but it was soooooo good to be "home" again!!

and the back:

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