Make Your Own Fun!

Saturday evening after a birthday party John Michael threw up ALL over the place at a pizza buffet.  It was so awful and I felt so bad because the people at the restaurant were SO nice and helped us with cleaning and mopping up.  I'm sure people ran out of there, avoiding us like the plague!  Luckily, his run with the stomach bug didn't last all that long...just Saturday night and then he was good.  We were so thankful it wasn't as bad as some of our friend's illnesses.  This stomach bug is evil!

Since we were stuck in the house for about 2 days and I was determined not to put on anymore Mickey Mouse, I thought of something kind of fun and different.  I brought out the inflatable mattress and blew it up for the boys!

 

They did pretty well not falling off of it and luckily no one hit their heads on our coffee or end table!

They had the best time rolling around on it, jumping, and kicking each other!

You can tell they were both trying to figure out how to make it blow up!

 

As you can see, everyone had a great time.  I kept the mattress up for two days of fun, until I couldn't take it anymore and put it away!  It's pretty big!  I'll definitely be brining it out again when we have snow or ice this winter!

Christmas Verse O' The Day:

Luke 2:(7) And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (8) And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. (9) And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. (10) And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

 

Cracker Caper

Matthew loves crackers and yesterday I caught him getting into the pantry multiple times and finding the box of graham crackers.  What's so funny is that John Michael has never gotten into the pantry and gotten food out!  Matthew definitely knew where to look to find his crackers!!

If you'll notice, Jackson is never far away when crackers are in little hands around here!

Matthew got into the box...

got some crackers....

he even gave one to John Michael!

He then went and sat himself right in front of the TV in his little rocker and snacked away!  I didn't get a picture of him in his rocker, but it was very cute!  He's a funny little guy!

Verse O' the Day:

Matthew 1:23
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (God with US!!)

What's That You Say?

This post will only interest you if you're one of our boy's grandparents, or myself!  I have to write things down as the boys are growing because I know I won't be able to remember what they are doing and saying right now.  Here's what both boys are up to!

 

Matthew can say so many words to be just 12 months!  I'm sure there's a few I forgot!

Bye, waves                             cheese                        Mickey                       eat

art  (at)                                  all done                      choo choo                  cracker

Tree (tee)                               adum (you do)            Pete                            Mama/Dada

more (signs)                          Hello (hey yo)              Touchdown and down

juice                                      shoe                            Jack                            dog and woof

night night (nah nah)            banana (nana)             no and shakes his head

Matthew also had his one year check up and he is doing great!  He's still around 90% for height, but since he's been moving around so much, he has stayed around the same weight for a few months now, so that puts him around 75% in weight!  We're so happy he's a healthy, growing boy!  He loves blueberries, bananas, crackers, and yogurt so much!

John Michael is also growing and learning a lot of things lately.  We're always reminding him to slow down and use his words like a big boy.  Usually after a gentle reminder, he will tell us what he's wanting or thinking in more of a sentence form. 

The funniest thing he has said lately he said just last week!  I pulled into our neighborhood from a different  direction so that I could pull over by the mailbox and grab the mail (you know, to see if there were any Christmas cards!) and he got very confused and started crying.  While still sniffling he said "Where did home go?!"  It was very cute and pretty smart to realize we were close to home but he didn't see our house!

JM has also been doing more imaginative play lately, which is also cute to watch.  Just today he pretended to give Matthew an "Alabam football hat" and then he gave me one too!   Having a toddler is always fun as I get to watch him grow and learn every single day.  It's been so very fun to share the Christmas story with him and relate it to a program at church or Christmas books that we read at home.  He's starting to piece it all together and he can pick most every character out of a manger scene.  We've also been practicing saying "Happy Birthday Jesus!"  Christmas really is fun through the eyes of a child!

A Christmas Vacation Kind of Parade

Last weekend was our local Christmas parade.  I haven't been to a parade in years and so we were excited to take both boys and see what all there was to see!  It was so cold and very windy!  Both boys were bundled up nice and warm and I was so glad that I brought along the big, long wool coat and scarf!

Did I mention it was windy?!  Here we are before the parade started.

This was the look on JM's face when he spotted the first police cars and police motorcycles!  wow!

There were so many Snoopy and Charlie Brown characters!

JM is really in love with Snoopy (oopy!) and Charlie Brown (Charlie Browm he says!) right now!

JM got a ton of candy and he nibbled on some candy canes!

Within just a little while Matthew was completely out.  The high school band stopped and played right in front of us and he still kept sleeping.  He was so warm and snuggly!  The only problem was that he was about to break my arms off by the end of the parade!  He slept through the whole thing!

We watched a bit perplexed as this RV headed our way.  We couldn't figure it out at first.....

And then with a huge smile on my face I realized it was A "Christmas Vacation" float!!!!  It's one of my favorite Christmas movies and I about died laughing at how awesome Cousin Eddie was with his trapper hat, cigar, and bathrobe!  I mean honestly, he looks just like him!

There's the Griswold house with Clark in front!  It was too cute!

John Michael really enjoyed seeing the bands, getting candy, and watching all the floats go by!  We had a really good time even though it was freezing cold!

And just for fun, Matthew's hair has gotten wild this winter in his car seat.  I guess it's the static but he looks like a baby lion with his hair all standing up!  What a cutie!

December, What's Up?!

So, yes, it's true!  We are excited to announce our exciting news of a third little one on the way!  We're excited, shocked, and a little scared to add in #3!  We'll be outnumbered!  Either way, we feel so blessed and so grateful for the chance to become parents again.  The Lord has really been with us the last few years and blessed us beyond our wildest dreams!  July can't come soon enough for us to meet our newest little guy or our first girl!

Anyway, I've been tired lately so I'm way behind on blogging about December happenings.  Here's a few things that have been going on around here!

Jordan put together Matthew's birthday present.  I'm hoping this slide will help us get through a cold winter!

Both boys have been having a blast with it!

 

I went through some storage bins and found a big stash of clothes that will fit Matthew!

Matthew helped me by playing in the boxes while I browsed through them.

John Michael helped me make a cake for a Christmas party!  He's a good kitchen helper.

And we let John Michael watch the first few minutes of our favorite Christmas movie, Christmas Vacation!

Matthew is always into just about whatever he can find!  He got into Jordan's briefcase and found lots and lots of fun pieces of paper to play with!

He is such a mess! 

December has been fun and very busy so far!  It's an exciting time getting ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday!