We've been having lots of fun in California this week. Mainly hanging out at my Mom's apartment, visiting family, doing some Christmas shopping, making the Christmas tamales, crafting with Rachel, playing outside, and loving on sweet Violet! Here are some recent pictures from this week:
Cullen
Jackson
Being silly with Auntie Rachel
Going for a ride with Violet
Fearless... this ladder was over 6 feet tall.
Look at those thighs! Ahhh, they're so cute I could just die!
Jackson "riding on" McGraw. This was totally his idea by the way, we just looked over to see him sitting on the dog and bouncing.
It was 85 degrees over the weekend so of course we had to get in some pool time! The boys were so much braver this time, they walked straight across the pool and even tested out their balance by squatting down in the water.
Helping Nana make pancakes, they both love cooking!
Cousins in the bathtub! I just love this picture because I used to take baths with all my sisters and cousins when I was little too :-)
Jackson with his new backpack- my Mom and sisters can't resist giving the boys half of their Christmas presents early so they'll get to "see them enjoying their presents." Somehow Jackson and Cullen still have lots more presents under the tree too. They're so spoiled!
The boys and I flew to California on Thursday, it was a crazy 6 hours to say the least but in the Christmas spirit of not complaining, I won't say anything else about the flight. Thankfully we all made it in one piece and it feels worth it now that we're here with my family.
We've been adjusting to the time difference and mostly just hanging out at my Mom's house. But on Saturday my sisters and I got to go to my cousin Adam's wedding. And what a beautiful wedding it was! How special to witness two people so in love honoring God with a Christ-centered marriage ceremony! I was especially excited because I never get to go to family weddings anymore and I hadn't seen a lot of my aunts, uncles and cousins since my own wedding.
My sisters and I with our Dad
Adam dancing with his beautiful bride Lindsey. She was hands down the most stunningly beautiful bride I have ever seen in my entire life! Of course she was though, she's a real-life Disney princess. (no joke, she actually works at Disneyland as one of those princesses that your kids stand in line to meet).
My sisters and I with our new cousin Lindsey, she's such a sweetheart, I love seeing her when I'm in town!
My sisters and I with all of our Carstairs cousins
Another shot of the happy couple
My mom got the boys a wagon for Christmas (and obviously gave it to them a little early) so we've been going on lots of walks to the park and around the neighborhood. They just love it!
On Friday night we went to get the Christmas tree with the whole family
Me with my big boys - don't they look so much older with their new haircuts?
These are the only pictures I've taken all weeek but they give you a glimpse into our life. The boys love to brush their teeth and as soon as we go upstairs for baths they start shouting "bubbles!" and "teeth!" I swear, bubbles have completely changed bathtime in the O'Malley household. They're no longer dreaded affairs, they're now eagerly anticipated because it means they'll get to play with bubbles! Why didn't I think of this before????
Anyways, there are still usually tears when it comes time to actually rinse the soap out of their hair because they hate having water poured on their heads but the rest of bathtime is super fun! Here are some pictures of my big boys brushing their teeth:
(Note: I always brush their teeth first and then hand the toothbrush over to them to "finish" and the toothpaste tube was empty so I gave it to them to play with, they're not downing the entire tube during bathtime)
Jackson
Cullen
Of course, within a few minutes, a fight ensued over who got to hold the toothpaste
So Mommy took it away and that was devastating, naturally.
Get me out of here Mom!
Some other things that have been happening this week:
*We're busy getting ready for our trip to California on Thursday. I'm so excited to see my family and especially my sweet little Violet! I haven't started packing yet, but I've been doing lots of laundry and organizing, I think I'll pack during naptime today. I also borrowed a portable DVD player from a family at our church and I'm desperately hoping that will make for a better flight with the boys!
*The toddler beds are going much better! We went ahead and switched Jack over because we did not want to go through this again in a month or whenever he started escaping from the crib. I'm glad we did, both boys are doing really well. They still get out of bed a lot during naptime but I just go in there a few times and tell them to get back in bed (and discipline as necessary) and they have been taking great naps the past few days. At night, they rarely get out of bed, probably because it's pitch black in there and they have nothing to do but wander around in the dark. The only problem is that their room looks like a tornado blew through it after every naptime and every morning. I make them stay in there and clean up the clothes and miscellaneous items they've tossed onto the floor but so far it hasn't deterred them. They also finally figured out how to turn the doorknobs and open the doors but I remembered that I had a few of those childproof doorknob covers so I put those on and it's stopped them.
*Have you all heard of something called Freecycle? If not, you have to sign up for it! I have been getting so much stuff for free lately! Just in the past month, I've gotten a wireless router, houseplants, a cat scratching post, 2 snowsuits for the boys, and a pair of snow boots! I've also been able to give away a lot of things we no longer need that were just cluttering up the house. I LOVE it! I think it's in most major cities in the country and it's kind of like a listserv, I get a summary of posts emailed to me every day. There are mostly random household items and clothing offered, but somebody's always giving away furniture on there and if we had a larger car to transport it, I'd be all over that! Sure, some people offer junk, but for the most part, it's all gently used things that are just taking up space in somebody's home and they want to pass it along to somebody else who needs it. Brilliant!
*Brandon and I have really been enjoying having a fireplace! We've had fires every night this week! Combine that with a cup of hot tea and some Christmas music and we've got a great evening!
*And I've got to go because the boys just unraveled my plastic wrap and pulled out about a thousand Ziploc baggies and scattered them all over the kitchen floor. I knew it was too quiet over there...
Cullen really got into the leaf throwing, Jack thought it was pretty lame.
Jackson
I always tell them to kiss each other for photos, they're going to hate me someday because they'll have hundreds of pictures of them kissing.
We found this really cool new park by our house that has tons of trails and a pretty little pond. It was especially pretty this time of year.
Cullen
Jackson
He was saying "WOW!"
Oh and I've completely forgotten to post any pictures of my new bangs! Well, they're actually not new anymore, I got them the week before we moved but I've been too busy to take a picture and post it. So here they are!
I'd been thinking about cutting bangs for a while but I kept chickening out. And then I decided against doing it during the summer because of the oppressive humidity but that fall was the perfect time to try it out. And I'm so glad I did! I really love them! I love that I have more than one hairstyle! I can wear them completely across my face, swept to the side, or pinned back. After seeing the above picture, though, I probably better trim them before wearing them fully across my face again.
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