CHRISTmas 2013

right this very second as i document our christmas 2013 

a miracle of enormous proportions is going down at the echols house!....

it is the middle of the day and ALL 3 BOYS are SLEEPING!! 

now let me get on with it before the circus commences...

christmas tradition states:

 first: you may open one present christmas eve. 

it will be pajamas, 

they may or may not fit no matter what the tag says. 

you will look adorable....regaurdless. 

second: your elf on the shelf, lou lou, will be watching your every move to bring a nightly report as to which list your name should reside!

however she herself is not held to the same standards 

she peer pressured our neighbors elf leroy into making snow angels before heading off to report....

 then she strong armed buzz, woody and jessie into setting up a zip line right in the middle of our living room. 

I'm not sure this elf has the moral compass to judge the naughtiness or niceness of any little boys or girls.

{at our house the boys can give lou lou a kiss and hug good-bye because santa is coming to pick her up so she doesn't need magic to fly home}

and despite what i'm sure quite a few of lou lou's nightly reports were...

SANTA still came! 

and may i just say...

these 3 littles hit the jack pot.

and just like all of us after a day filled with so much excitement and wonder, food and family, toys and treats. 

its time to fat dog it on your new love sac with your fuzzy blanket and milk of some variety.

and then when there is nothing else left to do.. just be awesome!

cuz they've mastered that. 

i love christmas

i love spending time with family, i love shopping, and wrapping, and eating  

and eating while wrapping.

 i love the spirit of the season and the time set aside to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

there are so many things that i love about this time of year.

trying to get the perfect Christmas pajama picture is not one of them. 

luckily... we nailed it!

* MERRY CHRISTMAS *

Its beginning...

we are running out of space to store brown boxes from the north pole aka amazon

the tree has been trimmed and re-trimmed and re-trimmed

and the little munchkins are on a constant sugar high from goodies delivered to the door step. 

so i guess that means christmas is just around the corner. 

HOOOORAY!

I HEART CHRISTMAS

the magic of christmas is real

so i'm hoping that the combined 14 years of bad luck that was risked while taking this picture

is twinkled away somehow. 

because since the addition of numero tres

 we really don't need the universe or superstition breaking karma or anything else working against us.

we are doing just fine on our own,

we've got the up hill battle thing covered around here. 

and even as i reflect on the rat race of a day its been

i can't help but feel gratitude for the 3 little boys that are mine,

that i get to spend christmas with every year

and every other day of the year.

and as cliche as it sounds, they really are the best little gifts i could have ever hoped for... 

...although their tree decorating skills are not quiet up to snuff.

luckily i've refined mine over the last 30 or "so" years

since my own mom had to play the role of 

magic tree fixing fairy in the wee hours of the night. 

here's to hoping that it doesn't come down on top of one of them 

while they attempt to rearrange it for the 73rd time. 

CHEERS!

HAPPY holidays

To say i have a lot to be grateful for this HOLIDAY SEASON would be an understatement. 

and although the list is never ending and ever growing, 

these 4 are at the very tip top.

{ i can say 4 because thats arron dressed up in the jolly mans red suit }

props to fotofly for this GENIUS idea for the littles who wouldn't get within 10 feet of the real deal. 

and to put it simply

i am thankful for the birth of our Savior and His Plan of Happiness.

because that is why we are here

 to be happy.

life is hard and life is crazy

 but with these 4 life is happy.

wishing YOU ALL a very HAPPY holiday season!

with Love:

Arron, Lisa, Gabe, Mac & Pax