Christmas and New years

Before I start with our Christmas and New Years, as the title would suggest, lets first take one last flash back to summer... because I was going through pictures on Matt's phone.

I came to Klamath fully prepared to embrace this small town. I wanted to become part of the community and enjoy the charm of small town living. 

So when Matt told me that there was a fair in town, I was all like

Yes Please!

      

Matt's co-workers both had livestock in the fair and he wanted to check it out. 

First of all, can I just say that I NEVER paid any attention to the animals at a fair. In fact, I'm not 100% sure there even were animals.  Fairs must be different in America, but in my family, fairs meant rides and funnel cakes.

I don't really understand 4H so I'll hold all judgements.  I know in some communities it's a big deal. It was not a big deal in Toronto or Victoria. 

I am not a huge fan of fair rides anymore, as most of them make me want to throw back up my funnel cake.

Or worst, be the recipient of another's poor dietary choices. But I didn't want to rob my son of having an amazing time. Kids are better at those rides anyway.

As you can see, Paul was pumped about it too 

                       

I love those baby blues, even if he made me have horrendous back sweat,

the ugly side to baby wearing. I never remember this from William but Paul is like a little man furnace and produces heat even on the coldest of days.  

And now a series of pictures of William on rides

 Pre ride. 

He was supper ornery until the ride started moving.

Once it began, we had to keep a steady flow of tickets going so that he could try all the different colors of motorcycles he fancied.  

Just kidding, he never wants anything that isn't green

I promise he was having the time of his life

looking at the camera AND smiling are just too much to ask

obviously...

There we go, kinda

Because he was loving it so much we thought we'd try another ride.

Meet the dragon from Hell. 

This was a little kids roller coaster. 

It was a bad choice.

William went around the corner just fine but after the first downward slide his face contorted into something I've never seen before.

That's when he started screaming.

Because the fair is not the quietest place the operator mistook his screams of horror as cheers of joy.

Thank goodness another child started crying and flailing because the ride was stopped.

It almost started up again with William securely fastened and screaming but I was able to pull myself together from laughing to alert the ride operator that my child also wanted off his demon ride. 

Amid all the screaming Paul somehow managed to find sleep in Matt's arms. I can't blame him, they are pretty cozy. 

We later learned that we went to the "lame" fair and the the totally awesome one was a further drive.

But minus the dragon, we had a great time and it was all the fair William could handle.

Okay so Christmas happened, I think.

I think that's what was sandwiched between back-to-back flus and children puking everywhere.

See, the fair really was a good addition to this post.

Christmas 2014 was affectionately renamed the "Rein of Debbie"

I had been sick with the flu a few weeks before and was demanding my body to be better by the time my sister and Gilles arrived to celebrate. 

I was weaker and a few pounds lighter but mostly feeling back to normal. Lindsay and Gilles arrived and all was well. We had a wonderful Christmas Day. No one was sick and William was overwhelmed by christmas cheer, attention and new toys. He attached himself to aunt Lindsay and deemed her the honorary reader of all his books. 

This boy loves his books!

My sister made an amazing super hero cape set for William. 

William's favorite gift was probably his remote control corvette- he'd been asking for a corvette for months. Not sure where he got that from... Grandad?

Paul's favorite gift is a tie between the Vaseline found in his stocking and the stuffed bear from Aunt Lindsay. 

We enjoyed our regular Christmas Menu with an infusion of french cuisine.

I think this was our Christmas lunch spread

This man makes the BEST turkey you've ever tasted and I think this year wins as his best yet.

We applaud you, Mr Vickery. You are truly a man among poultry.  

I just tried to see if this picture was a scratch and sniff...

  Then, the day after Christmas we got "Debbie-ed"

*We are blaming everything on Matt's co-worker, Chelsea, but Gilles couldn't remember her name and called her Debbie repeatedly*

Lindsay was sick, Matt was sick, then Gilles and Will were sick. Later myself and Paul. Then William and Paul again and again. 

Merry Christmas!

Sadly, we didn't take many pictures during the Rein Of Debbie but I did grab one of uncle Gilles.

And this is where William would perch, demanding them to "talk into the book"

We made it up to Medford for some shopping before Gilles had to head back home. I felt bad that he got the short end of the vacation stick and couldn't do many of the things we had planned. 

 What's a trip to Medford without Trader Jo's and Chipotle?

These two, BFF's

New years Day we went up to Crater Lake

 I'm making it a tradition for sure

William had just thrown a snow ball at us. He was a little enthusiastic about the concept of snow ball fighting.

Sisters

I'd heard people talk about crater lake but it truly was breath taking being there

Here is photographic evidence of me abandoning my child. I had to run quickly because the snow was having a hard time containing my... girth. William and Lindsay didn't have quite the same struggles but Will did fall down the small hill and it made me look bad. 

three and a half Williams 

 Poor kid hadn't seen snow all winter.

 I was so excited about having a white Christmas this year but we hardly got a snowflake. 

 Not that I'm complaining, in my opinion snow is best when it's destinational. 

He proved to be a pretty good throw and totally nailed me a few times. 

Gosh, I love these two!

Why you should stop eating dried mangos when you get your picture taken

This boy loves his Aunt Lindsay

Our snowman, complete with mango nose

Snow angel? 

Nailed it!

Lindsay was such a huge help with the boys. Matt and I got a few date nights and I booked a hair cut in the middle of the day- crazy!

We had such a great time together despite Debbie joining us. 

Come back Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Gilles!

Throwback Thursday

Earlier in the week, a friend of mine posted on her instagram that she was listening to some 90's music (Alanis Morissette) and cleaning house.  I know what you're thinking. "Wow Emma, you have friends that have great taste in music." You're right, I do.

Anyway It got me to thinking that I also needed some Alanis in my life that day. Now if you are american you may not fully understand how awesome Alanis Morissette is and for that I'm truly sorry. Because nothing made me feel more "deep" than blasting her songs in elementary school. You know cause clearly in the 4th grade my heart had been broken and I could fully understand the meaning behind her jaded lyrics. 

Anyway, as I was rocking out in the kitchen to  youtubes greatest hits list of Ms. Morissette and it made me think.

It's happened.
I'm old.

It all started when I turned 26. Hear me out. I was 26 and someone asked me how old I was. "25" I replied. No, I wasn't trying to be a year younger. I just genuinely forgot how old I was. And that, as we all know, is the first sign of getting old. "What year is it?" "How old am I?" and the mathematic equations that follow, are truly a tell tale sign you are no longer 16 and three quarters.

Don't get me wrong, I love being 28 and I'm fully aware that 28 is not that old. I am merely addressing the comedic moment when I realized that I had a "this is what my parents must have been thinking" moment, which is always unsettling.

So, as I had one hand in my pocket, the other one was scratching my head thinking how the crap did this happen. I am my mom AND my dad.

I used to tease my father saying, "Didn't you listen to this music enough years ago? why don't you listen to someone cool like No Doubt or Ace of Base. Just to give my father some credit, he was the one who purchased "Jagged Little Pill" and what he was listening to I now realize was much better than "I saw the sign." although, only sightly.

In later years my parents have started listening to more current music. Lets just say nothing quite prepares you for the moment when you hear your mother singing along to Rihanna "chains and whips excite me" cause that happened. In all fairness, I should have seen it coming. I've also been there when she was belting it out to "it's getting hot in here" and "I kissed a girl and I liked it" so...

As I'm contemplating all of this, I realize that my kitchen windows don't have blinds AND being new to the neighborhood I suddenly felt sheepish. I continue listening but took it down a notch and start looking at Wayfair for couches online...obviously

Enter Matt coming home from work.
"Why are you listening to Allanis Morcette? are you emotionally stable right now? Is everything okay?" Because I was laughing too hard to answer any of his questions he walked over to the computer and then said, "oh couches, you're happy and rocking out, okay."

Let the record show that I am not usually in emotional turmoil when he comes home but apparently, in Matt's mind, Allanis would be the remedy and I agree

You're welcome

Family Photos

I kind of love the fact that William was born in October because it's such a fun and beautiful time to get photo's taken. Here are our 2014 photo's for anyone who cares because I failed at Christmas card sending. I even made them and bought stamps... I blame the flu which destroyed our November/December and beginning of January but most importantly, 40% of my Christmas cheer and 80% of my baking and crafting ambition. In fact, after these photo's where taken we all broke out in pink eye. Can I just say that this cold and flu season has been horrendous and I have never longed for my spring allergies so badly!

We're not quite sure where William pulled out this wink from

until we looked at these pictures we didn't even know he had seen a wink or could physically do it

but wink he did

It was colder than it looked and I had to wrap Paul up in my jacket to keep those little hands warm

I didn't know what was in store for me when I became a mother to two boys

Now I can't envision anything else. I love playing trains, cars, dinosaurs and play fighting. I love watching them get covered in dirt and explore. I love my little boys.  

Girls obviously do all those same things but having boys has helped me grow in ways I never imagined. 

I hope that they'll be friends always, as they are now

William looks like such a big kid in this photo

I want to eat those baby cheeks

William is such a ham and was eating up the attention 

My boys.

 Paul's face is killing me and William looks like he's trying to squirm out of the picture but I love it. 

This picture almost makes me cry when I think he'll grow up and not snuggle into me like this forever

Family photo's are frustrating.  Organizing a nap friendly lighting friendly time, coordinating outfits, begging children to cooperate and of course the awkwardness of having someone take your picture make me drag my feet but the frozen moments and memories are always worth it. 

Oh and of course, Photo credit to Chutikorn Photography here in Klamath