Christmas at MaMa and PaPa's

We took off down the hill on Tuesday the 23rd to celebrate Christmas with MaMa and PaPa at their house. We woke up on Wednesday morning (Christmas Eve), and had Christmas around 9:30 A.M. There were so many presents for everybody. Sweet Baby Treyson slept through the whole thing, so Mommy and Anniston opened his presents. He got so many great developmental toys, including a Leap Frog music table. He will be so excited! Anniston got a dance mat, several toys, and MOST IMPORTANTLY a dress-up trunk. She LOVES to dress up. She goes by the "more the merrier" slogan when it comes to fashion. She's such a mess! She had alot of fun playing "roll the soccer ball" with Michael. And Michael even took Anniston on a ride in his Ford F-150 Power Wheels (anniston tried to drive it....YIKES! she's a horrible driver!!).
Even MeMaMa got to play dress-up with Anniston!

We are so blessed to have such a loving family, and grandparents that love (spoil) us rotten! This was a very special Christmas as well in that Uncle Scott and Aunt Courtney just bought a home in Houston, TX and will be moving very soon. Scott got a very nice promotion which moved him there. Courtney's job (with the same company) allows her to stay doing the same thing...just based out of Houston. I think she spends most of her time in foreign land anyway!! So Scott and Courtney get to close mid-January on a very nice home in Houston. We are so excited for them. Also, they have a nice neighborhood water park; so watch out....the 4 of us will be invading Houston this summer!

Here's a picture of Aunt Melissa (she'll probably be super-excited that I'm posting this). I put this up here mainly because I wanted to show off our "nephew to be" Connor that's in her belly! She's due in April....doesn't she look amazing? You'd never know she was so far along! We can't wait for Connor to come out and play!!

Thank you MaMa and PaPa for a wonderful Christmas. We love you!

Christmas at Nanny and PawPaw's

I'm a little bit late getting to these posts from Christmas, so bear with me. Two weekends ago, we celebrated Christmas at Nanny and PawPaw's with Mark, Tracey, and KiKi. Anniston was so excited to see her cousin and open Christmas presents.

Friday evening, we found Elfie at Nanny's house, and told Elfie that Nanny wanted to have Santa come early to her house, so could he please tell Santa for us. Well guess what? He did! We woke up Saturday morning to these GREAT TALKING AND SINGING vanities and thrones! (Thanks Nanny and PawPaw!)

Treyson's big gift was a Fisher Price Lights and Sounds Stage. It's so cute, and we know he'll enjoy it more as he learns to sit up by himself.

There was so much more that the kids got, including clothes, books, princess high heels, and other toys. Our kids are so lucky to have such loving grandparents!

Saturday afternoon, we went to cousin Lexi's basketball game. She is quite the little athlete. Definitely a competitor, and really good at basketball.

Saturday evening we went to Laura and Randy's (Jerry's aunt and uncle) for Christmas for the entire side of Nanny's family. We went to the Hode??(not sure if that's the way to spell it) house in Van Buren whose house lights are unbelievable and they're coordinated with Christmas songs on a radio station. Basically, the house dances to music--it's crazy! We got back to Laura's and Santa came to visit. He brought gifts to all of the good boys and girls....can you believe that Santa called out Uncle Matt's name? Just kidding Matt, you know we love you! Both of the girls talked to Santa and of course smiled cutely for their presents.

After Santa left, we opened presents, and then the adults had a fun game of Dirty Santa. On Sunday morning, we woke up and went to Mass in our fancy Christmas outfits. After Mass was over we went back to nanny and PawPaw's for lunch and naps, then headed home. It was a very busy weekend, and also so much fun.

Santa was at the Promenade!!

So Sunday afternoon, we told Anniston that Santa Clause was visiting the mall from the North Pole. She was so excited to tell Santa that she had been a good girl. And she also was ready to tell Santa that Treyson had been a good boy since he can't talk.

We got all dolled up and only had 1 person in front of us. Anniston spotted Santa and was beside herself. It was the moment she had been waiting for for so long! She marched right up there like a big girl, hopped on his lap, told him how good she was, and smiled for a picture! Treyson wasn't smiling, but it least there wasn't crying!!

We made our usual pit stop at the Cookie company (yes, usual....you know how our Dadoo is with his cookies!!), got Treyson some way too expensive shoes that he'll outgrow in a month, then headed home.

As Anniston was about to go to bed, she realized that she forgot to tell Santa what she wanted. She only told him she'd been a good girl. So....Elfie to the rescue! We had her sit next to Elfie and tell him everything she wanted so that Elfie could tell Santa last night when he flew back to the North Pole....whew! Thank goodness for Elfie!

Uncle Don and Aunt Tina Wedding!

We went to Don and Tina's wedding in Eureka Springs on Saturday. It was at the Thorncrown Chapel, and was so beautiful! I've never been there, and I thought it was so perfect. It was gorgeous at night with the low lights, and then all of the poinsettias that were up for Christmas. Jerry also commented that the ferns were so beautiful and GREEN (mine are in our whirlpool tub trying to be saved because they were left outside too long....trust me, I'm trying to chunk them but my squeaky tight husband (God love him!) wants to try and revive them!).

Treyson thought about fussing but ended up doing great through the ceremony. Anniston did great and sat in Aunt Robin's lap the entire time. She was so excited about the wedding. She got to wear a new "fancy wedding dress" and hairbow (with the shiny brown shoes that were mentioned in a previous post). This is not at all related to the wedding, but it's an appropriate time to throw this in....Anniston has this new thing going where she will walk into a room of people and throw her hands up in the air (you know, like a gymnast after she's done something spectacular?!!!) and just wait for somebody to say something (usually something to the effect of how cute she looks). I'm not sure if we're over-inflating her head at home (we are slightly partial to her cuteness!!), but she did this at her babysitter's Christmas party, and then again at a birthday party she was at on Saturday afternoon. Anyway, she had that same "look at me" attitude on Saturday night, so she ate up all of the "oohs and aaahs".

So the wedding ceremony was short but very sweet. Then we headed back for the reception....where our daughter turned into the energizer dancing bunny!

She started off dancing with Sheradon for awhile.

Then she came back for a punch re-load and drug Aunt Robin out on the dance floor with her. By the way, I didn't get a picture of Don and Tina (I know, horrible). But you can see a little bit of her on the right side of this picture....she looked beautiful, and her dress was amazing!

This is a picture of her running circles (sorry for the fuzziness)

Here is when she is observing all of the dance floor doing the "Cha Cha Slide"....she didn't know what to think about that!

Here she is helping Mommy do the "Electric Slide" (yes, I first learned this from our Sunday nights out at Red Roper teen night in junior high!!)

Then Anniston and Mommy were dancing to Britney Spears' "Womanizer" (thank goodness Anniston doesn't pay attention to the words of these songs yet--YIKES!!)

Then a congo line was started

Nanny and PawPaw were on the floor dancing with Anniston for a long time....can you guess which song was playing??

I think Dadoo was trying to give PawPaw a break, but I don't think that worked!

I definitely don't want to leave Treyson out. He was having a great time being passed around from relative to relative....he's so laid back! Then he just laid his head down and was out for basically the rest of the night (minus getting loaded into the carseat to drive home). He got his fair share of "oohs and aahs"

Don and Tina...we had a great time. Your wedding was beautiful, the reception was great! You're a great couple, and we wish you all the best!

Christmas Program

Anniston's school had their Christmas program on Friday evening at the church. We had been talking to her all week about how exciting it would be and how she would be singing for alot of people. We just didn't want her to freak out when she saw all of the chairs filled and lots of clapping going on. We knew that she knew all of her songs because she's been singing us to them for the past couple of weeks; we just hoped she wouldn't get stage fright....

....well, she hammed it up! She bounced and kicked up her leg while singing loudly the entire time (she can multi-task like her mother!). Of course we had the entire first row with our family and friends, so she spotted us quickly and was giving us quite a show! She was moving so much that she almost ran over the sweet little boy next to her a few times. And I'm pretty sure we should've done some bloomers under her dress because with all of the moving around, her dress did get a little too high at times (we try for her to be a lady..haha!).

Afterwards, she had snacks and played with her grandparents. Santa Clause also made an appearance. She sat on Santa's lap, but the face looked incredibly familiar, and she figured out that it was a teacher at her school....so we discussed that Ms. Patricia was just dressing up for fun as Santa. We asked her where the REAL Santa Clause was at and she said the North Pole. So I think we're still good on that! WHEW!!!

Anniston, Mommy and Dadoo are so proud of you! You're such a great singer and performer! We love you!

Congratulations!!

Jerry and I have been following a blog of a couple that we went to school with. They were a year ahead of us in school; like Jerry and I, they were junior high school sweethearts. They are such a nice couple, and we've been following them on "their journey" to having their sweet twins. They were born last night, and are a really good size and healthy.

Congratualtions Michael and Mary Kate (and Cooper and Hadley!) Your family is absolutely beautiful!

You can check them out at "Our Journey" on my blog list, or click this link:
http://michaelandmarykate.blogspot.com

Exhausted

We had Mommy's work Christmas party tonight at Nana Cindy and Dado Hemi's house. Since we were all dressed up, we decided to try for the Christmas card picture....we were all worn out, especially the kiddos! I thought this was too cute not to share....sorry, no sneak peeks at the actual picture that turned out (and it is great!!).

Surely not...

So, it's just a typical Thursday at work (yes, this is my first official week back to work....I made it, not without tears though!). I make it through the first half of the day. Eat a very unfilling frozen Lean Cuisine meal, decide that's not near enough, run to Hardees for the 2 burgers for 3 bucks, and eat them on my way to vacuum out the car....very productive lunch.

Then I begin my afternoon of seeing patients. Around 2:30, the office manager comes up to me while I'm in the middle of a prophy (that's a dental cleaning term). She says to me, "it's the daycare".....I panic: FEVER, THROW UP, BROKEN ARM....my mind is racing! So I say to my sweet patient, "oh no, that's my 2 year old's school", and she responds, "no problem, you hurry and get that" (so nice!). So I race towards the phone, so nervous as to what awaits me.

Me: Hello, this is Amy.

Director: Hi, Amy. This is Tressa at Children's World.

Me: Hey there. What's going on with Anniston?

Director: Well, when Anniston got up from her nap she told us there was something in her nose. I've shined a flashlight, and there's definitely a foreign particle.

Me thinking: You've got to be kidding me!

Me: Oh my goodness...any thoughts on what it could be?

Director: Well, they did do dry noodle art, and we're thinking it might be a small piece of that. We don't have a bulb syringe, and she can't blow her nose for us. She's quit crying, but says it hurts. We need you to come get her.

Me thinking: Like I can do anything???? HA

Me: Ok, I'm sending a girl I work with there to get her...she'll be there in a few minutes.

Director: I'm so sorry...thanks!

Me thinking: SORRY? I don't think you forced a foreign particle up my daughter's nose! Just wait till I have a little talking-to with her!

So, Trish gets back with Anniston and is joking about how they were tickling her nose with a feather trying to get her to sneeze when she picked Anniston up. We kind of laughed it off, thinking "whatever". So I finish up my patient, and take Anniston to the back of our office. I ask her which nostril it's in. She points to the right side. I push on it a little and ask her if it hurts..."yes", she says. Then I push on the left, "No, Mommy, over here" (pointing to right side). "Don't pick it Mommy", she says. It's WAY up there....like I don't think I can even get a dental tweaser up there (and they're long and skinny). So I'm starting to call Jerry's cell so he can call the nurse and get an appointment for after work. Meanwhile, I will see my last 3 patients. Well, as the phone is ringing, Anniston SNEEZES! And out comes this plastic little piece. Let me tell you, I would be crying if it were wedged up my nose. It was huge! It was 3/4 inch!

So then we have a little talk about how we don't put anything up our nose, unless Mommy or Dadoo puts medicine up there. We also told her that Elfie (see previous post) knows what she did, and that Santa doesn't want us to put things up our nose either.

So then Anniston stayed at work with Mrs. Berniece in the front office area and talked her ear off. Poor Berniece...I don't think she got anything accomplished from 3:00-5:00 today.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be nearly as eventful!

"Elfie"

So last night, we introduced "Elf on the Shelf" to Anniston and Treyson (well, really just Anniston at this point). If you haven't heard of this, it is the CUTEST thing ever. Basically, Santa sends this Elf around Thanksgiving to your house, and you adopt him into your family by naming him and following the rules. The Elf acts as Santa's eyes to let him know whether you've been naughty or nice. Then every evening, "Elfie" (the name Anniston came up with for our elf) will fly to the North Pole to let Santa know how we all acted that day. He tells Santa if we followed the rules, said our prayers, helped eachother out, etc. Then each morning, we look for Elfie because he always lands in a different spot in our house.

Here's a picture of Elfie

Well, yesterday Anniston was pretty down in the dumps attitude-wise. She hadn't napped and she was feeling icky with her cough and snotty nose. So I asked her this morning what Elfie must have told Santa yesterday. She told me that Elfie told Santa she was naughty. I asked her what this meant. She told me that she won't get presents if she's not nice. So then she went to find Elfie and apologized to him and told him she was going to be a good girl today...we'll see!

Here's Anniston getting up close with our new Elfie last night....one rule is that you can't touch him....boy was that tempting!

"School Days"

This blog entry is one I'm going back and forth on, but decided to do. I got my inspiration from Jerry's co-worker, who emailed him that her daughter (or really she) had wardrobe envy of Anniston's attire. Anniston almost always is dressed to the nine for pictures. But trust me Amanda, we have moments where we look like we just climbed out of a cardboard box.

Take yesterday for instance.

Anniston:

Went to school in a striped little dress, with leggings underneath. She had on her coordinating faux crocs (you know, the ones from WalMart for $7.99). Also, the hair was in really cute pigtails (pink twisty ties of course). When I picked her up, she looked COMPLETELY different. Her ponytails were crying out for help...barely in. She had on a different shirt. She had on boy khaki pants (never seen them before) and navy socks with her pink faux crocs. So the wardrobe change occurred because we're sick around here and Anniston had a little runny boo boo incident that got on her clothes a little bit. For some reason, the teacher couldn't find her pants I sent to school in her cubby, so they dressed her out of the "extra clothes for parents who forget to pack their kids extra clothes in the event of an emergency" bin. Then when we got home she was wearing her "party hat" (the Indian hat they made at school for Thanksgiving). Also, she wanted to wear her "shiny" party shoes...those would be the shiny brown shoes from Target that I got on clearance to match her Christmas dress. So I caved on that....they were only $10; if they get too scuffed, I'll get some polish out! And of course, we're still sporting our bib because we had spaghetti for dinner. Here she is in all her glory:

Treyson:

This is a good one too. His babysitter's son got sick at school and wouldn't let him ride the bus home (well, they weren't supposed to...that's a whole 'nother crazy story for Mrs. Amber...poor thing!). So Nana Cindy (Mommy's boss' wife and our "adopted" Nana) went to get Treyson (along with 2 others) from Mrs. Ambers. So Mrs. Amber sends Nana Cindy with 2 diapers, wipes, and nothing else. Normally this would be fine; however, this is the 2 hours window that Treyson decided to have a blow-out....with no spare clothes! So Nana thought fast and dressed our "healthy" 14 lb., 2 oz. little boy in a night-shirt and socks from her grandson Gage....who's almost 3!! But thank goodness our baby is so "healthy"....because it didn't look all that big! (Thanks Gage!)

So there you have it...behind the scenes my kids really can look like they climbed out of a box!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!!

Ok, I have to admit it. We're THOSE people who didn't even wait for Thanksgiving to pass before we decided to put up our tree. Thanksgiving is so late this year, and if we waited until after it's over we would only have 3 weeks to enjoy the tree.

So last night I was in Ft. Smith with my mom at Holiday Market. We got some really cute things, and mom even won a gift certificate for a massage, facial, and hair treatment...pretty great, huh? (We never win anything!) Since it ended at 10:30, I just stayed in the Fort while Jerry had the kids up here. He is such an amazing husband to agree to let me leave for the night with an 11 week old!! He and Anniston called me at 8:45 so I could join them in her "night-night prayer", and Treyson was already tucked in by then. Well, this morning I woke up at 7 to get all ready and head back up the hill. Anniston has gymnastics on Saturday mornings, so one of us has to keep Treyson while the other participates in gymnastics (she won't have a parent doing gymnastics with her once she's 3). So I call Jerry around 8:30 as I'm passing Fayetteville, just to make sure he's got Anniston up and getting her leotard on and such. Well, what do you know.....NO!!! The entire clan is STILL SLEEPING! What a bunch of lazy bums! We are so blessed to have children that sleep so well. So Jerry realizes the time at this point and had Anniston up and in her leotard by the time I got there....and of course I came home bearing gifts of Irish Maid Donuts (best Maple Bars EVER!).

Gymnastics was great...it was trampoline day, and that's always a hit with Anniston. She's starting to work on her "cartwheel" (which at 2 1/2 looks nothing like a cartwheel...oh well). Front rolls (somersaults) are a breeze, and she's even doing a front roll on the beam by herself (the fatter beam, but I'm still impressed nonetheless).

We get home and Treyson is about worn out after being up for an hour and a half (the 12 previous hours of sleep just didn't quite cut it), so he goes down for his first of 3 daily naps. Jerry was finishing up College Game Day (and we don't mess with him during that show....well, at least we try not to!). Anniston had stripped her clothes and was trotting around in her leotard covered with a "sparkly" dress, tiara, and water shoes. I was bored (don't get me wrong...I love some college football, but for some reason I just wasn't into laying around today), so I sweet talked Jerry into carrying down the Christmas tree...suprisingly, he agreed and brought it down.

We got it all fluffed up (Jerry didn't "fluff" his part very well....I think he's fired---wait a minute, did he do that on purpose????), and decorated with ornaments. Anniston was FLIPPING out....she was ecstatic that we had our tree up. Jerry makes her say "Merry Christmas" to get the lights turned on, so she's got that phrase down pat. She kept asking me all day, "When is Christmas?" This is going to be a long 5 weeks!! Then she asked me if she could be "Cinderella" for Christmas!! haha I couldn't help but laugh; but I had to go on to explain that we don't dress up for Christmas like we do for Halloween....too funny! Anyhow, we've also been talking about Santa Clause alot lately. She will tell you that Santa is in the North Pole right now making toys, but that he'll be at the mall soon so that we can go see him and tell him that we want pink, sparkly presents for Christmas!

After everything in the living room was cleaned up, the kids watched football with Dadoo in his recliner while I cleaned the refrigerator shelves (yeah, I really did....and can't remember the last time either). I took this picture of my kids (yes, Jerry's one too...and he'll agree) because they looked so sweet....and it shows off the Christmas tree!.

Then I decided to take a picture of the kids. I'm just in love with my babies' eyes. Both are blue...Anniston's are a light blue, and Treyson's are much deeper....oh, they both just make me melt!! I'm just slighly partial though...

Bath time was soon to follow, and Anniston looked at Treyson while he was laying in his little bath boat and in the most serious voice said, "Hey there, Buddy....don't pee pee in my bath tonight, ok?" I had to bite my lip so hard because she was so serious. Something about getting in that bath usually makes Treyson potty, so I guess she was going to try and have a little talk with him before he did it!! And by the way, the pudding and chili that was on Anniston's face in the previous picture got washed off!!

Well, that's about all for us on this Saturday. I'm sure I'll have pictures and stories to post next weekend after the holiday. Cousin Kinley's going to be in town most of the week, and we're keeping cousin Michael on Saturday evening....so I'm sure there will be some fun things to write about. OU is stomping Texas Tech right now. Boy am I sick of hearing "Boomer Sooner"....

First Haircut...:(

Well, it finally happened. Anniston got her first haircut. I know, I know...she's almost 2 1/2, so she's due. But her curls are soooooo cute and I just didn't want to let go of them. Well, guess what? They're still there!! YAY!!

We went to Mrs. Trish's house (Mommy works with her, and we're buddies with her kiddos Natalie and Gage). First she watched another one of our friends who's almost 1 1/2, Nila, get her hair cut. Since Nila sat there like such a big girl without crying or fussing Anniston figured she could probably handle it too!

Trish sat Anniston in the chair and explained that her "special scissors" are the only scissors we use to cut hair! (Thank you Trish!!) What a nightmare to find out your child has cut their hair with plastic scissors at school/home. Let's hope her little talk as well as ours works!

I'm going to guess that about 1 1/2 - 2 inches was taken off. Her hair looks so cute, and it looks alot better now that it's even. It had so many different lengths in it.

Trish and Mommy are discussing the plan of action to take on our little girl's hair!

Here we go...Anniston sat so still for Trish. We were so proud of her!

Here's the finished product. I know, it doesn't look curly but it's because I had blow-dried her hair before we went...which took most of the tight curl out. After her nap, most of the curl was back.

Next on the list.....HIGHLIGHTS!! Just kidding Dadoo :)

Big Boy!

Treyson had his 2 month checkup today with Dr. Ball. We have concluded that nursing is working really well!! Dr. Ball says that if I say otherwise, it must mean that Treyson's sneaking out of his crib in the middle of the night and getting into the refrigerator. He is....let's say...HEALTHY!! Here's his stats:

Weight: 13 1/2 pounds

Height 23.62 inches

Head circumference: 16.14 inches (that means a whole lot of brain in there!!)

Just some 2 month facts on Treyson:

~He is a great eater. Eats about 5 ounces every 2.5-3 hours

~He loves to be in the shower to get cleaned...calms him tremendously if he's fussy

~Likes the bath, as long as we continuously pour warm water over him

~Gets startled so easily, and immediately rolls his lower lip

~HATES his carseat (that's why I haven't been getting out much and dread running errands!)

~Sleeps about 10 hours straight at night

~Smiles so easily once he makes eye contact with you

~Giggles for his Dadoo

~Likes the swing

~Loves to lay in his bed and watch his Razorback mobile (he's usually joined by big sister Anniston who still enjoys watching the mobile as well)

~Loves to be swaddled up tight for nap/night-time

Here's some recent pictures for you!

Big Blue eyes

Big boy just hanging out in his Bumbo chair!You can see him here straining his neck to get a better look at those Hogs!We love you Treyson! And we can't imagine a day without you!

Winnie the Pooh - LIVE!

We took Anniston to see Winnie The Pooh- LIVE! in Little Rock on Friday night. We had so much fun! I almost forgot what it was like to drive in the car without a screaming baby! haha Anniston was so excited to see Pooh, and she was quite overwhelmed with everything (lights, sounds, other kids, etc.) She even got to stand out in the aisle and bounce like Tigger (it was an interactive show), and that's right up her alley. If you haven't spent much time around Anniston lately, then I'll fill you in on this: If you are with her for at least 5 minutes, you'll see her jump. She is a bouncy little bunny! She says she jumps like Superman, and it never ends. Our little girl has more energy than I could ever imagine having! It's non-stop, and she never wears herself out!

Anniston right before the show startedI'm not sure who enjoyed Pooh more....that's Dadoo's favorite (in fact, he wanted to do a "Pooh" nursery...um, no!)

Finally, Tigger and Pooh (our two favorites) together on stage!

Yes, Pooh and Piglet are really flying...Anniston wanted one of those balloons!

Bouncing like tigger in the aisle:Mommy and Anniston before the show:

Pointing to the "snow" that fell from the ceiling:

Leaving Alltel arena...all by herself, as always!

Bye, bye..."See you "waiter" Pooh (as stated by Anniston herself)! It was so great spending such fun time with Anniston. We left Treyson with PaPa in Fort Smith, so we knew he was in good hands while we were in Little Rock.