North Pole City

Today, the boys and our friends, Amy and Graham, went to North Pole City in OKC to visit Santa!! Amy said this place was absolutely beautiful, but I almost couldn't believe my eyes when we walked in the building!! SO.MANY.CHRISTMAS.DECORATIONS!!! It was stunning!! There were hundreds of trees decked to the every last inch! It was just awesome! I wanted to take two of everything home with me!! They had a cute little train that the boys rode around! They loved that!!!  Then we got a buzzer to hold our place in line to see Santa! How cool that we didn't actually have to stand in line?? We meandered around and checked out the largest little Christmas Village I have ever seen!!!

When our buzzer sounded, we went up to Santa's living room and got to chat with him. The boys were shy, but definitely not scared!! Grant told Santa he wanted a remote control car that was yellow (first I've heard of this...) and Wyatt told Santa he wanted a super-duper fast monster truck (again...huh?!?). Then Santa asked if they wanted an aardvark? He said they were good for getting ants out of your pants! :)  He must have been watching Gran the last 4.5 years!! They sat on his lap and got a pretty decent picture!  

I'm pretty sure that Santa was the REAL DEAL!! He was just as jolly and plump as I would expect Santa to be!!  We definitely know where we are going to see Santa next year!!!

Mommy Moments

I  just adore the sweet things that come out of my kid's mouths! They really are so innocent, sweet, and thoughtful!! Well, most of the time...

-  While dropping Grant off at preschool one morning, Wyatt said, "Bubba's school has frosting on the roof. Brrrrrr! It must be really cold!" I guess this whole "frost in the morning" thing is new for Wyatt. 

- Grant was playing with his Tinker Toys and I told him that I loved all his ideas he comes up with. He said, "God gave me the hugest brain in the whole world so I could build the neatest, coolest things with my Tinkertoys!" He often says his ideas come from "his brain God gave him." I guess I may have said, "Use your brain! God gave it to you for a reason!" a time or two ;)

- Wyatt woke up from his nap the other day and always wants me to pick him up and snuggle him. I gave him a little kiss on the cheek and he says, "Ugh, Mom you slobbered all over me!"

- The boys have been playing this random game called they call "Ketchup and Mustard." They pretend to squirt each other with ketchup and mustard. They run around the entire house and laugh hysterically! I had a random squirt bottle, so I put a piece of red construction paper in it to pretend it has ketchup. So of course, I had to get another one at Walmart to make a mustard bottle with! Who knew that game could be endless fun!?!  

I do love my crazy little wild sweet boys!!!

I Love Christmas!

The picture shows exactly why I love Christmas. Have you ever seen something that is so happy, full of joy, makes you smile, filled with dream, hope, and wonder?? 

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Semi-Homemade Gingerbread Houses

Last year, Grant and I embarked on making a little Gingerbread Tree, from a kit. I have to say, it was pretty boring. Grant lost interest immediately, and I wound up doing all the work! This year, we decided to make them from scratch. Well, sort of. We used graham crackers, because- well, I just didn't want to bake gingerbread! We first headed to the candy store at the mall to find lots of different goodies to decorate our tree with! And after some tricky engineering of the house (and a shed built by Levi), and a little naptime, it was time to decorate. 

Wyatt decorated the shed and Grant decorated the house. It was pretty tricky to get some of the pieces to stick since they were kind of heavy and our icing was a little runny, but it all worked out! The boys really enjoyed decorating their houses! And they look alot more festive than the kit we did last year. 

I think we may have started a new tradition!!!

Lighting Up Enid, Sort Of

On Friday night, Enid held their Lighting Up the Plains festival in downtown Enid. I know we moved to a small town, compared to Jacksonville, but we were still hoping to have a beautiful Christmas light celebration to attend. Afterall, we've experienced St. Augustine a few times, and San Antiono once. So I suppose you could say we were kind of spoiled with extravagant Christmas light displays. However, Enid's was quite disappointing! But, I have heard rumors that there were some technical difficulties, so maybe it could've been better. We did see some lights, saw some friends, walked around downtown, and then headed out for pizza. We wanted to stick around for the fireworks display, but we didn't want to stand around in the cold for an hour. It was fun to get out as a family though! But I think next year, we will wait til firework time to show up!

Tree Decorating!

We decorated our tree this past Monday. I know, it was early! BUT, Levi was off work this whole week, so we took our time decorating for Christmas and thought it would be much more enjoyable that rushing to get it done over a weekend! The boys had a great time exploring all our decorations! Grant and Daddy put the star on the top of the tree! Then, after the tree was all decorated, I hid two pickle ornaments for the boys to find! (see the Legend of the Pickle Ornament here). My boys are just like their father and can't find their nose in front of their face! But they eventually found them pickles and got to enjoy their first candy cane of the season!! 

I love traditions that I can carry on from my childhood and pass them on to my kids!! I feel like the Christmas season has many traditions I hope to pass on, so my kids can enjoy the holidays as much as I do!!

Grant's Thanksgiving Feast

On Tuesday, Grant had his Thanksgiving Feast at school. Is anyone really surprised that Grant ate only popcorn and pumpkin pie?? Seriously, the look on his face as they walked into the Big Room as he smelled all the food, immediately showed his disgust! But he was happy to be sitting by his buddy, Creed!  Daddy and Wyatt came too, which was very special since Levi never gets to come to Grant's school. But since he took off this whole week, it got to be a family affair! After their feast, the kids went to play Bingo, then came back to the Big Room for a rousing game of Musical Chairs. Grant had a BLAST playing that game! He and his buddy, Colton, followed each other super close and made sure to get a chair everytime (well, there happened to be one chair for every kid!), but Grant got the idea of the game really well! I love that he loves his school!!

After school, we grabbed a quick lunch and then had a little family time at Leonardo's! I love days that we can do everything as a family of four! That's definitely something to be thankful for!!!

Instagram Dump

I love using Instagram! But I often find I'm left with these random pictures that don't make any sense if I blog them individually! But as a whole, you can get a gist for our little daily happenings!

This month, we played silly guessing games, did Christmas school, looked really cute, wore blankets in the car, tried potty training with Wyatt, and decorated our Christmas tree!

Happy November!

Grant's Preschool

Forgive my laziness, but these are pictures of pictures! Our scanner is hiding far away from my computer, so this just seemed easier!

I am absolutely in love with Grant's preschool, and he is too! When we moved here, I immediately looked up  Christian preschools and heard great things about Oakwood Christian Preschool. We decided to try it as our church too, and we all fell in love. Well, Wyatt hasn't yet, but maybe someday he will!

Grant goes to preschool Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On Monday and Friday, he always asks, "Do I have school today?" When I say no, he usually says, "Aw, darn!"  

I just wish his school went through elementary!! The thought of finding a good school for kindergarten has been very daunting to me! We will find our place eventually, but for now, I am enjoying every minute of Grant's preschool!

Writing Samples

It's been a long time in the making for Grant! But he's finally starting to find an interest in writing!! Whereas Wyatt has had an interest from the get-go. Both of them are making incredible progress! Makes my teacher heart happy!! 

The sample on the left is a Thank You letter Grant wrote to Mimi and PawPaw. It says, "I Love You Mimi PawPaw. Grant."  I love it!!!  The sample on the right is Wyatt's letter tracing he did one morning as part of his "homework." This is one of his favorite activities during "school time." He can make t's and o's and m's on his own. But he can trace pretty much anything!!

I love to see my boys spark new interests- especially in necessary skills! I often wonder what kind of students my boys are going to be like! I can see Grant having a very "whatever" attitude about his grades. He might be the kid who is happy with a B. But I think Wyatt is going to be a little perfectionist and expect a 100% every time! Levi and I were both like that! Guess we shall see!

For now, I'm happy to see them even have any interest in writing!!

Grant Graduated!!

On November 15th, Grant graduated from swimming lessons! He did two session as an Eel and passed with flying colors!! We are taking a break from swimming lessons for awhile, maybe when it warms up again! But he did amazing and I can't wait to see where his swimming future goes from here!!

I'm proud of you Bubba!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Another holiday where I have an excuse to make handprint/footprint art!!

We are spending today as a little family of four, just enjoying each others company! Something we haven't had much of these last few months! So we're going to eat turkey, pumpkin pie, watch the Parade, and then head to Oklahoma City to spend the night at a hotel and do a little shopping! Our version of a staycation!!

We are sending lots of love to all our family and friends who are celebrating elsewhere!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

Grant's November Artwork

The amount of artwork that Grant brings home is astounding! He does an art project every day with his teacher, Ms. Tabitha. And I want to keep EVERY SINGLE PIECE!! I've tried taking pictures of most of them, and from now on, I will take pictures of everything!! But I want to do something with those pictures. So, I am going to try and do a monthly artwork display! Mostly for my own memory, and his too of course! So here is a sampling of Grant's school artwork!

You can see most of their work was holiday themed, and musical themed! There is also a sweet little hummingbird in there too!! I just love kid art work! I'd take these masterpieces over any other artwork out there!!!

Harpy Love

Grant has had a special place in his heart for Harp Seals since we went to Sea World the first time (evidence HERE). Well, when we got out the Christmas ornaments this weekend, I opened a box to find a whole set of Harp Seal ornaments I loved getting when I was a kid. They are some of my very favorite ornaments to hang on the tree each year, but I didn't even think about how much Grant would love them! You should've seen his face when I showed him the box!! Wish I would've had my camera at that moment!! It was love at first sight! He couldn't wait to put them on the tree!! He hung them all together so they could all be friends and "enjoy Christmas together."  

I love Grant's sweet little heart! Sometimes his sweetness is shadowed by his craziness, but some things just really make his heart swell!!

Family Pictures!!!

The last time we had professional family pictures taken, we looked like this...

Wyatt was 10.5 months, Grant was about to turn three, and we'd only survived 1.5 deployments! Seems like FOREVER ago! 

So we were definitely due for some good pictures!! We were very fortunate that Levi's squadron was offering pictures to be taken with his aircraft, the T-6. I knew the photographer who was doing that and asked if she could take some other pictures of us as well! Luckily, she agreed!

So without further ado, here are our newest family pictures that will grace our walls!

Grant gave us his "Bug Bunny' smile on most pictures, so I'm hoping the next time we get pictures taken, he will have learned how to give a good "fake smile." And I also hope my double chin is gone by then ;)

And if you're in need of a photographer in Enid, Chic Charlie's Photography comes highly recommended!!

Dapper Boys

 I got my boys all dressed and ready for Church, and I thought, "They hardly ever look THIS cute, so we better do a mini-photo shoot!" Boy, I'm glad I did!! They actually gave me something to work with, which is rare!! 

Grant said he looked like a candy cane and that Wyatt looked like a Christmas tree! I bought these shirts and vests and very different shopping occasions, but I'm happy I subconsciously picked the same colors! Funny how those things kinda work out sometimes!

These boys have really been giving me a run for my money lately, so I'm glad I got the opportunity to be among all smiles between the three of us! They really do make my heart swell!

Operation Christmas Child

We've already planned a shopping day for Toys for Tots next week, but when a friend of mine told me about Operation Christmas Child, I knew we had to do this!! I'm always looking for some ways to help my boys think outside themselves and help other people. They're at a hard age for them to really understand that, but its never too early to introduce the idea! 

The idea behind Operation Christmas Child is to fill a shoe box of items for a boy or girl of a certain age. These shoe boxes are delivered all over the world to children who wouldn't otherwise have Christmas gifts. I told the boys about this idea before they went to bed last night and they were so excited to go shopping this afternoon! Wyatt picked out items for a girl age 2-4, and Grant picked out items for a boy age 5-9. They had a blast thinking of what other kids would enjoy playing with!! Their shoe boxes were so full, I was hoping we would actually be able to get the lid on! We are taking them to the drop off location tomorrow, so I'm hoping to solidify what an impact they are making!
'Tis the season for giving!!

Trouble in Paradise

The day has finally come. We had to un-bunk the bunk beds!! It's been a few weeks in the making. The boys started sleeping too little and causing much trouble! Not sure if this solution will work,or if we will have to actually separate rooms- which I don't want to, since I don't want to lose the playroom- but my sanity is relying on this!! I enjoy naptime, and I plan on enjoying naptime for a few more months at least!! But these past few weeks, naptime has not been enjoyable! Between timeouts, and taking things away, and threats, the boys got what they deserved! We said they could earn their bunk beds back if they can start making better choices!! 

I know Grant is about done with naps, but he needs a rest time of some sort. I don't mind if he would sit in his bed for a while and read or whatever. He does need a short nap, if anything! But I know when Grant stops taking naps, Wyatt will too, so I'm going to hold out for as long as I can!

Hopefully this is just a phase....we shall see!

Cousins and Competition

My nephews and my parents came in town this weekend and the boys had a blast playing together! The weather was GORGEOUS, perfect for lots of playtime outside!! 

On Sunday morning, Levi made the boys an obstacle course! It's something my boys love for him to do and they get so excited when Levi has the time for it! Mason and Luke were thrilled as well. So after some setup, the boys were ready to race!

Here are the steps to the obstacle course:

1. Run to pick up your net and scoop up 4 golf balls without using your hands.

2. Drop the balls in the a bucket and walk across the balance beam.

3. Crawl under the ropes connected to the chairs. 

4. Walk across the "snake" (hose) and without "waking it up" (touching it).

5. Use your lawn mower to push a ball to the end of the cones.

6. Scoop your ball up with a net and put it in the dump truck.

7. Push your dump truck to the end of the cones.

8. Jump over the hay bail.

9. Put the detonator to win the race!

Everyone had a great time! And I mean everyone...

Yep, even us grown-ups got in on the fun!! 

We love having our families come visit!!

Trick-Or-Treat!

Our Halloween day was filled with lots and lots of candy!! After Grant's Celebration of Autumn party at school, we came home and took a well needed rest and then geared up to head out to trick-or-treat! Levi's squadron had a whole setup for all the families to come trick or treat there! And it was a good thing we did that, since Levi worked til 9:00pm that night so he missed out on the rest of the festivities! Some of the flights did a good job of decorating their part of the squadron, so much so that Grant refused to even enter a few of the rooms. He said they were too scary, so he was "outta here!" But Wyatt had no fear- he just wanted the candy!! It was a great time and the boys loved being at Daddy's work, even if only a little bit!! Behind the picture of Levi and the boys, you can see what Levi works on ALL DAY LONG...the flight schedule!!!

After that, we headed to my friend Amy's house for a little dinner and then to trick-or-treat in her neighborhood with her little man, Graham. You know, since our neighborhood has all of 3 houses, one being our own! So after a quick dinner, we hit the streets! Since Grant was the oldest and tallest, he was our official doorbell ringer! The boys did a great job going house to house! After two or three blocks, I think their candy buckets were just too heavy to keep going! So we headed home with two FULL buckets of candy!  

The weather was absolutely perfect- probably the most perfect weather I can remember! Trick-or-Treating in Florida and in Texas were both TOO hot, so it was nice to be just right!! The kids had a blast and are already talking about what they want to be for next year!!