The Swarrell Life

First of all, I want to clear a few things out of my head. My parents split up when I was in 5th grade, so Christmas for the last 26 years has largely consisted of going lots of places for Christmas. Some time into my adulthood (some would debate whether I have actually achieved that...) I decided that, for major holidays, I would accept the first invitation I received. That was the rule. It made life simple for me, none of that messy relational mess of trying to make everything fair for everyone. Since getting married to Autumn in 2005, things naturally complicated themselves, first by adding in another set of family (or two) to visit, and second, by reintroducing fairness. You see, I moved about 400 miles to get married and start my new life with Autumn. That meant whatever time I spent visiting family was reduced greatly. Again: fairness. But life goes on and I have stumbled through the last few years with some success, but it is always a challenge to know what the right thing to ...

Here is a little preview of our Christmas weekend...It was a good time with my sister and dad. Enjoy! And you thought I dress poorly? Family photo Who's the man?

Things are hopping around here with Christmas coming so soon and the new year hot on its heels. With our families being in three different states, it makes for some busy weeks as we make the annual party rounds and visit with friends and family. I have had a little bit of a hard time sliding into the Christmas spirit this year, but it's hard to stay down when you have kids as cute as mine! Teagan in his new-to-him jumper thingee. We had an old one from Trinity, but this new and improved model from Super Olivia is much better! Thanks Olivia!Our boy's a little on the short side though, but we solved the height issue with a couple of books. Puzzled? Ponderous? Maybe just a staring contest. Hey, look at all this STUFF! A look of surprise? Too much Tabasco? This is the second Santa siting for Ava and Trinity, so I am not sure why this went down the way it did. Poor Chris, I mean Santa. He made a GREAT Santa. Right after Chris ho-ho-hoed his way in the door, Trinity jumps in my a...

Can you believe it's Christmas again already? Seems like we just had one of these last year... Also, can you believe that this guy is 4 months old? Wow! He is weighing in at 15lbs, 13oz. He has stretched out to 25 inches. That puts him in the 75th and 50th percentiles, respectively! We took Trinity and Teagan down to get their pictures taken with Santa, mostly to see them in cute outfits. Wait'll you see Teagan's...wait, here it comes: Bam! Santa baby indeed! I'm not sure what Trinity is telling Santa, but he's not thrilled to hear it... (This is about as good a picture as there was on that day) Here's the weird pic of the day. It looks like I photo-shopped Teagan's head in this shot. It's real, I swear!

It's been a while since Trinity has done any wrestling, so I thought I would bring you up to speed: It turns out that Autumn was the only victim, er, opponent available, so Trinity went to work to soften up her mom. Poor mom! I'm not saying mom didn't get her licks in, but... It turns out that Trinity isn't all that out of practice. Next Victim!

Want a few pictures to get you by? Me too! I don't think I appreciate how fast Teagan is growing up. For instance, he is already sitting the Bumbo chair, pictured below. I swear he'll be asking for the car keys way before I am ready. Now for the pictures... To Bumbo, or not to Bumbo? It's not a valid question. OF COURSE YOU BUMBO! The chair was Trinity's first. It looks as if she remembers it. Weird thing is that she still fits. Looks like a good reading chair to me! I could try and say something clever or charming. But I don't really have to, do I? Our little happy boy! Our little French girl in the beret. It's actually a ski hat that somehow ended up looking like a beret. Fitting since her shirt says something about bonbons. That's all for now, have a good night!

Okay, so the last post was a little long, so we'll keep this one short...yeah right! Well, we will use less words, but lots of pictures! I think that this is Teagan's first outing in his down zoot suit..cozy! I guess she doesn't mind the hat... There are certain rituals and rites of passage that we all go through as we get older. Here we have Autumn passing on the knowledge of the joys of bubble wrap! Ain't he cute? Look mama, I'm holding Teagan! How ya doin' Teagan? I think that I'll give Teagan a kiss. It seems to make the adults ohh and ahh... Now, it's just me and Teagan, hanging out on the chair. Uh, I think he might be falling! Trinity's great-grandma (my Oma) sent Trinity an advent calendar, which Trinity refers to as "Santa". One of her favorite things is to open the little door and get the chocolate! Got it! Chocolate is ALWAYS good motivation!