What a Christmas!

We had the best Christmas this year! I thought last year was fun but with Sam being almost 4 he really knew everything that was going on this year. Wednesday I only worked 1/2 a day so when I picked the boys up we went home and started making Christmas cookies. Sam LOVED decorating the cookies and then he would eat one while I was not watching! Thursday (Christmas Eve) Alan & I took Sam to see the Chipmunks Sequel. Sam sat on the edge of his chair the whole time and loved every minute of it. We then went to Mom & Dad's (which is where we dropped Jake off earlier) for our Christmas Eve dinner and presents. We had so much fun! We opened presents first because Sam could not stand it any longer! He heard the hype for an entire month and was ready when we got to Noni & Pappy's. After presents we had dinner and then we had cupcakes for Jesus' birthday! By then the boys were exhausted and ready for Santa to come to our house!

Santa came bright and early (Jake was up at 6:30am) so we woke Sam up too! The boys had so much fun opening presents and then I think Jake had enough. He was so tired from all the activity from the day before! We then went to Nanny & Bop's house for lunch and then on to the Cunningham's for dinner. What a day!! The boys got so many cool presents this year from robots, race tracks, Lightening McQueen everything, cars and trucks! I think one of the cutest gifts was from JJ and Issa! They got Jake a Mator ride-on toy that he LOVES! I bet he has already walked a mile behind that thing!

Saturday we went to Meme and Grandaddy's and then Alan & I went to get him a much needed new recliner! Sunday was definitely a day of rest!

We had a great Christmas!!

I now have my favorite picture of Jake! He makes some funny faces but this has to be the cutest!

11 Months Old

I know I say this every month but seriously?! is Jake really 11 months old. I can't believe I will be getting ready for his birthday party in one month! He has really developed into what many call my "Tazmanian Devil"! He is into everything and follows Sam around everywhere. He has taken a few steps but only when he is in reach for the next object to grab onto. He laughs at Sam all the time and has the cutest laugh I have ever heard. When he really gets laughing hard it makes all of us laugh too! He has completely stopped eating baby food now that he tasted the real thing. He loves vegetables, spaghetti, mac n cheese, pancakes, and pizza! He also did great when we switched him from his formula bottle to a sippy cup with milk. He sometimes forgets to close his mouth when he swallows and it runs down his face. I am not use to a messy eater because Sam did not like food to be anywhere but his mouth. Jake loves to put his hands it in and smear it on his tray. I'm not so sure I can get use to that! His first birthday ought to be tons of fun when he gets his own cake!

Christmas is sure to be interesting at our house this year!

Ready for Christmas

Our house is definitely ready for Christmas! We had our tree up the Sunday BEFORE Thanksgiving and the reindeer in the yard right after Thanksgiving. Sam is so excited about Santa Clause coming this year! He asks me all the time to tell him exactly what Santa does on Christmas Eve. I then tell him about Santa and the sleigh and the reindeer, even though he knows all about it! He asks how Santa gets into the houses and I tell him through the chimney and down into the fireplace. He then wants to know what would happen if someone accidentally left their fire on in their fireplace and Santa burned his butt who would finish delivering the Christmas Presents! I think he is afraid that if that happened before Santa gets to our house that he may not get his presents! Every time he starts talking about that I just crack up laughing because what other 3 year old would even consider Santa burning his butt! Only my child!

Jake is going to have fun this year too even though he has no clue what is going on. He is my wild child so the wrapping paper and boxes will be the highlight of his day!

I have also been telling Sam the real reason for Christmas which he said he already knows because they've been talking about Jesus' birthday at school! He loves school and learns so much. I am thankful for a great MDO and great teachers.

We have so much going on in the next few weeks until Christmas that I just hope we can slow down enough to enjoy it all. Alan & I both have our Christmas parties for work this coming week and then I will be out of town for a few days the week before Christmas. I will be in town however for Sam's Christmas Program at school which I can not wait to see! This will be the first program that he has been in and we'll just see what happens. He's not one for attention so I'm not sure what might happen! I am lucky enough to have some vacation time left to use the week of Christmas and New Years so I will be able to spend lots of time at home with my sweet boys!

More Christmas updates to come...

Thanksgiving 2009

So this post is a little late but we had a great Thanksgiving this year! We have so much to be thankful for this year! I can't believe how fast times flies! It feels like we just celebrated Sam's first Thanksgiving and that was 4 years ago and it was Jake's turn this year! We went to my Aunt Ann's house for lunch with the family and although I'm not surprised Jake ate as much as some of the adults. He LOVED the "real" food and has now decided that's all he wants to eat...guess we're done wtih baby food!

After lunch we went to the Cunningham's and had a great time watching the boys play with Parker. Those boys just love each other so much! Here are some pictures from the day...

Fun Times at the Pumpkin Patch

Every year Noni and Pappy take us to the Pumpkin Patch Express in Calera. This year Sam said he wanted to go back to the Pumpkin Patch in Clanton since he and I had already been with his class and had a lot of fun. We loaded up and headed to Clanton. The weather was perfect and Jake was really excited to be out of the house! He has not had to many adventures in his short 9 months but that's all about to change! We rode on the covered wagon hayride to the Pumpkin Patch and yet again Sam picked out the biggest pumpkin! We have lots of carving to do this weekend! Once we had our Pumpkin we went to the Petting Zoo where Sam fed ALL the animals. Sam and Jake then rode on the Tractor Train with Noni and Pappy. Jake was such a trooper the whole time we were gone. He would kick his legs and get all excited over each thing we did. He loved the hayride and the tractor train ride.

After we left the Pumpkin Patch we got home in just enough time to change the boys into their Halloween Costumes for the neighborhood fall festival. We got there just in time for the costume contest. Sam's buddy from school, Carter, won for the 0-3year group. He was the cutest little indian I have ever seen! There were tons of games for the kids to play. Sam decided he wanted to do the cake walk and when we found a number that was open we jumped in but they had not called the winning number from the previous walk. When they called the number I looked down and it was the number we were standing on so we won without having to actually walk! Sam won a 6pk of Halloween Cupcakes and had to have one right then! He loved it! We stood in line with Carter to bob for apples and once Sam saw that you had to put your face in the water he was out of the line...not for him! We dug for buried treasure instead!

We had a great weekend and another great weekend ahead. Friday is Sam's Halloween Party at school and then we are going to carve pumpkins and go trick or treating!! He is finally at the age where he understands whats going on and loves it. Jake still has no clue and will wear whatever you put him in unlike Sam the past few years!

Jake is 9 Months Old

Actually Jake was 9 months old on October 14th but we just now got around to going to his 9 month checkup! Jake is 29.5" long (90%) and 21.9lbs (75%) and his head is 18.5cm (90%). I was in complete shock that Jake's head was in the 90% range. Compared to Sam's head, Jake has a normal looking head but gosh I guess both of my boys have a good size noggin! At each visit I look to see what Jake's stats are in comparison to Sam's and I was SHOCKED to see that Jake is the exact same height as Sam at 9 months old and only 1.5lbs lighter...I'm going to need some help feeding these two in about 5 years!

Jake is such a sweet baby. He loves to cuddle and is such a good sleeper! He goes to bed at 8pm and will sleep until about 7:15am!! The past few nights we have been putting Jake in his crib while he is still awake because he is getting difficult to rock (he thinks he can stay up with Sam). He fusses for about 2 minutes and then he is OUT! He is also a great eater. We have been giving him some "real" food lately which he loves. He is already eating an entire Toddler Graduate meal at lunch each day and still wants more when his plate is empty! He loves cheerios, spaghetti o's, carrots, peas, mashed potatoes, and just about anything else you will let him eat. He does not like to hear you scraping the bottom of the jar or bowl because he knows that means he is running out of food! He is such a fast crawler and has been pulling up on the furniture for a while now. He is starting to let go which scares me because I am not really ready for him to walk yet although he thinks he's ready! He can say "Da-Da", "Bye-Bye", "Ma-Ma" (but he only says it when I am feeding him which I think he is actually saying "more-more"! He will wave to you and loves to clap his hands.

I can't believe how much he has changed lately and that in less than 3 months we will be having his one year birthday party! Time is really flying by!

October Fun

Friday was Sam's first field trip with his 3K class at Helena Methodist Church. We went to the Pumpkin Patch in Clanton and had a great time! We had a hayride out to the Pumpkin Patch where Sam got to pick his own pumpkin. The picture below shows him with a small pumpkin but don't let that fool you because we came home with the biggest pumpkin! We already had 2 small pumpkins at home that I had bought for the boys and Sam decided that we needed a BIG one to go with the baby ones. After the hayride we went to the petting zoo and Sam got to feed the animals. He loved feeding the chickens, goats, and sheep. I even had to buy an extra cup of food so he could keep feeding them! We stood in line for him to ride the pony and after waiting for 20 minutes he decided that he did not want to ride the pony. I was in shock that he did not want to do it since that is all he had talked about on the ride to Clanton. When we left Clanton he wanted lunch so we decided on Moe's. He loves their quesadilla's! We had a great time on his first field trip! I love Mommy & Sammy Day's!

On Sunday he asked if we could carve a pumpkin and because it is 2 weeks until Halloween I was afraid the big pumpkin might rot if we carved it now so we decided to carve one of the smaller pumpkins. I asked Sam what he wanted the pumpkins face to look like and he said he wanted a MEAN pumpkin. He helped me get some of the seeds out but when his hand touched the inside of the pumpkin he was done! He said it was disgusting and that I could finish it for him while he watched (his OCD comes out again)! When I finished the pumpkin I gave it to the boys for a picture (I ended up cutting the pumpkin off in the picture) and then let Jake hold it. Jake had his paci in his mouth and when he looked down at the pumpkin he threw his paci and tried to eat the pumpkin!

We had a great weekend and look forward to next weekend when we go with Nana and Pappy to the Pumpkin Patch! This time we will take Daddy and Jake with us!