Holiday Highlights (tons of pics)

Alright, so my plan here is to put a bunch of photos up now so I'm not playing catch up later :) Our Christmas, New Year, and the time in between was great! Extremely busy, with a kayak trip that left out on the 27th, but extremely blessed to have spent the time with my mom and dad (thank you both for all the extra help).

The weekend before Christmas Dallas' folks came to spend a couple days with us and the boys (and were here for Joss' b-day). Emit is showing Papa one of his favorite things to do (be read to).

I feel like we have been on whirlwind mode since the boys and I got back from Alabama. Since we returned I repainted the apartment we used to live in that Dallas' grandparent's still own, I've built some canvasses to play around with some homemade 'art' to go in the apartment, I've repainted furniture, built a train table for the boys (you'll see that in a bit), I've worked on cakes, photo projects, baked all kinds of goodies for Dallas' trip...the list seems to go on and on. Thanks to all the extra hands around to help with the boys, some of that was a little less tiring than the rest :) You can see some pics of the projects here on FB too.

As soon as my folks landed pretty much we were out on the boat. With Dallas being out on a trip a couple days later, we wanted to take the boat out as much as possible with him home. I'm still a little intimidated to take it out on my own. I could do it, but it would make me nervous the whole time!

All the excitement of Nana & Papa's visit and then CC & Poppy made for one tired Jossy!

We took them to Moriah Cay (one of our favorite spots) and then hiked over to what we all call "Mystery Beach."

Daddy and Joss lead the way...

When nature calls...you just drop your pants (well almost, we're still working on getting them all the way out of the way). :)

Emit's playing the pacy game with Poppy, and looks to be having a really good time.

Here's Joss' "better late than never, and not as cute as I had hoped" birthday cake. He thoroughly enjoyed it whether it had the fancy decorating job or not... and really loved how his whole mouth changed color with the icing :)

MY SWEET 3 YEAR OLD!!! How did you get so big, so fast??

Playing on the beach (don't worry CC, this isn't when the caboose went missing, we'll find it).

Here's the train table I built for the boys using some plans off of Ana-White.com, a really amazing site with all kinds of free woodworking plans on it. Thanks Heather!! Now that I have my first project successfully under my belt, I'm ready and waiting to be able to do my next one...now to choose which to do first :) And with the fancy new tools my folks got Dallas for Christmas... Oh boy, oh boy! None of my things will be perfect by any means, but it will be something I made and it will be nicer than anything I can buy on this island.. guarantee that :)

Joss really loved the train roller coaster from Santa, and the new train pieces. Emit was just as thrilled over his BIG BOOK of trains, planes, boats, anything that moves basically.

I guess a bit of a non-traditional Christmas afternoon was spent out on the boat. We didn't get snow like most the folks we knew did, but it was still pretty chilly for us with our cold front moving through.

New toys from CC & Poppy for the fun in the park.

We took them to a new beach for some pics. It's always a fun challenge to try to do at least one new thing or go to a new place with my folks when they come down to visit. Our island is not that big, but so far I think we have managed to do that.

Emit and his pacy...tisk, tisk, tisk. He really is attached to that thing. However, when we are out at the beach or playground it also helps to keep unwanted items out of his mouth...so right now the pacy is our pal. Hopefully it won't be a hard habit to break.

I love his little arm up above... Joss used to do the same thing when he would walk (and still does at times). That one little arm gets going a lot more than the other and has a very determined motion. Super cute!

I just love this one of Joss above... such a handsome little pose and man!!

Then of course we found the tide pools and had fun splashing in them. They were a bit warmer, but the water was still cool for sure.

Joss and CC showing me how they sign "I LOVE YOU!"

We had a campfire on the beach one night and roasted some hot dogs. Of course all the boys wanted to eat was chips. I know, I'm a horrible mom for giving them chips...but that's my worry to deal with, not yours :)

It was a perfect evening for the fire. Slight breeze kept the bugs away and the chill in the air made the fire very welcoming! The stars were beautiful too. As we sat there were were talking about how Daddy was doing the same thing with his new friends on the kayak trip. Joss seemed to like that.

Poppy's working hard for his dinner :)

Yeah, I'm a whimp now with the "cool" weather, but you would be too if you lived down here.

See what I mean about the boys enjoying the chips :) LOL Joss liked being able to see his orange lips when I took this picture.

Sunset stroll...

We try every chance we get to take good photos with the boys and CC & Poppy. Sometimes the boys will humor us and give us a few decent shots. This was not one of those times. Joss was not in the mood for photos. Emit was entranced by the sun setting, and then held his hands up asking "where moo" (where's the moon).

Another attempt, this time down on Little Exuma at the salt beacon. Again, boys=not in picture mood.

Playing on the beautiful Tropic of Cancer beach in front of our friend's house on Little Exuma (another island that is connected to ours, Great Exuma).

Joss and I walked all the way down (we started at the opposite end) and back. Well, I should say, I walked all the way down and Joss had me carry him the entire way there and back. He was in a very clingy mood and got really mad at me when I would put him down to walk (=tired Joss). I honestly enjoyed the workout, but more so enjoyed the wonderful snuggle time with him. He was being really sweet while I held him.

Last thing for this post (thanks for hanging in there) is this project that I did for Dallas. I'm very happy with how this turned out, so I wanted to share it too. My sister did this for my parents the Christmas that Joss was born, and I've secretly been hoping for one with our name ever since :) So when I was home I asked her if she would mind me doing ours since I wanted to do it with things Dallas interacts with daily, and since I had already kind of started getting the pictures. As busy as she is... she didn't mind at all (at least, that's what you told me, sis). I framed this image below and gave it to him for Christmas (I think he liked it).

The K-is a crack in our walkway outside; the N is part of the railing on our boat's bimini top; the O is the RPM gauge on the boat; the W is a gadget (don't know the proper name) that is used to hold the masts in place on the sailboats when they aren't up and locked in position; the L is the ladder off the back of the boat; the E is the side of the bench in the yard the boys play on; and the S is a bent hook on one of our trailers= KNOWLES

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!