Christmas time !!

This year we had another wonderful Christmas, It was low key, not too many presents, but we had some good family time and that is what really matters to me!

 

This is "Rockstar Aidan"  His dad got him an electric guitar for Christmas, he has tought himself some chords already, and we will have to look into lessons..... he sure looks the part of a rockin' teenage boy!

 Our Stockings were hung next to our friend Desmond this year..... Desmond was sporting a cute santa hat until some boy decided it would look better on his own head :)

 Our Christmas tree was actually bigger than the biggest room in our house..... this is what happens when you let Adam and Dylan be solely in charge of picking out the tree!

 Zander made the cutest little elf for the year, he is growing up faster than I can believe.... still my sweet snugly little man.

 Hayden is such an angel, she loves the new chair that mimi got her!

 Dylan will be 18 next week, hard to believe that the darling obnoxious little boy I fell in love with 10 years ago is an adult.... he has also completely lost the ability to make a normal face when there is a camera around, and yet he is still cute and charming.... don't ask me how, he just is!

 Zander was so happy with the box of 100 slim jims that mom-mom bought him!

 Aiden Tanner is one handsome boy, he looks alot like his dad, he got motorcycle riding gear for Christmas because he rides alot of dirt bikes at his mom's house, and now we have one at our house to.... help my heart and his moms because it is scary as heck to see him take off on those powerfull machines!

 Adam and his sweet mom

 This is our herd of deer, they are all over our yard almost every day, this picture was taken from inside our house, that is how close they get!

 Cute boys

 Aidan and Zander got a 3ds that they are sharing, it was their big present and I had my doubts about them sharing something like that but so far so good, and they are both so happy!

I told Adam that what I really wanted for Christmas was a family picture while Aiden Tanner is here, I told him I wasn't going to bother him or remind him, so we will see if it happens.... or if we wait until the day before he leaves and I choose to remind him and we take one of those no makeup hurried pics.....

I spent most of the last week recovering. I had a minor surgery that I have been struggling with for a couple of years. I had my tubes tied. I have known for a long time that I was done having babies, I lived that part of my life and I lived it well. I not only got to raise and enjoy my two babies but I got to enjoy my husband's three kids from a young age as well. Aidan t. Was only about a year and a half old when we got together, it was like having twins about half the time and I loved those little almost twins to death! I thought I was done then but things changed and Adam and I wanted one baby that never had to go to another parents house.... he was 100% ours 100% of the time. It didn't make missing the other kids any less but it was perfection!

Even with all these sweet memories I knew my time as a mother to babies had come to an end ( and I ended with the perfect son) but it was still a hard decision for me to make, it kind of felt like I was losing a big part of who I am as a woman.

The surgery itself wasn't too bad. The sweetness that my husband, mother in law, and kids showed me helped me tons..... you would never look at my husband and think of him as a caregiver but he was so great to me! Zander very gently came to snuggle me every day before and after school. He brought me crackers and water without being asked and he layed in bed with me and read. He also told me that when he was in heaven he asked to come to our family to be a source of love..... he has succeeded! That boy is pure love and I am so lucky to have him !

Seriously happy times!!

I am just in love with my life right now!  My kids are at great stages in their lives, I really really love my job, I am office manager and transaction coordinator at a really great real estate company.  The people I work with are amazing.  My sister and her family not only moved back to AZ after 10 years but now they are moving back to Lakeside.... my kids can grow up with their cousins and I get my best friend back!  There are a few downers in my life but I am going to ignore those. 

Aidan and Zander are best buds and I love that.  A few weeks ago I got a text message from a friend saying that she had seen them walking down the road, on their way home from the park no doubt, and they were walking with their arms around each other just talking and laughing.  It made me so happy to hear that they are nice to each other when I am not around to tell them to be! 
Aidan has turned into such an amazing person the last year, I just could not love him more!  His grades are great, he has a great, happy, helping disposition almost all the time, he is amazing with Zander MOST of the time!  He rides his bike to school in the mornings and stops by my office on the way home every day, he will make the rounds and talk to everyone who happens to be in the office, hang out for 15 or 20 minutes, then go over to Zander's school to walk him home.  Last week I had a minor surgery and the day of I let Zander's homework slide, but the next day I got up about an hour after school was out to help him do the work for the last 2 days but when I got his packet out of his backpack the whole weeks worth of homework was done!  I told Zander I was so proud of him for getting it done without me telling him to and he told me that since I wasn't feeling good Aidan had helped him do it the day before.  Those are 2 good boys right there!

Aiden Tanner was with us for the summer and that was such a pleasure, he is a great kid, so much like his dad and Dylan.... they look like a bunch of clones I tell ya!  Aiden T. is super tall and can really hold his own in wresteling matches with his dad and Dylan these days.  Him and Zander became good buddies over the summer, Aiden T. babysat 5 days a week while Adam, Dylan and I were working and Aidan W. was away at his dad's house. 

Dylan is a great guy to, he is really quite good to his brothers, he teaches them all the innapropriate yet hillarous things that a big brother teaches younger brothers.... He humors them and plays with them quite frequently, or rides bikes with them.  Him and Adam have been working hard to get us enough wood to get through the winter nice and warm and he can't wait to go back to his job at the ski shop :)

Now pictures, this might be an overload but I just love these guys!

  this is such a common place to find zan!

                                            Love that handsome Aidan boy to death!

                                            Beautiful Lyndsay and her handsome daddy!

Aiden t. Doing what the Staley boys do..... running, climbing, and above all competing!

The aidan's..... awesome brother's. Not by blood but bound by being family nonetheless.... they are great together

Dylan might not admit it but he really does love being surrounded by these little ones... they tend to flock to him!

This picture is great of mom mom and Zan but I can't make it rotate on my tablet

Family Pictures over the years

I recently found all the family pictures we have taken the past 10 years.  We have done them every year around Christmas, this is the first year we haven't gotten around to it...... with Lyndsay being off at college and the visitation schedules being so hectic we just never seemed to be all in the same place at the same time this year.  We are going to visit Lyndsay for spring break but my Aidan will be with his dad so we will have to take a picture and photoshop him off to the side somehow to make it work.

2003

Adam, Jen, Lyndsay (9) Dylan (8)

Aiden T. (4) Aidan W. (4)

 

Believe it or not we Adam took this picture himself with the timer on the camera, he pushed the button then ran over and we all piled on top of him and tried not to laugh! 

 

2004

Lyndsay (10) Dylan (9) Aidan W. (5) Aiden T. (5)

Jen, Adam

This was the year we added dogs to our family, you can see how well they were cooperating with the family picture idea, an interesting picture idea was just not going to work if we wanted the dogs in it and if I remember right the kids really thought the dogs needed to be in the picture!

2005

Dylan (10) Jen, Aidan W. (6) , Adam,

Aiden T. (6) Lyndsay (11)

Tree climbing by our house in Show Low... I think this was on a mountain bike trail that Adam used to ride alot, he loved the tree and thought it would make a good picture :) 

 

 

2006

Adam, Jen, Aidan W. (7) Aiden T. (7)

Dylan (11) Lyndsay (12) Zander (6 Months)



 



This year Zander joined our family, He spent the year being adored and spoiled by his big brothers and sister.... he has got to be the most loved little guy in the world!

 

 

2007

Aiden T. (8) Dylan (12) Adam, Jen, Zander (1)

Aidan W. (8) & Lyndsay (13)

 

We took a hike down the black river to take this picture.... fun times with a fun group !

 

 

2008

Jen, Zander (2) Aiden T. (9) Lyndsay (14),

Dylan (13) Aidan W. (9), Adam 

 

 

This picture was in the front room of Don & Jane's house in Woodland hills shortly after it was completed 

 

2009

Adam, Lyndsay (15) Aiden T. (10) Dylan (14)

Aidan W. (10), Zander (3) Jen 

 

 

This was our resort syled Christmas, we took the whole family to the Tapatillo Cliffs Resort in Scottsdale for Christmas since we were in a transistion period between houses, it was great to swim and lounge in the sun for Christmas break!

 

2010

Jen, Zander (4) Aiden T. (11) Dylan (15)

Adam, Aidan W. (11) Lyndsay (16)

This is the view from the top of our apartment complex, overlooking Adam's favorite place for the past few years, Phoenix Law School!   

2011

Adam, Zander (5) Dylan (16) Jen

Aidan W. (12) Lyndsay (17) Aiden T. (12) 

 

 

This was the most last minute ... hurry up and get home from work, forget about doing your hair or makeup at all, picture in the world.  It was at the little park in our neighborhood in Mesa.  I love how Zander has his arms around Daddy and Dylan.... 2 of his favorite people in the world!