I am SORRY!

I apologize a million times over for not posting anything for 2 whole months...YIKES! Life just got busy between finals, Christmas, and a lot of other things. Then school started back up this week, and yeah...
But enough with the excuses.

Grayson really loved Christmas. We have adopted the gift rule of something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read. This is inclusive of Santa and parent gifts, with only a few stocking stuffers being added. Since Grayson didn't really have a need he did get an extra toy in it's place.  With this rule, Christmas was stress free and we spent the time focused on Christ and spending time with family. With Christmas and our discussions, Grayson learned how to say baby, tree, ho ho ho, snow, and a few other words I can't quite remember.

Grayson and I started TOT School last week. I found the idea on my new addiction- pinterest- and decided to give it a try to give a little structure to what we are teaching him. We still teach through play and creativity, but for 20-40 minutes each day, we focus on the week's theme- last week it was RED. Each day has a theme (make something monday, tastey Tuesday, etc) and I have something planned for that day that follows that theme. We post the schedule and the theme so both the family, and Grayson's babysitter (while I am at school) know what he is working on that week. Of course, we still point out plenty of other things, but it helps me come up with new stuff and tie a weeks work of activities together on something we want to teach him.

Mike has been working hard and has started working out again. He is doing great and has lost 7 pounds in 3 weeks. He had lost 50 before Grayson was born and through fatherhood, stress, school, etc gained back 30. His goal is to lose that 30 and keep it off. Since he is not going to school this semester, he figured this is the perfect time to focus on that. I am also on the weight loss journey and have lost 9 pounds. Still have a long way to go, but slow and steady wins the race.

So, now to the fun stuff- PICTURES! These will probably be completely random in order- but here we go!

I should have used this on his 18 month (and maybe I did) as it was taken November 21

I was getting ready to go to school and turn around to find he had put his hat on and got his shoes. Poor kid wanted to come too.

Santa brought him a work bench and tools. He also got wooden cars (tired of too many plastic toys), a Mickey Mouse Rocket, and books.

We played minute to win it and he wanted to try shaking the jingle bells out like Daddy

He really enjoyed shaking his groove thing!

I will try to blog more often for anyone who might still be reading. Sorry for the lack of posts! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!