It's a wrap!

The presents are all unwrapped and our house is sprinkled with toys. Christmas 2010 is officially a wrap!

It was the best Christmas I can remember! We spent lots of time doing festive things, hanging out with family, and working many a candlelight services at Church of the Highlands.

We made cookies...



We feed reindeer...



We enjoyed all of our Christmas Cards! Thanks so much for sending them!



We opened lots of gifts...



...at 6am. Notice it is still dark outside!




And I finally got my dream of a white Christmas!!!!





We also celebrated Brendan's Birthday!!! We love him so much and he is such a blessings to this family!

He has been wanting a remote control helicopter for some time (kid at heart) so that's what he got this year...



It has been flying around the house all weekend!



Collins loved it... NOT!



So there you have it. The Fuller family Christmas.

That Baby in a manger has been so good to us!!

We truly are a blessed family!!

Courtney

Iced Houses

We have been very busy around here. Not in a running in circles kind of way, but a good way! Spending lots of time with friends and family, not to mention lots of play groups with school being out. I have been in the kitchen a lot making super cute jars of honey butter and lots of chocolate pies... and I didn't take a picture of any of it.

Honestly, I've been far to busy living life to capture it.

However, when it was time to make gingerbread houses I did break out the camera:







Christmas is exhausting...



I am trying to lay off the computer some lately. Is it just me, or can it become all consuming??

Staying on Facebook or reading blogs puts me in a weird funk. It makes me discontent, envious, jealous, and disillusioned. So I am trying to keep this laptop closed. I still want to blog on occasion, but that's it. I am really looking forward to January where I plan to fast the internet all together!

Focusing on CHRISTmas,

Courtney

Sparks of Change

By far my favorite thing about my home is the fireplace. It is one of the huge benefits of a 1950's home :)

Our fireplace has seen lots of love through the years. We literally burn around the clock in the winter and all that burning has caused the bricks to become weak, so Bren had to re-brick the inside. I figured since the inside got a face lift so should the outside :)

This is what things looked like a couple of days ago...



This is what things look like tonight...



I got a great idea from this blog and decided to breakout my tools and get to work.



It literally took an hour! Bren cut and nailed, and I roughly painted and added the hinges.



So whatcha think? Doesn't it add to the mantel a whole lot! So happy to have something fresh to look at :) Oh and that mirror that was above the mantel... don't be sad for it, it's getting a makeover too!

One last thing : The painting I was working on in the last post was a family tree for Bren's parents. They have received it, so now I can blog about it :)



Courtney

He's come a long way...

Jack and his relationship with Santa that is.

Two years ago:


This year:


Collins has a very long way to go...



Pure terror:


Hope Santa leaves him a little something anyways :)

Just in full Christmas swing around here:

Jacks annual Christmas concert at preschool. Can't believe this is his last one :(



And Picasso Me painting a few gifts :)



Certainly in the Christmas spirit around here!

Courtney

Diggin' Denver

Seriously, can I tell you how much I loved Denver?!?!

We had the best time! We felt like young kids dating in a cool place without a care in the world!



We toured every nook and cranny of that great city, visited Red Rocks, visited Golden - home of Coors (as in beer) plant...



We also went snowmobiling and had the best time ever! It certainly topped our list of funnest things we have ever done. The pictures really don't do it justice... but I'll share any way's :)



Brendan standing on the Continental Divide. The ski runs of Winter Park in the background.





Our friends Alex and Ashley hooked us up with an awesome vacation and a seriously cool place to stay. We are totally jealous of their early 1900's Craftman style home. Everything about that house made me drool... speaking of drool, did I mention they just had a super sweet baby Hudson?



This is in his nursery. His momma got the cards off Etsy and the window frame came from their house.



What a great idea that was!

These are some other pics of my dream house :)





Had such a great time!! Made memories that will last forever!

Courtney

The season has arrived!

Our tree is up! We didn't exactly go with tradition this year and cut one down. Nope, we went to Home Depot ( Its still real though :) It was partly because I'm a cheap skate and partly because our schedule has quickly filled up. I am learning I have to be PURPOSEFUL in not becoming overwhelmed.



I am also learning that Christmas isn't about having the lights and ornaments match my decor. This is something that we all should be able to share in. I have allowed the kids to play a huge part it decorating and making the house fun. It goes against all my OCD desires :)

We have just been hanging out beside the fire. Playing with our breakable Christmas houses. Putting ornaments on the tree. Taking ornaments off the tree. Cleaning needles off the floor. Baking cookies...



Jack even called me in the playroom to show me what he had made out of the train set...



We are just having a good ole' time!

Thursday Bren and I are off to Denver. Can I tell you how excited we are!!??! Going to see some great friends! Hopefully I will have lots of good pics to share ; )

Until then,

Courtney

Christmas pics: Take 1

I would be lying if I said I look forward to trying to take Christmas pics. Actually, I get a huge knot in my stomach because I know what I am up against.

You see... my boys hate the camera, they hate pictures. It's my fault. I've ruined them.

Taking 10,000 pictures (literally) will do that.

But persevere I will!

Yep, I will try to give them a pep talk...



Brendan will attempt the pep talk...



We will try to get them to stay still...



But they won't. Nope they will run...



They will be captured by daddy...





All that for the hopes that a momma will get a sweet picture with her little boy...



Or those wild boys will stop a moment and look my way...







Love the pictures I got, but so glad it is over ;)

Life with boys,

Courtney





Fuller 1st Annual Camping trip

I am a lover of the outdoors. Brendan is a lover of the outdoors.



Therefore, it is only natural we want our boys to be lovers of the outdoors ;)



So this weekend we set out for our first camping trip. We have been slowly collecting camping stuff over the past few years in anticipation of this occasion. We picked Oak Mountain State Park for our first site because it is the least primitive. The boys could hardly contain themselves they were so excited!

We went for two... 2 man tents. We bought high quality gear and tried to plan for the long term, not so much for the little kid stage. I thought having their own tent might scare them, but it didn't a bit! Actually, they were so excited about having their own tent that they went to play in it and fell asleep at 6:30!





Our favorite thing was just hiking and being outside. Away from t.v. and mounds of toys.



Well, that and eating ;)



The best campfire philly cheese steaks ever!



They only "bump" in the road was that Collins was up at 4:30. And he wasn't quietly up, nope. He was screaming "pancakes and milk" at the top of his lungs! So we quickly took camp down, threw it in the back of the truck, and went to Cracker Barrel.

All in all it was a big success. We are trying to be very intentional about making memories, and I'm pretty sure we made some this weekend!

Courtney