the circus.

This past weekend we took the boys to the circus for the first time. Well, Nana and Pop took us as a part of our Christmas present, and y'all, such a great idea for a present. The experience of watching our boys (and our niece and nephew) enjoy the circus was worth so much more than a toy. I mean, in the opening act I was completely overwhelmed with how magical it was. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry... so I kind of did both. That ::may:: have just a tiny bit to do with hormones, but whatevs, it. was. awesome.

We let the boys pick out one thing each to have as a souvenir – completely expecting them to pick out one of those whirly-twirly light up toys (that cost a million dollars each!) – but Cayden picked out a motorcycle toy that pops wheelies and didn't cost a million dollars. And because big brother picked that out, so did Sawyer. So proud of those cuties for picking something that they play with. Did I mention that they're red and blue? Because they are. And Cayden reminds me constantly that he picked it because those are his favorite colors. Thank you circus for designing something cheaper in my son's favorite colors!

Anyway, we had a fabulous time. At intermission, Sawyer was ready to go. Like, done. He'd had no nap at that point and was completely overstimulated. He quite literally had a meltdown and finally passed out in my lap. He slept through the second part (I still don't understand how – so loud!), and woke up on the walk back to the car super happy and rested. He did pass out on the way home and slept through a pajama change and then through the night. So I think it's safe to say the circus wore him out...

Oh, and my parents purchased seats five rows from the floor. I can never go to the circus again without sitting that close. Amazing. And completely spoiled.

4/52

a photo of our kiddos once a week for a year

Cayden: Flying through the air, bouncing on pillows.
Sawyer: Playing with his favorites in the corner.

3/52

a photo of our kiddos once a week for a year

Cayden: Santa brought Disney Infinity for the Wii & he's learning to play.
Sawyer: Scooping up everything and dumping it somewhere else. With concentration.

gage d turns one.

After a bit of a rough start, our nephew Gage has had a wonderful first year of life. Despite the fact that he doesn't like much of anyone but his momma, daddy and Nana, we love the little dude to pieces. He turned a year old last Wednesday, and this past Saturday, there was a little party thrown in his honor. Little dude wasn't super sure about his cake; he was more interested in pulling the dots off the cake than eating it. But once he realized it was food just for him, he got a little more into it (along with the help of his momma pushing his face in the cake!).

Happy birthday Gage D! Can't wait to see what you get into over the next year!

2/52

Cayden: Loves to snuggle up on the couch with blankets and pillows to watch TV now.

Sawyer: He doesn't really like taking photos much, but the bed-head was too good to pass up.

So, I kind of missed out on the first week of this because I couldn't get my act together. But now I'm on it! Attempting to take a portrait of our kiddos once a week for the entire year. This challenges me to actually pick up the camera more often and to document the boys' lives. And I suppose sometime around May, there will be another little boy to add into the mix.

christmas 2013.

Christmas morning this year was really, really fun. Both the boys mostly understood what was going on, and both of them could open their own presents for the first time (despite the fact that Sawyer took for-ev-er and picked miniscule pieces of wrapping paper off at at time). Jeremy and I tried to be much more intentional with the gifts we gave this year, although things sometimes do get out of hand. I still think we managed to downsize from last year, so we'll call that win for this year and try again in 2014.

Unfortunately for me, I woke up with some weird stomach bug that morning and spent a lot of time hugging a toilet during the day.

BUT! I wasn't about to let my poor circumstances ruin their good day. And I believe it was a good day indeed. Well, a couple of good days actually. We'd spent the day before with Granna and Poppa having all sorts of fun. Then we had our second traditional Chinese adventure for lunch on Christmas day. And we rounded Christmas day out with dinner at Nana and Pop's.

While I'd love to share all of those photos here, this is just a small portion. You can see the rest over on Facebook if you're into that sort of thing.