Christmas 2012

Pictures first:

Christmas Eve, they opened up their new jammies from Aunt Maurine.

 Christmas Morning

 I think this is the first present after stockings and breakfast.  It's the present Scott picked out for Bobby.

 Thanks, Scotty!

 This is what Scott gave Bobby: Two trucks that light up and make sounds.  It called for a break from opening presents.

 Oh, the trucks also play music... so Bobby danced :)

 Scotty is starting to guess what it is... Woody from Toy Story

 Scott also got Buzz Lightyear, and they both got "bikes." They are replica four wheelers.

Christmas was fun this year in a very different way from other years.  It was really fun to share a lot of Christmas traditions with my boys--we watched Small One and Mickey's Christmas Carol, and read Polar Express and the Christmas story.  It was a very special time on Christmas morning with just my own boys.  I could really soak it all in and see their faces for every gift and allow them to take breaks to play with their new toys before moving on the the next.  But once all of the presents were open, I just started to miss my siblings and parents and in-laws more and more by the minute.  It is something I have to just get used to, and I'm sure the older they get the funner it will be for all of us.

We had steak and potatoes for dinner which was fantastic and the boys liked the steak just as much as Matt and I did, which was a little sad because I shared more than I thought I would have to, but nice since they are not usually good eaters.  I am already looking forward to next Christmas, now that I know better what to expect.

I am very grateful for the knowledge I have that Jesus Christ is my Savior.  I know that He came to earth as a babe in a manger and grew to become the Redeemer for all mankind.  He is our friend, brother and example.  Christmas is such a wonderful time of year because His Spirit and love can be felt so strongly by all people.  I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and may God bless you all, everyone.

Trip to the Mall

Christmas decorations

After we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, it was time to get a Christmas tree. We went the day after we got back and we got lights and a tree. We got out our stockings and a bunch of ornaments we haven't seen for a while, and that was really fun. Matt put up lights outside, which I've never had before, so it's super exciting. Matt even got a little tree to go by the computer. So now we are ready for our first Christmas at home with our little family. [Sorry the pictures don't really look like they're in any kind of order... I'm blogging from my phone and I guess the placement is random.]

Scotty turns 3!

We started celebrating Scotty's birthday on Saturday morning.  We gave him a set of 8 Curious George books that are actually based on episodes of the show, so he recognized the stories, which was kind of fun.  Then we gave him some wooden jigsaw puzzles that were the absolute perfect difficulty for him!  That's always my concern about buying presents for kids, is that they are usually too old or too young to enjoy the gift.  But the puzzles were perfect.  He needed very little help and felt a great sense of accomplishment when he finished.  We went out for frozen yogurt, but Scott just wanted Oreo topping.  Oh well, everyone else liked it.  For some reason I have no pictures of this so far, but Scott got color changing monster trucks from Matt's parents and has already spent hours (literally) dipping them in cold and hot water over and over.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard him say, "I yuv me colors!" and "Me change colors!"  He really likes those cars.  Then all days on Sunday we gave him cars, cars, and more cars.  He got Darrell Cartrip, Brent Mustangburger, another Lightning McQueen (with Rusteze on the hood this time), Grem, and Acer from us and my mom and dad gave him Chick Hicks and The King.  The funniest thing about Scott is that he wants to put his cars back in the packaging and re-open them so he can give us a toy review.  He has watched several toy reviews on YouTube and now he wants to do it.  So he starts with, "Hey, YouTubers..." and then says he's going to open it and tells us that it's a diecast and what movie it's from, etc.  It's pretty cute (the first few times).  I asked Scott if he wanted cupcakes or cookies and he, like his father, wanted cookies.  So, I stuck three cookies together and put candles in the stack.  But he didn't want to eat cookies, he just wanted to open more presents.  He did, however, ask for a cookie after we turned the lights off at bedtime.  And we gave in.  What can we say?  He was still asleep by 8.  The second to last picture is Scott's attempt at putting up 3 fingers.  I'm sure he'll get better--he has a year to master it.  And Bobby wishes you farewell at the end.

Jonesboro

My mom wanted to go to the Road to Tara Museum when she came to visit before Bobby was born, but I was only a few days away from delivery and I wasn't up for it.  So, we went while she and my dad were visiting this weekend.  We went to the museum, which is in an old train depot, and Scott got to see the tracks up close and watch a train go by from inside the museum.  He was very excited.  We also went on a bus tour of Jonesboro and saw a few houses and heard stories of people and events that inspired Margaret Mitchell to write Gone With the Wind. My boys were not very interested, but they were good sports, and I had some veggie straws to keep them quiet.  We were the only ones on the tour, so I wasn't worried about them ruining the experience for strangers, which was a great relief for me.  We also got out and walked around at a Confederate cemetery and at the Jonesboro History Center.  On our way out of the history center, they had some hats to try on, and I couldn't resist.  By the time the tour was over it was way past lunchtime, so we went to Chick-fil-A, whose owner lives in Jonesboro.  This particular restaurant is also called "The Dwarf House" with a section where you can sit down and have a waitress bring your food.  Isn't Scotty cute opening the little door?  We had a fun day and the kids did amazingly well!