Christmas 2011

We have truly loved spending our first Christmas in our new house and loved having our family here to spend the holidays with us. The boys helped to decorate the tree this year -- the total number of ornament casualties totaled only three.

The tree in the dark (FYI: I still love my camera!)

The boys in Benjamin's Santa hat:

Ethan was so excited to put cookies out for Santa. He and Benjamin wrote notes for Santa and each pick the cookies they thought Santa would like the best.

Christmas morning. The boys waited patiently for Papaw, Ms. Sharon and Uncle Evan to get to our house (the boys woke up at the standard 5:45am and we did not open presents until 9:00am).

Before the chaos:

Benjamin and Ethan helped to sort every ones presents. (You know, to see who got more presents from Santa...)

Ms. Sharon, Papaw and Uncle Evan debating opening gifts.

We were so glad Gebee was able to spend two nights with us -- the boys loved waking up and seeing her! We also got the chance to spend time visiting with Uncle Randy, Aunt Kay, Jason and Matt. Here is Gebee with 4 of her grandsons. (Of note: the boys are wearing house coats and slippers from Uncle Randy and Aunt Kay and Spiderman Jammies from Gebee!)

We hope that your holiday season has been filled with family, fun and food as well as a few surprises!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Wow it has been a busy 2 weeks! As I get current with the blog, you all get a peek into our holiday fun! It is a long-standing tradition for us to bake and decorate Christmas cookies and then take them to our friends and neighbors. This year, the boys had so much fun decorating cookies and even more fun "delivering" the cookies.

The end result after a day of fun in the kitchen:

After a day of cookie baking, Brian and I took the boys on a carriage ride. The boys had so much fun and learned a lot about the horse taking us on the ride. The unusually cold weather made it seem like it might actually snow (note: it did not snow!)

Looking back, as we near the end of the Christmas season, it is possible that we had just as much fun preparing for Christmas as we did on Christmas!

Do you Hear What I Hear?

.....said the mom to the blog readers....

The boys had a Holiday Concert at school last night. Benjamin sang great and was so proud of himself (and we were proud of him!). Ethan got stage fright at the last minute and spent all the time before he sang sitting in my lap. Ethan sang the song with his class but would only do it if he could stand next to his buddy (the one his is facing in the video). Here are clips from each of their songs. (To be able to hear them, you will need to press stop on the holiday music on the right side of the page.)

Enjoy!

Brunch with Santa

A small miracle happened this morning. No one cried at the sight of Santa this year and the boys both agreed to sit on Santa's lap. The boys told Santa what they wanted (Benjamin - "Batman race car" and Ethan - "Race Car"). The boys even told him that they would leave milk and cookies for him and carrots for the reindeer. We were rewarded with a candy cane and an amazing brunch.

Gebee came along to witness the miracle!

After brunch, we had to check out the nature trail.

And, here is a rare picture of me and the mister. (Now that we know how to work the timer on the camera - thanks Evan!, there will be more pictures of the two of us!)

We hope your weekend was full of holiday spirit!

What we have been up to......

A little bit of reading the newspaper and discussing current events.... (actually, they were talking about all the toys in the ads and what Santa might bring us.)

We also took a field trip the Center for Puppetry Arts a few weeks ago and saw "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." (Though the boys sat thru the whole performance, both of them were scared of the abominable snowman.) After the show, we got a behind the scene tour of the Center thanks to a friend of Evan's and we made a Rudolph puppet of our own.

Uncle Evan gave the boys a mass quantity of glow sticks and the boys wanted to use them all at one time.

We are gearing up for Christmas at our house and this will be a big weekend for us. We will be having brunch with Santa! We are working on our lists for Santa.

Let the Holidays begin...aka "Thankful Tuesday"

We are getting in to the holiday spirit around here. This weekend, Gebee and the boys made our place cards for Thanksgiving Day Dinner. (You will notice that they are not place cards, but cups. We are going to fill them with sugared pecans at each place setting).

As Gebee's health is slowly declining, we are truly thankful for the time we get to spend with her. They boys look forward to hearing her silly songs and listening to her read them books. They also love doing "art projects" with her. I am thankful to be able to hear stories from when Brian was younger and when Gebee was growing up and to be able to get her "go-to" recipes. And, I know that Brian is just thankful to have his mom around. We love you Gebee!!

The end result.....turkey cups. Benjamin did not think that the candied pecans would taste good -- he was wrong!

Earlier in the week, we meet Uncle Evan at Bass Pro Shop for a Christmas craft. Uncle Evan surprised us with a cookie cake that said "Happy Thanksgiving Benjamin and Ethan." The boys were thankful for a very cool treat with their name on it. And, though we did not get to see Santa (believe it or not, he was on a dinner break!) I am thankful for the fun times I get to spend with my brother.

I think that Ethan would be thankful if Santa put this little baby under our tree!

And, Benjamin is practicing for when he drives a real monster truck!

We are looking forward to hosting turkey day in our new house and getting to spend the day and weekend visiting with friends and family.

Holiday Photo Shoot

I always take the boys' picture for our holiday card. And this year is no different. Just a different location (since we have moved). Here are a few that did not make the cut...but are cute in their own way.

And, by the end of every photo shoot, we all become a little agitated!

Enjoy!

Halloween Fun with Two Buddies

As we recover from a busy, fun, sugar-filled day yesterday, the boys are still talking about what was their favorite part of Halloween. Benjamin's class had a Halloween festival yesterday morning. Ethan and I got to help out at a pumpkin painting station. Ethan was such a great helper that he was also able to do a few of the stations!

Ethan has a ricekrispie treat on a stick -- it's about to meet melted chocolate....

We went back to school in the afternoon for a costume parade and class parties.

My race car driver and astronaut ready at home for trick or treating.

Papaw joined us for a little candy.

Uncle Evan showed up just in time to teach the boys to sprint to each door. He told them the faster you move, the more candy you get. The boys paid attention to this!

We hope that you had a wonderful Halloween!

Just Treats For Halloween

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Happy Fall Y'all!

The last few weeks have been fun and very busy for us. We are getting more and more settled in the new house. (Who knew that rug shopping for the family room would take 3 weeks?? Only to go back the very first one we found!)

The boys have really enjoyed the cooler weather -- playing outside almost every day. T-ball started a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, Benjamin has been sidelined until next week with an injury (nope, not a t-ball injury but one from skee-ball at Chuck E Cheese!) to his finger.

Here is Ethan hitting, not off the tee, but from a coach pitching to him!!

My proud buddy running to first base!

We lost our old golf cart (it got negotiated in the sale of our old house) and after much craigslist searching, found a great golf cart for us!

This a green space right across the street from our house -- it seems like it was made for two little boys! Lots of grass to run and rocks to jump from!

We have also enjoyed snuggling on the couch in the morning and watching a show.

Stay tuned for a few pictures of the house decorated for fall. We also have an exciting adventure planned for tonight. Brian has a HUGE meeting today with a potential HUGE customer. Be thinking about him this afternoon -- Good Luck Brian!!!