January 2016

Well, January can be summed up with the words, "cabin fever". Thanks to storm Jonas and a few rounds of colds that all of us caught, we were cooped up WAY too long. We enjoyed watching lots of Netflix and hanging out, but it has been nice to settle back into a routine these last few weeks. One of the biggest changes this month is that I started doing personal training to get my eating habits and working out habits all sorted out and it has been THE. BEST. THING. EVER. I have never felt better. 

Anyway, onto all the pictures from this month and their clever captions...

My mom bought this cute little outfit for Jack when she came to help after he is born. I love the little turtle on his bum.

Little Jack and I hang out the most during Eva's nap in the middle of the day. We have heart to hearts and I tickle him until he full out belly laughs. 

Jack likes to fall asleep with something near his face. For example...

Sunday best. Love the sweater vest. 

Also, I can not get enough of these big brown eyes! So cute. 

Here is some of the damage done by storm Jonas. This was about a half day short of the final product. At the end of the storm our car was just a mound of white.

...and of course we love Costco, so this is us hanging out at Costco, desperately trying to get out after being cooped up. 

 Another picture of Jack...

I got this adorable cute skirt for my birthday and I love it! 

Jack started sucking his thumb recently. It's pretty hit and miss, but we are hoping it sticks...

I love hanging out with these two everyday. They are so great. 

Eva calls this goat puppet an 'Elmo Baa'. I love how creative she is with putting her words together. Any day now she is going to burst into full blown sentences. 

Also, this month, this happened (SO awesome!).

Eva is on the verge of potty training and has already moved to a 'big girl' bed. I can't believe how big she is getting. She makes me laugh everyday. She is silly and a tease and can be quite the stinker, but I love being her mother.

We got a package in the mail from Grandma Lyons. Eva just couldn't wait to put on her new Minnie PJs. She saw them and the next thing I knew her pants were puddled on the floor and she was attempting to pull her shirt over her head. 

Jack at 3 Months

I'm so glad he joined our little family 3 months ago. His sweet little smile just brightens my day.

At 3 months he...
- loves to smile his big toothless grin at anyone who will give him some attention.
- laughs full belly laughs already
- is super ticklish and will laugh when tickled. He also thinks that any wardrobe change is a tickle session and so will laugh while being dressed and undressed (it's super cute).
- is super snuggly (maybe even clingy). We've had a few rough nights this week because he doesn't want to sleep in his own bed suddenly.
- loves his big sis
- has started cooing and 'talking'
- seems to be ahead of the curve on hand-eye coordination. He focuses in on things he wants and after a few minutes always seems to grab the wanted object.
- can see the flickering TV screen and loves lights
- is definitely a mama's boy

We love him to pieces!

Eva's 2nd Birthday and Jack's Blessing

Two days after Christmas, we celebrated Eva's birthday. That day also happened to be Jack's blessing day. My parents, Madi and Sam and Megan were all able to join us for the day. Morgan gave a wonderful blessing to sweet Jack. After church, we met back at the Lyons house for food and a birthday party for Eva.

I made Eva a minion cake for this birthday. It was super fun to put together.

 For her birthday, we got Eva a purse with all the fixings (phone, wallet, keys, lipstick, eye shadow and nail polish)

We has such  fun day with these two kiddos. I'm so grateful for both of them and Happy Birthday Little Eva!

Christmas 2015

This year for Christmas break we took the whole family to Colorado Springs to visit Morgan's family. We had planned to just stay in Virginia this year, but after getting all nostalgic about Christmas's past, we decided to check plane ticket prices. We found a great deal and a day later we had booked a flight and I'm so glad we did! Morgan only gets two more long Christmas breaks and then we fall into the regular working schedule so I'm glad we took advantage of the time while we have it. We are spending 20 days out west and then still have 2 weeks before classes once we get back.

I feel like I did a pretty good decorating job on our house this year, but there is something to be said for years to collect decorations. When we arrived at Morgan's house it was clear full of Christmas nick-nacks and twinkle lights and wreaths. We had a week and a half before Christmas and so we watched lots of movies and just relaxed after a long semester.

Here is Eva watching Winnie the Pooh. 

A few days after we arrived, Aleisha, James, Grace and Shay all arrived from Utah. It was so nice to be all together again. We finished up Christmas shopping, and had a grand time all together complete with plenty of sports watching and snack food. 

This Christmas day was probably the best ever. Eva was a little older and more excited about her toys and the whole experience. We got her a doll and a tutu for Christmas.

 Eva in her new tutu!

 I got a 50 ml lens for my camera so I played around a bit. 

 Eva and her dolly. 

 Jack loved Christmas as well, as you can clearly tell. 

 Grandma Lyons got Eva the doll stroller, which really completed the ensemble. 

We got so many treats and so many fun things. Sadly I was not sneaky enough and Morgan found out all the gifts I was going to give him before Christmas, so no surprises there, but Morgan managed to surprise me with these beautiful shoes:

And his mom got me that awesome diaper bag you see in the background.  I'm so glad we decided to make the trip to Colorado.