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!

Lake

We went to the lake last weekend overnight with some friends and the boys had so much fun. We had a campfire and roasted marshmellows. The boys were not too crazy about smores, but really enjoyed the marshmellows and the fire! The men went duck hunting early Saturday morning and took the little boys on a ride in the fishing boat when they got back. N thoroughly enjoyed this and was very serious about looking for turtles and alligators the whole ride.

We had a great time!

M especially loved the marshmellows. He would roast one, take a bite, throw it on the ground and get ready for another!

N was all business helping the men get ready to go in the water.

M was super excited about his upcoming first boat ride...

however, the excitement was too much for him. He got in Daddy's lap and fell fast asleep!

Football Confusion

N and M are bombarded with college football. Not only do we live in a huge college football area, but their Daddy is an Auburn fan, I am an Alabama fan, and Uncle Jamie is a Georgia fan. To make matters worse, we have all been competing to win the hearts of the 2 little Jones boys for our specific team! To prove this utter confusion in 4 year old terms:

N and I were watching football Saturday and he said,

"War Tide, Sic 'Em... Woof Woof Woof."

Enough Said!

Halloween

The Cowboy Jones family had a great Halloween! N insisted that we all dress up and it was a lot of fun. We went over to some friends' house with a few other families and had a cookout then took a hayride around the neighborhood. The boys had a lot of fun trick or treating and taking in all of the costumes. This was the first year the M really understood what to do and he was cute to watch. He had no fear and just walked right up to the houses and stuck out his hand or bucket. He always stood there afterwards to say "Da" (Thank you) which was funny. N had a ball and went so fast that I really had trouble keeping up with him. Thankfully we were with a big group so we had lots of helpers!

I had talked to the boys quite a bit about Halloween and how we really enjoy dressing up, getting candy, and celebrating Fall, but that Mommy and Daddy do not like all of the scary and distatesful aspects of the holiday. On the way there, I told N about the fact that he would probably see some scary costumes and some decorations that were not nice, but that he should just ignore them and tell Mommy and Daddy if he was scared. The first house we went to, there was a boy dressed up like a skeleton and N said (in his VERY loud voice), "Mommy, EWWW yook, dere is a boy dwessed up in a berry yucky costume!" My friends all got a kick out of that!

Cowboy N and M... N did his whole outfit all by himself and wanted to look like Woody from Toy Story.

All of the kids before we left.

N told me right after this picture that he was ready to go home... He looks so tired!

M enjoying the spoils of the evening!