Brody's 2nd Christmas

I still can't believe Brody just had his 2nd Christmas! Which means in less than 2 weeks he'll have his 2nd birthday!! Where does the time go?

Christmas morning started off with me up VERY early waiting for all of the festivities to begin, while everyone else was sleeping...including Brody. Finally Brody woke up and we could get the show on the road!

Brody was so funny coming out and seeing what Santa had left him. I have video but its on the big camera and I have NO idea how to get that to the computer. But I did take pictures.

Before Brody ...
He immediately grabs a book!

But not far behind, a ball.

I love his Fridge Phonics set Santa brought him!!!

More books!

Brody loves to SIT on his bouncing spinning turtle. He hasn't quite figured out the bouncing part. Every now and then he wants to rock back and forth on it...hence the reason I bought his birthday present..hmm...bet you can guess what it is...

Playing with his tractor set...

Yes...that's a potty in the background. We started potty training the Saturday after Christmas and its going great! More on that later!

My future quarterback...

After Brody...

After seeing what Santa brought Brody, we went over to my parents house to do Christmas. Santa stopped by there too! And look what he brought Brody...

This was Brody's stack of presents from my parents and my grandparents...slightly spoiled wouldn't you say?

After opening presents we had a HUGE lunch of beef tenderloin (which made about 12 filets) YUMMY!!!, twice baked potatoes, green beans, and a salad. Brody devoured the green beans while Mommy took care of the steak. = )

After stuffing our faces we took Brody home for a quick much needed nap. About an hour later, we were up and headed to Ken's parents house for Christmas. We opened presents there and then had another HUGE dinner. Ham, roast beef, twice baked potatoes, homemade mac and cheese (made by my lovely husband), green beans, and those yummy little rolls that come in the round pan. Full once again!!!

I have pictures on another memory card which I have to find where I put it.

My parents bought me a new camera and I switched cards when working on Brody's birthday invitations. I can not wait to show yall those!!! But I'm going to wait until I mail them out. So stinkin' cute!!! Here's a hint..."Sunny days..."

Hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas with family and loved ones. Ken, Brody and I are so extremely blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love us!!!

Playdate, Cookies, and Canton

Tuesday of Christmas week, I got to keep my good friend, Kim's little boy, Bryce. Brody and I were so excited! And to top it off, we had a FULL day of activities planned. We had a play date at my friend Jessica's house. I saw this idea on another blog and thought it looked like a lot of fun! We got the kids together and rolled, cut, baked, and decorated cookies for Santa. Well that was the intention anyway. Brody's and Bryce's were eaten before the day was done.

Here's Jessica with her little girl, Summer

Bryce had fun making Christmas Trees and snowmen!

Seriously...do you not just want to eat her up!!! Sweet Mallory just took it all in...next year baby girl!

When Jessica took out the first pan, we could not believe how HUGE they were!!

Summer and Brody playing
Brody's cookies for Santa...well for Brody's belly = )

After the play date, the boys and I grabbed a quick bite from Penn's (YUMM~O!!!) and headed home for a NAP!! After nap time, we played outside and then got ready to meet Bryce's parents and cousins for dinner and then on to Canton. I just love all of the lights and couldn't wait for Brody to ride the carousel!

Pictures with Santa

The next morning after our Christmas Party (Saturday) Ken, Brody and I went out to Bass Pro to see what this HO~HO was all about. Brody loves seeing pictures of HO~HO, but it was a completely different ball game when it came to seeing him in person.

If you never been to Bass Pro Shop during Christmas you have GOT to go! Especially if you have a child. It is completely F.R.E.E.! They have a beautiful Santa and have it all decorated to a T! The line moved pretty quickly and once you get through the "Santa" line, they have all these little stations set up for your little one to play with. They have a target practice station that looked like a lot of fun! I can't wait until next year when Brody can play with it.

...Now on to the pictures...

Here's Brody right before we left...

And here's my lovely child adoring his HO~HO!!!

And here's a close up...just in case you can't tell how much he loved Santa. Better luck next year HO~HO!

Christmas Time '09!

We kicked the season off right with a Christmas Party at our house. We had so much fun being with friends and family! It was very low key and relaxing! Ken grilled hamburgers and made a fire in the firepit outside.

Michael and Olivia

Me and Kim

Kim, Olivia, Me, and Casey


Me and Ken

Rob and me

Casey and Dane

Model in Training

My aunt sent Brody his Christmas present early! She got him tons of new outfits and lots of new elmo things. We immediately had to put the Elmo movie in and he is mesmorized! We had a mini fashion show and I took a few pics of some of the outfits. Too cute!!!!

(Pointing to Elmo, in response to me asking where is Elmo while NEVER taking his eyes off the Elmo movie)

(This sweater came with a matching hat! Love it!)

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**LOVE the laundry tips! Thanks!!! I'm definitely going to try this!**

One small thing has been bugging me so I feel I need to say something. My blog is my blog. If you choose not to read it, no feelings hurt over here. It is not a blog of ONLY my child. It is my journal. I want to look back and see exactly how I was feeling at certain times in my life. So it will always be about our WHOLE family, not just Brody and his accomplishments. Although I do LOVE to brag on sweet boy!!

Okay...feel better. Moving on.

Here's my issue. I apparently stink at time management bc it seems I can NEVER get anything done. So I would love POSITIVE comments only. (If you have something ugly to say...just keep it to yourself...its really not going to help me get anything done. Thanks!)

So here's the way a typical day in my life goes:

*5:30~wake up, get ready for work, get Brody ready for daycare

*6:30~out the door on the way to daycare and work

*7:30-4:00 at work

*4:30ish~have Brody and are on the way home

*5:00~working on dinner...usually not a problem. Put Elmo on and I have 30 mins or so to get this done.

*6:00-8:00~painting orders, and yes there is a lot of guilt about doing this while Brody is still awake. But it is paying off the medical bills and I physically can not stay up until midnight doing this. Not and go to work with 20 kids all day. It just doesn't happen. Believe me I have tried. Please understand. I am NOT complaining about having this second job. AT ALL. It has helped our family tremendously and am blessed to be doing it.

In the meantime...on my to do list: laundry, bathing Brody, cleaning up the house, and the most important: spending time with Ken and Brody.

Then once Brody goes to bed I have school work to work on until I go to bed.

Now I know what most of you are saying...what's Ken doing. Well that depends. If he's home ON TIME which is around 5:30 he's usually playing with Brody and he helps with the bath while I'm cleaning up from dinner. He watches him while I paint.

The laundry and cleaning never seems to get done! Its always piling up for me on the weekends YUCK! But everything does seem to get done on the weekends I just want to figure out a way to still enjoy my weekends without having to do all the things I couldn't get done during the week.

This is my time with Brody. The time for all the fun things. And I'm stuck at home trying to get everything done and ready for the next week. There has to be a compromise in there somewhere. And it is much easier when Ken doesn't have to work a weekend. We can get a lot more done those days. I can paint while Ken is playing with him and not wait until he's napping. Which means I can use nap time to get a lot of other things done.

I'm determined to get Brody to see Santa Claus this weekend. Its my mission! And I have many orders to paint...but it will all get done. At some point, it always done.

So I'm looking for shortcuts, ways to free up some time with Brody and Ken. Any suggestions...

And I'm NOT complaining about our situation, just looking to see if there is a way to simplify or combine things to free up some time. What are some tricks of the trade that help you manage your time better?