Bookworms

Jack has always been a book lover. I started reading to him when he was five months old. His first favorite book was God Loves You Very Much, given to him by Mimi. We would read, read, and read this book again. I think the big, bright and colorful pictures were the main draw, because although the message God Loves You is certainly wonderful, the overall story was a bit weak. We moved on to better literature and quickly fell in love with Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? This is an excellent introductory book and one that I now give as a baby gift to first time parents. The pictures are bright and colorful and the text is predictably repetitive with a nice melodious flow.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Jack. Here is 10 month old baby Jack "reading" The Wheels on the Bus. I love that the book is upside down! We've continued to read to Jack, his love for books has continued to grow, and now it is so exciting to see him learning to read for himself!

So when Will was an infant, I started the same reading routine with him; only at 5 months old, he was not the least bit interested in hearing a book read, but he did enjoy turning the pages at lightening quick speed. I was beginning to think that he wasn't going to love books. This went on until he was about a year old and he fell in love with Brown Bear, Goodnight Moon, and My World (the companion book to Goodnight Moon). He loved, loved, loved these books and we must have read them for the next entire year. But that was okay because I was ecstatic that Will was showing an interest in books

This past fall, we pulled out one of Jack's former books No, David! and it became an instant hit. Will even took the book to school one Friday for Show & Tell.
It is such a cute book about a mischievous little boy who happens to get himself into all kinds of trouble. So perfect for a 2 year old! The text is very simplistic (mostly just No, David!) but the pictures are bright, colorful, and engaging. And for Christmas, Santa brought the companion book David Gets in Trouble
where we find trouble is still David's middle name. We have read these David books over & over & over. It has gotten to the point where Jack and I want to bang our heads against the wall whenever he chooses either of these to read at bedtime. However, the last couple of nights Will has decided to "read" to us. He climbs into bed, puts No, David! on his lap, opens up the book and starts reading as he points to each word. He has the whole book memorized so he doesn't necessarily point to the right word as he is reading, but it is so cute nonetheless! He is so proud of himself that he is "reading" like big brother Jack. And No, David! has become fresh again hearing it read in the sweet little voice of my favorite 3 year old!

Ahhh...so rewarding to see two boys falling in love with books.

Are You Smarter Than a Kindergartener?

On Friday, Jack brought home some worksheets to do that he had missed while absent from school. I was looking over one of the worksheets, and just could not figure out this picture.

(please excuse the poor picture quality)

I stood there for a solid minute and all I could come up with was 'ham hock'. I showed it to Brent and he had no idea what the picture was either! Now we have 15 years of post graduate education between us, how can we be stumped by this?!?!? Jack comes over to see what is so interesting and glances at it for half a second and says "Flat tire...easy."

We were howling!!

Weekend Wrap-up

We have had a nice weekend. Brent had to work some this weekend, but he was able to get alot done in a quiet office so that will help in the coming weeks. I went to our annual homeowners meeting Saturday morning, and was elected to serve on the Homeowners Association board for the next 2 years. So that was good news for me! Also, the homeowners approved taking out a $450K loan to renovate and upgrade all of neighborhood amenities (pool, tennis courts, clubhouse and playground). I am so excited because the comprehensive plans are just beautiful! Also, our neighborhood was built in the mid 80s and there haven't been any real upgrades since then so we need to spruce up the amenities a bit. It is going to be a fun time of change for our neighborhood and I am excited to be a part of the process. The meeting ended up lasting 3 hours and then I stayed afterwards to partake of the celebratory mimosas! I came home to find the boys and Addison, their favorite babysitter, having the best time. After this past week of sickness-induced togetherness, I think we all enjoyed the break from each other.

I called Brent to share with him the good news about the upcoming renovations and he said "Think of some place fun we can go for dinner." We decided to surprise the boys with Chuck E Cheese. Jack had his 5th birthday party there and we haven't been back since, but not because we have ill feelings toward the mouse, we just forget about these fun activities for a cold winter afternoon. The boys, unaware of where we were going, were thrilled when we pulled into the parking lot, although this being Will's first time at CEC, he really didn't know what he was excited about! We ordered our pizza, found a table, and Brent and I enjoyed catching up with each other while the boys climbed in the tunnel above our heads until the pizza arrived. After dinner, we all headed off to play.

A little bit of bear and deer hunting

Will loved the roller coaster!
I have found my roller coaster buddy, just needs to grow a few more inches.

Jack riding the helicopter all the way to the ceiling.

Winning tickets so that he can buy prizes.

Will playing in the Toddler Zone.
He loved this Barney "Traim".

And of course, Will loved driving the monster truck that would toss him around!

Jack won enough tickets to score some Pop Rocks and lollipops for himself and Will. Will practically danced out of CEC because he "got treats! I love candy!" We all left having had the best time!

Today was a rainy, dreary day. Brent went to work for a few hours and the boys and I went to the gym. I ran 4 miles! Yay me! And did a yoga class. I really love this yoga class and need to try to work it into my weekly workout plan. When I picked the boys up from the gym nursery, one of my favorite ladies asked if the boys ever fought at home. I just rolled my eyes and snorted. Do they ever?!?! Thankfully, she said that they get along so well in the nursery, don't fight, and play nicely together & with the other children. Well, hallelujah for small miracles! I'll try to remember that as they are picking at and irritating each other this week. The boys were wearing their Saint shirts and as we are leaving the gym, a lady started teasing Jack saying, "Go Vikings!" Jack gave it right back saying," Who Dat? Who Dat? Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints! Boo Vikings!" Oh, his Honey would be so proud! I think he is officially a Saints fan! =)

We watched football this afternoon until Daddy got home. Brent cooked us a yummy breakfast for dinner...scrambled cheesy eggs, boudin, and cinnamon apples! And now we are watching the Saints.....

Come on Saints!

edited to add: Woo Hoo! Pigs must be flying and the devil's wearing a sweater because

THE SAINTS ARE SUPER BOWL BOUND!!

Double the Strep Means Double the Fun

Both boys have strep! Last week (and it is still lingering), Brent had this awful, nasty headcold. Friday night, Will woke with just a bit of a fever and over the weekend has had a cold. Well since Monday, Jack has had a fever. Yesterday, Will's eyes started looking puffy and red, which has never happened before. This morning Jack woke up with fever and started to complain that his knees and throat hurt. Well, fever and sore throat were enough to set off the alarm bells. I made an appointment with the doctor's office and told them I was bringing little brother in, too. I thought Will only had a cold but I wanted the Dr. to look at him and say "Yes, it is only a cold."

Let me just say...I am raising DRAMA QUEENS! You would not believe the amount of carrying on these two can do. Before we even left the house Jack is crying about how "he is never going to feel better and will probably die" and "that medicine won't work and he'll probably die". Alright, I get it, you feel just horrible, but please, cut me a break with all of the drama!

So we get to the Dr. office and Will tells everyone that comes within a foot radius of him that he is "fine, just fine". Isn't it amazing how one can be instantly cured by just stepping foot into the Dr office?!?! Too bad for Will, but I had just paid the copay, so he was going to be seen come hell or high water.

Will was a star as they weighed him and took his temperature (no temp), but then put on a show when the Dr was listening to his breathing, checking his ears, and checking his throat (inflammed). I mean, seriously....

As soon as we walked in they did a strep test on Jack (oh the tears!), which surprisingly came back negative because the Dr said he was classic strep presentation. She felt certain it would be positive in the morning. She wanted to do a strep test on Will (which she apologized to me because she realized the drama that was about to take place) since he has had this for several days longer, and if his strep test came back negative, then she would test them both for flu.

Now at this point, I was hoping it was strep because every year before our flu shots, I really play up how dangerous getting the flu is, how it can make you very, very sick, how little children can end up in the hospital (and I wonder where my children get their flair for the dramatic?!?!), and we don't want any of that happening to us so that is why we get the flu shot. If they both got the flu after getting the shot, Jack would never let me forget it! So bring on the strep...

Will's test came back positive so we left with two prescriptions for antibiotics and the directive to drink lots of fluids. The bonus is that they can have popsicles, pudding, yogurt and ice cream, too! All of Will's favorites =). Yippee!

So we are homebound through tomorrow and then they are both cleared to go to school on Friday. I am already thinking about how I can treat myself on Friday for surviving all of the drama...

As Far as Birthday Parties Go, Three's a Charm!

We wrapped up Will's birthday "season" with a party for his friends at Gymboree. He and his little friends had the best time...they ran, climbed, jumped, slid, tumbled, crawled and danced. Warning: This post will be picture overload!

The party started with free play, allowing the kids to get comfortable and explore the new surroundings.

Mommy's Monkeys

Will's best buddy, C, jump jump jumping!

Cute little E crawling through the tunnels

Sliding is always fun, but I could never get W to look at the camera; he was too fast!

The birthday boy walking on the balance beam.

After free play, it was time for songs and games.

The girls singing and shaking maracas.

This was a fun game...Ms. Amy sat on one end of the "log" and the children walked to the elevated end. Then Ms. Amy counted down to zero as she bounced the log.

At zero, the children jumped off the end.

They all loved it and everyone had to have lots of turns.


The next game was a "log roll". The children would sit on the log with Ms. Amy and she would gently rock everyone while singing a song (I don't remember the words to the song).

The last line of the song was about falling off, which of course led to this...

Off they go!

Another fun game =).


Then more free play...

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Walking elephants

A barrel full of cute little monkeys

And what is a party without bubbles!

The next game was the all time favorite! Barrel Rolling!

Ready

Set

Go!

Finally, we wrapped up the play with parachute time. You know the drill: spin around on top of the parachute, sing & dance in the parachute house, lie down as the parachute rises and falls above you...good times!

Singing and dancing in the parachute house

And then we moved to the party room for pizza and cake...

The theme was Go Diego Go (of course!)

The cake was a big hit. All of the kids ohhed and ahhed at Dora and Diego, and nobody gave into the temptation to touch the cake before it was cut. I was quite surprised!

Will is turning 3 for the third time in 3 weeks!
If there was any doubt before, we can be certain that he is 3!

Do you feel like you have been to the party now?!? Will's birthday season has officially come to an end, but it was a rockin' good time!

JPEG of the Week

A sight that is rarely seen around here, so I felt it was worthy of documentation.
It stayed empty for all of 34 minutes, but I was officially caught up.

Well, Pardon Me...

Will woke up tonight with a fever. I gave him Motrin for the fever and some Sudafed to help with his cold. The cutest thing, he kept complaining that his "nose was not working; it won't let me breathe." We told him he could watch Mickey Mouse for a few minutes and, low and behold, his "nose is all better. It works now." Miracle of miracles.

Then after a bit of loving and an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, we made our way back to his bed.

I climbed into bed with Will and was rubbing on him until he fell back to sleep.

"Mama, stop doing that with your nose."

"What?"

"Stop doing that with your nose."

"Will, I'm breathing."


So we continue to lay quietly with me trying not to breathe so loudly (humpf), when Will toots.

"Mama, did you hear that noise?"

"Yes, I did."

"That was my bottom. It busted a grumpy."

I stifled a laugh and tried my best to keep a straight face! Man, you gotta love little boys!

(extra)Ordinary Moments

Some of the best moments of motherhood are those that are unexpected and unplanned. Brent just finished the bedtime routine with Jack and I am here surfing on the computer. Jack runs in with a big smile on his face and says, "Mommy, I think you are the best mommy in the whole world!" So unexpected, and I know undeserved, but I still have the smile on my face.

How lucky am I that I get to be the mother of these two boys!

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas, Merry, Merry Christmas!

The day started a little early for us...Jack came to our room at 3:30 AM to let us know that Santa had come. Whew! He may or may not have been sweating it out. We let him get in bed with us for a little while, but the child snores, so he was soon returned to his own bed where he slept until 7:30. Much better!

Once it was a more respectable hour, we began the holiday extravaganza by looking through our stockings. And these are the only two pictures I took with our camera. Once the boys started opening Santa's presents, we were on a sprint pace and I just couldn't keep up.

Then we played with the toys Santa brought while we waited for Gramma, Granddaddy, and Mimi to arrive. They came bearing loads and loads of presents! We took a quick break for brunch (blackberry french toast casserole and bacon) to fortify ourselves for the rest of the morning.

For Christmas, Brent and I usually buy each other one gift. Now this gift isn't a much anticipated surprise...Oh no! I am not a surprise kind of girl. Basically, we share with each other that which we have been coveting, and give the other our blessing to purchase it. Hey, it works for us! However, I do insist that we wrap the gifts up to be opened only on Christmas morning.

My Christmas present and new BFF...the Keurig Single Serve Coffee Maker! I have been wanting one of these all fall. I have never been a weekday coffee drinker until I had to start getting up at o'dark hundred to get Jack off to school. Then I realized I needed to drink a cup of joe to clear the fog. Brent drinks his cup of coffee once he gets to work so there is no need to brew a pot. Plus, I don't have the faintest idea how to actually make coffee since I arrived at this party a little late. This is the perfect maker for me, and it makes a great cup of coffee!

Brent's Christmas present...Earbud Headphones! And I won't even begin to try to pretend I know anything about them. All I know is that they are supposed to completely eliminate outside noise to give one a concert-like listening experience (I think). Let me tell you, eliminating noise is expensive! But my man does love his MP3 player, so it was worth it =).

The highlight of this Christmas...a Hallmark card that sings "Jingle Bells". Mimi gave each of the boys a card with their Christmas presents and Will just could not get enough!

Here he is singing along. I don't know why he felt the need to have the card right next to his ear because you could clearly hear it from across the room.


He couldn't even put the card down to unwrap his gift, so Jack had to give him a little encouragement. Mimi said that card was the best $5 she has ever spent!

We gave the boys a Karaoke machine for Christmas.

This is one of the only times they could sing together without arguing over who is supposed to be talking/singing. It even looks like they are doing choreography. And yes, they did stay in their jammies all day long...it was officially "Jammies Day" at our house. I am sure Jesus would approve.

The sweetest picture of the day. Will and Mimi watching cartoons together after a full day.

Christmas 2009 will forever be remembered as the year Jack discovered Legos! Here is Jack and Granddaddy with Darth Vader's TIE Fighter. It took Granddaddy a couple of hours to complete the fighter; Granddaddy said that he should have used super glue during the construction!

Last year, I posted a Christmas Questionnaire sharing some of my favorite memories of Christmas. So this year, I thought it would be fun to hear about some of Jack and Will's favorite memories from Christmas 2009.

Favorite Present
J: Legos
W: all of them

Favorite Christmas Song
J: Little Drummer Boy
W: Jingle Bells

Favorite Christmas Ornament
J: Christmas lights ornament he made in Art class
W: 3 Snowmen ornament he made at school (the snowmen were his fingers)

Favorite Christmas Treat
J: candy cane cookies
W: candy cane cookies

Favorite Christmas Activity
J: The Nutcracker Ballet
W: the children's party at Daddy's firm

So that is the Christmas 2009 wrap up (better late than never).

I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season!

Another Victim

Grrrrrr.....

Damn Cat!

With as many cords as The Dude has chewed through, it is a wonder that he hasn't electrocuted himself!

JPEG (s) of the Week

We have snowflurries!
The Star Wars tent was to be the Eskimos' igloo.

Catching a snowflake on his finger

Big, fat snowflakes

Lucky Number 13!

Welcome Home, National Championship Trophy!
You have been missed, but we are glad that you are right back where you belong!

Here are some great articles for those interested:

You would have loved tonight, mom -- Your Tide finally won
(sent to me by Blythe)

Heisman is in good hands with Alabama's Mark Ingram
(sent to me by Mom)

Apparently, McElroy wasn't playing at 100%

Fun Videos:
Roll Tide! Alabama wins the 2010 National Championship!

Championship Game Highlights