What do ya'll do Christmas night?

After the presents are unwrapped and the dinner consumed, most families settle in for the onsought of January (boo). Christmas night for many is a general fall-from-anticipation-grace. Not over here.... Nope, the celebration continues... this time with a whoopie cushion!

Christmas morning at Mom and Pops

Can this last forever? I love Mom and Pop. And I love being at their house. Especially at Christmas. I don't think anyone over here has grown up. And that makes my heart happy. The adults get up before the kids. And the adults love to wake up the kids. And look for evidence of Santa and Rudolph. And pose the presents in such a way to look overrun by goodies. And coffee brewing. And breakfast casserole cooking. All at 5:45 AM.

In the still of the morning, before the raiding has begun...

Unwrapping the presents took 1.5 hours... Gavin paced himself by handing out gifts and watching everyone. He showed Noah how to rip open the paper...

Noah learned pretty quickly.

Wow, look I am actually in a picture...albeit, an odd angle and I have a weird look...

2010 Ornaments

Every Christmas, I buy ornaments that represent the year. This year, Noah has a teddy bear ornament to symbolize his LOVE of stuffed animals. Gavin gets a racecar for his obsession.

Rice Krispy Treats!!!

Dear Dylan, Tyler and Ryan,

Thank you for helping your mother make me this super hero cape. Tonight, I am wearing it as an apron. I see my mother wear aprons when she bakes and cooks, so I am doing the same when I make these rice krispy treats. My father tried to show me how to wear this cape as a super hero would, but I became very angry at him and landed into time out. I especially love my name on it. "g-a-v-i-x" is how I prefer to spell it though. I like the letter "x." Anyway, back to baking...

Love,

Gavix

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

By now, the presents have been unwrapped, the stockings raided, and the house strewn with paper and ribbons. It is so much fun to get swept up in the images and bustle this season brings. As I review my blog, too few images (actually none) of what I tell my children of the purpose of this celebration grace these posts. For that I am ashamed. Eventhough it is oversight, it is inexcusable. I enjoy the secular images and celebrations of this time of year, but more importantly this holiday is about a baby. Jesus came to this world as a newborn born into meagerness. He came to save us. He died for us. Out of pure love. We need to talk with him daily and keep Him the focus of our day. It is that simple. Not easy, but simple. I tell my children this. I strive (and fail and fail again) to live this way. We do not need to take a moment to remember this, we need to fill this celebration with it. As you can see, in my reflection, I have fallen short. Short of posting a feel-good, Oprah experience telling to thine-own-self be true and God = love, and everything is ok because it feels good; it breaks my heart that there are no images of my faith in all the posts I've made for Christmas and for that I need to pray because I am burdened.

Duck Pond

Every year, North Florida Regional (my employer and birthplace of both boys) lights up the Duck Pond. So many lights and they blink in concordance with piped in Christmas music. Truely a beautiful experience when you walk around the pond. This year, Mom, Pop, Sissy, Gavin, Noah, and myself (Matt was stuck in a Lake City oil change garage...) met up with Phoebe and her parents.

Noah made police siren sounds the entire time...

A pseudo family picture...

Phoebe playing hard to get!

Children's Choir!

Another pure joy of parenthood! Gavin has been going to Children's Choir every Wednesday night at church since late August; therefore, I have been holding my breath in sheer excitement for this night! Who doesn't love a children's performance??? Gavin is in the front row in the middle... He is also the youngest. I slipped him in this choir when he was two. Don't look at me like that! I certainly could NOT wait another year for a Christmas performance!

His group sang two songs: something about a ladybug and "Does the Baby Need a Blanket" complete with hand motions. So CUTE! Gavin did a great job. Of course there were few hops and jumps and one episode of squatting; but hey, showbiz is hard work!

Let's get our tree!

All year long, Pop trims these Choctawhatchee Pine trees (yes, I know their official name! I helped plant 500 of these boogers) And sometime in the late summer, we all start eyeing the tree we will claim.... If you notice the "star" at the top of the tree, that's us marking our territory with a glass globe light fixture. Who said we don't recycle?!?

The boys are pleased with our choice...

Sometime between these pictures, Daddy cut that tree down and our nice little bathroom light fixture busted. Dang. I guess we should've taken it down before we cut the tree?

The only thing that could make this picture any better is Daddy in camo... Mama loves her men in camo!

Now time to decorate!

Pop hiding in the leaves, again?!?

Round two of Pop hiding in the leaves-- 2010 version.

The problem? Gavin said "Pop's hiding in those leaves over there!" Then Pop misjudged footsteps and popped (no pun intended) out at Tebow (the dog, not the very, er, nice quarterback)

Yeah, so, Gavin thinks this joke is old. And Noah, well, he saw the whole thing first hand... Next year, look for the boys hiding in the leaves to scare Pop.

Sky

The sky at Mom and Pop's house in a early December sunset

Thanksgiving

Ahhh.. Thanksgiving. A holiday solidly converged on food. Love it. This year a 24-pound, brown sugar and Jim Beam rubbed, kosher salt brined turkey emerged a crispy golden brown from my oven. Success. Delicious Success. Thank you Chad for lugging that thing to Mom and Pop's house. And thanks Amelia and Chad (again) for riding in my car seats... I forgot my car rides 5 folks only if your hiney can fit in a car seat. *shrugs* Oops.

The boys had a Thanksgiving picnic-- so much easier than fielding food off the carpet. And we had very nice complimenting outfits for all of 10 minutes...then life happened and sweats and T-shirts and bare feet appeared. *shrugs* What do you expect from us?

After the food, all the cousins (not the first cousins once removed) played our typical game of elimination sort-of volleyball. I guess that's what you'd call it. Or a "let's-stand-in-a-big-circle-and-hit-a-kickball-in-the-air-and-see-how-many-times-we-can-hit-it-around-this-circle-no-wait-let's-eliminate-each-player-that-screws-up" game. Love it too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Brothas?

"We have nothing to fear but our Mothers!"

What?!? Halloween is NOT 10/30

I am trying to understand...really, I am. Local politicians, for whatever reason, love to change the day Halloween is celebrated by trick-or-treating to a day "convenient" for, for, for.... I have NO idea who. Come on. The act of trick-or-treating lasts approximately two hours-- 6-8ish...Anyway, at the last minute, I realized High Springs decided 10/30/10 was trick-or-treat night. Normally, I like to go against the "rules," but tonight I gave in... and tomorrow night I will revolt and trick-or-treat all over again... Take a stand, folks!

Dragging the boys across town into the "historic district"

Complete with snacks. Noah refusing to wear his ears. Officially he is a baby with a black nose dressed in brown clothes...

...telling McKinnely a secret.

At least some of the folks got the memo.

Gavin was so proud of his hard-earned candy. He examined his bag every few feet, "Look at all those suckers!" Most of these homes were very well decorated with large spiders (poor Gavin, I think he has a new found phobia), tombstones, lights, and scary sounds. And the candy! Good, good, candy-- Kit Kats, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Almond Joy, M&Ms, oh be still my heart!

Look for round two...

Puppies!

My little puppies! Yes, I am dedicating one whole post to these cutie pie puppies.

Noah refuses to wear his ears and he rubs his little nose off every chance he gets...

Gavin, on the flip side, stays in character. He will not respond unless you call him "Clifford" or "little puppy." Also, he barks-- nonstop. And growls.

Sweet, little puppies

Jack... as in Jack-O-Lantern

We know better than to carve the pumpkin earlier than the week before Halloween... we know because we swim in humidity from late April to mid November. Humidity = rotten carved gourd. This time we outdid ourselves... our pumpkin was rotten before we carved it. Surely a little bit of mold was NOT going to stop this creation (and we didn't know it was rotten until we cut the top off...)

The rot. I was really looking forward to letting the boys play with pumpkin guts. Not this year. Instead, Daddy will do the honors.

Gavin was our creative designer for the pumpkin face. He drew his interpretation of a jack-o-lantern on a piece of paper (inside a circle I drew; top left picture) and handed it to his Daddy to replicate on the pumpkin.

P.S. Gavin is wearing his unfinished puppy dog ears during this creative endeavor...

Noah, on the other hand, is harrassing the cat (I guess his way of practicing his puppy role) and exploring...

Hello, Jack.