christmas - take 1

we've already celebrated christmas part 1 with the grimes' side of the family and we had SO much fun!!! last sunday, we got up early, headed to mimi & pops in our pjs, and played ALL day!! we celebrated christmas with riding the train, wearing rudolf noses, playing with our new toys, watching movies, having a picnic, working on "construction projects", decorating cookies, and of course, more playing!!!

 there's nothing better than having a choo-choo train just your size to ride at mimi & pops!!!! can you say - spoiled?!?!!?

 talking to cuzins' on the walkie talkies

 our own little rudolf

 building race car tracks!

 being goofy!

 watching veggie tales on uncle jon's phone

 mimi & pops with all the grandbabies

 construction worker cade with his daddy's cowboy vest from when he was little

 aunt missy and tay with her new baby doll

 construction workers beckham & court

 hard at work and then it was picnic time!

 YUM!!! sugar cookie time!

what a FUN day celebrating christmas and family!! after naps, we headed to bass pro to partake in all of their fun christmas activities like making ornaments, riding the merry go round, and running ALL over that place!! we had such a fun day! thanks for hosting mimi & pops!!! love, love, love our family time together with everyone!!
today (Tuesday), i had the grand idea to head over to the fw childrens' museum to watch polar express in our jammies. well, let's just say that was an epic failure. i failed to remember (since it's been YEARS since i'd been to the movie there) that they play an intro to their 100's of speakers behind the screen, scare all the kids with how LOUD they can be, and then show the helicopter movie that just about scares everybody!! and this was all BEFORE polar express even started!! court was done, cade and tay were done, and beckham could have cared less because he was chowing down on lunch. walker and bo and lindsey met us there, and poor things - they were the only ones that stayed to enjoy the movie. so - note to self - we will need to be MUCH older to enjoy that theater ever again. mel and i decided next year we will host our own polar express day at a house where we are all safe and there are no loud noises. but, we did enjoy playing all over the fun muesum - it's always a fun time!! :)

 shoppin'

 playing with the life-size lite bright

 more lights

and this is just beckham being goofy - he said - mommy, picture beckham please!! who could resist?

lunch with santa

what a fun way to spend a rainy, wet day this week!! wed, we met mimi, our friend jackson and his mommy melissa, and a friend from court's class in grapevine. they hold an annual lunch with santa. the gym was filled with crafts, ornaments to make, cookies to decorate, a coloring station, a hot chocolate/lemonade station, a place to write letters to santa, a bounce house, and play area. then santa and mrs. claus came in to visit, there was story time and a puppet show, and elves all over! my boys were never in the same spot together, so that is why there is not a pic of the 2 of them. my boys also didn't even care to go visit santa because there was SO much to do - and i think beckham remembers the trauma from having to sit on santa's lap a couple of weeks ago !! fun, fun day - we will enjoy doing this every year!!

 SO much to do - beckham can hardly control himself!!

 mom - where do i go first?!?!

 beckham is trying to find the cookies to decorate...

 puppet show

jackson and court LOVED the puppet show!!

new traditions

i love christmas!!! i also LOVE having 2 little innocent pairs of eyes and ears that are ALL about this season!! it is SO fun to experience christ's birth through the eyes of court & beckham. we are also having fun with elf on the shelf and getting ready for santa's arrival. how do you balance all of this at this age? i'm finding it hard to explain that christmas is REALLY about celebrating Jesus' birth, but all a 2 & 3 1/2 year old can focus on is presents, presents, and more presents!! we are starting some new traditions this year that i'm hoping will get the true meaning of christmas across. this year, we let the boys pick angels from the angel tree at our church. we helped them  pick little boys that were the same age as them. then, we spent a day shopping for just those precious little boys whose parents are in prison. court (as any 3 year old does) wanted just about EVERYTHING in the store, but i tried to convey that we are shopping for children that don't have mommies & daddies to buy them christmas presents. he said that made him so sad. (sweet heart). we also made "blessing bags" for those that are homeless. i tried to explain that some people don't have homes to live in or live out on the street in the cold. court and beckham helped fill the bags with hats, socks, deoderant, soap, toothbrushes, snacks, baby wipes, etc). court filled those things up to the very top! court asked ALOT of questions about why they are homless and where they live, why don't they have money, etc - whew - i don't have enough answers for this boy!! monday, we went to downtown dallas to visit daddy and see the neiman marcus window displays. we took the blessing bags with us and we handed some out - should have taken more. hopefully, they will find some use with the things we gave them - even though they were asking for money. my prayer for our 2 boys has been that God will give them a compassionate heart and love for all people. it's my prayer for myself as well as we go thru our daily lives of busyness!! it's easy to get caught up in wordly things in the world we live in!

the boys are "helping" daddy wrap the bike we got for our little angel tree boy.

 here are 2 of the blessing bags we filled to the brim!

dec so far

we've had a busy and fun december so far. our household was overcome by the stomach bug the week of thanksgiving and court came down with it the day before thanksgiving. so, we ended up staying home in our pj's recovering so we wouldn't expose any family. so - we had a thanksgiving redo over and jon and mel's last sunday. it was a day of fun! eating, snuggling, playing, painting, crafting, and more playing! the boys and tay never got out of their pj's and loved it!!!:) thanks for hosting jon & mel!! the only pics i took that day were of the snuggle fest on the floor so here they are!

that week, we also went to the highland village christmas tree lighting and enjoyed making ornaments, decorating cookies, seeing santa arrive on a fire truck, and watching the tree lighting!

this is beckham yelling MERRY CHRISTMAS with a mouth full of cookie!

we had so much fun at the tree lighting, that i looked for more around the area and saw there was one in colleyville close to mimi & pops. we headed over there friday afternoon after naps and got to ride ponies, play carnival games, see mrs. claus & santa, get our faces painted, decorate cookies, do crafts, etc and listen to great christmas music & watch the tree lighting. they also had tons of bounce houses which court LOVED and a carriage ride. it was so much fun and we'll have to do this one every year! thanks mimi & pops for letting me drag you along with us to help me corral these two wild and fun boys that want to do EVERYTHING!! :)

we ended up staying longer than planned and rhett got to join us for a little bit after work. fun day/night even though it was a little bit foggy/chilly :)

 can't keep these boys still for long!

whooooaaaa horsey!

wordless wednesday (a day late)

beckham 

where has the time gone? it seems like just yesterday, we were bringing you home from the hospital the week before thanksgiving..... SO excited to have a new little baby in the house. now, you are a BIG boy and you are so proud!! you are talking in 2 & 3 word sentences. you want to be JUST like your big brother court. you copy everything he does and everything he says. i love how you always want to play "get your sugar" so i can get all of your kisses. you love to play "chase". you have the BEST, most infectious laugh! you LOVE your daddy and are a daddy's boy when he comes home from work. i love when you say "hold me, hold you" when you want to be held. you still love to suck on your two favorite fingers on your left hand when you are tired or unsure about something. you love to say prayers when we sit down to eat dinner together. you say "God, you (thank you), food, court, daddy, mommy (then the list gets longer and longer), amen!
you are the LIGHT of our lives!! God blessed us tremendously when he gave us you. he must know what he's doing - because you are one strong-willed little boy with a mind all your own, but i LOVE it!!! i love you more and more each day!!
happy 2nd birthday!!! we LOVE you!

birthday boy!!! SO excited everyone is coming over to celebrate him!!

mimi & beckham

nanny & beckham

patterson grandkids - how did we manage to get them to sit still long enough for a pic?

birthday boy pushing miss tay

we had an elmo birthday with RED elmo cupcakes! yummo!

thanks for all the fun new toys!!1

playin'