The Most Fabulous Weekend EVER

     Words cannot express how much Tom and I enjoyed getting away for a couple of days. We slept till we woke up, had conversations without interruption, lounged around, and just generally enjoyed two days of life not planned around naptimes or potential meltdowns. I think the nicest thing was that we just got to chat. We had the freedom to just enjoy each other's company for the first time in a long time. We are fortunate to be able to get a night out fairly regularly but a couple of hours over dinner doesn't really give you time away from the stress of day to day life. We have to force ourselves not to talk kids/logistics over dinner, whereas a couple of days away and we were able to just chat like normal people. Like the normal people we used to be!  I was really looking forward to it but I underestimated how nice it was going to be. I almost felt like we were different people without the responsibilities of little ones to tackle. Don't get me wrong, we were both really missing those little ones by the time Sunday rolled around, though.

Fredericksburg is a cute town. We ate lunch Friday afternoon, then headed to our room for my naptime. :) It was so nice to crawl into crisp clean sheets that I didn't launder or put on the bed. Also, being in that room made me realize our bedroom is entirely too cluttered. But that's another topic.  Here's where we stayed, LOVED IT. It was just a little place behind someone's house but it was perfect for our needs. It had a kitchenette in the living area with a separate bedroom so we didn't feel cramped and we stocked the fridge with things we like so it felt homey. It overlooked Baron's Creek, which is the picture at the top. I took my camera but didn't take one single pic. Not one.

Anyway, Friday after the most relaxing nap ever, we walked around downtown. checked out all the shops, and went to eat German food. It's a German town, so we thought we'd try something we wouldn't get in San Antonio. I have no idea if it was authentic German food but it was delicious. One nice thing about going on a little trip while pregnant is that I didn't worry for one second about what I was eating. I may regret that when the baby doesn't weigh 14 pounds but I'll worry about that later. Both nights, we got chocolate made from a little bakery and ate way too much of it. By the way, I picked the movie Horrible Bosses to watch Friday night. Oh. My. Goodness. We turned it off just a few minutes in. A little more crude than I could handle. It may have turned out to be funny but I couldn't watch it anymore. We had a backup movie, Something Borrowed. It was cute, typical romantic comedy. Props to Tom for watching it with me. Kate Hudson is in it, love her.

Saturday morning was wonderful, too. We did nothing. We NEVER just turn on the tv at random. NEVER. But that morning we watched DIY shows and just joked around and talked about what we did or didn't like. That sounds like a boring morning but it really wasn't at all. It's a way we could spend time together that we never get to otherwise. And it's fun to be able to hear each other's opinion about things and that led to other discussions that we never would have had. Normally on Saturday mornings we get up and get going because our kids like to hit the ground running, so staying in pj's and chilling for a few hours was luxurious to us. Sat afternoon we saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Whew! It was emotionally heavy but a sweet story about a little boy dealing with the loss of his dad in 9/11. I'd recommend that one if you're looking for something a little different. We did some more walking around Fredericksburg and went to an awesome restaurant Saturday night. It was delicious and the atmosphere was great. Thank you Kristi for the recommendation!! For a few minutes, I was concerned that we weren't going to make our reservation. I was having contractions to the point that I just needed to sit down and breathe for a few minutes. If the baby had come Saturday night.....oh my gosh. I would not have been excited about that! But they stopped.

Sunday morning we didn't have to check out till 11 so we lounged for awhile before heading back to SA. I wanted a real brunch since that is something we wouldn't attempt with kids right now. We were passing Leon Springs Grill so we stopped there. It was perfect! Exactly what I wanted. If anyone needs someplace to go on Sundays, I would recommend it.

this set of scrapbooking scissors for Harris to play with. He hasn't stopped cutting since. He just cuts construction paper at random. Occasionally, he'll stamp something on it or throw a sticker down but all he really wants to do is cut. I never would have imagined that would be such a draw for him. And thankfully Walker isn't interested because he's too little to be trusted with the scissors, I think.

Tom and I were laughing because this weekend was pretty unremarkable, really. We have had plenty of weekends like this, pre-kids. But now that our time isn't our own, it was amazing how much we appreciated something like this. Yay!! Thank you again Mom and Lauren!!

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,^[a] just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. 
Hebrews 4:9-11

Walker's New Room

So Walker got kicked out of his nursery and moved to Tom's old office. His nursery is across the hall from the kitchen and laundry room and he's an ultra-light sleeper (even with a sound machine). That means absolutely no laundry or kitchen cleaning at naptime. I'm a little sad that excuse is gone, actually. Anyway, I wasn't planning on doing much to it besides putting up blackout curtains because it's a transitional thing and who knows how long he'll be in there. But Harris was fascinated by the whole process of the room becoming something else and Walker having a whole new place to sleep. He asked me if we were going to paint the walls and I told him no. He looked a little confused, then asked me what I was going to do to make it look pretty for Walker. Ouch. So I thought I better get it together and  make it someplace Walker would enjoy. It's a hodge podge of random furniture because we eventually want to move the boys together and put them in bunk beds upstairs and they each already have a full set of furniture. Besides, the last thing we need is more stuff so we just wanted to use what we had.  It's super simple and was easy but I love the way it looks and more importantly, Walker does.

The dresser was made by Tom's grandfather, which is neat. Can you believe someone made that? Awesome. And Tom was very close to his grandfather so it's cool that we have something handcrafted by him. I'm sure he would get a kick out of knowing his great-grandson was using it. And Walker's obsession with trains came in handy. In lieu of artwork, I just hung up family pics and he loves them. Costco printed enlargements, 11 x 14, for only 2.99. Yet another thing to love about Costco! The red lantern thing is his nightlight. I should also mention how long it took me to hang those darn pictures. I got a tape measure out and everything, determined not to spend all afternoon hammering nails, eyeballing it, then scooching the nail 1/4 inch. That's exactly what I ended up doing, though. I needed a level and couldn't find one. And then, after I got them up, I decided the frames would look better spray painted silver instead of black. That was a fiasco all its own, but they're up now and look relatively level. If anyone thinks otherwise please don't tell me.

The recliner is super old, but not in a cool way like the dresser is old. It's just plain old. But that's fine, it works. I think it was my parents. I already am getting attached to it because of the snuggling Walker has wanted to do in that chair. The nesting tables were definitely my mom's and they're perfect in that spot. They've been all over every house Tom and I have lived in. They're looking a little rough around the edges because Harris went through a stage of pretending they were a car, rocket ship, fire truck, etc. I was on the fence about the train decal because it wasn't really what I pictured but Walker thinks it's great. He randomly walks in his room and says, "TRAIN TRACKS!" And those curtains aren't blackout curtains but they have a blackout liner behind them. I'm probably the last one to know this, but I had no idea you could just buy liners and use any curtains you wanted. I thought you were limited to the 5 color selections blackout curtains come in. Even with more direct light and larger windows, this room stays darker than his other one did, so the liners work well.

The crib came from a neighbor and the front pops off easily to make it a toddler bed. I'm just glad Walker hasn't started climbing out of it yet! I love those vinyl things you can stick on the wall. They come in whatever colors and sizes you want and they're super easy and inexpensive. Perfect. Walker likes to just get in his crib and play. The first time he played in here after I put that on the wall he immediately started trying to peel that off! Seriously??? What would even make him think to do that? So the first night he slept in there I was curious to see if it was still on the wall in the morning. It was, maybe the novelty wore off.

They both think this room is awesome and play in here all the time because it was off limits entirely when it was Tom's office. They seem to think they're breaking the rules a little bit and that probably helped Walker transition to his new place easier. A couple of times he's asked for his other bed but it hasn't been a huge deal. If he was persistent about the other bed, Tom was going to move it. He was hoping to avoid that since he'd have to take both cribs totally apart to get them through doorways, though. One of the doorways in the pic above is his closet, one goes to the bathroom, if anyone was wondering. This room has double doors from the hallway, too, so there's not much wall space. But he's got plenty of floor space for his toys and generally seems pretty happy in there. It's just a relief to me that he's settled in there completely and the baby's room is all set. There's nothing that HAS to be done before #3's arrival.

Nothing except a weekend away for Tom and I, that is!! Oh, this made me laugh. I explained to Harris that he and Walker were going to stay with Mimi by themselves while Daddy and I stayed somewhere else. He said, "Won't you miss me??" I told him that we would miss him very much, but it was just like when he goes to school. He misses us but is having fun all at the same time. He said, "Well, I don't really miss you when I'm at school, Mommy." Ha!! Little kid honesty is absolutely the best.

Have a good weekened, everyone. Team Goolsby definitely will!!!

Sticking with my mantra:
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Phillippians 1:27

What We've Been Doing

My past two weeks can be summed up in one word: ORGANIZING. I've gone through all the baby clothes, washed, dried, and put them away. Gone through all of Walker's clothes, gotten rid of things, moved it all to his new room, and finished up his room, too. I'll take pics later. The biggest project has been taking every single thing out of my kitchen cabinets and going through it all. It wasn't put together well to begin with. For instance, the drawer right next to the sink had all the booklets and instructions for our appliances, which we need about twice a year. So that got put to the top of a cabinet and I moved the dish towels there. Much better. Wow, I just realized what I wrote. If ever something screamed stay-at-home-mom, that was it. Fascinating.

So Harris helped me go through all the baby clothes. We had a pile to move downstairs and he suggested we just throw them down, rather than use a basket. So we did.

I think I liked this as much as he did.....there was something therapeutic about it. But most of my organizing needed to be done by me without little hands, so I've been coming up with random things for the boys to do on their own. I left my job almost two years ago, so I'm clearly a late bloomer to just now notice this, but life goes so much better when they're entertained.  They have really liked doing these little things, and I can get things done without our day degenerating into screaming and fighting. I don't know how people parented before google and Pinterest.

They have been digging in dry rice and beans.

Yes, that means there are rice and beans all over the place but it's easy to sweep up. As long as the house is still standing, I"ll pretty much clean up anything that buys me a little time.  

And I have a helper.

Watching him try to clean that up was painful. All he was doing was pushing things farther and farther away. If by chance a few things got together in a little pile, he would plow through them on accident and scatter them even farther than they were. Bless his heart, he tried.

Walker played with magnetic toys on a cookie sheet. We used to have these on our fridge but they would just get scattered. Only dragging them out occasionally seems to keep it interesting for him.

And Harris has been on a kick of these things. He got some crafty things for Christmas and this was part of it. They're supposed to encourage creative play since there's no real agenda to follow when you do them. It seems to work because he comes up with different things to do with them all the time.

While they were doing all this, here's what my kitchen looked like at one point.

This picture really doesn't do justice to the enormous mess I made. But it looks so much better now! We had way too much. I found three whisks, for example. Three. And I also found three cheese graters, but I know where those came from. Mom, you were on a kick of buying me cheese graters for awhile. Thank you, but we're all set now. :)

My last project to tackle before #3's arrival is my closet/dresser. I want to get rid of the things I don't love and organize what I'm keeping in a way that's easy to see and maintain. I have way too much crammed in my closet and dresser and lots of it I don't even wear. Someone else could be using it and that makes the things I've got left easier to keep track of. Doing this while pregnant makes me a little ruthless, which is a good thing in this case. Post partum, I'll probably be wondering where all my clothes went. Someone remind me that I thought it was a great idea to "be ruthless."

I read this the other day and just keep going back to it.

The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty." Haggai 2:9 (NIV) 

But reading The Message translation was interesting.
⁹"'This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness.' Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies."

So wholeness and holiness = peace?
One definition of holiness is: to be specified or set apart for a religious purpose. So if these translations are accurate, then you'll find peace when you are set apart for God.

There was a good example of this in my life recently. I wrote about needing to let go of anger I've harbored at someone, and I finally did. I haven't forgotten what's happened but I have forgiven and I feel like a weight has been lifted. I don't tense up thinking about it or anticipate the next battle. I can just take situations as they come without bringing years worth of hostility into the picture. It's biblical advice that brought peace. This kind of goes against worldly standards for relationships but it seems clear that worldly answers to things aren't working. I definitely didn't feel peaceful holding tightly to my anger.

I think this concept of peace when you're set apart applies to other things, too, such as service. But right now I think the Lord is using this to refine me in ways that are more personal, especially as #3 is due very soon. I am being given ways to practice this often in everyday life lately and it's been hit or miss when I get it. I am thankful that the Lord has tremendous patience with me because if it took my kids this long to learn a lesson I think I'd be beating my head against the floor.

Here's another verse that's on my heart right now. This one I fall short of so often and have been VERY convicted about. It's a post in and of itself. As I'm writing this I realized what I want 2012 to be for me.....living this verse. So, in a great big dose of accountability, here goes.

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Phillippians 1:27

Please call me out when, not if, you see me missing the mark.

Baby Shower! (Sprinkle...)

I googled baby shower cake disasters and that wasn't even the worst one that came up! The first one was so inappropriate I felt uncomfortable even posting it on facebook. That is a CAKE. Yes, a cake to eat. Moving on....

My sweet playgroup friends had a dinner for two of us that are having babies. I could kick myself for not getting a pic of all of us!! It was such a fun night! After my wedding showers, I vetoed every idea anyone tossed out about baby showers because it's so uncomfortable to have everyone sit down and watch you open gifts. However, one thing I really loved about my wedding showers was getting to spend time with my friends and seeing people who cared about me all in one spot. One sweet friend spent all day in lecture at nursing school, then came and spent the evening with us. Others paid babysitters, and everyone made the other mom and I feel loved. This was perfect, and even better, there was another mom-to-be, so we could divide the "spotlight." We laughed and laughed and talked about everything from when you got "the talk" to dealing with postpartum hormones and lots in between. It's such a blessing to have good girlfriends. My stomach hurt from all the laughing. And possibly all the eating. I thought the dinner special came with soup AND salad. I misread it....it was soup OR salad. Our waitress took pity and brought me both, bless her heart. And that was just the beginning. I was slightly embarrassed to be ordering extra food, but it didn't bother me enough to turn it down. Ha! On that note, I am really looking forward to resuming a workout routine.

I just read Heart of Iron and it was so inspiring. It's about a heart transplant recipient who has battled cancer for over a decade, and his journey to complete an Ironman. I was running for part of my pregnancy and then got sick and didn't start up again. At this point, I'm just waiting till the baby is born to get back into it, but I'm ready and this book made me even more ready. Another book I just read was even better. It's called Interrupted, which is about asking yourself if your life honors the message of the gospel. Obviously, we're all lacking lots of things there. One thing that struck me in my own life was a relationship where I haven't forgiven someone. In a sick way, I've held onto the "injustices" that person has done and whenever I see this person, I immediately think back on those things and allow that to dictate my actions and attitudes towards them. That is wrong, wrong, wrong. And even knowing it's wrong isn't enough yet to make me want to let go of that yet. But I'm working on it. The author makes the point that Jesus poured himself out even for Judas, who (whom??) he knew with total certainty was going to betray him. This person didn't turn me in to be crucified, nor am I a sinless Messiah, so it's fairly clear that I'm habitually sinning by holding onto that anger, regardless of the person's repentance or lack thereof. That was not an exciting thing to realize about myself. But, it's good to have that brought into the light and know that it needs to change. The whole book made me squirm, but in a good way. In a call-to-action sort of way.

On the baby front, Walker's new bedroom is only lacking blackout curtains before he can move in. I have a few small things to do as far as dragging out baby things but nothing much. That feels good knowing that the last few weeks won't be a mad dash to finish little details. This is the first time I haven't been working at the end of pregnancy and it's AWESOME. My  job was gracious enough to allow me to work from home the last few weeks and wrap things up, which was a huge relief, but there was still the responsibility of doing my job well. It feels good to just be able to focus on our family now. And it's nice knowing I won't be going back to work a few short weeks after the baby is born. No dealing with childcare, worrying if the baby will take a bottle, wondering how sleep deprived I'll be and how we'll all get out the door at a reasonable hour. And the BEST.NEWS.EVER. My mom is coming down to watch the boys while Tom and I get a weekend away. YAHOOOOOO!!!!! We haven't had a weekend to ourselves since Harris was born. Four years and 3 months ago. To say that we're excited is a massive understatement. I couldn't tell her yes fast enough. Walker has finally decided he likes her and just in the nick of time! Before, he wasn't that comfortable around other people and we wouldn't have felt good about leaving him for that long. Now Walker knows that Mimi=party and he'll be all for it. We're staying in Fredericksburg for two glorious nights. That means two days of sleeping in, chatting (UNINTERRUPTED) with Tom, relaxing, napping, going to a movie, or whatever we want! I can't really envision what that will be like. The handful of nights I've spent away from the boys were either work related or when I was on a retreat. It has always been on someone else's schedule and there were still obligations. It will be an awesome two days, for sure. Woo hoo! Thanks mom!!

"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Mark 11:25

Community

Someone made a comment to me the other day about facebook, saying she was glad she "never got into all that." It made me a little sad. Not because facebook is the greatest thing ever, but because it's so encouraging to me. My news feed is full of people quoting scripture, recommending good books, delighting in their children, or sharing big news. People link to interesting articles, convicting blog posts, all sorts of things. It just made me appreciate the community that has been built and thankful for the people who are my facebook friends. Like anything else, facebook can be a total time waster or a blessing, depending on who you're experiencing it with. I love my little facebook community. Also, someone who has blessed me DEEPLY posted this:
This is a perfect day to tell someone how much they mean to you. Don't assume they know. :)

Agreed.

This train of thought got me thinking about my offline community, which I really, REALLY love. When I quit working, I really had no idea how we would, or should, spend our days. I was super picky about what I would commit my time to. I joined a Bible study, which was awesome. And I ended up joining a playgroup, too. Since I've left my job, I've spent time each week with these women, getting to know them and their stories, and sharing mine. I've also deepened friendships I already had, through playdates and long chats on the phone over naptime, while cleaning house. The other day, those relationships were so desperately needed and appreciated and I've been thinking about what a blessing that awful morning was ever since. It was a playgroup day and all I wanted to do was feed my little people and get them dressed. Small, humble, goals. It wasn't going well. At one point, I was LITERALLY crying on the floor, asking the Lord to please give me patience. I won't go into the details but it just wasn't pretty. I seriously contemplated calling Tom and asking him to come home IMMEDIATELY and help me. But, the Lord must have had mercy on me because all 3 of us were fed and dressed eventually. However, I was completely shaken. I kept thinking about what I would have done that morning if I'd had an infant to care for as well. I clearly wasn't handling the two I had very well. Much less a baby. In the middle of this, a good friend called, completely unsuspecting of what she was about to deal with. Bless her heart, she called for a random quick question and by the end of it I was crying (again) in a parking lot while she was speaking truth over me about parenting, God's sovereignty, and reassuring me Walker wouldn't grow up to be a drug lord. I got off the phone knowing someone was praying for me and remembering truth found in scripture. So I got to playgroup. Someone immediately asked me what was wrong, which triggered another round of tears. Bless their hearts, both women there teared up and commiserated with me. No problems were solved that morning, but I was heard. I could cry, be validated, encouraged, and remember that I wasn't in this alone. It was such an invaluable gift they gave me that day. There was no judgement, no shame in admitting what I was feeling and facing, just loving words. I left having cried all my makeup off but feeling better and lighter than I had in months. That's been a few weeks ago, but even writing this makes me tear up thinking about how alone and lost I was feeling and the kindess of my little community turned it around. My life is fuller and richer than I ever imagined it could be, due to time spent in the company of my sweet friends.

The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.
Proverbs 27:9

Adios, 2011!!

I'm not a huge New Year's Resolution person, but the new year is always time to reflect on what was good/bad about the previous year and think about changes to make for the upcoming year. I'm not all that sad to see 2011 go. I think I derailed the last half of the year and didn't make the best choices. I was very guilty of letting my circumstances dictate my attitude. There were too many times I was impatient, grumpy, irritable, quick to see faults, judgemental, and just plain negative. I'm looking forward to 2012 being a time of moving forward. I'm ready to move past pregnancy and settle into a routine with our family of five. I'm ready to pursue deeper spiritual growth. I think the last few months have been stagnant for me, in some ways. I'm ready to implement the changes Tom and I have talked about, but haven't started yet. So much is on hold waiting for a little bundle to arrive.

2011 was a good year, but a tough year. Pregnancy has been hard. I'm incredibly thankful that I'm able to have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies, but it doesn't change the fact that it's physically challenging. I've deepened existing friendships and made new ones. I also lost a friendship that I cherished. I've been on a roller coaster learning how to parent Walker. I feel like we have a new family member in him lately because we're all starting to figure out what works for him. Tom and I started leading a small group and that has been a blessing to us, though very tough at times. All in all, a very good year.

One thing I'm working on having realistic expectations for this life stage. I think that's been part of my frustration is expecting things that just aren't going to happen. Something as routine as fixing lunch can become complicated with little ones and that's just part of it. I have plans in my head for the way things should go and I'm working on  tossing those out the window and going with whatever happens. One PERFECT example of this is pictures we had taken awhile ago. They turned out great. But in my head, I had an idea that I wanted everyone smiling, looking generally at the camera. Something like this....

What we got was this:

I'll post more at the end of this because we got some really cute ones. But my point is, I was bummed for awhile because I was holding onto this silly idea.  But I'm getting there. This pic is framed in our house because it makes me smile. This is TOTALLY what life is like. And I want to remember it and appreciate for what it is rather than what it can't be. That is my anthem. I think the Lord has really been teaching me this in preparation for baby #3. There have been such trying times lately but I think it's just been refining me to adjust my expectations and let go. It's been painful to learn this lesson but hopefully I learned it well. 


So my hope for 2012 is that my expectations are realistic. That I walk more in the Spirit each day, because that is clearly the only way I'll ever be the wife and mother I want to be. That just ties in with deeper spiritual growth. Our small group is starting a study that I'm excited about and I love that this is something Tom and I can do together. So, bring it, 2012!

Here are some of my faves from the pics we had taken. There were lots to choose from. And we climbed alllll over this train for close to an hour. We had looked for a sign saying to stay off of it but there wasn't one. Right after this pic was taken a security guard chased us off. So this is Team Goolsby, breaking the LAW.

This one is getting enlarged and going in Walker's new room. It's perfect with his train obsession.

My mom calls him "America's Next Top Model."

He looks like he's plotting something here....

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galations 5:22-23

Christmas

Before I move into 2012, I wanted to post some Christmas memories for us. It was so so good. My parents rented a little cabin so the boys had room to roam around and drive their little car. We all really enjoyed the change of scenery and getting to spend so much time outside.  I could not have been more proud of little Walker. The boys got gifts to share and he really got the concept of sharing with his brother. He is growing up every day and blooming into the sweetest little guy. My parents gave him a recordable card and he listens to it over and over again. They both quote the card at random all day long. "Ho ho hooooooo, little guy. Merry Christmas, bye!" That's what my dad says and both boys try to say it in a deep voice like his. I need to try to video it, it's priceless. My parents gave them a little truck to drive and it was a big hit. They had it sitting in the living room of the cabin when we walked in but Harris was much too busy looking at everything else to see it. Walker spotted it first and said, "Look! We got a car!" Yes, a complete sentence. The only full sentence I'd ever heard him say before was, "I love Thomas." So that was a big deal in and of itself. Here they are checking out their new ride.

My brother got them a train set and that was also a big hit. They have played and played with it. It's definitely the year of the train for Walker. That's really all he wants to do. The cabin had a big deck and we had to move the train thing outside to get him to come out. And he LOVES being outside, he just couldn't bear to be parted with his train tracks.

They did plenty of driving and train tracking while we were there.

I guess this is a preview of when Harris turns 16. Since his personality is so cautious, I expected him to be a careful driver. That's not the case at all. He floors it everywhere he goes, while looking at the radio, talking, waving, messing with his cupholder or seatbelt. Pretty much doing anything but looking where he's going.

However, Harris wouldn't budge without putting his seat belt on and Walker won't wear his. That is TOTALLY each of their personalities. Here's Harris trying to buckle Walker in.

That was a losing battle. Here they are watching my mom shoot stomp rockets.

Must have been a good one.

More train tracks...

Playtime with Uncle Justin.

We did Christmas as a family of four on Christmas Eve morning. We kept it very low key and I'm glad we did. Even with what little they had to open they were super excited and a little overwhelmed. Harris had gone shopping at a little store at his school for gifts. He picked out something for Tom, Walker, and me. However, what he picked out for me he told me all along was really for his friend Carter. I think his teacher just made him buy for me because he told me several times, "Ms. Mady said she doesn't know Carter." Here are the gifts he gave us.

He was so so proud to give Walker his present, a snowman Christmas ornament. Walker had zero interest in opening it because he had a new train to play with. Poor Harris kept saying, "Walker, don't you want to open this??? Walker.....I got this for YOU!" Poor guy. Carter came over later that day and Harris found what he'd gotten for me and told Carter it was for him. I'm just happy he's so excited to give gifts. Carter was a little suspicious about it and asked me if he could REALLY take it home. I let him, Harris clearly wanted him to have it. It's good that some recipient was excited to get his gift.

 We got Walker a plasma car because he has loved one at my friend's house and played with it non-stop. However, I'm not sure he's even ridden it since he saw it. You just never know.  They each got a vibrating toothbrush and that was probably the most exciting thing for them. Walker's is Thomas the Train, of course, Harris' is Spiderman.

This was such a sweet time with family this year. It's precious time knowing that next Christmas there will be a third little Goolsby. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Luke 2:11