We're Gonna Party All Night

Jack has been telling us for weeks that he is going to stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve.  Will has decided that "We're gonna party all night, and sleep all day!"  So we are all up celebrating and trying to stay hyped up on enough caffeine to make it 'til midnight.  I don't think Mama is gonna make it.

Gone are the days when Brent and I would get all dressed up for a night on the town.  Tonight, we are enjoying our own family New Years celebration.  And truth be told, this is the most fun!  We went to dinner at our favorite little Mexican place.  And then came home for some....

SPARKLERS

 FIREWORKS

CUTE BOYS

It's a celebration!

Happy 2011!

BUBBLY

Cheers!

Taking his first sip....

Ohhhh, the bubbles got him!

Our future frat boy....

yummmm, more, please!

PARTY POPPERS

Filled with crowns, noise makers, toys and jokes!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

We are now throwing the football and playing Webkinz War.  Only 90 minutes to go.....

**edited to add:  Jack made it to midnight!  There was much jumping, cheering and kissing!  Will made it until 11:25, but we woke him up at midnight to join in the raucous celebration. I don't think he was ever really awake!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

A White Christmas

This Christmas was one of my favorite Christmases of all times.  The snow falling outside, a warm fire in the fireplace, relaxing in the company of family, and lots of smiles and laughter.

Is there anything sweeter than smiling, happy bedhead children on Christmas morning?

Jack and Will were so excited to see that Santa stopped by and left presents and not coal!  Whew!  Jack told me later that he was a little worried!  ha ha

Our big gift this year was a Wii!  I think we might have been the only family left that didn't have a Wii.  We are all loving it!  Will is a serious gamer.  Serious.  He is really good, and it is a bit amazing/scary (?) to see this gaming talent in a 4 year old.  

 Jack playing tennis, although he loves the boxing!  He worked up such a sweat that he had to take a break and get himself some water.

Daddy doing some bowling.  However, it was Mommy who proved to be the bowling shark with a high score of 179!  I think I missed my calling.

Will helping me unwrap his present to Brent and me.  It is an ornament with snowmen made from his hand print.  I love these handmade gifts from both Jack and Will.

The other favorite gifts were pillow pets.

  Jack got the dolphin and Will the monkey. 

This year, Brent totally surprised me with a Kindle.  I have loved my new toy and am already reading my first Kindle book.

Mom, Dad, and Grandmother came up Christmas morning to spend Christmas with us.  They made wonderful playmates for Monopoly Jr and Bug Bingo, and were great cheerleaders for Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii Sports.  

I was a little nervous about Christmas dinner because I was trying out several new recipes and I am not a natural cook.  Luckily, everything was delicious!  But then again, when you have Ree and Paula lending you their recipes, how can you go wrong?!?!  The menu was porterhouse steaks, Pioneer Woman's creamy mashed potatoes, Pioneer Woman's burgundy mushrooms, Paula Deen's macaroni and cheese, and craisin-feta-pecan salad.  Those burgundy mushrooms are to die for y'all!

Here are the men warming up the grill for the steaks.  Now that is culinary dedication!

 Brent had to grill just outside the garage because of the snow.

Dad was afraid that they would get snowed in, and he was going to have an office full of patients Monday morning, so they left Christmas night.   A short visit, but a great Christmas!

Hope that your Christmas was filled with peace, love, and joy!

O Come Let Us Adore Him! 

Happy Birthday, Will!

Will woke up this morning to lots of "Happy Birthdays!"  He is so excited to be four because now he is "older than all the other 3 year olds."  And he told us that being four does feel different than being three.  We started the day off unwrapping a few presents.

Imaginext T Rex from Davis, Sam, and Luke.
He loves this!

A Saints bank from Sarah, Anna, and Sid.  Cool!
Now he has a safe place to keep his hundreds & hundreds of pennies!

Buzz Lightyear from Gramma and Granddaddy.  Awesome!

A precious outfit and Toy Story 3 DVD from Honey and Happy.  A lady stopped me in Kroger to tell me how cute Will looked in his new outfit.

A plasma car from Mommy, Daddy and Jack.  It is fun to ride around the house!

Buzz and the T Rex battle.  I think Buzz is losing!

And then Jack got ahold of my camera and started taking pictures.  After that, I couldn't get my camera to work so there were no more pictures of Will's celebration =(.

We surprised Will with a trip to Chuck E Cheese for lunch and an afternoon of games.  He had no idea where we were going, but was so excited when we walked in and he realized WE WERE AT CHUCK E CHEESE!  Will rode some of the rides until he discovered Skeeball.  And it appears that he inherited his Skeeball skills from his momma.  The balls were flying every direction but straight!  I ended up having him walk halfway up the skeeball ramp before "rolling" the ball to ensure the other patron's safety.  He was a sight to see!  The boys were on a mission to get lots and lots of tickets.  We ended up winning "30 thousand million tickets" according to Will or 387 tickets by normal accounting measure, which bought us 2 Airheads candy, 2 glider airplanes, 2 Pop Rocks candy, 1 rubber spider, and 4 tootsie pops.  What treasure!  We all left happy!

Will requested his favorite spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and we topped it off with cookie cake.  

It was a great day with such a special boy who brings so much joy and humor into our family.

We love you, Willie the B B!

Naughty or Nice?

Boys.  Boys, boys, boys, boys, boys!  They are really such an interesting case study! ha ha!

Now that school is out for Christmas, we are spending alot of time together.  Alot.

And we go from being nice, loving brothers...

To little naughty, wrestle-mania brothers...

I told them I was going to show these pictures to Santa so that he could decide if Jack & Will should be on the naughty or nice list. 

They are just a wee bit concerned!

Tis the Season

to party!   The preschool held the three year olds' Christmas program on Wednesday, December 15th and Brent and I couldn't wait to see Will perform!

The program was entitled "Up on the House Top" and they sang Up on the House Top, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Tell It, God is Good, Happy Hallelujah, Away in a Manger, Jingle Bells, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  I thought that was alot of songs for 3 year olds to remember, but they all did really well.

  Will walking into the sanctuary.

Earlier that morning, Will told us that he "wasn't going to sing every song", so I was curious to see if he would actually sing during the performance.  Will did sing, proving once again, that he never misses an opportunity to entertain!

The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.

 

 

The picture quality is not good, but I had to include this one because it is a memory that I don't ever want to forget!

 After each song, the audience would clap...and Will would take a bow!  I don't know where he got this from because none of the other children were bowing, but Will did after every single song.  Brent and I were laughing so hard!  He is such a cut-up, even when he's not trying to be!

Going strong with the bells on Jingle Bells!

After the performance, they let all of the parents come down front to get a few pictures.  It was like the paparazzi!

 

Will and some of his classmates

Will and his friend having fun

After the program, we went back to Will's class for their Christmas party.  While the mothers were getting everything set up and ready, Mrs. G kept the children occupied with circle time.

First, she did a reindeer rhyme.  With each verse, the reindeer had a different colored nose and the verse rhymed with that particular color.

Then she read a Nativity story and reminded them that Christmas is about Jesus's birth.

After eating lots of yummy Christmas treats, the children made snowflake ornaments.  I love how Will is holding his mouth while he concentrates so hard.  And I was trying not to hyperventilate from all of the messy glitter glue!  Art projects are the #1 reason I send my child to preschool!

It was a wonderful morning for these two proud parents and we feel so blessed that Will is at this sweet school.