Not a Puppy, It's a Piglet!

Aunt Janet told Bradley that there would be piglets on New Year's Day and he did not forget!

He kept bugging me all day to see if they were born yet. Finally, when Dan got home he got a hold of Uncle Bryan and he said we could come down to see the piglets.

Jaxson saw them and kept saying, "Puppa! Puppa!" (Puppy! Puppy!)

He had to be corrected several times. The sow was so nice, she let the boys get in the pen and pick-up the babies.

 

 

After checking out all the baby pigs, we were all in the back of the barn chatting and I thought Jax was playing with the cats. Then  I went back to check on him and he was standing there watching all the pigs nurse on the mama pig. It was too cute, because he was so amazed by it.



Recapping 2012

Since I started blogging in June of 2012, I thought I would go back and recap the year to include some of the things that happened in 2012 before I began blogging.

 

In January, I returned to work as a fourth grade teacher. I had taken almost a year long maternity leave with Jaxson so it was very difficult to return. It was also extremely overwhelming trying to balance our family with two boys, a job that requires more than normal full time hours when school is in session and a husband that works some wacky shifts. During this month Bradley learned to write his name with some assistance. We also finally had enough snow to go sledding.
 

In February, our family began to see signs that I was becoming incredibly overwhelmed. On night while trying to multitask, I fell down the stairs with Jaxson on my hip. I didn't think anything was wrong and I put him to bed. Dan went to wake him up the next morning to take him to the babysitter and realized there was something wrong. In the emergency room, he learned I had fell on and broken his foot. I was a mess! He ended up getting a cast which he got out of twice and had to have three different casts. It was epic! We called him Houdini for a while.

In March, things were rather calm, the cast finally came off permanently. Jaxson also turned one. We had decent sized party for him in the fellowship hall at the church. He was a big fan of cake!

 

 

In April, we took a vacation to Florida and made a stop at Disney so Bradley could finally see the castle. We rented a beach house with my Mom, her husband, my brother and his girlfriend and ever since Bradley has this belief that we own a beach house.

 

 

 

 

Watching the show in front of the castle and riding in the front seat of Goofy's Roller Coaster at the Magic Kingdom.

 

At the beginning of May, Jaxson finally began walking. I turned in my letter of resignation and I started this blog about our family.



 

 

2012 was another wonderful year for our family we had a lot of great opportunities to do some great things as a family. We lost some beloved furry family members and gained another one. Hoping 2013 is another blessed year for our family.

New Year's Eve Snow Fun

On the last day of 2012, I reminisced with Dan about past New Year's Eves, particularly our first New Year's Eve together as we rang in 2004. It was the last big party he and his roommates had in their Mill Creek apartment. Brad Hillis was there partying with the rest of us. Mark brought cases of Verde Spumanti Champagne, which we later decided to use as our wedding toast champagne. Dan had worked second shift and arrived home around 10pm after I had already done some partying with everyone else. Everyone was there, a lot of people that I hadn't met yet, but have become some of my closest friends, it was a fun NYE!

Now to ringing in 2013, Dan came home from work and it was a much different scene. It was only three o'clock and it had snowed most of the day and the boys were really wanting to go outside and play. So I bundled them up and we went outside to play. There were no cases of champagne waiting, just two little boys.

 

 

Jaxson picked up a chunk of snow and looked at me and said, "Cookie!" So he decided to eat it.

 

 

Snow Angel Bradley

 

Snow Angel Mommy

 

 

Bradley really wanted to make a snowman, but the snow just was not packing well enough.

 

 

After playing in the snow, we went to pick up a pizza. The kids were in bed bed by nine and Dan was asleep by ten since he had woke up at four in the morning to go to work. I stayed up and watched the countdown and worked on a project I had started. My oh my how our lifestyles have changed in the last nine years, but I wouldn't want it to be any other way.

 



Christmas Time is Family Time

By the end of the Christmas season for 2012, our family had been to five different Christmas gatherings.

It started Sunday evening, we had Christmas with my Dad, AKA Popa and Nana. It was the easiest dinner ever, they brought salad and a pie and we picked up Pizza King.
Dad got the boys puzzles and the sandbox diggers with a seat and the levers on them, I cannot wait to see them use them outside together. Bradley also got LEGOs, a prized possession for him. Jaxson opened a MobiGo, all he can do with it right now is the painting game, but I am sure in a few more months he will have the thing figured out. I thought it would be good for hand-eye coordination development and for educational games.

The next night, Christmas Eve, we had Christmas with Dan's Mom and siblings. There were eight adults and seven kids there it was a bit crazy! Five of the cousins were age four or younger so there was paper flying everywhere. Dan's Mom got everyone new Columbia coats and the kids busy opening anything with paper on it, even gifts that didn't even have their names on them. There were toys everywhere at the end of the evening.

Then we went home and went to bed so that Santa could come that night.
The boys awoke on Christmas morning to this...

 

They actually let us sleep until about 8:30 on Christmas morning, I was anticipating being up much earlier. Then the excitement began...

 

 

 

Then it was time to get dressed and head over to Uncle Terry and Aunt Nancy's House for Christmas with the extended Hayworth Family (Dan's Dad's Family). There was good food and good conversation as always. They boys opened a medic helicopter from their cousin, Cindy, which has been making rescues all over the house and very large CAT dump truck from their Shedrow Cousins which has already made several noisy laps around the kitchen island. (I am sad that I do not have any pictures from this gathering, I forgot my camera at home and my phone was dead.)

 

We had a few days off from Christmas gatherings and then it was time to go to the last one this past Saturday. We went down to Uncle Doug and Aunt Deb's house to finally gift this extra puppy that had been living at our house for two weeks. Uncle Doug was pretty happy to receive Dolly.

 

 

It was also a great opportunity to see all the Great Aunts and Great Uncles and have the always popular Felix/Bramer White Elephant Gift exchange. We took a Car Wet/Dry Vacuum and a Thirty-One Medium Tote filled with baking supplies. We came home with a battery operated wine bottle opener and an Aroma Therapy Stuffed Animal.

 

 

The boys enjoying the appetizers, waiting to eat.

 

 

 

 

And the Christmas Gatherings were finally done for 2012...