“Yike Jackson!”

Last week Jackson spend the night at my Aunt and Uncle’s house and then when I picked him up the next morning I had to immediately drop him off at a play date.  Bear was devastated to wake up without Jack and then have to drop him off after only a few minutes in the car.  When we got home Bear was crying and went into Jack’s room (he loves to play in there) and came back with his robe.  He handed me the robe and just kept saying, “yike Jackson, yike Jackson!”  It was so sweet and sad that he just wanted me to put the robe on him to look like Jackson.  It was definitely win/win because Bear was finally happy in Jack’s robe and I got to finish the literal mountain of laundry on the love seat.

I love that my boys love each other so much!  And on a side note I will say that I was super happy that day because Jackson got a glowing behavior review from both his overnight and his play date!

Celebration Lunch

We always celebrate Jay’s new jobs with a special family meal.  And in our family there is not meal more sacred than steak.  My boys can put.it.away!  So they were thrilled when we announced that it was steak time last week.

I forgot to take a picture of the veggies until we had eaten most of them but we do like some green with our steaks.

The funniest part of the whole meal (and yes, I usually take Bear’s shirt off for meals.  I hate it when clothes get messy) was Bear.  He begged for ranch, yes, ranch dressing to accompany his filet.  He ate an entire filet dipping each piece in ranch.  Funny boy!

 

We have been so very blessed this month with Jay’s new job and especially getting hired before the holidays. God has once again, as always, taken complete and total care of us.

Christmas Party

A few weeks ago our friends Kristin and Kevin hosted a Christmas party.  It was so much fun and we were so blessed to have mom watch the boys that night! 

Kristin’s sister, Emilie with her daughter, Andie Jane and mother Karis.

Frankie Joy wanted her sister to wear some candy headbands for the evening.

And she decided that she should wear several. . .

Loving on Andie Jane.

The girls!

Emilie and I at the end of the night.

Such a fun Christmas party and even more fun was not having to worry about the boys-thanks Mom!

Bear’s Class Presenting Chapel

Bear’s class presented chapel at school the week before Christmas.  It was so fun and so sweet to be able to watch all of the precious kiddos up on stage.  An added bonus was that Charlie’s class also presented so Bear got to share the stage with his bestie again.

Before chapel started the whole school sang Christmas carols together.  Here’s Jack singing into the mic.

Then each child went up and gave a toy (to be donated to toys for tots) to the father of one of the students who also happens to be a Marine.  He then took all of the toys to the charity that afternoon.  I was a little worried that Bear would want to hang on to his toy but he gave it away with no problem.

Kiri and Charlie giving their toys.

The classes getting ready to tell the story of Christmas.

Little Bear in his super cute shirt from Danielle.

Bear’s job was to hold up the donkey for the story.

Afterwards they had questions about the story.  Jackson of course raised his hand for EVERY question.  Ahhh, my little first born.  Good think I can’t relate to being the first born “know-it-all” type

Playing and singing with his teachers.

Santa Play Date

Right before Christmas our play group went to see Santa and to ride the Carousel at Stonebriar Mall.  We had so much as the carousel is always a huge hit with the boys.  Unfortunately several of our friends couldn’t make it but we had fun with those who did!

Jess (8 months pregnant with baby G #2) and Cain.

Bear loves the carousel and is constantly asking when we can go “wide horses!”

Jackson about to amaze us with his stunts.

Steffanie and Colton.

Jaclyn was sweet enough to bring tokens for everyone despite Tess being too young to be into the horses.

Cheese!

Jack and his stunts. . .never ending.

Christmas Lights

Two weeks ago Gaga and the boys had their traditional gingerbread man cookie and Deerfield Christmas lights night.  This is Jack’s 3rd year in the tradition and Bear’s first and I know it’s going to be a favorite memory for both of them. 

The boys yummy cookies:

Yes, it’s totally true.  The second child gets the raw end of the deal and doesn’t have as high of standards as the first on sugar.  Of course from the looks of this second child, he seems ok with it.  I figure this has been a ONCE A YEAR thing for Jack so it’s not going to hurt Bear too much

Jack was so excited to have a night with his Gaga.

Bear’s slobbery thank you kiss.

These two have always been so close. . .

and so silly!

And the verdict is in. . .

Bear LOVED the cookie!

 

Thanks Gaga for another year of a wonderful Christmas tradition!

Santa Pictures 2011!

Last week I took the kids to the mall to see Santa.  The line was pretty long (note to self_go right after Thanksgiving next year) but they had stuff for the kiddos to do while waiting so it was ok.

Below you can see how tall Jack is in comparison to a Polar Bear.

They also have a North Pole room where it is snowing.  In theory it is awesome because the kids LOVE it.  In reality it’s a moms worst nightmare because this fake snow stuff gets in their hair and they all look like they have a terrible case of dandruff right before pictures are taken.

And here’s the excitement right before Santa. . .

And here you have it, Santa 2011:

Apparently it was so much fun that nobody could even close their mouth for the picture!

A typical outfit for Bear

Bear has recently started taking off his own diaper before going to the potty.  This is not entirely thrilling to me as he is not entirely (or even mostly) potty trained.  But it is so funny (not to mention cute) to just randomly see him walking around naked with his green boots on.  He’s obsessed with these boots (you’ll notice them in the soon to be posted Santa picture) because they used to be Lennon’s.  He’s constantly asking for “Wennon’s wain boots” and it just cracks me up!