Christmas

The most anticipated morning of the year at our house is Christmas morning. This year was an early year. Jackson was awake at 3 wanting to go downstairs to see if Santa had come. A grumpy mommy sent him back to bed but he was back at it by 6. We had a wonderful Christmas morning. The boys were so excited and grateful to receive many gifts they wanted. Jackson got his ripstik and Connor got his IPod touch. Colton loved the paper and boxes and didn't seem to care what was in them at first. He continued to be more interested in the clementines than the gifts! We did find out throughout the day that he really likes his new toys! Clipo blocks are a huge hit with him! Who knew? Daddy loved his pub stools and Colton and daddy had fun using them.

After the paper clean up, we made the boys clean up. I have to say they clean up well! Our littliest monkey was quite cheeky in his new Christmas duds picked out for him by his daddy.

Our plan was to spend Christmas dinner with friends and neighbors the Latimers. Monica did the turkey and the stuffing and I did the pies and sides. It worked out well and we had a great time. We all feel abundantly blessed this Christmas and are so thankful for wonderful family and friends.

Christmas Eve

At the White House, it isn't Christmas Eve until daddy says it is. After all the clean up from the party the kids still had to put out cookies and milk for Santa. Daddy took the pictures. I hope next year Colton will be able to help. Maybe he'll understand a bit of what is going on! Jackson is hoping Santa will bring him a ripstick and Connor is hoping for an IPod touch. We'll have to see what the morning brings! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Jeff is the big 4-0!

40! I remember when my parents turned 40 and I thought they were SOOOOO OLD! Now I'm married to a 40 year old man! YIKES! May I remind everyone that I married an OLDER man ,and I am a child of the 70's not the 60's! And granted, I know I'll pay for every thing I say and do, but WOW, has it been worth it! I tried to make the day special for my man. I planned and planned for 8 months the most fabulous birthday gift I could come up with. I hid money from my atm withdrawals and from our sterling account when I knew Jeff wouldn't look at the accounts too closely. He is a hard one to surprise as he watches where the money goes. So what did I get him for the big forty??? I bought him an antique pub table and had his squadron coin inlayed into the top of the table. I bought him two matching pub stools for Christmas, of course. Here are a few pictures:

In addition to the fabulous present, I threw him a party here at the house. It was a really fun afternoon. We put on the soup and the gluhwein at 2:00 and people came. We have great neighbors and friends here. They made the day really special. And let me just say they set us up to never need to purchase Jack Daniel's or Crown again! Well...at least for a few years! The kids all played the wii until it was cake time. I did put 40 candles total and it was quite a bright sight! Took my man 3 tries to blow out all the candles. I had the fire extinguisher close by....just in case! Colton was fascinated by the 40 black balloons all throughout the downstairs of the house. He loves balloons.

All in all it was a fun day and I hope something that my husband will remember for the next 40+ years if we're that lucky!

In addition to the party and the gift, I helped the folks at his work decorate his office. They made a huge banner sign and put it in a locked case. They hung 40 cups from the ceiling. I had my pharmacy connection do 15 prescription bottles of varying types which I hid all thoughout the office. To date he's only found 9. They contain m&m's so he'll find them eventually when he wants something sweet!

I also got him some depends and put them everywhere just in case. He'll be finding them for months! He received all kinds of cremes and denture products which we put all thoughout. He was a good sport especially with the walker put in his office. Colton thought that was the best part!

December Days

Happy Boy!

December has been a long, crazy month! We've been to 7 parties plus all the kids parties, school concerts etc... The blog hasn't been my top priority unfortunately. So now that Christmas has come and gone, I'd like to share a condensed version of our month. The boys had many different babysitters who haven't always been tough on the bedtime routine. Jackson always thinks he's old enough to do his own thing in the evenings...but then this happens!

Colton has become quite the regular little napper. Sometime he doesn't even make it up to his room but racks out where he pleases.

Wigs are our new favorite. At halloween we invested in two new fun wigs and have had loads of fun playing with them. Colton loves them and will come hand them to me. If I try to put them away he cries and then if I ask if he wants it on he says ya. We've even dragged our friends into our crazy wig days!

A man of few words, he effectively communicates his desires! He is a monkey and is always climbing. His new favorite is to climb into the chair in front of the laptop when we forget to push it completely into the table. He then "uses" the computer. He imported all of my pictures into Picasa for me and I have NO idea how he did it in the 5 seconds he banged on the keys.

We also have a strict "no touch" rule for the tree and have gone so far as to block the tree with huge rubbermaid bins which in our teeny tiny living room leaves us little space for much else. However, one day the bins were gone and Colton loved seeing the ornaments up close. He kind of stood in awe of them for a bit, wondering which to touch first! So far I've only had to repair 2 of them........Let's just say I think that they will come down earlier than usual at the White house this year!

Jackson's kindergarten class along with another one put on a Christmas concert for the parents. It was adorable! He was SOOO excited that both mommy and daddy were there to watch him. He was a very animated performer but then he's Jack!

SNOW! We had lots of snow! So much snow stuck that the last day of school before Christmas break was cancelled. The boys had a ball playing. They pulled out the snowboards and practiced and made snow angels all over the neighborhood. Colton in particular loved the snow. Even though it was cold, he escaped out the front door whenever possible to touch it. He didn't really seem to mind that it was cold. It hit me that this was his first snow so we let him run around one time and he cried when he had to go in. Unfortunately I didn't have snow things for him, I wasn't planning on him being so large so fast and they are all in storage.

Colton has also discovered the love of the remote!

And finally, this month saw laser tag day. We purchased a laser tag day at an auction and the boys went the day before daddy's birthday. They came home completely covered in mud and paint but excited about all the fun they had. My little warriors.