It's a bird, It's a plane!

I made Parker a cape for Christmas. With all the other gifts it kinda ended up in a corner somewhere but it thrilled me when he put it on yesterday to do some super hero work in the front yard. Love that kid!

Christmas rewind

Christmas was so much fun this year. We had several parties and did several activities but I want to remember Christmas day.
Jer and I set our alarm for 6:30. The plan was to do Santa at our house then go to Mamaw's and Papaw's for gifts and breakfast. At ten till 6 I was wide awake. I could tell Jer was awake too. He let out an 'I'm too excited to sleep'. So we got up and got everything ready to leave after the kids opened gifts. At 6:30 we went into Parker's room. The video is priceless and if I knew how to upload it I would. He sat straight up in bed and smiled a big smile. I told him Santa came! He hopped out of bed and the squeals and excitement were just all I hoped for. The two things my sweet little boy asked for still make me smile. He asked for a violin and a trumpet. Santa brought a workbench and two wrapped gifts. (can you believe I don't have a picture of the set up?) He loved the workbench and quickly saw Maggie's toys...a precious doll I researched for weeks before settling on and a pram to push her in. I also came upon a rocking chair just like the one I had when I was little. With a little work it looks as good as new. He was so excited for her. So typical. We all went to get Maggie knowing she is my late sleeper. She quickly came around and gave a few wows! Before we set down to open,we all went outside to place baby Jesus in the manger thanking God for what Christmas is about. When we came back in he looked at the workbench and said, " I guess Santa didn't bring a violin." I pointed out the gifts and of course his violin and trumpet were there all along. After taking our time opening gifts we loaded up to Jer's mom and dad's. I always thought my mom went above and beyond when it came to gifts but Mamaw takes it to another level. I still am not sure how I feel about it. It gives her such joy...and who doesn't like to be spoiled. We opened gifts, had a wonderful breakfast, and cleaned up the rest of the morning. Jer and Maggie took a nap while Parker and I opened all the boxes. I love putting together toys. I guess my childhood love of Legos is explained. At about 3:00 we headed to Mom's. She lives in a beautiful little condo on the lake. I mean little. My sister and her two girls and husband and then my family...we were busting at the seems. I had imagined it all a little more romantic then what transpired but it turned out okay. We made steak and hash brown casserole and lots more great food. We all actually set down to eat at the same time. A Christmas miracle! Ha! We bathed the kids and settled the older ones down with a movie in bed. Jer and I, my sister and her husband and the two little ones went to a neighboring condo for the night. I bought Jer a new game he plays with the guys from work called Settlers. It is kinda like Monopoly and Risk in one. We all played till 2:30 in the morning. The four of us used to play games all the time when we had only one child each. Things got more complicated with two more kids. We had a great time. Christmas ended and we didn't even notice. This past week I have spent taking down decorations and putting away new toys. Thankfully I had spent the fall purging the kids rooms of just about all their toys. I love Christmas and can't wait till next year but I also look forward to this new year.

Preschool choir

Parker started preschool choir in the fall. After seeing the ''big kids'' sing on stage at VBS it has been a dream to do the same. A few weeks back Jer was out of town so instead of dropping the kids and heading cross town to visit our youth service I chose to stay and watch choir practice. It was their first time on stage practicing for the big Christmas program. OH MY! My son let me just say really gets into it. The silliness that boy has in him is just....whoa. I thought well this is the first time they have been on stage he really had a hard time paying attention but he will calm down. Last week I went to choir practice. Yes he calmed down but if singing without silliness is a developmental mile stone....we aren't there. After every song he yelled out with arms high, "JESUS!" I guess that is fine since we are at church and all but it is not at all part of the songs. During the practice I turned to my friend who was holding back her giggles and I asked, "What am I going to do with him?" She laughed but I heard another mom say under her breath, "I know what I would do." .....I keep hearing that phrase and thinking... really? I mean I want him to take choir seriously too but he is 3. His choir teachers assures me he is fine. They are friends though so I wonder. We practiced at home with him singing correctly and he can do it. Sometimes I wonder if what I think is funny 3 year old behavior others are looking at saying discipline your child. I sure hope not. Anyway, Sunday night the choir had their first performance. It was an informal missions night in the gym. They were to sing two songs. He was definitely one of the two most enthusiastic but Parker blended fine (in my opinion) with the rest of the performance. He was so proud yelling hi to me and Jer. Sunday is the performance in front of the church. All of our family is coming to watch so it should be super exciting. I guess it is one of the fine lines we walk as mommies. How do you calm a child without taking away an enthusiasm? I just am not ready to do that. Everything Parker sees is the coolest most exciting thing ever. I don't want that to change.

If open mouths determine who is singing the loudest....can you pick Parker?

(Anna Beth was stiff competition on that one : )

A pre-performance family shot.

Christmas Tradition...year 1

My hubby asked what I wanted for the outside of our house this year. I wanted a manger. So he and Parker headed to Lowe's for a man's trip. After a while he called to show me this precious manger.

We looked everywhere for an outdoor star to hang above it. This one will work.

Now on Christmas morning (before presents) we will go as a family and lay "baby Jesus" in the manger.

Oh Christmas tree!

Let me just say that I take the Christmas tree very seriously. I know get over it right? Well, as I have posted before if I could decorate trees for a living my life would be complete.

When I was a little girl we had a tradition that Mom made chocolate chip cookies when we put up the tree. None of those cookies in a tube....the real thing. (the only way I make them) Isn't it funny how little luxuries like cookies aren't that exciting anymore. I mean it was a BIG deal to us. Kinda like a big deal when Mom bought Velveeta for cheese dip....anybody hearing me? HA! So I made the cookies and the tree is up ready to be decorated. We plug in the lights and.....none of them work this year. We all go to Wal-mart to be severely disappointed by the selection and head to Target. After we find what we need we head home and it is already 8:00! So I video Maggie and take a few shots of her decorating herself instead of the tree and put her to bed. She needs her beauty sleep. Parker stays up and helps me decorate....the bottom three rows of branches: ) I know growing up my tree was made up of the precious ornaments my sister and I made as children and we thought it was beautiful and it was. But, my tree is not one of those trees. I will have a tree as a centerpiece of our table to display those priceless works of art. I really am not that particular about anything else but the tree....it is my personal work of art.

Buddies

I had to make note that a prayer request has been answered. Tate is doing well. One of Parker's closest buddies had open heart surgery yesterday. Scary thought for anyone but to hard to comprehend as a mom. Please keep him and his mommy and daddy in your prayers. We love this little boy and want him back to normal as soon as possible. We have memories to make! As Parker so wisely prayed..."Thank you God for Tate. Thank you God for doctors. Thank you God for Hospitals." AMEN!

Reunion, Halloween... both not as scary as they sound

Two weeks ago we had our ten year high school reunion. It turned out to be a lot of fun. It is funny how similar we all were yet leading such different lives. At the park things were pretty casual. That night we all gathered downtown in a basement of a bar. It was neat atmosphere but the $120 dollar fajitas were not quite $120 worth. LOL. My two closest friends and their husbands (which kept Jer incredibly entertained) all caravaned in the Caravan. After talking with old friends till midnight we left to go to IHOP. From what I can tell our party at IHOP was a little tamer (but couldn't be less fun) than that of some of my friends from school. Jeremy and the guys were worked up to be some kind of silly. They had us laughing all night. It took me a few days to recover from being up till 2:30. I have never been good much past 11 or so.


Me and Jeremy, Adrienne and her husband Jeremy(or is forehead anyway) and Kristen and her husband Mark. Aren't we cute!

My old Jr. High drill team buddies. Shannon, Me, Amanda, and April


Halloween...

We had a great time Halloween. Instead of going to the carnival we decided to go to my sister Shelley's to trick or treat for the first time. Parker practiced with me at the front door several times before we left that day. Then I had to practice LOL. I finally finished his costume. Not that it was elaborate or anything it just takes a while when you get to work in 10 minute sessions. I bought the pirate t-shirt at Target and wanted to find some fabric to match the pirate pants to the shirt. Good luck with that! I decided to paint the stripes on. Being brilliant I first got black fabric ant tried to paint orange stripes...didn't work. Got smart. Black on orange....duh. I made the boot covers and about threw them out the door before I finished but they turned out OK. I had to let Maggie's costume out a bit....she is so stinkin cute though. Parker wore his costume the whole day before Halloween....target and the mall included. Fun times. We trick or treated in a Shell's neighborhood and Parker and Anna squealed they were so excited. As the rang the door bell they would say 'trick or treat' and when they opened the door they were silent. One of the funniest moments was when we got back and a group of older kids came to the door and Parker gave them a handful each but they just stood there wanting more I guess. Parker wanted to help them with what to do next and so he said, " Alright, go to another house now." We all cracked up.

We went to Jeremy's parents first to trick or treat. Like every year they go all out. My kid's have the best grandparents.

This is true Maggie. This tantrum is about to get ugly. I know it is bad but it makes me laugh.

Maggie really wanted Parker's glow stick. Big brother was nice enough to let her explore it.

All in all it was a lot of fun. I have such wonderful memories of Halloween as a kid. When else do you get to play dress up and show off to a bunch of strangers for candy? Sounds like fun to me!