Goodbye 2008

This has been an exceptionally fantastic year!

 

See you in 2009

More Christmas Cheer

The week before Christmas Allen's parents and brother came for a visit. Mark was excited to meet Miller for the first time and Jackson loves all the extra love and attention he gets when we have family visit.
Here are a few highlights.

Trains, Trucks and Boots, Oh my!

This was Jackson's first Christmas where he really knew what was happening. Typically when we get up, he asks to go into our room(We go in and I hope that he will snuggle but he just wants to jump on the bed). This time on Christmas he got up, Allen carried him into our room and he would have none of it. He knew what day it was and he was wasting no time jumping on the bed.

When he went to bed there were no presents under tree, when he went into the living room there were lights on the tree and it was full of presents. He thought they were all for him (and honestly most of them were)!

Santa brought Jackson and Miller a train table and somehow his Aunt Chele and Uncle Mark knew he would, so they brought him tracks for the table. His Lala gave him Mack (from Cars) and that was a huge hit. He also got some Converse high tops from his aunt Chele(adorable, but so hard to get on!) We got him some pirate rain boots and they have been off and on his feet more times than I can count.

Miller got some fun toys too, but he is happy just being held. Jackson was such a good big brother he helped open all of Miller's gifts for him.

Christmas is so much fun with children!

Opening his stocking--the fun begins



Miller the Great!

"MACK! It's MACK!"

Posing with his Converse High Tops

This blur is what happens when a 2year old is too excited for words!

Merry Christmas

We hope you have a Merry Christmas!
Love and Hugs!

Mirror, mirror

Mirror, Mirror on the floor, who's the fairest of them all?









Why, of course, it is Miller!

YUM

Can you believe that it is already time for Miller to start solids? I can't, but it is! We started with Oatmeal cereal and it was a big hit! Miller loved it! He liked it so much that he kept trying to help me put the spoon in his mouth. He ate so well that he took a nice long nap afterwards. Last night I gave him cereal again at 7:30 and he slept until 4. He had been backsliding in the sleep department and was waking up every three to four hours, so now I'm looking forward to getting some longer stretches of sleep again!



Look how he is grabbing that spoon and trying to feed himself!



Hank is the sweetest dog! He is so patient and docile.

We are THAT Family

We are THAT Family...you know the ones with the child freaking out on Santa's lap. Miller was as charming and happy as could be. Jackson was all ready, and had been practicing telling Santa about the train table he "needs" for Christmas. He was down with it until it was our turn next. I tried to get the elf to let me show how nice Santa was to the boys who were doing their thing. Uh-uh! Please step back! We peeled him off of me plopped him in Santa's lap and tried to get him to smile. Who are we kidding? He wasn't having any of it! And hey, there were no tears--there's always next year! Merry Christmas







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Christmas Stories

A few days ago I went to the attic to dig out some of my Christmas books from my teacher stash. The teacher stash is buried in the deepest darkest part of the attic. Before going up, I did what I usually do when going to the attic. I put a stool in the hall and told Jackson to sit on it like a good boy and I would bring him a surprise when I came down. Do you see where this is going? As I was digging through all my stuff, I heard something drop. And it wasn't downstairs, it was in the attic. I turned and there was Jackson --IN! THE! ATTIC! Holy cow and he even brought two cars, a whisk broom and dust pan with him (that was what he was carrying around that afternoon)! All I could think of to say to him was, "Santa Claus saw you do that!" Huh? Pretty lame, huh? Well we made it back down safely, and we now have a pile of Christmas books to read. He loves them. Yesterday we were reading some books when my two boys scooted together and Jackson read to Miller. You can imagine how proud my mommy/teacher heart is!
{Notice there is a car in his hand, these days there is always at least one car in his hands at all times}

Sunday afternoon Miller decided he was tired of his point of view, so he rolled over. You may remember that he could roll from front to back, but now he rolls both ways. He is scary strong for his age!

Love this boy

Recently I found someone to do a silhouette of Jackson. That was the easy part. Do you know how hard it is to take a perfect picture of a wiggly 2 year old? Thanks to the 5 point harness in his high chair and PBS Kids I finally got one. I think it is worth the effort!

Time with mom, catching up

My mom just left this morning, and we had so much fun while she was here. She got here Friday night, then first thing Saturday morning she did our family photo shoot. We got some great pictures for our Christmas cards. If you don't have a photographer in your family, I highly recommend getting one. It is so nice. This one makes my heart sing.




My boys


Saturday afternoon we went out to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. Not only was it yummy, but Allen stayed home with the boys so we could relax and not have to worry about spilled drinks, or crayons rolling off the table (that is a big deal, trust me). Thank you Allen! After lunch we went to the store to buy mom some comfy shoes. She has put it off for long enough. I had to take command of the situation and make it happen. She is still upset that I made her spend so much on a pair of shoes, but she NEEDED them. Then we went and got our Christmas tree.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early (like we do every morning-ugh!) and did Miller's 3 month photo shoot. For a happy baby, he managed not to smile in one single picture, but that is fine because they are precious anyway. Do you like?



Then Sunday afternoon we put up the tree and decorated for Christmas. Last year we were selling our house, so we hardly decorated at all. This year we have a good bit of decorations out, but not all of them. Tabletops are free for touching so we have to be selective about what we put out. This was Jackson's first year trimming the tree. Here is one of him actually helping. Most of the time he was rummaging through the box making a mess.



Here is mom and Miller while we decorated the tree.


Monday morning Jackson went to preschool, which is always nice for me, but this Monday was even better because I had mom to help me with Miller. I got so much accomplished. My favorite thing that I accomplished was getting to JoAnne's fabrics and buying some red burlap. What in the world would I want red burlap for? Well for covering the pots on these!



Mom brought me 2 HUGE gorgeous rosemary topiaries. The pots were too big to put in anything I already had, so I decided to get some burlap and make them a package. The smell is divine! I love topiaries, I love rosemary, I love Christmas, and you know I love my mom. If you don't have someone who has connections in the garden business, I highly recommend getting one, they are so handy! Thank you mom and Mr. Stacy.

Now I'm going to do a makeover on this fall looking blog--if I get some cooperation from my butterbean!