It's almost Christmas!!

Now, I'm not forgetting Thanksgiving, please see my posts about being thankful!

Since Parker's birthday is the day after Christmas, it is my plan to have all the Christmas stuff packed up at close of business on December 25. I don't want all the clutter when I'm trying to fit 40 people in here for a party, nor do I want Christmas trees in all his birthday pictures!

So, in true "me" fashion, the tree is up! And, we discovered the best thing ever for the boys - cardboard boxes. They've been playing in them for a week!

Jackson also discovered bubble wrap is really cool too - thanks Evan and Aubrey!

And, the boys each have tiny trees in their rooms (hello, Target Dollar spot!), but I'll have to post pictures of them later - never interrupt nap time!

Preschoolers know how to Par--tay!

Jackson's preschool Halloween party this year was so laid back and relaxed - I got there at 9:30 when the kids were getting ready to go upstairs to trick or treat to the school administrators.

(That's Jackson in the black Ninja outfit, and my niece Darby as Sharpay. They walked in a neat, orderly line up the stairs, all calm and quiet!)

Of course, there was snack time. They had chips, juice boxes, rice krispie treats, so exciting!

They made a craft - they painted their hand prints to be bat wings then glued on a bat body and googley eyes, and drew on mouths and noses.



Then, the teachers were so nice - they let the kids wrap them up like mummies!

(That's Mrs. Kane, the teacher's aide - she's so sweet!)

(Jackson is getting ready to wrap up Mrs. Crawford!)

Then, the kids sang their versions of some songs they've learned in class...

And, because it's cute, this is outside Jackson's classroom:

Trick or Treat

I know it's shocking that I am posting Halloween stuff before Christmas, huh?

Halloween was fun, as always. It's one of my favorite holidays ever. This year, Jackson was supposed to be the Incredible Hulk, but changed his mind, then changed it again, then again. In the end, he went with being a ninja. Parker is too young to vocalize his opinions, so I got to choose his costume, he was Dumbo, and he was adorable!!

(Sorry the picture is blurry, you know Jackson, always moving.)

(Parker was looking for the treats, but we hadn't started yet!)

Pray for Baby Stellan

For those of you who spend less time on the internet a day than I do, you may not be familiar with Baby Stellan. Basically, he's a baby about 2 months older than Parker. The majority of his life has been spent in the hospital with something called SVT - supraventricular tachacardia. His mom has kept a blog (and she's far better at keep it updated than I am about this one!) about the entire ordeal - www.mckmama.com

I don't know if it's because he's close to Parker's age or if it's because my oldest nephew PJ also has SVT, but something about this little boy's story just tugs at my heart.

Yesterday, Baby Stellan underwent a cardiac ablation surgery - basically a last ditch effort to save his little life. The doctors told Stellan's mom it had about a 20% chance of working...

While Baby Stellan was in surgery and his mom was wondering all kinds of what-ifs, I was wrangling a 4 1/2 year old who no longer sees the need for a nap. Baby Parker is teething and he has a terrible cold and a fever. I thought I was on the verge of going nuts, then I read MCKmamas blog and realized just how lucky I was.

And, for those of you who can't wait for the update, Baby Stellan's surgery was, according to his surgeons, "A home run." It was a success! There have been some complications after the surgery, but they appear to be manageable in comparison.

I am thankful

Today, on my Facebook page, a friend of mine had this as her status: "Let's see how many people can do this. Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as your status. "Today I am thankful for.". The longer you do it, the harder it gets! Now, if you think you can do it, then repost this message as your status to invite others to take... the challenge, then post what YOU are thankful for today!"

Another friend of mine likes to circulate a list and we all try to compile 1000 things we are thankful for. (We get it, or very close every year.)

So, every day from now until Thanksgiving, I will be posting things I'm thankful for. What are you thankful for?

Take me out to the ball game...

My boss and former boss (they're BFFs) gave us some tickets to the second to last Reds game of the season. We're not particularly fond of the Reds, but our little boy loves baseball (see my post about the t-ball and the world series) so that's all that mattered! We had really great seats, in fact someone a few rows up and one section over from us caught a foul ball.

Normally, as a family, we eat pretty healthily. This night, that went out the window! Jackson had so much junk food, I'm not sure how he wasn't sick! He had soda, cotton candy (first time), peanuts - yep, the kind in the shells - a pretzel with cheese, Twizzlers... But, I figure this was a special occasion, so we went with it!

The beginning of the cotton candy:

and the end result:

We had an awesome time and Jackson was on top of the world... thanks again to Jamie and Shaad for the tickets!

Time flies... 9 months already?

I cannot believe my baby boy is already 9 months old. He is getting so big! He weighs 22 pounds, 4 ounces and is 28.5 inches long. He's pretty much the exact same size as Jackson at this age!

So far, Parker says Dada a lot, Bub bub, Mom mom (but that's rare, and usually while he's crying.) He also says bite and Jackson!! He plays patty cake, peek a boo, and loves to crawl around and chase Jackson all over the house.