11/30

Tender hearted today.  Enjoying this moment because he doesn't always like me to rock him to sleep!  Have to enjoy that nursing time with him...and I do! I can't get over how precious he is with that little thumb in his mouth.  I love this feeling right here! This age doesn't last long enough!

Chase asked to hold his baby as soon as he got home from school.

I'm so proud of him as a big brother!  His love for him is beautiful...it really is!  And Sylas loves him right back!

At bedtime after we tucked the boys into bed they snuck back out into the living room.  Usually this gets annoying..but instead - this time I'm enjoying this sweet little conversation....

Chase: you sound like Cole at school
Milo: yeah, he's my friend
Chase: everyone is your friend at school
Milo: even you!
Chase: But I am in kindergarten though
Milo: yeah, but you still my buddy!

I seriously would not give up these sweet moments for ANYTHING!  So special and perfect to me.  My heart is full!

It's Here!

Inventory has ARRIVED!  Holy cow!  Thats A LOT of clothes!

Amy Jo came over to help me with the initial overwhelming set up.  I was SOOO thankful for that!  It would have taken me all stinkin' day by myself.  We had fun.  I was trying not to let myself get anxiety during it...haha.  It's a lot to take in at first!

Holy crap!  I have a clothing store IN MY BASEMENT!!

Last step was to get my backdrop all finalized.  Josh and I worked on getting that figured out...but we couldn't have done it without our biggest helper of all!  Mr. Milo - right there along with me in this journey every step of the way!  That's the way I WANT it to be!

P.S.  Isn't that the cutest little tushy ya ever did see?!  ; )  We think Milo has the cutest little bum ever!

All Set Up

More playing with Christmas stuff the next day.  They knew right where everything went.  And even set the animals up to eat some food.  : )  Cute!

I did the rest of the house while they were at school but waited til they were both home to help me with the final step..the nativity.  We're officially all set up now!

Decorating Time

Normally we spend the weekend after Thanksgiving decorating...but since we had to go to Ruth's for her Thanksgiving on Sunday - we had to do things a little differently this year.  We wanted BOTH big boys to be in on putting up the tree especially..that's the most important part.  So as soon as Chasey got home from school on Monday we got the tree up.  We turned on The Grinch and got busy!  They liked their new ornaments!  I went with what they were for Halloween this year as their ornament this time..so Chase's was a Kylo Ren and Milo's was Black Panther.

We were super smart last year and just carried the tree still put together with the lights on it down the steps and stored it in the basement just like that.  So all we had to do was carry it upstairs and plug it in.  Then add the ornaments.  That's the fun part anyways!  MUCH more enjoyable this way!!

Haha - Daddy's star helpers!  Not sure how we'll do it when Sylas wants to be involved too.  : )

Love them!

Ta-Da!  Beautiful as always!

Sylas woke up from his nap when we were all done and we got his first ornament hung up.

I have had these slippers since I was a little girl and I've always loved them...so when I saw the little boy shoes I HAD to get them for Sylas' first ornament.

My big helper wanted to help me fix supper.

While the boys took their bath Josh and I hung lights in their bedroom to surprise them.  They loved it!

Sylas checking out our silly barking Christmas dog.  : )  Chase loves to see Sy's reaction to things.

Pretending to be Santa.  He was going all through the house singing "we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year".  : )

It was one of those super cozy evenings where we were all just enjoying being together and happy. (and without electronics...my favorite time spent together)  And putting up the Christmas tree ALWAYS makes things cozy as it is...so that helped too.  Chase was drawing pictures in his doodle book with his best buddy by his side.  : )  Love those 2!

Smiles for Momma!  I love this little one too!

I love getting out the Christmas stuff - it's like new toys every year.  Watching them still play like little boys is purely heartwarming.

Ending our night with a baby on my lap and 2 boys in Daddy's lap...Christmas tree glowing..Christmas books being read.  So perfect!

Yes...it gets even more perfect!  I love how Milo cuddles with stuffed animals when he sleeps.  He latched right on to the Christmas bear that we got out.  : )

First year with FIVE stocking!  Look at us go!  I bought 5 matching stockings the year that I bought stockings when we first got married because we always thought we'd have 3 kids and I always had the same stocking growing up so I thought it'd be cool if we did too.  Well...it works for now anyways!  Mitchell family might just have to get NEW stockings if we ever become a family of 6.  : )

Ruth's Thanksgiving

Ruth decided to have her Thanksgiving this year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving so that Bobbi could come.  We weren't sure how it'd work out with Josh's schedule because he didn't have any weekend days left to take off - but it ended up working out for him to be here.  Although neither one of us felt like doing anything (it would have been nice to stay home and recoop before the boys had to go right back to school) we still went...because family is important to us.  And Taylor Jean might have killed us if we didn't go.  Haha

There was a lot of Ruth's side of the extended family there this time...so it was a little different.  We mostly hung out with Taylor and Jay this time.  Even though it was nice to not have to hop house to house in Thanksgiving day - we hope that next year we have to again...because this really made it even more exhausting dragging it out through the weekend.  And that's a wrap!  On to the next holiday...

Thanksgiving 2016

The start of my Thanksgiving day - pretty much perfect!  Chasey loves holding his baby brother...and I love that he does!  : )

Only one stop for us this year - and that was at Mom and Dad's at noon.  I'm having to get more and more accepting of a family picture that isn't "perfect".  Haha.

Our first holiday without Granddad.  Tender hearts all around.

Chase brought this "centerpiece" home from school and said we had to take it to Grandma's for the Thanksgiving party.  : )  I was SOOOO proud to do just that and have it on display.  Grandma loved it too.  I love him!  What a sweetheart.  And what a nice reminder right in the center of everything!

Sylas cried the first time Matthew took him but he tried again a short bit later and actually got him to sleep!  Cute!

I caught these guys sitting around the table talking about how old they are.  They held up their hands with their number and realized their the same ages!  : )

My old playhouse still getting played with!

Matthew and his cheesy grin.  Haha.

We looked through some old pictures from Grandma and Granddad Boyer's house.  Super fun!

I decided Vivi looks A LOT like me...I tried holding the picture up next to her face and taking a picture so you could see the comparison...but she was scowling so you couldn't tell...but seriously, that girl has some resemblance to me for sure!  Yay!

Ain't I just the cutest?  Haha.  Those orange tights they made us wear.  Haha!

The scowl.  Haha.  I swear when she smiles it's there though!

My baby boy survived his very first Thanksgiving!  And how sweet he was!  I was thankful to not have to go to lots of places in one day and be able to just stay put and get comfy.  Sylas got passed around a lot but was a sweetheart and good as gold.  The big boys had fun playing with cousins.  Great day!

Aaaand...They're Gone

Well guys...they really did it.  They really moved to Florida!  : (  They left the day after Thanksgiving - so the night before Thanksgiving day we had them over for supper one last time.

I ordered this for them.  I wanted it a little different - but this is what I could get fast...and I still really liked it.  So did they!  I made Alisha cry...which made me cry too.

We told the kids to have fun playing...because it would be a long time before they'd see them again.

It went way too fast!

I was on the verge of tears all evening.  These kiddos got along so good - I hope and pray they remember all the fun memories we've had with them...

We had a nice steak dinner.  Josh helped them load the u-haul the whole day before and they had talked about steak sounding good...so that was that!  Steak it was!

Ryan's good friend Tanner lives here in Nauvoo - so he and his girlfriend stopped by to say bye to them too.  We got some time with just them before they got here so we didn't mind.

Emilee's "muscles".  : )

I'm seriously going to cry all over again while I'm typing this.  I just hate it.  They've always had each other. They've always been close.  It just makes me so sad to see them go!  They were the only couple with kids (that like doing things involving the kids) that we could do things with and be ourselves and somewhat on the same page in life.  I'm not only sad for myself but my kids too.  They were the only cousins on Josh's side of the family that they even know.  I want that for them...  I bawled as they pulled away.  I don't know HOW we're going to stay in touch...and our kids too...but somehow it HAS to happen!