The Hair Cut

N walked in the kitchen holding his little boy scissors and announced, "Mommy, I got a hayucut!" I think the look on my face must have spoken a million words because the big grin on his face quickly disappeared and he looked worried. While I tried to compose myself, his Daddy gave him a hug. J handled the whole event much better than me. He softly said, "A, it's done. You are scaring him." I realized that I had and gave N a big hug. He is so sensitive and he immediately knew that I was not happy with him even though he was quite proud of himself! He took me in the playroom to see the hair all over the place! Oh well, it was bound to happy and it did! I had been telling N all through the holidays that he really needed a haircut, so bless his heart, I think he thought he was doing me a favor! A few minutes later, we were laughing about it and I know it could have been much worse. I am just glad he waited until after Christmas!

The Before: He took a few chunks out of the front, the top of his head and the back.

And After: You can still tell if you look really closely, but the stylist did a good job at making it blend in. It is a lot shorter than usual, but he seems to love it!

Snug as a Bug

The boys got sleeping bags from us for Christmas and have insisted on sleeping in them every night. We have let them the past few nights, but they will be returning to their beds tonight. I went to check on them last night and they were wrapped up like little worms. They are so cute sleeping their together I just had to take some pictures. However, right after this, we had to unzip the bags and let them get some air. They were sweating too death! Oh, this crazy mixed up weather!

Last minute Wrestlemania!

Uncle Jamie is leaving in the morning, so the boys had to get some last minute wrestling in before he leaves. We sure have enjoyed having him... Thanks for coming Uncle Jamie... You are the best!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

The Jones and Rosa family had a fabulous Christmas. The boys woke up super early... M came in our room at 6! (Mind you, he really didn't understand the anticipation... he just ALWAYS wakes up early!) We kept him in their until 6:30 when N joined us and we went on to wake up Uncle Jamie, Bob-O and Gracie. The boys had a great morning and loved every minute of it. The Christmas pj's were on in an instant when they saw their new coveted Batman costumes and masks.

The boys each got scooters from Santa and have enjoyed them so much!

Uncle Jamie was super excited about his first domestic gift from Santa... Dish Towels! Welcome to the wonderful world of home ownership James!

N and M loved their Lightning McQueen toys from Jean Mommy... Thank you Jean Mommy!

The aftermath... Looks like a tornado went through our Living room!

After presents, we ate our lunch. I cooked my first Christmas dinner and was mostly successful! We finished it off with our Happy Birthday Jesus cake and song which the boys loved! It was a lot of fun and nice to have my Mom around to help me with the cooking and planning. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with our new gifts and spending time together. It was our first Christmas in OUR home and we really enjoyed it. We did miss the rest of our family in Georgia though!

The boys had a very Merry Christmas and as I reflect back, I feel very blessed. The boys each received the three gifts they asked fro from Santa (which were not large by any means) and were completely satisfied and thankful. I pray that they will be so content in the many Christmases to come and not focus on the gifts they receive as much as the time together and the gift of our Savior. Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas

Our days have been full of family fun, baking, last minute shopping and extreme anticipation. We went down to visit Uncle Clay and family Saturday and had a great time with our cousins. My mom's sister was supposed to be joining us, but due to weather was delayed and unable to make it. We were very disappointed, but had a great time being together anyway. We went to church Sunday morning and the kid's musical program that night. We spent a lot of time relaxing and just hanging out.... and eating! Boy, did we eat! My aunt is a fabulous cook and we eat like champs when we go visit them!

We came back Tuesday morning and Uncle Jamie arrived that evening. Christmas Eve, we spent the day baking sugar cookies for Santa. M found a star cookie cutter and went crazy. The whole time, he would say, "Mo tars, mo tars!" over and over... Needless to say, we had a lot of star cookies. You can particular tell which ones are his because they are lumpy stars with a lot of icing! We had a great time!

I am not sure who had more flour on them... the cookies, or M!

Christmas Eve night, we went out to dinner and then rode around and looked at Christmas lights which the boys loved. When we got home, the reindeer had left the boys some Christmas pajamas outside. (We had left them corn when we left.) The boys were so excited and put them on immediately!

The boys went to sleep full of excitement and anticipation for Christmas tomorrow...

Happy Birthday Jesus!

N's Christmas program

N had his Christmas program at school today and it was adorable. They sang some songs, practiced some Bible verses, and did a little nativity play. M was a sheep which was perfect for him. He got to dress in a sheep costume and crawl after the shepherds and say "Baa." He loves his preschool and loves to sing. He has learned several Bible verses and is doing great with his numbers and letters. They are even putting some 3 letter words together and learning how to sound them out. He is still a little bashful, but very sweet and seems to enjoy his friends and loves his teacher. They put on cute little shows at the holidays and I love that they can emphasize Jesus instead of gifts since it is a Christian preschool.

Baking

We did some annual Christmas baking today and had a great time. We made a gingerbread house and some gingerbread cookies. The boys love to bake and this is the first time that M could actually participate.

He had a great time.... made a HUGE mess... but, had a great time. Once again, the housemaking was fun. N followed patterns, tried his best to make the house look like the box and had a system going.

M ate a few candies, put one on a tree, ate a few more, etc... There was not order, but lots of fun!

Christmas Train

N has been wanting a train to go around his Christmas tree since last year when he saw one around a friend's tree. Gracie and Bob-O fulfilled his wish today and arrived for Christmas with a train. The boys were so excited and it has brought tremendous happiness so far. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until next year to actually put it under the tree because we did not realize that we would have to lift and move the tree to put the train around it. We set it up in the middle of the floor and eventually moved it to the foyer and the boys seem fine with that. Thank you Bob-O for being so patient while setting up the train with 2 eager helpers!

Going to see Santa!

We went to Santa at our local mall Tuesday night with some of our friends and their daughter, Caroline. This is the first year that N is understanding Santa and I have to admit, the anticipation is contagious! I remember being a young adult and thinking that Christmas morning had lost some of it's luster, but having children is so much fun because you get to relive all of it! I love Christmas season and it is so much fun to share with my boys. This is the first year that neither of the boys have cried and actually participated with the man in the big red suit. After the picture, N ran over to me with a huge grin on his face. I asked him if he told Santa what he wants and he said, "YES!" Then I asked him (after ovserving the interaction and also because I know my son so well) if Santa could hear what he said. He looked at me and said very matter of factly, "No. I tink we might need to wite him a yetter!" He is so sweet, and oh so timid! M on the other hand jumped up on Santa's lap and talked his head off and I am sure Santa could hear him, but not understand a word he said!

Afterwards, we went to eat Chick fil a in the food court and let the kids ride some of the rides in the play area. It was a fun family outing with some great friends!

Christmas Movies

I was back in my bedroom the other night and heard so much laughter coming from the living room that I had to check it out. I walked in to find N and Daddy roaring over the part of Home Alone where the little boy beats up the robbers. It made me laugh just watching them, but also just made me smile. I hope it is one of many more times I see "my boys" enjoying time together! I love those guys!

A New Hero

Gracie gave the boys a new video while we were home for Thanksgiving and it is a huge hit. Bibleman is their new superhero that they love! M even walks in the playroom and points to the TV and says, "Bibuh". N came out of his room the other night with quite a costume on. I asked him who he was and he put his hands on his hips and said, "Bibleman!" It is so cute to see him playing with his lightsaber (the sword of the spirit) and reciting the words of the movie. Yesterday, I heard him telling the bad guys, "I am Bibleman and I come to teyull you da twuf."

Thank you Gracie for a different kind of superhero!

Thanksgiving 2008

We went home for Thanksgiving and had a great trip. It was a very quick trip, but worth while since it was filled with lots of family time and visiting. The first 2 days we were home, I was feeling under the weather with a cold and it was so nice to be home and let my parents help take care of the boys and get some sleep... What a treat!

We went to Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens the night before Thanksgiving. It has always been a tradition to go before Christmas and J and I both really wanted to go this year. N had a great time and M had a great time until about halfway through where he wanted to get out and had a little meltdown... Oh well That is the life of a 2 year old and we still had a great time. (Although, I think Uncle Jamie may have been a little traumatized! )

The boys had a lot of Uncle Jamie time and had several Wrestlemania matches. Daddy even got in on the fun one time trying to take down Uncle Jamie. The boys had a blast with all of their cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. It was so fun to be home and see everyone!

My cousin Brooke and her son Kaleb came to visit us this past week. Kaleb is about 5 months younger than M, so the boys had fun together. She lives a few hours away and we have been meaning to get together and unfortunately, "busyness" has won for way too long. Thankfully, we finally made it work and it was nice of her to come visit. We took Kaleb to the zoo (can you tell this is one of our favorite activities?) and just let the boys play a lot. We took them to N's favorite store, The Red Store (aka Target) and our tiny little mall. They are from a very large town, so I hope the small town activities and shopping entertained them a little!
On Thursday, we headed down to my Uncle's house to spend 2 nights. We got to take the boys to their cousin Daniel's basketball game which N particularly enjoyed since Daniel is one of his heroes at the grown up boy age of 13!
It is so special to spend time with family!

M and Kaleb making music together!

M and Kaleb eating "dishies" together. That is one of M's new words by the way!

Rub a dub dub... Three men in a tub! (This will be blackmail one day!)
Brooke and Lydia

The Dan Man playing hoops!

M and Lydia going for a wagon ride... Lydia couldn't resist squeezing those cheeks!