Why I Blog

“Every day is complicated, messy, and full of friction. And every day has glorious or cozy moments worth celebrating. I seldom bother to chronicle the friction and the mess because writing time is fleeting and precious—and childhood even more so. I’d rather capture the small joys that I might forget—or take for granted—if I don’t take time to set them down in words. I don’t want anyone to be under the impression that things are always perfect around here! Heaven knows we are anything but. Perfect, frictionless, orderly? Nope. Happy? Most of the time!” -M. Wiley

So I totally ganked this from another site but it is not her words either so I don't feel like I have to give her credit for it.  But it completely sums up why I blog and why I will continue this blog for my son.  He did not choose to have two parents near 40 when he was born so I want him to be able to have something to look back on to show what we did when he was growing up.  Show him how much fun we had, how much we loved him.  Our life is far from perfect but I choose to remember the nearly close to perfect moments and let the rest go. 

Let us take all the good we can find, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away. 

If you read the blog and don't comment, I thank you for taking the time to read it.  It you read it and comment, thank you for taking the extra time to comment.

Best wishes to you in 2012. 

Christmas in pictures

My Christmas gifts

After I had Baylor, I decided I did not need any more Christmas gifts because I had the best gift ever.  I have always wanted to be a Mom and 6 weeks before Christmas in 2008 I became one.  He has been the joy in my life since the day he was conceived.  Everyday is an adventure with him.  He is a loving, cuddling wonderful little boy and I cannot imagine life without him or his schmarmy love face.   

My doghter, Eddy, is also a wonderful gift we found 10 years ago on Thanksgiving weekend.  She is a wonderful dog and we are so lucky to have her in our life.  She was our only child for many years and she defiantly is our daughter in a dog suit.  Being treated like people suits her just fine.  Like most family's with dogs first and children second, she became more of a dog for a few years when Baylor was little and needed more attention.  She handled it well.  She handles Baylor well also which is another reason why she is such a wonderful dog.   

My wife is a blessing in my life as well, however she is not a fan of the photograph and most photos are of her being silly with Baylor.  She always tells me not to post it on anything.  She is so

tolerant of my at times extreme mood swings and my tendency for clutter. She works hard three days at week loading pet food in order to keep a roof over our heads and equally as hard four days a week raising our son. 

I am blessed to have a wonderful family that comes together at all times of the year and especially the holidays. They surround my family with love and support and who could ask for a better gift than that. 

Christmas with my family is the best day of the year.

Fish Update

Things have been going well in the water and while there have been a few casulities, we have 16 fish swimming happily.

 I started with Spud and then added 7 neon tetras and 7 zebra Danios.  We lost 2 tetras over several weeks and I bought 5 more.  We have lost two more since then but the remaining all look well.  They may be a popular starter fish but they seem to be touchy also. The Danios are pretty sturdy and seem to be doing really well. They really blend in but there is one at the left temple of the face in the photo above.

I bought two live plants and some plant bulbs and everything is growing really well. I am quite pleased with everything and I really want a bigger aquarium!  Not huge but twice this size would be nice. 

 

Spud the upside down catfish on a rare appearance. 

 

Glow in the Dark Bath Part II

So we have had a few glow baths since the other night and he really loves them. 

He loves them so much that I made Christmas gifts to share the fun!   Green paper, double sided tape and glow sticks and I have fun gifts for all the kids on my gift list! 

And my favorite face, his schmarmy love face!  He can do it on command now too!

Glow in the Dark Bath

Inspired by Teaberry and Pinterest I finally got around to this.  I have the glow sticks around the house all the time because you never know when you will need some glowing fun with Baylor.  I told him he was getting a surprise during his bath and he was asking me all sorts of questions.  He loved it! He said it was the best surprise ever. 

Action shots because I cannot remember any of my three years of photography class lessons. 

If you ever wanted to know what happens when one of these breaks and you shake it in the bathroom, here are a few photos of what your bathroom will look like. 

Update:  Right after I hit enter, he said he was stinky and needed a bath.  Mind you we bathe at night and it was 7:50 am.  He got undressed and was ready for more glow stick fun! 

Can you spot the real reindeer?

Can you guess which one he liked more?

Off Tuffles and Fire Trucks

Baylor and I made tons of truffles for gifts at our Christmas Aunt's Meeting.   He was actually very good at dipping them at first.  Then it became a game of how many times can I stab the truffle under the chocolate before Mom takes away the fork?

Thank you Pinterest for all the great ideas! 

Gingerbread Truffles

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Cake Batter Truffles

Chocolate Buttercrunch

Peppermint Bark

Saturday was breakfast with Santa at the fire hall.  They have Santa come up the road in the fire truck and hand out gifts to the kids.  This is the first year he was out there for this and only because I heard them down the road and Buddy had his shoes on.  I was out there in my bare feet taking photos! 

We had other plans so we did not go see Santa but I am glad he got to see the fire truck at least.