it's snowing! it's snowing!

Living in the south, we get pumped about snow.  Like shut the city down, pumped.  We had a decent amount of snow pass through here which was wonderful!  Except for one minor detail:

Work.  My work.  My work with me scheduled to work.  Which means, no snow day for mama.  Which really means, mama's stuck at the hospital.

So I was there, while Brandon was here:

Here's the situation.  It started snowing on a Tuesday while I was at work.  I could have probably made it home (slowly) Tuesday night after work.  However...I had to work again on Wednesday.  When you work at a hospital, you can't just not show up to work.  Our patients would not appreciate that.  So I decided to stay.  Thankfully I anticipated the possibility of snowy weather, so I had clothes for the next day and all of the other necessities...except for pajamas.  I forgot pajamas.  Well, our manager came to the rescue (sort of) and found an extra t-shirt for me to sleep in (along with the leggings I wore under my scrub pants to walk in the hospital).  And by extra t-shirt, I mean extra extra extra...3XL.

Glamorous, I know. 

Rewind just a few hours, after our shift finished Joelle (a friend and fellow nurse) and I decided we could not breathe the hospital air for another minute so we went to Franklin Street to have dinner.  We went to Top of the Hill, which was a ghost town like the rest of the city, and enjoyed a drink and some food.  We then frolicked in the snow a bit [aka we ran down the sidewalk to the Walgreens so Joelle could buy some deoderant] and then headed back to the hospital to cozy up in one of the extra on call rooms. 

{That's Joelle running and jumping, if you can't tell}

So after a total of maybe 2 hours of sleep (how do people do it?!?!) we woke up, brushed our teeth, and went back to work.  Not something I'd like to do again...EVER.

In the meantime, Brandon and Lucas are at home, having a BLAST.  Lucas got to put on all of his snowy weather apparel and play outside!

Toddler problem: Arms are too short to prevent you from face planting in the snow if you fall forwards.

I love this picture below. Our neighbors across the street took it and sent it to me while I was at work.  That is our house with kids sledding down the road. Brandon and Lucas are on the middle sled!

Thankfully I was able to safely make it home that night and Lucas and I had our own snow party the next day before it all started to melt!

the potty dance and marbles kids museum

Exciting things are happening around here, folks. Lucas has shown quite an interest in the potty.  I know he isn't ready to potty train, but we'll take the early practice!  I put him on the potty one morning with his new potty book, and he DID IT!  I yelled at Brandon (who was downstairs) and he came bolting up the stairs and into the bathroom.  We busted out into the most impromptu potty dance in the bathroom while Lucas was still sitting on the potty staring at us and giggling!  

And then he got to flush the potty and you know that was really exciting!

After the potty party, we headed over to Marbles Kids Museum to celebrate!  It was our first time at Marbles and we had a great time.  Lucas hit the ground running and didn't stop the entire time we were there.

The picture below makes me laugh so hard. Brandon wanted Lucas to be interested in the giant game of chess (lame, I know).  You may not know this about Brandon, but he loves chess.  He was a competitive chess player when he was a kid and went to nationals and everything.  Seriously.  But as you can see, Lucas was not interested!

Wiped out on the way home.  Success!

To my sweet little Lucas, we are so proud of you big boy.  Keep up the good work!

oops, i did it again.

Here we go again. I'm super behind on the blog. Why do I always let this happen? 

Stay tuned for the catch up game. I will back date posts for the sake of this being my virtual scrapbook.

Sorry, friends!  Maybe one day I'll be better at this...

[but let's face it, probably not.]

christmas in raleigh

The glamorous 3 day work week of a nurse definitely has it's downfalls, y'all. This was my year to work Christmas so we had to stay in Raleigh.  This was the first Christmas EVER that we weren't able to be at our parents house, and I mourned for that a little.  Although the thought of having Christmas at our house is exciting, it still felt different.

This was the Hymel's year to get Christmas day (we flip flop between Brandon's parents and my parents each year) so the whole Hymel crew, pups included, invaded our new house!  And it was fantastic.

I would like to take a minute to point out the above picture.  Mainly, the psychotic pup you see uncontrollably howling on my husband's lap.  Now look at the other two pups, behaving and looking quite regal.  And the stubborn toddler who may not be smiling, but is at least looking at the camera.  And then all the rest of the humans who are looking quite festive and normal despite an oddly warm December day.  Now...look back at my sweet dog.  Bless her heart.  Her prozac can only do so much, I guess.  

I digress.  Christmas with Lucas this year was so much fun.  He acted like the Christmas tree in our living room was new every day, gasping with excitement each morning we would come down the stairs.  And the presents!  He understood that those were presents and they were special and most of them were for him!  There was such a sweet balance of excitement and calmness with his regards to the gifts.  He was SO excited to open them! Open them!  That's what he kept saying.  But when it was all done, he was not a brat about it, and I consider that a HUGE success and I hope he stays that way forever. 

 He very carefully unwrapped each present that was set before him

And after each present, we would remind him who it was from.  He would then walk up to whoever the present was from and say with the sweetest and most sincere tone that his little voice could muster, "thank you unka J aunt K."  "thank you Nana. thank you Poppy." etc. etc. etc.

And I melted.

I was complete mush by the time he got to me. He walked up to me and took a deep breath and shrugged those little shoulders up and down and said "thank you mommy" and I started crying.  Yep.  On Christmas in the middle of my living room I cried like a baby because I was overwhelmed at the sweetness of this child.  And then mom and Kelsey got teary too!  It was kind of ridiculous but oh so sweet.

After Lucas was finished opening his own presents, he wanted to hand other people their presents.  So he would come up to the tree and pick a present, then bring it to me and I would tell him who to give the present to. He would then walk over to that person and hand them the present, they would exchange their thank you's, and Lucas would sit in front of them to watch them open their present.  Of course we let him help tear the wrapping paper, but he was so good and patient.

(I clearly still hadn't pulled myself together by this point, yet.)

Then...Christmas morning came! And Santa came! And I was able to stay home from work!

The day after Christmas, Brandon's parents came through town on their way to Florida!  I don't know what happened, I didn't take many pictures.  But Lucas got gifts from Aunt Sis (Steph) and Uncle Wes in Florida, and of course MiMi and PaPa. It was way too short of a visit!

Brandon's Uncle Tim had a job as a truck driver and was on his way through Raleigh on Christmas, so he stopped by the house and Lucas got to see his big truck.

It truly was an incredible Christmas.  There is so much to be thankful for this season. 

I am thankful for Jesus, my friends and family, and this silly boy who has rocked our world. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

santa, you just totally redeemed yourself.

We visited the pediatrician's office on Christmas Eve.  I was sad, my little one wasn't feeling well. This was our first sick visit...ever.  Diagnosis: ear infection.  Santa gave Lucas a 10 day course of antibiotics for Christmas.  Umm, big guy in red, we need to talk about that.  You sent his very first ear infection on Christmas?  Look at this face!  [And those eyelashes!] Come on.

But we really did have a happy little sickie.  He was just a little puny and didn't eat well for a few days, but still.  So sad.

Then Santa pulled through.  See, I was supposed to work on Christmas Day.  Here's how it works...we can pretty much assume that we will be low census on Christmas (traditionally this has proven to be true) so we don't need as many nurses on low census days.  So to be fair, they draw names out of a cup (literally) to determine the order in which people will be offered the call-off.  And true to form, my name was drawn dead last.  L.A.S.T.  So I knew I would be at work on Christmas Day.  (I was scheduled to be on for Christmas simply because it was my turn, that's just how the cards this year fell.) So.  Enter Christmas morning.  It's 5:00 a.m. and my phone rings.  In my sleepy stupor I fumble around and answer the phone.  "Hello?!"  And I hear the most glorious words I have ever heard [well not really] on the other line:  "Hey Ashley, Merry Christmas!  Would you like to be called off?"  And in my sleepy stupor I start swatting at Brandon, waking him up saying "Brandon!  It's work!  What do I do?!"  As if that was even a question.  He yells back at me, "TAKE IT!"  Then I'm snapped back into reality and scream "YESSSSS!" into the phone and ask a million more questions like "how in the world is this happening" then I try to go back to sleep, knowing now Santa can really come on Christmas!  (Instead of the day after, which was the plan.)

More on Christmas later.  For now, Santa, you totally redeemed yourself. 

a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

This year, our Christmas card's heading was "a thrill of HOPE the weary world REJOICES!"

Can I get an amen?

I don't know what it is about this year, but I have been brought to tears on numerous occasions, listening to the lyrics of Christmas carols that I have heard for the past 27 years.  I think that this year, my heart has been penetrated in a new way to the earth shattering meaning of these hymns.  Our world is so weary.  But we can REJOICE because our Savior has come.

"hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled."  God and sinners reconciled.  God and sinners reconciled.  How beautiful it is that we can be reconciled with a holy God.  That he loves me enough to send his son into this world to be born in the dirt.  I am not worthy, but HE is.

I think one of the most beautiful Christmas carols is 'O Holy Night'.  It was impossible for me to hear this song, especially the instrumental version, and not get choked up with thanksgiving.  Hearing a familiar song without it's lyrics makes me meditate on the words and think about the magnitude of what it's saying.

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees

O hear the angel voices
O night divine!
O night when Christ was born
O night divine!
O night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains He shall break, for the slave is our brother.

And in His name, all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise His holy name
Christ is the Lord!
Their name forever praise we

Noel, Noel
O night, O night divine
Noel, Noel
O night, O night divine
Noel, Noel
O night, O holy night

"truly He taught us to love one another. His law is love and his gospel is peace." We need this more today than ever.  The world around us values love and even sings about how love is all you need.  It's not.  The gospel is all you need.  His law is love, and his gospel is peace.  That's what we need.

Do you feel this way?  Are you moved by the glorious mystery that came in the form of a baby boy in a manger?  My goodness, it has wrecked me in the most beautiful way this year.

Merry Christmas, friends.

our growing boy

So to be honest, I have a bunch of random Lucas pictures I want to share.  So here you go!

our neighborhood does Christmas BIG.  And Lucas loved it!

That's all for now.  You're welcome.