Christmas Highlights

This is as close as we get to the Griswalds' outdoor decorations...3 strands of lights on the big bush.

Patiently waiting to open presents with Uncle Chad.

Looking at Nana's Christmas present.

Coach doling out presents.

Frantic present opening.

More frantic present opening.

Instead of opening his present Luke just loaded them up on his new lawn mower and walked away.

Who wouldn't love new Star Wars safety gear?

And a new Spiderman bike (with a bell) to go with the gear.

Anna Ruth got in on the present action and got her first Christmas outfit.  Aunt Glo couldn't pass up the chance to make sure baby girl has a frilly tutu outfit.

"A Kodak moment" as Coach would call it.

Luke tested out the walkie-talkies to make sure they work.

Aunt B and her fan club.

Before church.

More frantic present opening, but actually on Christmas Day this time.

Hooray!  More Star Wars toys!

Joshua really enjoyed Christmas this year.  Dave and I had fun watching him soak up everything from learning the words to several Christmas carols and decorating a little tree for his room to thanking God for helping him to get everything he wanted. 

Coach Camp 2012

Christmas Coach Camp was a huge success.  Below are photo hightlights of the greatness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Christmas pictures to come in the next day or two.

Breakfast with Santa

Joshua has been anticipating having breakfast with Santa for several weeks.  In fact, most mornings he would ask, "Is today when Santa comes to my school?"  The day finally arrived and last Friday Joshua got to put in his order with Santa and eat breakfast with mom and dad.

 

 

To top off the morning's festivities, Joshua's class, along with another class, performed a 3 song program.  In the past Joshua has been a silent participant in such events.  You may remember reports of last year's church performance that involved Joshua sucking on the jingle bell he was supposed to be ringing.  Well this performance was award winning compared to previous ones.  Joshua sang and really seemed to have a good time.  I don't know, maybe the reindeer antlers brought out the Christmas spirit in him. 

 

Here is a little video of one of the songs performed.

Joshua has another performance scheduled with his Sunday School class this Sunday in church.  Maybe we can sneak some antlers and elf hats in to help with participation.

Thanksgiving

Dave's parents came to visit us the week of Thanksgiving.  We had fun getting to spend time with them.  I realized that all of my Thanksgiving pictures were taken outside.  Gran's camera has the indoor pictures on it.  But playing outside in the nice weather was a highlight of the week.  Joshua of course showed off his baseball skills and then played goalie while the adults took turns taking shots at the goal.

 

 

 

 

 

We watched lots of football, played dress up, and discussed Star Wars most of the weekend.  We ate our Thanksgiving meal with the Gladneys for the big baby announcement.  We had a great week.  If I can get copies of Gran's pictures I will post them.  We're grateful Gran and Buddy made the long trip to come see us.

Surprise!

Joshua was excited to show off his new "big brother" t-shirt and to report "My mama has a baby in her tummy" at Thanksgiving dinner.  We are thankful to be able to announce that baby Nolen is scheduled to be joining us at the end of May. 
Joshua has already come up with a list of possible names:
If the baby is a boy the following names have been suggested:

• Tyler Russell (the quarterback at Mississippi State)
• Julio Jones (a former Alabama player and Dave's personal favorite option)
• AJ McCarron (the quarterback for Alabama)
• LSU Tigers (?)
• Auburn (to which Dave and I both broke out into loud Boos)
• Michael ("like the boy in Children's Church that wears a belt like dad.")

There have only been 3 suggestions for a baby girl:

• Keatsie (from a Berenstain Bears book)
• Cutsie (from the above mentioned Berenstain Bears book)
• Princess Leia (obvious reasons)

We are hoping to find out the if Julio Jones or Princess Leia will be joining our family in a few weeks.  We can' wait to let you know. 

Does this come in a variety of colors?

Last Monday Joshua hit a classmate with a block because "he moved part of the building I was making." 
Last Tuesday Joshua threw rocks at a classmate because "she wouldn't play with me."
Last Wednesday Joshua poked a classmate in the eye because "he said he was the caboose but I was the caboose." 

Last Thursday night Joshua and I were getting ready to pray before bed and talking about his behavior during the week.  Our conversation went something like this:
J: "Mama, will you pray that God will give me a new heart?"
A: "Sure.  I think that is a great thing to pray for.  Anything else we should talk to God about."
J: "Yes, will you ask God to make my new heart black and blue because those are my favorite colors?"
A: "Well, we can certainly ask God for anything but I don't think you quite understand what getting a new heart means."
J: "I do understand Mama and I want a black and blue heart.  That would look really cool."
A: "Ok, close your eyes so we can pray."

Cousin Fun

Aunt Glo and Abigail took a girls' weekend and came to Starkville to hang out with us.

Joshua was most excited that they picked him up from school on Friday and went to play on campus.  He told his teacher, "my mama's sister, my aunt, her name is Glo, she and my cousin Abigail are coming to get me on Friday, that is when we have show and tell and they are going to come pick me up."

 

Sadly we aren't going to be able to attend Abigail's birthday party this weekend.  Instead we had a "donuts in our pajamas" party Saturday morning.  Both kids were super excited and woke up earlier than we hoped in anticipation of going to the donut store.

 

The birthday girl

The birthday guest. (Obviously enjoying a chocolate covered donut)

Both were mesmerized by the walkie-talkies we gave Abigail.
Neither figured out the art of talking then listening  on the walkie-talkies so spent most of the rest of the morning holding the walkie-talkies to their mouths and yelling messages back and forth from room to room.

We went to play at the park and much to our surprise Mr. Bob (from this previous post) was there demonstrating how to play several new instruments on the music trail. 

Watching Joshua and Abigail play (or not play) together was funny.  They argued like siblings and then hugged sweetly when saying good-bye.
We had such a good time!

The Force

"Mama, look at me I'm Darth Vader.  See I have my light saber on my belt."
(The belt, by the way, is on of Dave's old belts that is wrapped around Joshua's waist multiple times.)

"Mama, now I am using the force to make things happen."

Hopefully the force will be good to you.

Twick or Tweat!

Joshua the Monkey ready to trick-or-treat sorority row on campus. 
(We made it to 3 houses when Joshua said, "I'm ready to go home." So we did.)

 

Pumpkin carving
We carved Lightening McQueen into our pumpkin and Dad made a funny face jack-o-lantern.

Halloween night
Joshua finished trick or treating at the houses around ours and agreed to take "one good picture" as long as...

...he could make a "funny face picture" too.

"Look, I'm a monkey climbing the tree."

It wouldn't be complete without tackling Dad in the yard before going back inside.
Joshua had more fun passing candy out in our yard then going to get candy of his own.  He especially liked chasing down parents who stayed back at the street to offer them a piece of candy.

We hope your Halloween was a barrel of monkeys!