i love the holidays. this is such a magical, exciting time for a 4 year old, 9 month old & their parents. the excitement & the twinkle in my kids eyes is enough to make me giddy. miles doesn't understand what's going on too much yet, but he still just has fun & enjoys being together. you can just tell. this boy genuinely loves life..at the ripe old age of 9 months. there are lots of people in this world who could stand to learn a little bit from him...from his zest for life. and garrett's curiosity, innocence & imagination is just a thrill to be around! he is sooo into the season, asking questions, participating thoughtfully. love those boys!
i had a blogger blog that i posted on ALL. THE. TIME. when garrett was born until he was about two & a half. i really enjoyed having somewhere to journal what was going on in his life but then life got real busy. i was trying to start a business, get pregnant again, spend quality time with my family, & i was still teaching elementary school, etc & i fell off. the other night, i looked through that old blog & i couldn't wipe the smile off my face (kandjgarvey.blogspot.com). sooo many awesome memories! it was so nice to remember all the fun things garrett did & said when he was much younger...and at what age he began each cool, new trick. i decided our life is pretty exciting (to me) & it's so perfect to have it all documented. life goes by way too quick & it's easy to get overloaded & forget all those memories i cherish SO SO much. these kids change quick! it's sad, but also exciting & fun.
i want to start a blog again so that you kids (alonng with dad & i) have some great memories to look back on. here i will post pictures, memories, milestones, letters, etc. i will print a book each year from now on. i had meant to do that starting in 2005 when daddy & i got married (& our string of the "garvey" family officially began) but that never happened.
i am a perfectionist...it makes me so nervous that i didn't do this before now, but oh well...life goes on! atleast you guys are still young & i am starting now. last years book will have tons of pictures, just no commentary :)
so...it's the beginning of january. we have just finished some exciting few weeks! (christmas tree hunting/thanksgiving/trip to dallas, christmas, school plays, visiting santa, making the yearly christmas plate, writing letters to santa, making a christmas card, looking at the river oaks christmas lights, "krazy kids christmas play," shopping, wrapping, singing, decorating cookies & of course the christmas tree, going to the christmas eve church service, cookies for santa, the annual nini/pa christmas eve slumber party, then hanging out at their house the next day...etc etc etc....oh and we cannot forget our beloved christmas elf doo doo doo. garrett - you named him right before your second christmas when you were about a year & three months. and what a beautiful name it is! perfection! he has become quite a big part of our christmas culture! that silly little guy moves every night when we're sleeping. santa tells him he can't talk to us, he just watches to report back to santa what he sees. he did some pretty funny stuff! he took a bath in our sink, wrote a secret message, raided our pantry, watched TV...etc. the look on garrett's face every morning when he woke up looking for him was PRICELESS. then christmas morning came & he flew back to the north pole to help santa get ready for next year. bye doo doo doo - we love you & can't wait to see you next year!
our kids are SO fortunate with what they receive around christmas i am always so fearful of them becoming greedy around christmas. garrett & i talked alot about giving & decided to do some random acts of kindness together throughout december. one day in particular we sat down & created a list of 27 things to do in honor of the victims in newtown, CT. i let garrett come up with the ideas first, then i filled in by giving my ideas. we had SO much fun with this. i was amazed by how nice people are. garrett & i tried to stay incognito while out & about but we got caught a few times & i was so thrilled with how many people (even in the hustle & bustle of christmas crowds) will stop, get down on a 4 year olds level & truly express appreciation. it was so fulfilling in the end because of the impact it had on garrett. he’s still talking about how it was fun to give to others. of course he still looooves presents, too, but atleast he’s learning to give! we spent hours devising a plan, gathering materials, making things & then spent from about noon to 9pm carrying out our plans…it was a full day but we were both so full of adrenaline we were unstoppable! garrett made his mark all over the city. he passed out starbucks gift cards to cars with notes, to store workers, to firefighters, to hospitals, etc. he picked out books to donate to the children’s hospital, brought treats to the dog shelter, spread his love all over cars, bathrooms, shopping carts with inspirational quotes with his artwork on them. we bought the coffee of the guy in line behind us at starbucks…he tracked us down at a light & thanked us so genuinely, you would’ve thought we gave him a million dollars. people are so nice. we helped some homeless peops, made cards & mailed them to friends who needed a pick me up. garrett wanted to buy lottery tickets for people. he randomly left them places with little notes or handed them out to people we saw along the way. he chose to buy 4 bunches of flowers….one for nini, one for the checker at the grocery store, one for the checker at target & one for a “sick kid” at the hospital. garrett called some of the special people in our life to “send a hug.” we participated in samaritan’s purse & are still in the process of making snowflakes for sandy hook. i’m not real crafty b ut we’ll make it happen some way! then of course the small things like asking someone how they’re doing, giving a compliment, holding doors…i was amazed at all the ideas he came up with himself & very proud of him. i could tell his "bucket was FULL" from this exercise & that made my heart happy. miles was just along for the ride this year...maybe next year he'll have more of an understanding of all of this. he was such a good sport going in & out of the car all day long.
taking some time off of work was fun & i appreciated being able to enjoy the traditions we do every year without all the extra distractions. john had some time off of work, too. we didn’t do much but we were all together which is the most important part!
and then there’s new years of course! cheers to a new year! you kids had a jammy party at nini & pa's house on new year's eve...they invited you guys over to celebrate, they're so special. so...about the new year...i feel good going into this one. i feel like we have a plan in order to be organized. i think it’ll be a good one! scratch that....i KNOW it will be a good one! with a family like this, how could it not? we are so blessed! happy new year! can't wait to see what this year brings!
so thankful for my family.
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