2014 Holidays

In my ongoing effort to refuse to admit that the holidays have come and gone, I thought this would be a fantastic time for me to post some thoughts and memories on the 2014 holiday season.

Our typical date.  An 11pm run to Meijer for groceries to
get ready for holiday celebrations. I love this girl so much! 

2014 was a fantastic year for us, with countless things to celebrate.  This year brought our second pregnancy, a new job and subsequent promotion for me, a graduation and job acceptance celebration for Kara, and countless other wonderful blessings that God chose to bring our way.  It also brought about a period of significant spiritual growth for Kara and I, which resulted in increased involvement in our church and a renewed intentionality about our faith.  Of course, the year also had its challenges, with adjusting to changing schedules, getting through our second post-newborn 12-week blur, and all the challenges that come with raising two young kids, but even in typing that, its very difficult for me to look back on 2014 and think of anything but joy.

As 2014 ends, Luke is a boisterous, intelligent, and awesome little 2 year old.  He has very advanced speech, and speaks in full sentences while he tells stories.  His answer to "No" is always, without failure, "No, but just one?"  He is also a very cerebral kid, who wants to think through things and figure them out before he dives in.  This leads people to sometimes think he is timid or introverted, but I assure you, he is neither of those.  He has recently started showing signs of the emotion of embarrassment - when he hugs Eli too tight or does something he isn't supposed to, he runs away and lays on the floor and won't look at you (which is super cute..).  He also loves helping in any capacity, gives THE best hugs in the world, and relentlessly demands me to sing Christmas songs.  ("DADDY SING JINGLE BELLS").  Other current favorites include Chuggington, "Knocking Daddy Over" (where I sit on the floor and he runs straight at me and dives into me and I 'fall' backwards), Chicken Nuggets, talking about Texas, his new Lightening McQueen Guitar, and "Pony Pizza", which the rest of us refer to as Pepperoni Pizza.

Luke was particularly excited for Christmas this year, as he had been talking about Santa for weeks.  Early on, he decided he wanted a 'Truck with Cars in it' (meaning a car carrier), and was excited to bake cookies with Kara and leave them with milk for Santa Claus.  We also baked a birthday cake for Jesus and he really liked that.  He loved distributing the gifts on Christmas morning, and wanted to help everyone open their gifts.

Eli is 4 months now, and is the happiest little boy.  He smiles constantly, and especially any time he can see Luke.  As aggressive as Luke likes to hug him, you'd think Eli would be terrified by him, but he is not at all.  Recently his sleeping patterns have become somewhat regular, and he does a great job of eating and keeping food down, other than a quick bout with a stomach bug in December.

Luke and Eli love to play together, and I am so excited to watch them grow up as best friends (who occasionally punch each other in the face).  They are the best little boys and we are so blessed to have them!!

Here's a photo dump of our time together around the holidays!  We hope everyone had a great holiday season and a fantastic start to 2015!

We love playing together!

Let me kiss you right IN the skull.

Snuggling with Dexter on the couch watching Christmas Movies.

Laying by the Milk and Cookies from Santa.

Face Melter.

Luke and Daddy before the Rose Alumni bball game.

Daddy and Eli on Christmas morning! 

At Grandmas making Christmas Cookies

I hope I got the chance to say this to you in person, but just in case, from our family to yours, I hope you had a fantastic holiday season, surrounded by the ones you love.  Here's to an amazing 2015, where we all accomplish great things.