Welcome 2015!!!

I know it's cliche... but I really can't believe it's 2015... it's such a futuristic sounding year.. and in four more years I'll have graduated high school 20 YEARS ago.

20 years... wow.

And I still look the same. :-)

Ha. Kidding...

Anyways.

We had some casual plans on New Years Eve to have our friends Pat and Erin and their kids over, but sickness hit their house and ours and we had to cancel the playdate.

I had the day off from work because I had a personal day to use up, so we decided to take the kids into school and have a quiet day of adult time.

It ended up with Neal laying on the couch all day recovering from a fever and chills and me cleaning the house..

#party

Neal was feeling better by the afternoon so he went and picked up the boys at school and I decided to put out some of the appetizers I had bought and make it as festive as I could, even though it would be just a quiet night with out little family.

 Noisemakers and poppers and fun hats!!!

He just about hyperventilated with that thing.

 This perfectly captures the excitement of the evening. He kept saying it a bit wrong.. "Happy New Near!!!" it was awesome. 

Greetings from the 2015 Glynn's!!

 Figuring out how to pop the poppers!!!

We ate snacks, watched a movie and then did what most families do...put our toddlers in a box and throw things at them. 

We let Austin stay up until a little after 9pm!! Party Party Party!!!! 

Tree Hunting, Tree Decorating, Tree Crashing

'Tis the season to go out and cut down a tree and stick it in our houses, throw glittery things on it and sit around looking at it!!!

I LOVE the tradition of getting and decorating a tree... not only because the smell is to die for, but it's one of the things that really puts me in the mindset for Christmas.

It was really cold when we went out last Sunday to get our tree. We bundled all up, headed to the tree farm and started searching.

Neal scoured the land while a Toddler-saurus Rex creeped up right next to him. LOOK OUT NEAL!!

Owen and I couldn't be bothered, we were off taking selfies because we are just fabulous like that.

After we wandered far and wide and got lost in the Land of the Too Big Trees, we stumbled (Austin literally, over a stump) on the perfect one for us!!

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!!!

Down it came.. thank goodness for men. I mean, really... I'm not about to lay on the cold ground and crawl under a tree full of sap and probably bugs and cut it down. I knew I got married for a reason. 

Back home and we put on the Christmas music, put a very tired and over-selfied Owen down for a nap (thanks for taking an epic one, by the way!!!) and got the decorations out!

Only two ornaments were broken in the process, but sadly one of them was my beloved pickle ornament... RIP pickle ornament. 

I also decorated my mantle and our wall next to the fireplace... (humble brag here) I think it looks awesome!! It's my favorite Christmas decor schemes I've done so far. I've decided to start a collection of cool and interesting reindeer, and fill up my mantle in that theme. 

Nothing like being 2... sitting around in jammies and slippers, killing a container of raisins, watching some cartoons and just being King of the Castle. 

I want your life, Austin. For real. 

It was a fun merry little day for us.. and then the next morning... well. When a tree falls in the middle of the night, why didn't we hear it??

Did the cat climb it? 

Was it too front heavy with ornaments?

Was the stand not level?

The world may never know... 

Sand, Sun and Four Years

So this is obviously a catch-up post because it's November and we are definitely not just back from a sunny day on the coast.

I noticed these pics on my camera and wanted to document the fun day we spent on the coast for our wedding anniversary.

Four years of marriage... it really flashed by in.. well, a flash. Our anniversary was on a Thursday and since Neal and I were both on leave because of Owen's birth, we got to do something fun on the actual day.

Off to the coast we went.. it was one of those sunny, actually hot days. A bit windy but not too bad.

Austin had a blast chasing the seagulls and running himself to utter exhaustion!!

The seagulls were seriously freaking me out.. one was fixated on me and kept walking closer and closer, ever so slowly... staring at me with it's beady eye and sqawking... it got about 6" from me at one point.. still staring...

Ummm.... help??

He wouldn't really shoo away either so at that point I thought for sure I was going to have a Hitchcock The Birds moment..

Stupid bird.

After he was done chasing birds for a bit, Austin walked down to the water to me because we wanted to put our feet in the ocean.

It was so cold we didn't last long!! Welcome to being an Oregonian Austin! You'll learn to love that ice cold water someday!!

When we (Austin) was pretty tired and had about a pound of sand in his diaper (don't ya just hate that??) we headed into town for lunch, a treat and then headed home with a couple of sacked out kids.

dang sand in my diaper... 

A sunny day with the family.. .the perfect way to celebrate another year married!!!

Halloween Spook-tacular 2014!!

Halloween this year was pretty much the most fun Halloween I've had to date... Austin is the perfect age to enjoy all of the fun that comes with Halloween, and be so enthusiastic about everything. I can only imagine how Halloween is going to get even better once Owen is old enough to participate too.

A few days before, we all carved our pumpkins..

"Yook at dis Mom!!!"

Armed with their tools!!

"Whas DAT stuff Dad?"

"Yook at your hand Dad!! Ess icky!!"

It took some convincing.. "I don wanna touch dat!"

Owen and Mommy were there too! We were the detail artists.. handling all the precise taping of the patterns and such

Men and their tools!!

Say "Jack-o-Lantern!!"

The actual day of Halloween I jetted off to my parent's house with both kids (we left super early so Owen would sleep and not make our ears bleed with his insane I-hate-the-car-so-much screaming) and visited my Mom at the school she works at.

Austin was an honorary Kindergartner that day and LOVED it. I'm always amazed at how fearless he is. He walked right in, talked and played with the kids, made a craft with them and listened to a spooky story.

We spent the whole morning with my Mom, and I convinced Austin to take a nap that afternoon with promises of candy that evening when it was time for Trick-or-Treating.

Neal and I sort of dressed up, and Owen got a cute little Halloween onesie, so he was festive too!

Batman was a little lopsided... poor kid probably couldn't see all night.

I should have known Austin was going to take to Trick-or-Treating like a duck takes to water. After his first house, he started running down the street saying "come on guys! Come on!!!" He just thought it was the greatest activity ever! He was cracking us up with his enthusiasm.

One of the things we always did when I was a kid was go Trick-or-Treat my Uncle's house and my Grandma's house. It was my favorite part of the night...we'd get special treats, warm up inside their houses... it was really special to continue that tradition with my kids.

Batman visited Uncle Brian

"Hi Gramama Darlene!"

 What an awesome night!!!

Stay-at-Home Mom Chronicles

I got to enjoy several weeks as a temporary stay-at-home Mom during my maternity leave.

We kept Austin in daycare part-time, so his whole routine wasn't different while adjusting to a new sibling at home, and on the days I had both my kiddos.. well..

We had fun, we had a ton of diaper changes, hours of cartoons, messy crafts, a few "Don't tell your Dad I let you color on the carpet with markers" moments, park adventures, several tantrums, some tears, and many memories.

I wouldn't change it for anything.

Here is what we spent our days doing (picture overload!!)

Killing some time at Toys R Us one rainy day.. this was his favorite ride!

I mastered (kinda) the art of running to the store with two kids. God bless the car carts.. 

Walks and rides and baby wearing. Lots of baby wearing. 

We took naps... the one and ONLY time they slept at the same time. 

My kitchen looked like this, all day. Everyday. I swear the dishes multiplied when my back was turned.

Hours of baby cuddling.. he can be so demanding sometimes. Darn him. :-)

Austin helped me "make a list" before going to the store. This is him studying it. 

This kid is born and raised in the Pacific Northwest for sure!!

We eagerly waited for Daddy to get home... sometimes on the curb. With the neighbors looking at us oddly. 

Batman showed up a time or two.. he helped keep us safe from the villain "refrigerator guy" 

We had a lunch date with our favorite Auntie Mo!!

Arts and Crafts time.. only a little bit of paint ended up on the carpet. Oops.. another thing to "don't tell Daddy.." 

We stayed in pajamas all day some days.. play food just tastes better when it was made while wearing pajamas

Rare toddler naps in Mommy and Daddy's bed

Stormy days called for pajamas, gold chains and hot cocoa

Several weeks together and Austin still likes his baby brother!

The long summer meant days at the playground!

Tummy time...one expert, one novice

I let him brush my hair... at least my dark circles are hidden

Our last day together...he wanted to wear underwear and have a picnic. There were some potty accidents...but the picnic was the best ever.