Saturday, December 18, 2010

Santa and Christmas Program

Santa outfit. Not too sure about the face.

Trey is on the front row in the middle. He is concentrating hard on looking down singing "Away in a Manger."


Getting ready to go......


More concentrated singing....


Addison's group. She is the top row on the far right.






Proud momma!

Let me start by saying, Trey LOVES the thought of Santa and wholeheartedly believes in Santa. However, he is just one of those people who question everything and needs concrete evidence for everything to make sense. There is really nothing you can tell him that he will just take at face value. This makes Santa extremely hard because he questions everything about him. I don't have a problem with pretending Santa is real or playing up the whole idea but I don't like it when all his questions cause me to flat out lie. It's getting difficult but I would never want to ruin the fun for him.

Anyway, we went to see Santa last Saturday at the mall...that was an ordeal in itself. We waited in line for 45 mins only for Addison to get up there and go balistic but at this point she didn't have a choice. The money had been paid and she was going to sit on Santas lap! Or maybe I sat on Santas lap and she sat on mine screaming, "bye bye Santa Cause, bye bye Santa Cause." Anyway, so Trey told Santa everything he wanted and loved seeing him. Well, on Tuesday night Trey came up to me and asked me why Santa asked him if he had been good when he saw him at the mall. I didn't know why he was asking this but I just said because he needs to know. Well, Trey then told me that Santa already said he had been good in the letter he had written him and so why did he need to ask again. This is why this gets tricky.....I just said he was just double checking.

Fast forward to Friday at school when Santa stopped by and paid everyone a visit. All the kids were sitting on his lap and telling him what he wanted and then my son got up there. I heard Santa ask him what he wanted and Trey just looked at him and said, "remember, I just saw you at the mall and told you everything." You already know." Santa then got over his shock and said of course I remember you and have your list. I just shrugged and shook my head. I really hope he figures it out next year because I don't know how much more lying I can handle without some major guilt trips. It's also extremely hard work to keep him from figuring it out. It does make it all worth it though when he starts jumping up and down and screaming from excitement because Santa is almost here.

On to the Christmas program...both kids were in it this year and did a great job. It is such a neat production that the school does each year and we work very hard on it for sure!! Trey had a solo part in the 12 days of Christmas and he nailed it! I was worried he would get nervous when he saw all the people (the church had people lined around the walls and standing all at the back it was so full! Luckily someone who works there taped off a whole pew up front early for my family!!) but he did awesome. Addison was so cute too and swayed and sang and waved at us the whole time.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Big Winner!

So, I am seriously one of those people who don't have much luck winning prizes. I know everyone says that but I'm for real. However, I am sooo pumped that I actually won a blog giveaway! It's a gift card to a CSN store and they have so many things. What would you get? I have a hard time with decisions. You can google CSN Stores to see what they have. I'm serious...I would like input. Thanks Ashley at http://babyeichhorn.blogspot.com/!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Addison and Trey update!

I like to just give an update on Addison and Trey every now and then so I will have record of what all they were up to at this age. I don't scrapbook or keep a good baby book, so hopefully the ole' blog can help me out one day.

Trey is a very active 4 1/2 year old. He has become very inquisitive over the last few months and nothing is black and white anymore. He has also become very argumentative and never lets anything go! This year has been so exciting because this is his first year to really understand and get super excited about Christmas. However, because he is so inquisitive he makes it really hard. Just the other day we got our Elf on the Shelf book down and started reading it. After we read it this was our conversation:

Trey: So where does the Elf go every night?

Me: He flies back to Santa.

Trey: Well, where is the real elf cause this one can't fly he's a toy.

Me: Santa gives him magic powers to fly.

Trey: Well this elf can't talk.

Me: Santa gives him power to talk to.

Trey: Well if Santa can do all that why does he need an elf to fly back at night. He can just see for himself.

Me: Oh good grief Trey...just believe the book it's for fun.

Then he came out of his room at 9:45 that night and said, "I've been watching the elf and he's still sitting there."

It's funny though because in the morning when I moved the elf he got really excited. It's like he forgot he didn't believe the elf could go. I guess I should be glad he questions everything but sometimes it gets really exhausting. Some days I feel like all I do is argue with a 4 year old.

He's getting really close to blending some words and still loves to add and subtract. I think all of that just goes into his inquisitive nature. He wants to find out as much as he can about everything!

Addison is definitely into the defiant 2's! Everything is "NO" or "AGHH" (thats her growl/scream) and then she runs away. It's also really funny when someone she doesn't know really well talks to her or tries to tell her to do something because she gets this pouty look and just stares at her feet. She talks so much more than Trey did at her age. She talks in complete sentences and repeats absolutely everything she hears. She also loves to tattle and spends most of her time running to me telling me what "Bubby" just did.

She is slowly getting into singing songs and currently loves "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Jingle Bells." The only way I can get her to lay still through a diaper change is to either sing one of these songs or have her point out body parts. Both of which she is getting tired of. Most diaper changes consist of her yanking her leg up, yelling no and then her eventually winning and staying naked around the house. She refuses to wear panties or pull ups and for those who know Addison you know that I generally let her do what she wants!! :)

Addison and Trey are in such a fun stage together. They play together all the time and love each other so much. There are some days that they will literally play for hours together in the play room without any problems. However, there are also lots of days that they fight, hit, scream and both end up spending most of the afternoon separated in time out. I have to say though this is my favorite age for both of them by far. (I say that every time). I feel so blessed to have such great healthy kids!!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving and Game!

Addison's post Thanksgiving snack

P.J. teaching Trey how to play Dominoes. They stayed at this table for hours playing!


Hadley: "Cmon Addison, let's go play!" Addison: "No thanks, I'm too full to move."


"Who are you texting?"


"Cheese!"



Big win!!!





It was packed!!


I really hope eventually someone stopped to help this guy. (We would have stopped but we may have been late to the game! :)


Hanging out in the most awesome RV ever before the game! (Yes, I am aware of the fact that I said awesome and RV in the same sentence and no, I am not 50.)



J.O. trying to get the inside of the RV. Not too sure what he was doing.


Go Hogs!!


I don't have much time to write so I will let the pics speak for themselves! We had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed hanging out with Andrew, Janelle and Hadley all weekend. Now it's time to really prepare for Christmas!! Trey is so excited he can hardly stand it. Time moves so slow when you are 4!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Game Weekend!

Trey demanding I get a "close up" of the toboggan.


They were both worn out!!


Cheering for the Hogs!!!


Watching everything very intently. His dad has taught him well!


View from our seats. I have decided it's the only way to watch the games!


The only picture I could get of Addison before she ripped all her gear off.


Her "cheer" pose.



Trey's masterpiece for Courtney. I don't think we have to worry
about him being too "artsy."

Saturday was the last Fayetteville home game for the season. Sad sad... We love any excuse to go up there so when the games are over it's harder for us to find reasons to get away and go visit! We decided at the last minute that we would all head up there and just drive home after the game. Last time we went to the game with the kids we stayed at Courtney's house and it worked out great, but I just needed to be at home Sunday to get things done. The plan was for Trey and J.O. to go to the game and Addison and I would shop and pick them up when Trey had had enough. Well, at the last minute someone offered J.O. 4 seats in the indoor club area, so he snatched those up and we all went.

Now on to Addison.....she would have lasted one second in regular crammed seats. The main reason being it was freezing and she refused to leave her coat/hood/gloves on, second reason being she never sat down. It really is such a good thing she's cute (even though I am biased) cause her attitude really shows when she is in tight close quarters with other people. We get to our section and luckily we were the front row so we had a ton of room for her to run around. She was very occupied with the game for about 10 minutes of the first quarter and was very well behaved. Then she started discovering that she could climb up and down the seats, take her shoes off, and yell at people sitting behind us. Luckily Courtney had given them some candy so that occupied her for awhile. After she finished her candy she spotted an older couple eating popcorn behind us. She started putting her hand out yelling, "hab (have) it now." I tried to distract her but Addison is not easily distracted. She kept on and when I turned my back for a second she actually reached up and stuck her hand in their popcorn sack. Luckily these people were very old and thought she was extremely cute. They kept repeatedly holding the sack out for her to get more. Now, I am not a germ a phobe or anything but it was all I could do not to turn around and say, SERIOUSLY??? I mean, I don't know these people from Adam and here my sweet, innocent little daughter is sharing popcorn and saliva with them. Awesome.

From there on out it only went downhill. Addison then proceeded to yell "No" to another woman behind us who continually kept trying to laugh and talk to her. At that point I decided to take her up to the top and let her run around. Luckily Trey decided around that time that he was done too and since we were killing UTEP, we all chose to leave. (By saying we all chose to leave, I really mean J.O. decided HE was ready to go and it was acceptable for us all to go out.)
It really was a fun day though. We all 4 were together from the time the kids jumped out of bed (or in Addisons case bellowed until we got her out of the crib) until we carried them to bed sleeping when we got home. I love that we are able to all enjoy Fayetteville and the football games and I hope that never changes!!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Busy Weekend!

Pics will probably have to come when it's not sooo extremely late at night. Like, 8:30 instead of 9:30. This weekend was so busy but great. Friday night I went to Wicked with my aunt and cousins and it was awesome! I wanted to see it so bad because when we were in New York we missed the first half so I have always kinda wondered what happened at the first!! The play didn't start until 8 and is a very long play so I wasn't home until 11:45. Now, anyone that knows me realizes that I turn into a pumpkin/grouch at 10:00 if I'm not close to a bed. Well, to top it off I had to be back at church at 8:00 Saturday morning for a Fall Retreat. Needless to say I wasn't in the best mood when I rolled out of bed Saturday morning. However, my mood changed immediately. It helped a lot that there were 5 different types of muffins waiting on me and a candy bar complete with pretzel m & m's. It was awesome. The speakers were good too! :)

Then, I headed home to see the kids and get ready to head to a good ole fashioned boot scoot. Yes, you read that right. J.O.'s boss had a party at their house complete with t-shirts, a country band and all the catfish you could eat. I was SOOO out of my element, but I had a pretty good time. Luckily the Razorback game was taping at home so we weren't there all that long. I can't complain though...I drank about 4 cups of amazing apple cider, at a huge plate of amazing food and came home with a free t-shirt! OH...and I snuck a picture of a cowboy sporting an awesome mullet! That pic to come soon!

This is off the subject but last night Trey and I were reading his new Christmas book. I buy him a new one each year and this one was the Bernstein Bears (love them) and about the Joy of Giving. The book was really sweet about the brother and sister figuring out it was better to give than receive. After we read the book we talked about how some kids don't have money for Christmas and so forth. He looked at me very seriously and I started getting so proud thinking this big profound moment was coming. He looked at me and said,

"well mom, what should we do. I mean, do WE have money for Christmas."
Me: "Yes, Trey. You are going to be fine."
Trey: "Whew. I was scared."

I have to admit, after that he did tell me he was sad for those kids and we should take them some toys. He told me that the things he had 2 of he would give them 1. (hey, it's a start).

It really does make you so sad to think about how some kids wake up to nothing and I sit here and rack my brain to think about things I can buy my kids because they need nothing. I definitely plan on taking Trey this year to buy presents for an Angel Tree child and teach him how important that is.


Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween!

Not Halloween obviously, but I'm thrilled Addison can climb up the steps and slide by herself now!! Now it can be the babysitter we bought it to be! (kidding!)




Buzz coming down the slide at church!


Addison playing the basketball game!


Trey scoring some points too!


"If that kid gets in my way again...."

Full length outfit shot!


"I said stop taking my picture!!"


Well, once again I found myself getting entirely too into Halloween this year. It all started when Trey became very opinionated about the costume he wanted to wear. He told me he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear so being the awesome mom I am I went to the store immediately and bought it. OR...I waited until 2 weeks ago and started frantically looking for a Buzz costume and of course there were none left. So, I got online and tried to order one but the only sizes left were the infant sizes (really, what 6 month old dresses up like Buzz Lightyear) or huge sizes (again, not thinking too many 16 year olds are running around yelling, "To Infinity and Beyond!) Well, I explained to Trey that Buzz wasn't really that cool and he probably wanted to be something else. So...he decided to be Superman and I thought this was a great idea! I got online again and started hunting for a Superman costume and seriously everyone I found was 50 or 60 bucks! I mean, I love my child a lot but there is NO WAY im spending that on a Halloween costume. Thankfully Target was running a special on it and I found it for $20 bucks but the only problem was it was a small kids. Well, if you know Trey at all you know he isn't the biggest kid on the block. In fact there are only 8 measly lbs. separating him and Addison so I knew it would be too big. However, when it came in I was able to roll up the pants and it fit well enough to wear. He loved it! That is, until one day my mom and I were in Kroger and saw a rack of costumes on sale and one of them was Buzz! My mom got it for him and he was so excited. Poor guy must have just been putting on a brave face about being Superman for me! He loved his Buzz costume and carried his Toy Story bucket to match. We headed to our fall fest at church and 2 of his little friends were also Buzz so I was so glad we found him that costume! He had so much fun running around and playing. Addison on the other hand was the cutest bumblebee you have ever seen but was adamant that no one take her picture. A few people tried and she yelled "NO", cried, and ran off. So embarrassing.

It was also embarrassing when she was standing at the entrance of the jumper watching Trey jump and a man mistakenly thought she wanted to get in. He told her she couldn't go in with her sucker (first mistake) and then proceeded to touch her to help her up (second mistake). Well, she started yelling, "NO" and jerking her arm away. The man started looking around for me and I just ducked. Then when he wasn't looking I grabbed her and ran off.

When we got home Trey had a blast trick or treating in the neighborhood and then handing out candy to kids who came by our house. Once again, I found myself enjoying a night that I used to think was ridiculous. I'm still working on getting J.O. to dress up and hand out candy as a family. Don't you think that would be awesome?? I really don't know why he won't...he drives/rides in a minivan 95% of the time. Give it up J.O....you aren't cool anymore.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Christmas Pics and Baby Shower!

The yummy spread!


This has nothing to do with either one of these but they were very proud of the fake teeth that came in the Halloween basket from Cece. (I realize my kids are always naked...it's just what they do.)

Baby Lyla's yummy cake!


Thursday we headed to Amy's to take the kids Christmas card pictures. I didn't have to worry about this last year because we took family pictures at the beach. When I was talking to Amy about taking the kids pics the other day I realized I better do it soon because she is about to be busy with a newborn and all the busyness that surrounds the Holidays! So, we went over and I got the kids all dressed in their Christmas gear. And then the real fun began. Let me just say that my kids are not the easiest to photograph. Last year it was Trey and this year it was Addison. Every time the camera would be pointed at her she would start yelling, "No" and run off. We finally got one or two pics by telling her she would get a package of Nerds when we got back into the house. I LOVE the way the card turned out and can't wait to send them out to everyone. At one point I told Amy that I wanted family pics done when Addy turned two and I'm pretty sure she's considering going out of business by then! Here's a link to her blog if you want to check out a few of the pics. The 2 on the card are a secret! http://www.amyaukesphotography.blogspot.com/


This morning was Amy's baby shower at our house and we had a great time. She got such cute things for baby Lyla. Now, we just can't wait to meet her!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Completely Random...

Checking to see if Nana has noticed she has climbed on the ottoman.


"Woo-hoo! Go Hogs! And no one is making me get down!"


Strolling through the Promenade with Claudia and Kennedy.


Trey sleeping at school....this never happens so I had to capture it!


Addison fell asleep while eating a sucker! You know she was tired!




Shopping with the girls while daddy went to the Razorback game!



"Whew...that was close. Maybe I should listen to Nana and get off to cheer!"


That's the only title I could think of for this post because it's really a lot about nothing. This week is SUPER busy because this weekend is Amy's baby shower! I am so excited to have everyone over and help her celebrate. I just hope I can get everything done!


On a completely random note Addison has started really "telling" on Trey. It's so funny because nothing you do is secret anymore. The other day he hit her arm for knocking down his tower of blocks. Well she ran right up to me and said, "bubba hit my arm." So I went to Trey and asked him if he did that and he just looked at me and said, "Addison was able to tell you that??" I think it shocked him too and I tried to explain to him that she can tell me everything he does now!


Trey has started keeping track of everything he wants for Christmas. The list has grown to...a leapster explorer, pellet gun, microphone, four-wheeler, and pillow pet. Lets just say that I can already guess 2 of the things Santa will be leaving off. It's so funny how he has such strong opinions about things this year. We have 2 Halloween costumes because he wanted Superman and then Buzz Light Year and both were on clearance. I'm going to relish in one more year of buying Addison whatever I want her to have!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Blanket Obsession!!

These pics are out of order, but I have never figured that out on blogger.



Addison crying, waiting on the blanket to get out of the dryer.
Reaching for the dryer screaming..."my banket, my banket."

What started it all....playing in the bathtub with her blanket.



For those that know Addison well, you know that a pink blanket follows her wherever she goes. It started out as a pretty strong "like" but as she gets older it is turning into an obsession. She never puts it down so when I have to wash it she stands at the washer and cries until it gets done. Her new thing is to want it when she takes a bath. I have always put my foot down and made it sit beside the bathtub until she gets out. Well, tonight she was soooo cranky so I gave in and let it take a bath with her. Then, when she got in with it she started crying saying "banket wet!" You can't win with this child. Anyway, after the bath I had to go put the blanket in the dryer and she stood there and cried for 10 mins until I got it out and gave it to her damp. She is such a mess!!

The video is Trey singing the Razorback fight song. It took me 4 years to learn this thing and Trey picked it up in one afternoon. (Excuse his lack of clothes....he prefers to run around in the buff at home and obviously, as indicated above, I let my children do whatever they want.)

Notice the serious face until he starts. He means business.