The Christmas Card

Well it's that time of year again when you put together your Christmas card and photo to send out to family and friends, old and new, to show off your children or update everyone on the goings on of the past year. Christmas cards, I could take them or leave them, send them or not. Before I had kids that is. Once you and your friends start having kids though everything changes and THE CHRISTMAS CARD becomes one of the landmark moments of the year. It's your one chance to show off those precious angels, in their perfect holiday outfit, in front of the perfect tree that you've decorated....or perhaps in their perfect ski outfits from that perfect family vacation you took last year.....or maybe you get creative and send out the picture of them in their perfect non holiday outfit in a cotton patch (Merry Christmas Y'all) or in their perfect swimsuit in the sand in front of your new perfect beach condo (Warm Wishes or Have a White Christmas)....you get the picture. Because you've received that perfect card. Perhaps just in yesterday's mail. But it wasn't from me.

No, sir. It wasn't from me. You see, I bought THE Christmas outfits a while back, envisioning the precious picture....Jake lovingly holding his little brother, surrounded by the overflowing Christmas presents under our gleaming tree. You would almost be able to smell the pine...taste the cinnamon....hear the crackling fire. Oh how I was longing for the holiday season. And here we are. But there are no presents under my tree because the kids would tear them up. In fact, there are no presents wrapped, the tree is fake...yes I said FAKE....so the only smell of pine is from the tiny unlit votive out of reach of little hands which, if it were lit, would be the ONLY fire crackling in our house because we don't do fire until the kids are in bed due to them trying to climb in the fireplace. The tree is only partially gleaming because there are no decorations within reach of said little hands. As for the gingerbread house....r...i...i..i...i..ght.

So the pictures above were my last attempt to capture the spirit of the season while they both were in good moods today. I haven't been able to figure out how to photo shop out the door in the background and runny noses. Or how to photo shop in the loving, charming scene I had pictured in my mind. This isn't even taking into consideration that trying to get a 2 year old and a 17 month old to cooperate and sit still for a picture is like herding cats. Herding cats with socks on. An exercise in futility.

I'm not giving up the dream though. Perhaps next year we'll send warm wishes from some sandy white beach somewhere. For the time being though, and in case you don't find something from us in your mailbox in the next few week or so, using the theme of the pictures above....Have a Nutty Christmas! We sure are.

All aboard

Jake and Will ride together on the Winnie the Pooh train. They get going too fast and someone bails off the side. From the looks of it they need a bigger model for both of them.

Clean as a whistle

Bobby and Jake made brownies the other night. Bobby kept eating the mixture before he put it in the oven. We decided that Will should get to try some of the mixture too. We gave him the wisk and the bowl. He licked it clean. He even put the bowl on his head to try and lick more out of it. It was hilarious. Jake kept saying, "Wook at Will's face." He enjoyed every bit of it. It was so clean that you could not even tell what had been in the bowl.

Next time my dishwasher breaks I am just going to pile the dishes on Will's highchair and let him go to town.

Any other takers?

Photo Shoot

While the kids were napping I had this great idea that I would take their pictures in front of the tree for our family christmas cards. I was cleaning up and trying to come up with different poses and props to use for our afternoon photo session.

Jake and Will wake up around the same time and and tackle Will to get his pants and button up shirt on and do the same with Jake. Jake is crying because he wants to wear jeans and then will is trying to take his shirt off.

I pick both kids up, one on each hip and off we go to the christmas tree. Will is kicking and Jake is pouting. This should turn out so cute.

I stand Jake in his place and tell him not to move. I run around the couch chasing Will. I catch Will and stand him up right beside his brother. Ok, they are standing there just looking at me.

I brushed off my shirt, took a deep breath, opened the camera, and....

THE BATTERY IS DEAD.

The camera would not even come on. The kids are running around again at this point and I just lay there and start dying laughing. Next time, step number one.... CHECK THE CAMERA.

Anyone have any batteries??

Photo shoot postponed until further notice.

Bath Time

"Stop playing for a second and say cheese"

The boys really love bath time. They splash themselves, each other, and anything else close to them. I love bathtime too. They are contained and playing. Everyone is happy. Somedays we take 3 baths when nothing else seems to be working. All I have to say is "wanna take a BATH" and they go running. I mean sprinting to the bathroom. They are excited and I keep thinking, yes... peace and quiet for 5 minutes!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great thanksgiving at our house yesterday. Bobby and I got the opportunity to cook the turkey, dressing, and all the other side dishes together... ALL BY OURSELVES. We had so much fun.

We started cooking on wednesday night because I had this great idea that I would cook granny's dressing. For those who have not had granny's dressing you don't know what you are missing. It is a long tedious process. However, it is well worth all the work.

To make a long story short Bobby did GREAT on the turkey and my dressing tasted just like Granny's. I was so excited but so was bobby because he ate half the pan yesterday. We ate until we felt sick.

Jake and Will on the other hand did not eat very much food on thanksgiving. The boys are still in the plain food stage such as mac and cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets, hotdogs, etc. They were not to excited about eating cranberry sauce and greenbean casserole.

We all had a great day together and even enjoyed the cold weather that came our way on thursday. It really made it feel like turkey day!! We are thankful for each other and our families. We have been blessed.

Thanksgiving Feast

Today at Jake's school they had a thanksgiving feast and the kids dressed up as either pilgrim's or indian's. Jake decided that he did not want to be either one because he is a big boy he says.

All the other children wore their hats with feathers on them.... everyone except Jake that is. He was not having that on his head.

The parents all came to each lunch with the kids and everyone brought a dish. Fun was had by all.

Guess we should be glad that Jake doesn't like to wear makeup and feathers in his hair.... Bobby will be thankful of that since Jake would rather be throwing a ball or playing in dirt.