A Jolly Christmas

I have to say that this was the best Christmas ever. We were surrounded by family, friends, good food, and the Spirit of Christ as we celebrated his birth. Matt's family came over on Christmas Eve and we enjoyed a yummy ham dinner and desserts, a Christmas story, games, and a movie in our new theatre room (which was Matt and I's very grande Christmas gift to each other). His parents and little brother spent the night and it was really nice to wake up with a house full of people. Rylan and I were the first ones up on Christmas morning, so we got breakfast ready. My mom would always prepare a large spread of foods for breakfast and that's a tradition that I want to carry on. We had breakfast casserole, almond ring, sliced oranges and grapefruit, cinnamon rolls, and cinnamon toast with jam and Dutch/Gouda cheese (sounds like an odd combo but it's seriously the best!). I figured that this would be the last Christmas that we could eat breakfast before presents so I took full advantage. Presents came next. Rylan liked this part. We would tear a piece of wrapping paper so a small part of the gift underneath was exposed and he would eagerly try to play with the toy through the small hole of the paper. It was pretty funny. He got lots of toys from both grandparents and had fun playing with them all day long. The rest of the day consisted of leftover food and relaxing. It was a perfect Christmas. Here are some pictures from throughout the month as we celebrated this holiday season.

Rylan did not like the real life Santa this year. The only Santa he liked were the blow up ones on people's lawns. In fact he absolutely loved those kind of Santas, but the real thing was scary.

Yay the Christmas tree is up!

Me and some church friends volunteering at the Toys for Tots fun run. I want to do this every year.

My good friend Emily and I like to walk through McCallister park together. We decided to take some pics of Rylan since the leaves were so beautiful.

Our not so glamorous family photo on Christmas morning.

Rylan got a little frustrated with this toy. He wanted to stop the balls from popping up so he'd just stick his hand down the popper and take the balls out himself.

Dreams Coming True

Matt's childhood dream was to have a movie room in his house someday. Well he's worked really hard and has finally earned his movie room. When we saw our house for the first time, the layout was exactly what we were looking for. Everything was all on one floor with the exception of a large open space upstairs. We both envisioned this to be the perfect space for a movie room. We love the transformation from boring and blah to cozy and chic. There were a couple roadblocks that slowed us down on this project, but nothing we couldn't handle. Like when our non-returnable couch didn't fit through the doorway and Matt had to cut a hole in the wall and when I spent an hour trying to disassemble the non-returnable table so I could get it to fit in my car. We did learn our lesson to measure before we purchase next time. My dad was here the week that we put this room together and he was a huge help. He practically painted the entire room and built me some really nice shelves. We love this space and can't wait to share it with friends and family. I think we will be spending lots of time up here!

Before

After

The hole that Matt cut so we could fit the couch through the doorway

The shelves my dad made

In the Swing of Things

I had my concerns about being a stay at home mother and getting bored, missing my job, losing all contact with adults, not feeling like I can spend money since I don't make any of it myself, etc. To my greatest relief none of those concerns are really concerns any more. Work hasn't even crossed my mind (although I do miss my friends from work, I don't miss the work itself one tiny bit!). In fact, there are so many things that I can actually enjoy now that I'm not working that I've made a list of some stay at home mommy perks:

• Unlimited amounts of time with Rylan and seeing him reach new milestones before someone else sees it first (specifically day care workers).
• Not waking up to the sound of an annoying alarm clock.
• Sleeping in. I still get up around 7:30am, but that's sleeping in as far as I'm concerned.
• Working out at my leisure.
• Having friends and family visit on a weekday without worrying about whether I have the vacation time to use.
• Hanging out with friends during the day.
• Actually getting to see and be in the sun and get some much needed Vitamin D
• Taking naps
• No more Mondays!
• I can finally do all the home projects that I didn't have time for before
• There's time to study and prepare my church lessons during the week (I still left this week's lesson to the last minute though).
• Chores can be completed during the day so I can enjoy the evenings and weekends with Matt and Rylan
• Cooking is fun again. We eat a hot homemade dinner together most nights of the week. Yay!

Project #1 (Temporarily) Complete!

Our master closet got a fresh coat of blue paint and I simply decluttered and organized what was already there. It's funny how many people say "I didn't know people painted closets" when I tell them about this little project I'm doing. I think everything can be painted. It's the best and cheapest way to express your personality while also transforming a space. If you don't like it, then paint over it. And why blue? I was actually going for more of a teal blue but it turned out to be just blue. I still like it though. My goal is to create a boutique look with the contrasting blue and white. The current lighting situation is the standard fluorescent bulbs and I absolutely despise it, so I'll be keeping an eye out for a deal on an old crystal chandelier that I can paint white. I want nice, soft lighting (Sounds so silly that I want this for my closet:)). There is a lot more that we'd like to do to the closet (like buy an actual closet system from Ikea), but it'll just have to wait because it's about #25 on our list of things we want to do to this house. I can deal with that as long as the closet is organized. So here is our temporarily completed closet.

Before

After

Checklist

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Order and cleanliness makes me feel that I'm in control. Ever since we've moved into our new house 4 months ago, I haven't had the time to put it together like I want to. Things vaguely have a place and it's usually amongst a pile or stack of others like it. My last house was so nicely organized. I knew where everything was, things were stored in places that were obvious and convenient, and I even had labeled baskets for everything. Now my guests have to search every closet and drawer in our house because things just don't feel right where they are. So needless to say there's a lot I'd like to accomplish now that I have more time on my hands and my hope is that I'll assume responsibility and actually complete these tasks that so badly need to get done. I love our new house and I'm excited to get it just the way I want it! I will take before and pictures to document my progress:

1. Organize Closet- I don't wear half of my clothes simply because I haven't taken the time to iron them. We even have bags and suitcases full of clothes that we never unpacked after the move. I can hardly walk around our closet. It's a total war zone!

2. Paint- closet, baseboards, and touch up around the house

3. Organize Office- We've had beautiful, brand new office cabinetry for about 3 months now and have yet to actually put a single piece of paper in our filing cabinets. Everything is still in cardboard filing boxes.

4. Front and Backyard Facelift- We've gotten a few notices from the HOA about our yard. I will say that I'm a bit embarrassed by it. There is a good amount of trimming and cleaning up that can be done. We need to do just enough to get us by until Spring and then we will do some major yard overhauling. For now I'll just spruce it up a bit by trimming and pressure washing the stone walls.

5. Organize Garage- We don't have a ton of stuff, but we've somehow managed to stagger it all throughout the garage in a single layer. This provides a bit of an obstacle course when trying to walk from the house and through the garage (because we can't actually park in the garage) to get to the car.

It's Official

I am officially a full time stay at home. I've spent the majority of the last four years, roughly 8,000 hours, sitting in my little grey cube at Labatt Food Service. Actually I spent quite a bit of time outside the office so it was probably more like 7,000 hours, but either way you get the point. Labatt helped me get my feet on the ground here in San Antonio. I became well oriented with the city, made many great friends, learned a ton, and have experienced some things that I never could have experienced anywhere else. I'm grateful for this job that I truly enjoyed. Now it's time for me to dedicate my time and focus towards the family. Quitting was a HUGE decision for me. In fact it was quite possibly the hardest decision I have ever had to make. And I don't really like to consider it quitting because I'm simply choosing the best alternative (staying at home) over the better (working). So with that said, I'm not giving up on Labatt. I'm just directly my focus on something that will be far more rewarding. I know that being at home is absolutely the best choice and I'm thrilled to get that chance. I'm thankful for a husband who works hard and wants me to be home as much as I do.

Happiest Places on Earth

I always think about my childhood and teenage years growing up in San Luis Obispo, California, and just reminisce on all the wonderful memories. I feel blessed to have spent so many years in the safe and beautiful Central Coast of California. SLO was featured as one of the happiest places on earth on Good Morning America recently. I disagree that living in a certain part of the world can make you happy or unhappy. Happiness comes from within. However, I do agree with the reasons for why people are happier in these four places: adequate vacation/relaxation time per year, lots of social face-to-face interaction, closeness to family and religion.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HealthyLiving/video/finding-happiest-place-earth-12086133

Gristmill

Today Matt and I went up to the San Marcos outlets and spontaneously dropped by Gruene, TX on the way home for some lunch at Gristmill. I've heard great things about Gristmill so we decided to try it out. The restaurant was located right on the Guadalupe River's edge and had huge windowed doors all along the restaurant that open to the outside and let the fresh Fall air right in. I'd give this place an A+ for atmosphere and a A- for food. I just loved the quant small town charm. They also have market days every month. How did I not already know about this little jewel of a place? All I do know is that we will be going back for some more Gruene! Check out this video of Rylan eating a lemon wedge during lunch.

Friendly Tigger or Scary Tiger?

Definitely a friendly Tigger...

who very much dislikes anything on his head or that of his cousin's...

and who certainly without a doubt loves suckers!

Oh and did I mention that Rylan is finally walking now?

Fall Festivities

I think I said this last year on my blog, but let me just reiterate how much I absolutely LOVE fall! It's by far my favorite time of year. A couple weeks ago my sister-in-law Michelle and I went to Medina's Love Creek Orchards with the kids. They had lots of fun activities for the kids, like tractor rides, hay maze, pumpkin painting, petting zoo, horseback riding, and much more. It was the perfect backdrop for some great fall photos too. We had a such a great time. I think we will be going there every year. Here are a few pictures of my niece Taylor and Rylan enjoying the pumpkins.

First haircut

Matt and I just love Rylan's little curls, but they were long overdue for a trim. Rylan is one busy kiddo and that made me a bit concerned for his safety during a hair cut. Thankfully the lady who cut his hair was really fast and I felt totally comfortable that she wouldn't accidentally let those clippers slip. It was interesting to see Rylan's reaction to the haircutting experience. He was totally confused for the majority of it. His curiosity kicked in near the end and he started pulling the hair lady's tools off of her apron. It was pretty funny. My baby looks like a handsome little boy with his new cut!

Telephone

A little boy and his favorite toy, Mom's cell phone.

12 Month Check Up

Rylan weighed in at 23.8 lbs and 29.75" at his 12 month wellness check. That's 70% in weight and 50% in height. I was caught by surprise when the pediatrician announced these statistics. Rylan is a bit of a chunky monkey so the weight was to be expected, but only 50th percentile in height? He went from 70th to 50th percentile within a matter of three months so I'm not sure I even believe it. I'm not dissapointed, just a bit surprised. Rylan has plenty of time to catch up and if he doesn't it doesn't really matter anyways. He's a cutie either way!

A few other recent developments:

• Rylan's top 2 front teeth have poked through and they seem to be pretty painful. Poor kid! I'm sure glad I don't remember when my teeth started coming in because I'd probably be a little grumpy too.
• Rylan is no longer eating formula. He eats big people food and milk all the time now.
• Rylan took 4 steps on his own! He'll be walking before we know it.

Birthday Fun

I have to admit that I wasn't going to do anything for Rylan's birthday other than maybe bake him a cupcake and enjoy a nice little dinner with mom, dad, and baby. I thought that was a reasonable, sensible way to celebrate a one year old's birthday. "He's one" I thought, "He doesn't even know it's his birthday." Then I realized just how much I would regret it if I didn't throw Rylan a 1-year birthday party. So with a week to plan, Matt and I quickly threw together a grocery list, guest list, and to do list and made it happen. Rylan didn't fully understand why our house was full of fun decorations, kids, cake, and gifts, but he sure did love all the attention. The cake was his favorite part (he has a sweet tooth like his mother). I allowed him to have way to much cake in fact, but I just loved how much he loved it!

Birthday at Grandma Jorgensen's

Birthday Party

Numero Uno

Depsite my efforts to keep my baby a baby forever, time is working against me and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. You'd think I'd be totally thrilled about my son turning one but I can't help but think that in 17 short years (we'll see if those turn into long years by the time Rylan's a teenager) he will be leaving home, then serving a mission, getting married, and starting a family of his own. This sounds a bit dramatic I know, but those of you who have kids can relate. Having a baby turned me into a baby. I'm an emotional wreck when I think about how dearly I love my son and how time is passing way too quickly. So unless someone can tell me how to stop the clock and allow me to enjoy my sweet baby boy just a little longer then I guess I better just learn to accept the inevitable and enjoy every waking moment. With that said, happy birthday son! Your mom and dad love you more than you'll ever know.