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.

Happy First Birthday Colton Lee!

We debated back and forth about what kind of first birthday party to have for Colton. In the end, given the hectic life we are leading right now, we opted for a quiet family dinner at home with gifts and cake. It turned out to be a late but really fun night for all of us.

Colton has had a big day. He had his one year appointment this morning and weighed in at a whopping 27 lbs (90ish %), 32 1/2 inches (off the growth chart) and a 42cm head circum. (again, off the chart). So he is "quite a big boy" as the doctor said. But he's very proportional for his size. So perhaps we're growing a future linebacker for the Aggies and then Cowboys??? Nothing would make his daddy prouder!

Here are some fun shots from our day. As usual, he's been an extremely happy guy (mainly because I put off the shots for a day or two so he could enjoy his day), and we couldn't feel more blessed. He enjoyed his new toys and loved ripping open the wrapping paper. He got a really cute big boy fleece blanket with British soldiers on it, an adorable group of Chuck cars and trucks, and some fun new bath toys.

He really liked the cake. I've never seen anyone attack a piece of cake quite like he did. He grabbed the cake while blowing out his candle. It was a wise decision on my part to strip him down before the carnage began. Enjoy! It was fun to watch!