Monday, December 19, 2016

2016 Christmas Card

I don't mail out Christmas cards. I don't know all the addresses and I am way too lazy to find out. This blog is now a Christmas card. I will talk about all the stuff we've done this year and how wonderful and charming we are, punctuated with pictures from our December outings: Tubac's Luminaria, and the Sahuarita Winter Light Parade.


Jumbo marshmallows in Tubac!

Paul had a nice chat with Santa and got his wish: "Treats!"
We kicked off the year with some globe trotting, for details review all my travel blog posts about how cool our trip was. I could say that now I can scratch seeing Paris off my bucket list, but I wanted to go back as soon as I got home. I am already imagining a second trip.

I asked Lee what he achieved this year, he said his achievement is not aging. Touche. I was in my first melodrama this Spring, I survived another Arizona summer, and I created a human being, so a pretty productive year.



Paul's big achievements this year include: Quoting his favorite movies at me, his latest is from the Lego Movie: "Honey, where are my paaaaaaaants?" He has learned bits and pieces of a few songs and he sings his life recitative style kind of all the time. No idea where he gets it from. I am most proud that, as a family, we made sure Paul had no accidents for 6 days. Yes, it was a group effort, but Paul is pretty well potty trained and is well on his way to saying good-bye to diapers for good!

If I had a dollar for every comment we got on Paul's cute little hat, it would have covered the cost of all our gifts this year.

Laszlo's greatest achievement thus far, in my estimation, is last night sleeping from 11 PM to 5 AM. The single greatest gift he could give me is to do a repeat tonight and every night until he is ready to sleep even longer.


People seem to feel that 2016 was a crappy year, and yes, losing Professor Snape was a serious blow, the whole election stunk worse than Laszlo's sour milk burps, but we have seen some miracles in our home. We have been blessed to have now two sons to make us laugh and drive us crazy. Focusing on the positive, I have seen what a great year this was and I hope everyone who reads this can re-examine their own lives and see all the wonderful thing they have seen and experienced even through the hard times.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and God bless you all!

Love,

Claire, Lee, Paul, and Laszlo

Friday, December 9, 2016

Mamma's Ghetto Photo Studio

Between Christmas, new baby, and landscaping, it was hard to justify spend hundreds of dollars on professional newborn photos. Especially when I would rather have professional family pictures done when Laszlo is a little older. Like, he smiles and holds up his own head.
So I decided on a DIY approach to newborn pictures and read a few tips on how to get good baby pictures. Here are the results:

One day old, in the hospital.

4 days old, give or take a day.


Brothers! Three weeks old.


3 weeks, 2 days old.


3 weeks, 5 days old



It may be a while till I can get anymore brother pictures, getting Paul to sit for those was like pulling teeth. I manage to snap like 7 photos and half of those were blurry. Next time I will have to use duct tape.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Outdoor Thanksgiving

While most everyone else was toiling over their ovens to create the perfect feast, we lazed about in the sunshine in our backyard. A newly landscaped backyard! In three days, the good fellows of Red Desert Landscape Renovations transformed our yard from plain dirt and weeds into this:



The artificial grass is so soft we had to kick our shoes off immediately after going outside, and Paul refuses to wear shoes in the backyard now. We had a nice little picnic and ran around playing "tickle and chase"--Paul's favorite game--while Laszlo napped on his blanket.


Now we are prepared to plant some shrubberies and flowers and call the yard finished! This year, I am especially thankful to have a backyard for us to play in!