December Life Lately

December was a weird month for us. It was marked by disparate swings from busy fun stuff to at home with out Bryan for days at a time.  We enjoyed our Disney trip at the beginning of the month and then Bryan was gone pretty much Monday through Friday until Christmas. 

Below are a few pictures that I probably haven't already shared in our Christmas posts. 

Charlie was greatly amused to find Christmas trees on his plates and bowls after I pulled out the Christmas china. 

The first two weeks of having the tree Charlie was utterly fascinated and we had to tell him not to touch the tree so many times. By the end of the month it wasn't such an issue. There is hope for you mamas of little ones. 

Charlie and I attempted to rake one day. He was not such a good helper at this task. 

Mom remembered she had this coat in storage. It was my brothers and its the perfect size for Charlie right now! 

Charlie and his Bubba. 

Well that wraps up 2016. It's been a crazy year. Ultimately it treated us pretty good, but I'm excited to see what comes in 2017. 

Happy New Year!

Grubbs/Mitchum/Mickler Christmas

This year the Mickler's were with us from Florida.  We enjoyed brunch at my parents house before opening presents.

Baddorf Christmas

Before the New Year I want to get in our family Christmas posts.  These are mostly pictures for the respective family members and to immortalize the events.

We enjoyed a brunch potluck at our house before reading Luke 2 and The Gift of the Maggi. 

Charlie really understood presents this year. It was precious seeing him look at his presents before opening and arranging and then rearranging them. 

2017 Goals, and a recap of 2016

I love making goals! The only thing I look forward to at new years time is goal setting. I'm a bit of a dork.

Let's first look back at my 2016 goals:

Reading: I failed spectacularly at this one depending on how you look at it. I wanted to read around 50 books, but the real goal was to get my to-read list to dwindle down. That did not happen. To-Read count is close to 90 now.  That's not really a problem though. My Goodreads profile if you want to follow along.

Food: Last year I wanted to up my breakfast game. Eh, I did okay. I started trying more breakfast casseroles for a little while. This was nice, especially since I would try to make them for Saturday morning. But I sort of fell off the bandwagon. Charlie's breakfasts are pathetic.

Marriage: I wanted to do 12 date nights during the year. I didn't keep a close watch on this, but I'm pretty sure I succeeded. Keeping this one the same.

Exercise: I didn't have a plan for the year, other than do more and participate in a 30 day yoga challenge in January. I did really well at the beginning of the month, but by the middle I got hit with a bad cold and then a sinus infection and had to take some time off.  I am proud to say that I've been doing better at exercising regularly. I try to do a walk/run or yoga two to three times a week, with the goal of exercising in some form four to five times a week. I'm not perfect and this week has been a total lapse as I'm struggling with another cold.

For 2017:

Reading: Setting my Goodreads challenge at 52 again. Not working about to-read counts. I've come across several great reading challenges, but I don't think I'm going to commit to one. If I get stuck in a rut they will be my fall back. I do love the idea of challenging yourself to read broader and smartly. (If you are looking for a reading challenge: Modern Mrs. Darcy Challenge, a Christian Reading Challenge)

Food: I've really enjoyed reading and cooking through cookbooks. So this year I'd like to cook through at least 6 cookbooks. Trying at least 10 recipes from each book. I'll report back here.

Marriage: 12 Date nights, at least once a month.

Exercise: Continue on trying to exercise in some capacity 4-5 times a week. Yoga with Adriene is doing another 30 day challenge that I might take.

House: With the new house there is so much I want to do. For the first part of the year I've got several goals:

• Master bathroom phase 1: paint the room and replace avocado green fixtures (toilet roll holder, tooth brush holder, and sink dish). 
• Paint guest bedroom, install crown molding
• Make and install two raised beds in the backyard
• Make and install a countertop for the laundry area.

Religious: our Sunday school is reading through the whole Bible this year and Bryan and I will be participating again. I'm looking forward to what the Lord is going to show us this year. 

So there you go. It's out there in the world now. 

I hope you have a very happy New Year! 

Our Family Christmas

Warning: This is a picture heavy post. 

I will do posts on various family gatherings, but this post is just Bryan, Charlie and I. 

The three of us went to the 4 pm family service at our church on Christmas Eve. They have nursery for the 2 and unders, but we wanted to see if Charlie would enjoy the service. 

He made it through the whole thing. He didn't listen to the sermon, of course, but he wasn't the most disruptive child. So that's a win. 

Probably the sweetest moment of this whole Christmas season was when we were singing O, Come, O, Come Emmanuel. Charlie stood on the pew between us and held each of our hands as we sang. 

After church we went to Panda Garden for the traditional Chinese dinner. My dad's family always goes, but they don't go until Charlie's bedtime, so we went by ourselves. 

Once at home we opened presents to/from each other. 

I give Charlie an ornament each year. Bryan helped him put it on the tree. 

Charlie's Santa loot. 

When he got up we told him that Santa had home. He was so excited. I think I'm going to make him take a picture every Christmas morning on the stairs. 

We did stockings Christmas morning. 

Bryan did a great job on mine this year. 

Our attempt at a timer family photo. 

Selfie family photo complete with crying toddler. 

It was a sweet, fun Christmas. Charlie brings so much joy and fun to the season.