Dreaming of a white Christmas

Much to our surprise (none more surprised than Reid-I'll explain later) it snowed here in Brandon last Thursday! The boys and I had the best time playing in what little snow we had. What started out as tiny little flurries, quickly turned into big beautiful flakes!

Reid plotting his move on Jake.

The boys fighting over one of the few snowballs I was able to make from what accumulated on the hoods of our cars.

Jake chucking a snowball at me!

This beats going to school any day!

It was so pretty! If only it would have stayed!

Now about Reid and the snow...This is the look Reid had on his face pretty much the entire time we were outside. He just couldn't get his little mind wrapped around the snow. He teetered between being offended by the snow to being delighted by it.

Either way, he sure was cute in that hat!

Happy Birthday Sweet Buddy!

Our sweet friend Buddy Carter celebrated his third birthday this year at Laurel Street Park in Belhaven. Even though it was a little brisk, we had a fun time playing in the park!

Another Dream Cakes cake!

Missy went with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme this year.

Missy getting Buddy ready to blow out the candles!

Jake was happy to assist in opening Buddy's presents.

Isn't he just the cutest thing you ever saw!!!

No Jake, that's not yours!

Jake loves a party with a pinata!! (In Jake's world candy should always fall from the sky!)

Jake filled his bag (with a little help from momma).

Happy Birthday Buddy-we're so glad to have you as a friend!

Babysitting Blake!

Due to my in-laws Sunday School Christmas party, Xan and mine's weekly "Date Night" had to be cancelled. Upon learning this (once I stopped sobbing), I decided to ask Erik and Jenny if they would like to have a "Date Night" instead. Well I swear, I believe if Jenny could have handed me Blake over the phone she would have. This would be our first time to babysit little Blake. None of us knew how it was going to go.

Here are the all the boys in the kitchen watching me make Xan chili. At this point, Blake had not made a peep!

It wasn't long into his visit that Blake fell asleep (I musta' been living right!!). I sent Reid and Jake AWAY from the kitchen and put the blanket over Blake.

But of course, all good things must come to an end. He had about a 30 minute spell of crankiness and crying and then he settled down. Other than that, he really could not have been better. Here is Jake feeding Reid. Jake would hold the bottle for a few seconds and then ask me "is that enough now?"

I pretty much kept Blake in his car seat the entire time. He just seemed to be happiest there. This did not sit well with Jake as he kept asking me "I thought Blake came over to play with us!"
There will be plenty of time for that in the future Jake, for now lets do what we can to keep him happy and quite!
We are looking forward to keeping sweet cheeks again soon......and so are Erik and Jenny!

Covenant's Christmas Program

Jake's preschool held it's Christmas program December 5th in the church sanctuary. It was wonderful! They recited Bible versus, sang beautiful little songs, and the 4 year old's even played the hand bells! Jake was front and center and never took his eyes off his music teacher, Mrs. Sarah....especially during the hand bells!!

I filmed for the majority of the time and was too far away to get good pictures. (You would not believe the parents at this thing. It was like the paparazzi with flashes going off constantly and tripods set up EVERYWHERE. I got there the minute they opened the doors and I still ended up in the back. I'll know better how to play this game next year!)

Jake drawing in his room after the performance.

Jake with Mrs. Sarah Henry his music teacher. I am so grateful God lead us to Covenant. It has been such a blessing and Jake has learned so much already. It has been a great fit for Jake and our family!

Guess who?

Guess who is back this year to take notes on who is naughty (Reid) and who is nice (Jake) for Santa?! It's the Vineyard's very own elf scout, Tinker Winks!

If you are not familiar with "Elf on the Shelf" then you must acquaint yourself with this concept. It is just the cutest thing you could ever do with your child! Every morning Tinker Winks (this is the name we gave our elf scout..you must name your own) sits in a new position in the house to watch over the boys and the days events. At night, after the boys have gone to bed, Tinker Wink uses his elf magic and reports back to Santa. He's back in the morning in time to capture good deeds and not so good deeds. And the process starts all over again.

Tinker Winks got a hand cramp the first day taking notes on bad little Reidy!

He is just so much fun! The only problem is half the time I am already snuggled warmly in bed when I remember that I forgot to move him for the next day!


WE LOVE YOU TINKER WINKS!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So much to be thankful for this year! Obviously these two and their Daddy are my greatest blessings! Erik, Jenny, and baby Blake joined us this year at the Vineyard's for a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. We all stuffed ourselves, well almost all of us (Jake's meal for the day consisted of half a roll).

Getting a Christmas card picture this year is going to be a nightmare.

I am also very thankful for my new nephew Blake. He was a champ through dinner. He is a very good baby!

I am thankful too, for having family members to help me with my two monkeys!
Thanks Aunt Colleen!

Preschool Praise!

The Preschool Choir preformed last Sunday night. They were sooo cute!! Jake was front and center. After they preformed Jake came and sat with us. This was his first time sitting through a full service in "Big Church". He did great!

Killing time until the nursery opened.

Practice run before the main event.

Show time!

My sweet boy. We were so proud of him!!

Notice Jake on the big screen!

They were all so cute and a very well behaved bunch. Can't wait till next time!

Chuck E. Cheese

Chuck E. Cheese is Jackson's best kept secret. I don't know if it's the location or that kids are back in school, but we had the entire place to ourselves. We went with our friends Mrs. Jenny, Davis, and Emilee. Emilee recently had her birthday there and Jenny had 600 tokens left over...yes that's right 600!!!! Needless to say, we didn't use all 600, but we did our best and had a really good time!

This guy was so nice, he let Reid throw a few baskets.

Davis & Jake

Reid was terrified of the Mouse Ride at first, but that didn't last long.

He warmed up pretty quickly and spent most of his time in the car.

Scoping out prizes.

We had almost 300 tickets. You would think that would get a lot but it doesn't! I did, however, talk Jake into getting some Cotton Candy with his leftover tickets.

He who has flame on head!

Jake's class has been celebrating Thanksgiving all week. Today they dressed in their Indian attire and had a parade. Jake was not keen on wearing his garb, but I told him to do it for the blog and he complied.

They even made a Tom Tom from a coffee can.


Reidy, of course, as nosy as his mother, couldn't stand to be kept inside while I took Jake's picture.

I had to add this picture to give my readers some insight into my world.

This is how Reidy spends his life and mine right now. Him whining to be picked up and me following orders. No wonder I have cronic back pain!