Christmas across the state!

We started off our Christmas festivities on the 24th at Anne's house here in Knoxville. We had Christmas dinner, watched Mark and Melissa's episode of DIY to the Rescue, and then opened tons of great gifts. We had a great time Nana, Yia-Yia, and Mark!
Then it was off to West Tennessee for Christmas Eve dinner, we got there just in time to make cookies for Santa before sitting down to eat a huge and delicious not so traditional dinner of brisket, sea food gumbo, and tons of other yummy goodies.We had our first annual fireworks show (great idea Uncle Bob and Cousin Susan)! Finally it was time for gifts. Again, the boys got tons of wonderful goodies, Thanks Doc, Mom-mom, Pooty, Nanny Goat, Sandra, Jake, Bob, Brenda, Stacey, Stephanie, Nick, and Susan!Then we set out our Santa cookies and milk and headed off to bed. The boys woke up early, as expected, and anxiously waited in their new matching pj's to go downstairs and see what Santa had brought.
After playing with all our new toys for a bit, it was time for breakfast and more gifts under the tree. Thanks G-Pop, G-Nana, G-Dada, Mimi, Randy, Sarena, Rae-Rae, Russ, and Susan for all the great gifts! Finally it was time to sit back and relax, play some trivial pursuit, eat some more of course, and play with all our new toys! I see tons more days like this one in our future!

Pre Christmas Festivities

I wanted to post a few highlights from our pre Christmas festivities before the holiday fun begins and we forget about these.

We went to a Christmas party the other night and had a blast. Santa made an appearance and handed out gifts for the kids. Andrew took his gift from Santa with a big smile of course and was even captured with his hand on Santa's hand!!!!!
We also got a few pictures of the boys with a large dancing Santa statue and a decent family shot.
Then we headed to Nana's house the other night for pizza and gingerbread house making time!!! Andrew did a great job, loved every second of it, and of course had more than his fair share of sugar!!! Happy Holidays from Santa's little helper and rudolph's protege!!!!

Look Santa, NO TEARS!!!!

We actually got our picture taken with Santa without any tears this year. It took some serious convincing and a little bit of pulling, but we finally got Andrew to agree to stand next to Santa (forget the lap), but only so he could be in a quick picture with his brother. Davis was intrigued by the beard and could care less who was holding him. Andrew on the other hand had to be moved a bit closer so they could even get him in the picture at all. This version is certainly not the best picture ever since I just took a quick picture of our picture to use for the blog, but you get the idea. We are going to cherish this one for a while because I am sure the next few years will include a some tears from Davis and Andrew if he hasn't fully gotten over his fear of Santa.

Thanksgiving Potatoes

Davis had his first real food and it's only fitting that it's was at Thanksgiving and that it's his momma's favorite... G-Pop's mashed potatoes. Andrew's first real food was sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving four years ago. We had to give Davis the same experience and capture the moment. Here are pictures of Davis and Andrew both enjoying their Thanksgiving potatoes.

Baking with Mommy!

Some of my friends always seem to be baking with their children and they have inspired me to be a little more domestic with my own. So I decided that Andrew and I would do a little baking and figured we better start nice and simple... Rice Krispie treats! Andrew did great helping me melt the butter, pour in the marshmallows, and count out the cups of cereal. He even added his own little decoration after we finished. They were pretty tasty and he gave them a big thumbs up. I would say that our first real baking experience together was a success. Watch out Santa, I forsee some decorated cookies in your future!

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest women

As I sit and check my e-mail, pay on-line bills, and of course post this blog...my boys are busy cooking and learning! Andrew is right at Kevin's side helping him to cook dinner and Davis is close by observing every little thing his brother and daddy are doing. Even sick Davis is laid back enough to let us get a few things done while he jumps around and watches everyone hard at work (and play). And of course the construction hat is a necessity for cooking.

So right after I posted the last blog, Andrew washed his hands and got his shirt soaked. After stripping off his shirt he was back to cooking chicken and counting biscuits. I looked up and noticed the outfit and wondered if everyone cooked in their underwear, socks, and construction hat! After a little chuckle, I felt compelled to capture the outfit and add it to this post!

Photo Session!

We went tonight for Davis' 6 month pictures and to get a few of the boys together. It was exhausting to say the least. The first outfit session was by far the best, but even after that we managed to get some good pictures. These are a few highlights and I will post the rest on the website soon.

Football Time in Tennessee.... well sort of!

We decided to take the boys to their second game of this football season. The game started at 1:00 and the weather was supposed to be perfect, (and let's face it, the tickets were easy to come by)! So we took the train to the stadium, which Andrew loved, made the trek all the way up to our seats, and got all settled in to watch the Vols play what should have been a fairly easy one. We ended up leaving at half time since the weather was a little chilly and windy, the boys were missing nap time, and the Vols were losing badly! Despite all this the boys enjoyed the experience. Andrew loved watching Smokey and the players run out on the field, and singing Rocky Top at the top of his lungs with all the other fans. Davis slept through a big chunk of the game and then woke up and seemed perfectly happy to sit around watching everyone, especially his brother. At least we got a few good pictures to remember the day by.

Happy Six Month Birthday Davis!!!!

It 's so hard for us to believe that it has already been half a year since your arrival into our lives. We are so blessed to have you as part of our family. You have been such a loving, laid back, easy going baby and we have loved watching you grow over these last six months. We are excited for all the adventures that are fast approaching as well as all those in the many years to come. We anxiously await those days when you start crawling (soon if you have anything to say about it) and eating the big people food (it'd be now if we'd let you). Each day is an adventure and a blessing with you and your brother and we couldn't be happier. We just want you to know that we love you and can't imagine our lives without you!

Love, Mommy, Daddy, and Andrew

Ready for trick-or-treating!

Here's my boys all decked out for the festivities! Andrew was literally on gram of sugar away from bouncing off the walls he was so excited about trick-or-treating this year. Davis of course had no clue was about to come his way. Andrew, Davis, Kevin, and I went out just before dark and covered our street and two others in the subdivision before heading back home for some pizza. We got our second wind and Andrew, Kevin, and G-dada all went back out and covered a few more streets at the top of the subdivision. Just as they were about to head down the big hill to the bottom half of the subdivision, Andrew stopped them and said that was the wrong way to go back home because he was feeling very tired (and cold).

It was a great Halloween and lived up to all the hype for Andrew and I think set a pretty high bar for Davis next year! Thanks to all those who came over to see the boys go trick-or-treating!

Now we have to go get ready for Sophia's first birthday (she was born a year ago yesterday). I am sure today's festivities will add even more Halloween fun to Andrew's list of memories.

Switching to a new (old) blog!

As much as I like our current website and blog set-up, I am getting a bit tired of the whole logging in bit. I would like to have a blog that I update a little more regularly (at least that's the plan). So I thought I would switch back to a previous blog site and then just copy and paste a few of my favorites to the website/blog page.

Hopefully this switch will improve my blogging!