Christmas Day

Christmas Day started out around 7 am when we woke both boys up to see what Santa left for them. Tyler was super excited about seeing what Santa brought. Matthew, on the other hand, didn't understand why we were waking him up so early. He will grow to understand how busy our family stays on Christmas. Santa brought Tyler a goal post, a punt snapper set, Florida Gator football men, Tennessee football men, and a Nintendo DS. Does anyone see a sports pattern emerging here? Santa brought Matthew a car/train table, a drum, a truck, a cash register, and a car/driving toy. If Tyler's theme was sports, Matthew's theme this year was definitely "things that go" (cars, trucks, and trains). After the stockings were unpacked and all of the toys were opened, many of our family members came over to our house for Christmas breakfast. The boys had a fun time showing off their new toys. After breakfast, it was time to open presents with Granna and Pop-Pop and Uncle T and Haleigh. Matthew was over the whole present thing by this point so Tyler helped him open his gifts. Tyler got a new bike, which he is scared to death to ride right now. I'm sure he'll warm up to it soon and will be riding circles around us in no time.

Matthew got a riding lawn mower and was not a bit afraid of his new toy. He hopped right on and rode around the house cutting grass. My two boys are complete opposites when it comes to things like this. Tyler is more of a scaredy-cat whereas Matthew is fearless. While Daddy and Tyler played with his new toys, Matthew and I were able to get in a quick nap before heading over to Mimi and Perry's house to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We had a birthday party for Jesus complete with birthday cake and, for the final time, the boys opened lots of presents. For the first time all Christmas, they opened some winter clothes just in time for more cold weather to arrive. I must say thank you to Mimi and Perry for Tyler's mini-sandbox set. I've always wanted a sandbox inside my house...ha, ha! No, it's really not that bad. Tyler has enjoyed playing with it and hasn't made too big of a mess thus far.

I must say this Christmas was the busiest we've ever had. Maybe it was the quick trip to Disney World right before Christmas or having two kids going non-stop for several days in a row. It may have been the busiest but it was also one of the most fun. We are so blessed to have two happy, healthy little boys and a family to celebrate with!

Pre-Christmas Festivities

After a quick get away to Walt Disney World for a mini family vacation, we arrived home just in time for the Christmas festivities to begin. On Wednesday evening, we attended A Highland's Christmas, our church's Christmas service. We were so blessed by this service as we were reminded that Jesus understands everything we go through and everything we feel. He was born a human baby and has experienced the same things we experience in our every day lives. What a blessing it is to know that He understands everything about us and can empathize with every situation we are in.

Christmas Eve was a very busy day. Since we were not home the days leading up to Christmas Eve, the morning was spent wrapping presents and baking goodies for Christmas celebrations. After nap, we headed over to Uncle Al and Aunt Yo's house for presents and yummy goodies with Daddy's family. Ally gave Matthew a vacuum that was "the present" for him this Christmas. He loves vacuums and is so happy to have one of his own!

Next, we headed to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at First Baptist Church. It's always nice to go back to our former church and see some of the people we don't see on a regular basis anymore. Nursery is not an option on Christmas Eve so it's always interesting to see how our children will behave. For the most part, they were good. After 40 minutes in a church service full of children, I am even more thankful for nursery and Children's worship!

After church, it was time to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family. We ate dinner and opened more presents at Grandad and Nana's house. Tyler was excited that Grandad and Nana gave him some UAB football men. Matthew's favorite thing was probably the plastic tube that the trucks Aunt Heather and Leif gave him came in. I wish I had a picture of Matthew carrying around the empty plastic tube. Luckily, we made it home without the tube!

By the time we made it home, it was almost 10:00 and the kids were drained. Matthew went straight to bed while Tyler stayed up to make cookies for Santa and sprinkle his reindeer food on the front lawn. Daddy had the pleasure of taking Tyler outside in the cold, blowing rain, under an umbrella, to sprinkle the reindeer food on the lawn. Once again, I wish I had a picture but it was late, raining, and way past one little boy's bedtime. After a busy day and an even busier night, it was finally time for Santa. We set out our cookies and milk and off to bed we went.

Those Mischievous Elves!

The boys enjoyed the elves again this year, Tyler more than Matthew, but Matthew had fun with them, too. Tyler loved waking up in the morning to find the mess the elves made during the night or to see where the elves were hiding. His facial expressions and pure amazement were priceless. I wish I could bottle up his innocence and keep him this way forever! Matthew didn't quite understand what the elves were doing, but he enjoyed playing with Abbott. When the elves climbed up in our tree one night, Matthew pointed to the top of the tree and said "Get down!" Since that day, even after the elves were rescued from the tree, every time Matthew walked by the downstairs tree, he pointed to the top and said "Get down!". What a funny little boy.

On Christmas Eve, we had to pack the elves back up in their special sacks and lay them out for Santa to take with him. The elves have to go back home and get back to work making those toys. We enjoyed our special Christmas visitors this year and can't wait until their return next Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

After paying way too much for Christmas pictures and Christmas cards the past few years, I decided to do my own this year. I enjoyed taking the pictures of my kids one Saturday morning and even managed to get a few good ones. Jason was a trooper, helping me with the boys before leaving for a football game that afternoon. Taking pictures of two little boys is not an easy task! I especially enjoyed learning how to use Photoshop to make my card. This year's card is very basic. Hopefully by next Christmas I will have learned how to import cute backgrounds and other graphics. I think that will be my project for the summer months. I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. Happy Birthday, Jesus!

A Disney Christmas

As if things weren't busy enough around here with football season just ending, getting ready to be out of school for the Christmas holidays, and trying to get ready for Christmas, we decided to take the boys to Disney World right before Christmas. We left Saturday, December 19th, and returned home on Wednesday, December 23rd. We made our Disney plans several months ago before the craziness of the holiday season actually set in. We took Tyler to Disney World for the first time when he was 22 months old so now that Matthew is 22 months old it just seemed fair. Disney World was beautiful at Christmas and the boys had a blast. We even got to see the real Santa while we were there!

Isn't he gorgeous? Once I finish posting Christmas pictures and have a chance to sort through all 307 of the pictures I took on our Disney vacation, I will share more pictures and adventures from our trip. Stay tuned!

Tyler's Class Christmas Party

Today was Tyler's last day of school until January 4th so they had their class Christmas party this afternoon. Fortunately, the party started at 3:00 so I was able to attend! The kids had a fun time eating yummy Christmas junk food and opening presents from their teachers and each other. It's hard to believe that some of these kids have been together since they were babies and next year they will be scattered all over local kindergartens. Tyler loves his school and the kids in his class. We are very blessed to have been a part of this preschool program for the past 5 years. This is one more reminder that my baby is getting older and will be in big school next year.

A Visit with Santa

We made our annual visit to see Santa at the mall today after church. Tyler was excited about telling Santa what he wanted and getting a candy cane to eat. Matthew had no clue what we were doing, but he liked waving to "Ho-Ho" while we waited in line. When it was finally our turn, Tyler sat in Santa's lap first and told him he wanted a remote control crane. Jason put Matthew in Santa's lap next. He took one good look at Santa, screamed once, and then was totally fine. Crazy child! We ended up with a pretty good picture above (although I absolutely HATE the cheesy border they put around the picture) and lots of cute outtakes below. Merry Christmas!

Special Christmas Visitors!

Look who arrived just in time to bring mischief to our house for Christmas. Tyler's elf, Duncan, brought his brother, Abbott, along to share in the fun. Now Matthew has an elf, too! The past two years, Tyler has enjoyed seeing what kind of trouble his elf gets in to in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and I'm sure Matthew will join in on the fun this year. Thank you, Santa, for sending us two magic elves this year! We can't wait to see what our mischievous elves do this year!The boys have to sprinkle their elves at night with magic snowflakes in order for them to come alive. They leave crackers and water, too, for the elves to eat.

It's That Time Again...

After enjoying two weeks off, it's time for Tyler and I to go back to school and Jason to go back to work. Our two weeks off have flown by! We have stayed up way too late, watched some good movies, played lots of Candy Land and Wii games, and even managed to sleep past 7:00 a few mornings! We have become spoiled over the Christmas holidays...now it's time for life to return to "normal", I suppose. One of Tyler's biggest adjustments is going to bed early again. He has been in the bed since around 7:45, his usual bedtime, and he has yet to go to sleep. A few minutes ago, Jason walked by and noticed that his bedroom light was on. He was sitting in his floor playing with his train table and cars. I'm sure his little body doesn't understand why he's going to bed so early. After all, he's been staying up until after 9:00 for two weeks now! As for Matthew, his big adjustment is going to be Mommy being gone all day again. He has definitely become a Mama's Boy since I've been off work. He'll be fine, though, and will enjoy staying with Grandad, MawMaw, and Granna once again. I'm sure they'll keep him more on a schedule than we did over Christmas!

Here are two last pictures from our time off. The first is of Tyler in his UAB shirt. I'm sure Grandad is beaming seeing him in green and gold! When we went to buy Grandad a shirt at the UAB bookstore for Christmas, Tyler had to have a UAB shirt like Grandad's.
The second picture is of Matthew in "big boy clothes". Last night was the first time he's had on a pair of jeans. I have to admit that he looks pretty cute...just way too grown up!

Family Christmas Collage

I know I've become a little collage crazy lately! This is one of our various family members during the Christmas holidays. We didn't manage to get pictures of everyone...there are no pictures of Granna AND Pop-Pop with the boys and there's no pictures of Mimi AND Perry with them either. We'll have to do a better job next year.

Matthew's First Christmas

As you know, Matthew spent his first Christmas sick. We woke him up Christmas morning for him to see what Santa brought. Here it is before Tyler helped him open his presents...
And here are his presents after they were opened. Tyler was excited to see that Matthew got a Laugh and Learn Kitchen and his very own Curious George just like him!
This Christmas Matthew was more interested in playing with the ribbons on the presents and chewing on the presents than actually opening or playing with them. I guess that's what you would expect from a 10.5 month old little boy! As I wrote with Tyler, here is a quick list of unforgettables for Matthew's first Christmas:

1. Runny nose and droopy eyes throughout the Christmas holidays.

2. Throwing up on me 4 times at various Christmas functions.

3. Chewing on the boxes under our tree and playing with the ribbons on the gifts.

4. Sitting and playing quietly in our laps during the Christmas Eve church service.

5. Still smiling although he was sick. What a sweet baby!

Hopefully next year he will be well and able to enjoy the Christmas season.

Tyler's Christmas

Tyler had a fun 5th Christmas (can you believe this is his 5th Christmas with us?). He enjoyed visiting Santa this year and absolutely loved opening presents. He opened his presents, Matthew's presents, and most of our presents as well. He was always excited to see what was in each package, even if the present wasn't for him! Here are some things I don't want to forget about Tyler's 5th Christmas:

1.He enjoyed Duncan the Elf again this year. If he had a good day, he was able to sprinkle Duncan before he went to bed and Duncan would come alive at night. Here is a slide show of some of the things Duncan did this year...

2. He is totally obsessed with football men. They're like little army men but they're football players. They come with a field, a referee, and goal posts. Santa brought the "generic version" of the football men last year. For his birthday, his friend Carter gave him the Alabama men and then for Christmas The LoPrestis gave him the Auburn men and Santa gave him the Georgia Bulldog men. Now he wants each team to have a band!

3. Santa Clause set out one of Tyler's gifts and then wrapped the rest. This is because last year Tyler woke up, came out of his room, and saw all of his gifts without Jason or me there. This year, after Santa did lots of wrapping, we had to wake Tyler up on Christmas morning to open his presents before our family breakfast. The first thing he wanted to do was open his stocking. He's been looking forward to unpacking his stocking since we hung it over a month ago.4. Out of all the family Christmas events we attended, I think Tyler was most excited about breakfast at our house on Christmas morning. He talked about it for weeks and was so excited when our family started arriving Christmas morning. Although he did little eating on Christmas morning, he enjoyed showing off his new toys.

5. Last, I'll add the embarrassing moment of Christmas with you. This is not our proudest moment as parents but something I'm sure we won't forget. We went to First Baptist's Christmas Eve service and Tyler actually went onto the stage all by himself this year with all the kids to listen to the Christmas story. I had no idea he would go by himself so I didn't "prepare him" for it (i.e. sit very still and listen to the Christmas story and leave your elf on the pew). He did good at first but then he started swinging his elf in the air and he tackled our sweet friend Reese. Jason was telling me to go get him and I was telling him to go get him. There was no way I was claiming that child on stage in front of the entire church! When it was over and the kids came back to their seats, Reese told her mommy and daddy that "Tyler was trying to mess things up". Next year he will definitely be better prepared for the Christmas story on Christmas Eve.

Matthew the Red-Nosed Baby

We woke up Tuesday morning to a little boy that looked like this...our very own red-nosed baby just in time for Christmas! We took both boys to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and both were diagnosed with Sinusitis. Tyler had a very mild case but Matthew's was much worse. We left with two prescriptions for each child in hopes they would be better soon. Tyler's cough was better immediately but Matthew got much worse. Because of all of the congestion and drainage, he began throwing up on Christmas Eve...only on me, of course...and continued until the day after Christmas. (I'm not joking when I say only on me. He got sick 4 times and all 4 times he managed to cover me with it!) He did not eat solid food for 4 days and would only drink watered-down formula.

I am glad to report that he is actually feeling better today. He's eaten a total of 2 jars of baby food today (he usually eats close to 6 each day) and is back to drinking formula that is not watered down, although he is still not drinking as much as he usually does. Hopefully he will continue this trend and will be back to 100% in a few days.

This is how we all started out on Christmas Eve.

Here's how Matthew and I ended up looking at my dad's house on Christmas Eve...Matthew in his PJs and me in one of my dad's t-shirts!

Even sick, Matthew has still been happy for the most part. He also loves to sleep right now. After being up for an hour and a half, he lays his head down on the floor and says "night-night". It's pitiful but so sweet.

Christmas With Friends

One thing we love about Christmas vacation is having time to spend time with our friends. This past Saturday night, we went to Daniel and Laura Ann's house to play. We made reindeer cookies and completely destroyed the James' house. I mean, COMPLETELY! It doesn't take 6 kids very long to destroy a house!

As I was getting ready to post the first picture above, I started looking back at other pictures from our December gatherings. Our babies are growing so fast! Below is a picture from last year (2007) and then from 2005. I couldn't find one from December 2004 or 2006 of all the kids together so I added in non-Christmas pictures so you can see how much they've grown. As you can see, we've also added siblings to our group along the way! Even though we don't see each other as often as we used to, we are so thankful for good friends.

2007

2006

2005

2004

Santa Time...Again

We went to see Santa again at the mall this past weekend. Taking a picture of two kids is hard work...when one looks at the camera, the other looks away or has his eyes closed. Tyler loves Santa and has no problem jumping up in his lap and telling him what he wants for Christmas. Matthew was fascinated with Santa. He didn't cry or try to grab his beard. He just wanted to stare at him. Merry Christmas!

That's the way things happen on the Polar Express!

One of Tyler's favorite parts about Christmas is being able to watch Polar Express over and over and over again. We watched it for the first time this year as a family last weekend. We all (minus Matthew because he was sleeping) put on our PJs, made hot chocolate, and enjoyed watching the movie together. Since then, he has watched it many times at school and at home and he quotes the movie all the time. Here are the two quotes we hear the most often:

"Cause I am just like you!" - He calls this the scary part and he yells really fast when he says it. The man on top of the train says it to the little boy and Tyler says it scares him but he still watches it every time!

"Stupid underwear!" - I think he likes this part because he's not supposed to say "stupid"! I really can't remember why the elves say it but it's towards the end when they are lowering Santa's bag of presents into place. Tyler laughs really loud and screams "stupid underwear". We're usually riding in the car and Matthew looks at Tyler like he's crazy!

Tyler also enjoys reading the book to us. He looks at the pictures and tells us the story almost every night before he goes to bed. What will we read and watch when Christmas is over???

Merry Christmas To Me!!!

Jason and the boys gave me my Christmas present early this year...a new camera, just in time for the holidays. Actually, it is "our" Christmas present but since I'm the one that takes all the pictures, I call it "my" present. I absolutely love it! I am able to take lots of pictures in a short amount of time. It's great for taking pictures of little boys that don't like to sit still!

Santa Time

Tyler and Matthew visited Santa at Nana's work (AKA St. Vincent's East) this past Sunday. This was the first year Tyler was super excited to see Santa. He could not wait to sit in his lap and tell him what he wanted. He still looks a little scared in the picture...he has his lips pursed and he's squeezing his elf, Duncan. Matthew was not scared of Santa at all. He just stared at him a few times and didn't even try to pull at his beard or glasses. I'm sure next year will be a different story.

In Front of the Tree

Here's a picture of the boys the weekend we put up our Christmas tree. I had to put Matthew in the rocking chair because he kept turning around and grabbing the tree! Although we have two Christmas trees in our house, Tyler loves this tree the best. It is our family tree and it has all of his ornaments on it. It also has all of my Hallmark movable, light-up ornaments my dad has given me since I was a child. Tyler loves seeing all of the ornaments move and hear them make noise and play music. His favorites are the ornaments with trains on them. Each night before he goes to bed, he plays all of the train ornaments and watches the trains go round and round. He is so excited about Christmas this year!