Christmas at Nanny and PawPaw's!

We celebrated Christmas with Jerry's parents last weekend while Mark, Tracey, Kinley, and Will were in town. It was such a fun weekend! The weather was nice enough for us to get to go to Creekmore and ride the train. Mark took the picture. Anniston was with PawPaw in the back, and Will was sitting in Tracey's arms (they were there, we promise!).

Anniston, Kinley, and the candy cane posing before getting on the train!

This is MY christmas present that Jerry decided to model!

Will was really into this little steering wheel that made all sorts of noises and had lots of buttons to push. Isn't he just a doll? The only time I heard him cry was in the car as he got strapped into his carseat. He is just so sweet and easy-going. And smiles at the drop of a hat!

Here was Treyson's big present from Nanny and pawPaw. This is the souped up 2009 model of the Flinstone cars that we had as kids. It came with a hard hat, tool box with tools, and little truck bed to haul things in. Treyson LOVED it!! He was cracking us up because he WILL NOT get into it on the side where the door swings open. No, he actually walks around to the side where the door is molded shut and climbs up and over and into the seat....sometimes his feet land down, sometimes not (he does not like it when his head is stuck between the steering wheel and seat!). We figure he'll learn eventually. But he's a boy, and has to figure it out the hard way!

Kinley and Anniston got matching jammies and even their dolls got the coordinating jammie dresses too! Isn't that cute?

Here they all are checking out their goodies that Santa left them!
Nanny and PawPaw,

Thank you for such a wonderful weekend at your house. As always, the food was wonderful, and the company was even better! It is so much fun watching those girls be so girly together, and we can't wait for Will and Treyson to play together like that next year.....watch out girls!!

Thank you for everything! We love you!

Anniston's Christmas Program

Anniston's Christmas program was held at her school the Friday before Christmas. It was such a cute program, and Anniston really did sing her little heart out. I had told her on Friday afternoon that Nanny, PawPaw, MaMa, and PaPa were all coming to hear her sing, so she really needed to sing loud. There was no doubt that she sang so we could all hear. We had several comments afterwards by several parents as to what a good, loud singer she was! haha

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Here she is with her schoolmates singing "Away in a Manger"

During their rendition of the "Twelve Days of Christmas", Anniston was a "drummer drumming"
and a "maid-a-milking"

Here's Anniston's fan club! Nanny and PawPaw R

.....and MaMa and PaPa!

And did we get a picture with Mommy and Dadoo? Of course not! Somehow, I never think of that until it's over!

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Here's Anniston with Baylor. He has declared Anniston his girlfriend, and even gave her a Christmas present! We ask Anniston who her boyfriend is, and she tells us either Dadoo or Treyson (the answer varies). But I will say that she gets very upset if Baylor is hanging out with other girls and not her (that happened one day, and she told me that she cried because Baylor was being friends with Cadence).

Anniston, we are so proud of you! You are such a sweet and thoughtful little girl. You were so proud of yourself after your program. You sang so well, and did all of your motions just like you had practiced. We love you so much!

White Christmas!

We were out this morning enjoying our rare glimpse of snow here in Arkansas! It was FREEZING because of the wind that was blowing. Treyson was getting very irritated if he walked into the snow and it went up and over his feet. Other than that, he just ran circles and squealed! Anniston and Dadoo were having snowball fights (I'm pretty sure Dadoo won), and fortunately Mommy didn't get dragged into it! At one point, Anniston was thinking she needed to cry because the wind was blowing snow into her eyes. Once I told her that snow was just water on her eyes, she gave up on the whining act and decided to play some more. After about 10 minutes we came back in and ate some soup to help us warm up.

The sun is out, so I'm sure that we won't have snow for much longer. As soon as the kiddos wake up from naptime, we'll try to sqeeze more snow time in!

Merry Christmas!

Our kiddos got a John Deere Gator for Christmas from Santa! The kids ran into the living room this morning, and Anniston ran straight to her stocking seeming to not even realize this enormous green vehicle sitting in the living room. Treyson, however, ran straight to the Gator and hopped up onto the seat! Once we got through all of the stocking stuffers and toys that Santa left, we tested out this Gator in the house (since there's lots of snow outside). Let's just say that we need to sign some little girl up for some defensive driving lessons!!

Merry Christmas! I'm way behind on blogging, and hope to catch up some while the kiddos are napping!

Treyson's first haircut!

We broke down and got Treyson's sweet little curls all cut off a few weeks ago. I was actually getting to a point where I was ready for it to happen....his hair (on the sides) always looked out of control. When we went to Houston in October, 4 people commented on what a sweet little GIRL he was....it was then that Jerry said the curls had to go bye-bye!!

.He started off pretty good. Trish was having to chase his head as he looked all aroundWe tried to keep him amused with his milk and yogurt covered raisins.....But eventually he had hadenough. Trish was awesome....she knows how to give a very fast haircut! Thank you Trish!

Breakfast with Santa

We went to the ACO for breakfast with Santa last Saturday. It was such a neat event. We went and sat on Santa's lap and got our picture made, then went and ate a yummy breakfast. After that we made reindeer food, an ornament, a frame for our picture with Santa, and a gingerbread cookie!

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Blue eyed girls eating breakfast!

Dadoo and Anniston working on her gingerbread cookie

Mommy and Anniston working on her Snowman ornament

Adding lots of "sparkles" to our reindeer food so they will see it really good!

Donut monster!!!! ............(just like his Dadoo!) After Breakfast with Santa, Mommy and MaMa left for Tulsa to shop on Saturday and Sunday. Thanks Dadoo for keeping the kids (and thanks Nanny and PawPaw R for driving up to go to the Razorback basketball game and also help Dadoo with the kiddos---I know it must've broken your heart!!)

Funday Monday!

We kept my friend Tarah's little boy on Monday. His name is Tage and he is 5 months old. He goes to the same babysitter as Treyson, and our babysitter is in Jamaica all week! (bless her heart). He is just the sweetest, chubbiest thing EVER! Such an easy baby to keep, and NO it did not make me have that "feeling" to have another baby. I do not understand how people have 3 kids at such young ages....it's exhausting!Anniston LOVED having Tage here. She was such a big helper, and I purposely gave her "special helper" jobs so that she felt really big. Treyson....well, I was just proud of him for not trying to wrestle with Tage the way he wrestles with Anniston!I had a sweet little laundry helper yesterday that thought he was really silly when he put sissies panties on his head. Such a little monkey!Have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Christmas with Scott and Courtney over Thanksgiving break. They rotate holidays since they live in Houston, and her parents live in Dallas. So, the kids got to open their presents from them as well. Anniston was so excited to get 2 new outfits for her build-a-bear doll that Scott and Courtney took her to make for her birthday. She got a cheerleading outfit and a ballerina outfit. She was pumped!
Treyson got these magnetic building sticks/balls that both of the kids have spent lots of time playing with. Thank you both!

It was really nice to get alot of quality time with them while they were here. We also got to spend alot of time with Todd, Melissa, Taylor, Michael and Connor. Here was our attempt at getting a good group picture!
We hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving! We are now looking forward to the Christmas season. Elfie (our Elf on the Shelf that Santa got us last year) dropped in on Sunday evening and left both of the kids Christmas pajamas to wear! Anniston was so excited, and Elfie has really been keeping her little "moments" at bay!

Church bracelet

Anniston has been wanting to wear this bracelet for the past few days. It is a bracelet that Uncle Todd and Aunt Melissa gave her for her baptism. I have been telling her that I needed to put it up so that Treyson couldn't get it. Smarty pants went and got her stool to reach it on top of the chest of drawers to wear it today. I told her it was only to wear to church. So now, the past 2 mornings, she has asked me if we can go to church so that she can wear her bracelet. (Fortunately she hasn't caught me on the technicality that she attends preschool at her church!! haha)

Here's the beautiful (and now tight) bracelet that is causing the heartache when I tell her to put it away!

Christmas Card Picture session

We were at Lake Ouachita over the weekend, and we decided to take the kids out to the gazebo overlooking the lake (where Jerry proposed to me almost 8 years ago!) to get some fall pictures to use for our Christmas card. I'm not going to post the actual pictures that made the cut for the card, but here's a sneak peek at our beautiful kids!! (I'm a little partial!!)

cupcakes

Guess what we're bringing for Thanksgiving??

AR vs. Miss State

We took the kids to the Arkansas vs. Mississippi State game last weekend in Little Rock. The kids had a blast, and we're definitely planning on taking them back at least 1 time each season. We stayed Friday and Saturday at my parents place on Lake Ouachita. It's so pretty down there this time of year.

Here's a pic of Treyson playing with the man's hat in front of us. These two couples from Benton have sat in front of us for the past 3 seasons. They're so sweet, and when she held out her arms to hold Treyson, he went right to her! That is very un-treysonlike!! He is usually very clingy to his Mommy and Dadoo!

Posing with our tattoos. Actually, now they're stickers. I didn't like them, they peel off easily. Needless to say, we'll go back to Razorback tattoos after we use up all of these stickers.

Feeding Dadoo....what a sweet boy!

Pink cotton candy....the 3 year old's highlight of the day!!

Anniston and Dadoo!

Happy Birthday PaPa!

We celebrated PaPa's birthday 2 weekends ago. First we saw him on his actual birthday at the Razorback tailgate (before the Troy game). We gave him a cake, sang to him, played football with him, and also played hide-and-seek!

On Sunday we met up with Todd, melissa, and their kids, MeMaMa, and MaMa and PaPa at Hardscrabble to eat lunch after church. We were put in the back room so that Michael, Anniston, and Treyson could run wild. And they did. PaPa opened his gifts and we ate ANOTHER birthday cake and also sang Happy Birthday to PaPa.

PaPa, we hope you had a VERY happy birthday. We love you!

Big Toothbrush

So Treyson was rummaging through a bathroom drawer this morning and found an electric brush that my orthodontic office gave me (that I don't like, therefore never used) and decided to claim it. Jerry turned it on and he was pretty shocked at the sensation in his mouth.

He has been carrying it around now for 45 minutes and will stop randomly to "brush".

We are so blessed to have 2 kids that LOVE to brush their teeth. It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a hygienist....we just lucked out! In fact, Treyson can be playing, having a great time and I'll say, "let's go brush our teeth" and he darts to his bathroom as fast as he can. He'd let me brush his teeth 20 times per day if I so desired (which I don't).

Wordless Wednesday---Adventures in a Rubbermaid Container...

Hmmmm....

Maybe we need to remove the bumpers and get this sweet boy a soft little pillow?

27

Anniston has been into an "age" phase. She wants to know how old she'll be for certain things. For instance, I have braces right now, and she asked when she could get braces. I told her when she was a teenager she would get braces. She said, "Ok Mommy, so when I'm six I can get braces?" We're not quite there, but she's trying. She's also wanted to know how old we are, and how old MaMa and PaPa are, etc.

We were leaving the pizza place and there was this big gumball machine near the door. We NEVER give Anniston quarters to get anything from a candy machine. She doesn't care at this point. She's asked a couple of times, and we just tell her that we have snacks at home. So anyway, we're walking out the door and she spots this gumball machine. She looks at me and says, "Mommy, I will get to eat a gumball when I'm 27, right?" My response, "Sure, that sounds great!"

I love little comments like that! I just don't want to forget them all!

The Story of Dadoo

I know that I'm always referring to Jerry as "Dadoo" versus the traditional "Daddy". Those who are with us alot already know why he's called that, but some of you probably don't. So here's the quick little story.

When Anniston was learning how to say our names, she would say Dadoo. Jerry took her to the babysitter's house in the mornings before work, and the ENTIRE way there, he and Anniston would go back and forth.
Jerry: Daddy
Anniston: Dadoo
Jerry: Daddy
Anniston: Dadoo

....you get the picture....

It takes about 8 minutes to get to the babysitters, so he was trying so hard to drill Daddy into her head. Well, one day--IT HAPPENED! She said Daddy, and it broke Jerry's heart. He realized that he loved it when she was calling him Dadoo, because it was special...a name that probably no other Daddy out there has. So he decided at that moment to quit teaching her to say Daddy, and he's been Dadoo ever since.

We figured once she started school that she would start calling him Daddy since she'd be around other kids who had Daddy's. But she hasn't. In fact one time I told her that I saw Baylor's Dadoo at the store. She said, "No Mommy, Baylor has a Daddy. I have a Dadoo."

TOO CUTE!!! So there you go, now you all know the story of how Jerry became Dadoo.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween was so fun with the kids this year. We actually got to dress the kids up 3 times, and will be dressing them up once more for a delayed Halloween gathering in the next couple of weeks! Anniston sure doesn't mind, and Treyson did really well sporting his entire costume.

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Halloween started off on Friday with Anniston's school trick or treating. We walked around Emma Street and trick or treated at about 10 different businesses. It was so sweet of the local businesses to let 36 2-4 year olds and their parents waltz into their offices for candy. I'll admit that the workers were all smiles seeing all of the cute little trick or treaters all dressed up!

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Later that afternoon, Anniston had her class party. Here she is eating her snack.
Awwww.....Loaded back up into the car to head to the next location--Dadoo's office for trick or treating!Dadoo was so excited to see Boots and Dora! He met us at the car. Walking through the breezeway at Tyson.After the kids trick-or-treated around Tyson, we hung out in Jerry's office for about 15 minutes while he shut his computer down. 15 minutes is a long time to be confined to a cubicle. Anniston dove into her chocolate (picture as evidence) and Treyson was throwing sausage samples all over the place--sorry Dadoo....at least he was happy!!Here's Treyson trying to entertain himself in Jerry's cubicle space without getting into too much trouble!We stripped down the kiddos. The monkey suit and wig were so hot!

This was Saturday afternoon. We took the kids out to the tailgate before the Razorback game to trick or treat to some of our friends and family.


Getting ready to head to some friends' tailgates in our decorated wagon!

Anniston has already told me she want to be Ariel next year (from the Little Mermaid). I told her that maybe Treyson should be Flounder. She said, "Who's going to be Sebastian?" I said, "Oh the crab? Maybe Treyson should be a crab...that would be really cute!" Anniston said, "No Mommy, Treyson will be flounder and Dadoo can be the crab!" I got a kick out of that one!

Then she went on to say that when she's 5, she wants to be Alicia (some character off Diego), and she wants Treyson to be Baby Jaguar. We'll see....