Christmas

After a visit in Natchez, Sue joined us in Lafayette for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We decided we would try to all go to church together. The service was a bit too long for the boys.


Santa brought Joe some stackable blocks, some wooden, cutable fruits and veggies, and a Dinosaur Train dinosaur (Tiny). He also brought Jack two dinosaurs, Boris and Buddy. The three dinosaurs actually interact and talk to each other. Jack also received a real Peter Pan costume, some Star Wars figures, and tickets to go see the Imagination Movers. He only asked Santa for a surprise, and it seems that the big guy delivered.

Jack didn't waste any time putting on the costume and playing with Luke Skywalker. (Or, Luke Skyscraper, as he called him once :-)

Jack enjoyed opening gifts

And, Joe eventually got the hang of it.

Cheryl's family was sweet enough to drive over from Texas while we were still in Lafayette.  We don't get to see them very often.  This is Monica Hambrick (Cheryl's sister, Joanna's, daughter.)

Reagan (Monica's younger brother) really enjoyed Joe, and Joe really enjoyed him.

Grumps and Mimi gave Jack a Paperjams guitar.  Joe decided to give it a try.

Christmas with the Fountains

We spent the weekend before Christmas in Memphis with Todd, Rebecca, and Sue.

And, it SNOWED!

Getting ready for Christmas 2010

First United Methodist Church youth group hosts a breakfast with Santa every year. That's where the boys go to school, so we try to attend the breakfast every year. Everyone enjoyed the pancakes


Here's what Joe thought of our second visit with Santa

He much preferred going up and down the stairs to the stage

Jack and Emily both took care of their Christmas shopping in the Gingerbread store.  (The youth take the children through a store of donated items, so the children can shop for their parents.)

Lauren was about as excited about the group picture as Joe was about the picture with Santa.

Jack's class Christmas party was a pajama party.

Jack asked me if his kindergarten teacher will be as cool as Mrs. Valerie.

November Happenings

Here's a quick recap of the month of November:

Brent and his band from church played at a fundraiser in Columbus. It was a cold day and the fundraiser was a soup lunch to raise money for local food pantries. They did a good job. (People didn't rush the stage, as you can see from the first picture, but they provided nice background music during the event.)

Joe got tubes in his ears on November 9th. He and I got to the hospital earlier that morning and waited for a couple of hours. I was very worried about having to withold food and drink, but he really did quite well. We roamed the halls of the outpatient area and then he unpacked the diaper bag. He didn't want to put on the little gown, so I didn't get a picture of that. (I didn't put it on him until they took us back to the pre-op area.) I guess the procedure worked; he's been healthy since.

Jack really enjoyed learning about Native Americans at school.  Each child in his class got to pick out an "Indian name," and he chose, "Mighty Bear."

On November 13 there was a fundraiser for the United Way called, Festival of Trees.  This was our first visit with Santa this year.

Jack enjoyed the trains and gingerbread houses that were on display, and he got to make reindeer food to sprinkle out on the lawn on Christmas Eve.

Joe pretty much just wanted to pull all of the balls off the trees.  (I have several pictures that are all very similar.)

Neither of them was all that interested in taking a picture with me, but after the promise of donuts if they coorperated, we got a quick shot.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we celebrated Sue's birthday with Todd and Rebecca.

Then, my parents came up for Thanksgiving and Brent and I took off to celebrate in Dallas.  My good friend, Shona, had a baby girl that week.  When I met her, she was going by the temporary name Jellybean.  Nearly a week later, she was given the beautiful name, Julia Rose Bell.  Here she is at only 4 days old:

 The other reason for the trip to Dallas (ok, so it was Brent's primary reason), was to go to the Saints vs. Cowboys game.  Brent's friend, Jon Smith, met us there.  I have to admit that Cowboys Stadium is quite amazing, but it was made even sweeter by a very exciting win for the Saints.  It was FREEZING cold, but we were lucky to find tickets from a scalper pretty quickly after being dropped off at the front door by Shona's sweet sister, Sacha.

 We got home on Friday after Thanksgiving, and Saturday morning we said good-bye to my parents and welcomed the Lagraizes.  The boys had a great time together.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Joe and Cecilia on this trip; they were too busy running around the house to get any...quite different from the last get-together at the beach!

 All three boys playing games on their (parents') iPhones:

Happy Halloween 2010

For at least six months Jack has said he wanted to be a ghost for Halloween.  I think he sees a ghost as the quintessential Halloween figure.  He wasn't happy with anything other than a sheet over his head with eye holes cut out.  We tested that costume a few weeks ago, and he realized it just wasn't comfortable.  (When I suggested we leave his head out and just paint his face, he was NOT satisfied with that.  I guess that just wasn't authentic enough for him.  He kept say, "But, nobody is supposed to know who I am!")  So, Brent and I finally convinced him that it would be fun to be a "ghost pirate." I was lucky to find an authentic pirate costume complete with a very wicked sword/knife-thing.  Although he wore the costume twice without face paint, he would still answer that he was a ghost pirate, not just a pirate.

We had a few Halloween celebrations last week to choose from (four to be exact).  First, Wednesday afternoon, the children's story hour at the public library had a Halloween theme.  I took Jack to that and spared Joe the hour of sitting and listening to stories...or perhaps I spared myself the hour of trying to contain Joe while Jack listened to stories.  (I didn't get any photos of that.) 

Then, Thursday evening MSU student association sponsored a carnival with lots of games and activities.  Being the second-born boy does have some advantages as Joe had two costumes.  So, that night he was a spider.  This is a costume given to us by friends.  He was pretty cute in it, but unfortunately, it was late, crowded and cold, and he was tired.  So, again, I don't have a very good picture of the little spider. 

Friday night there was a Halloween celebration downtown, called Pumpkinpalooza, that we planned to attend, but by the time we finished dinner Friday night, we decided we might need the night off.  Saturday Brent and I went to the MSU-Kentucky game ALONE!  It was great!  Grandmommy was in town and kept the boys.
The boys both had Halloween pajamas that they wore Saturday night, and I tried to get some pics of them Sunday morning...

Jack likes to "read" the comic strips.

Sunday night Jack opted to try out the white face paint for the full effect.  I must say it was kind of creepy seeing my sweet little boy with white paint on his face...

I put Joe in the costume that Jack wore for his second Halloween (when he was 18 months old).  It is a tiger (a la LSU tiger), but lots of people thought he was Tigger...oh well...I guess I know where I live.  The Fall Festival at our church had a NYC theme, thus the backdrop behind us in the family picture.  It was fun and was complete with many clever activities (even a real horse and buggy ride around "central park.")  We stayed there until around 6:30, then headed back to the 'hood for some good old fashioned trick or treating.  Jack and I went around the neighborhood with friends, Amy, Lauren & Emily Adkerson (Princess Tiana from Frog and the Princess) and Trisha and Max Phillips (Iron Man).  It was dark by the time we hit the streets, and so, again, I don't have pictures of that.  (Sorry, Dad!)

Brent, Jack and Joe with friends Todd & Evan Hamby