Happy Birthday to Mommy

We celebrated my 33rd birthday at the premeire fine dining establishment of Chili's! The boys enjoyed my free scoop of birthday ice cream tremendously! And when we got home Travis had a surprise gift for me that he spent three nights making--a necklace fashioned out of an empty toilet paper roll (painted my favorite color green) and embellished with multi color paper clips! What a lucky Mommy I am!

Hoop it Up!

The boys got basketball goals for Christmas and spent some time today shooting hoops. Travis and Shayne's goal is adjustable and Cole got a little goal that cheers when he makes a goal. He's learned how to pull the lever to activate the cheering, so he's less interested in really shooting. It's pretty funny to watch him try and dribble. Travis is very good actually. It was nice to get outside today as the sun actually made an appearance--it's been cold and nasty for a long time!

Rock Star

Travis got this super cool guitar shirt for Christmas and wore it to school for the first time today. Never to be one to like a shirt with a collar (he thinks that's a sign that it's "dressy") he was a bit hesitant at first. But I assured him that people would tell him they liked it. When he got in the car after school I asked, "Who liked your shirt?" He said, "Everyone!" He was very pleased with himself. Maybe we're turning a corner on the whole collared shirt issue...

Happy New Year

Cousins

One of the greatest parts of our trip to Georgia this year was watching the boys play with their cousins McKenzie and Morgan and meeting the newest member of the family, their little brother, Gray. All the kids got along exceptionally well! And they had a lot of love to share with each other as you can tell by these pictures...

Santa came!

Since we were at Gran and Pop's this year for Christmas, that's where Santa brought the boys presents. Travis got a Nintendo DS and we only saw the top of his head for the rest of the day. Cole's favorite toy was a motorcycle scooter. They must have been VERY good because Gran's living room was FULL of little boy toys!

Cookies for Santa

Candlelight Service

This year we went to church with Gran and Pop for Christmas Eve candlelight service. Both boys loved the singing and the candles. We took some quick pictures in front of the church's tree afterwards...note the headlock Travis put on Cole to get him to stand still!

Christmas cookies

Cole joined us this year in our annual baking. They succeeded in coating the kitchen floor and themselves in flour and eating as much raw dough as possible while I wasn't looking! Oh, and we got a few dozen cookies done too!

Christmas Card Pic

Hopefully by now everyone has received this picture on a card from us, but just in case...Merry Christmas!

Broken Dreams and Chic-Fil-A

At the beginning of December, Gran gave the boys both money to visit Build-A-Bear and build a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was a special "limited time only" deal. Well, between hosting two cocktail parties, shopping, wrapping and card making, I didn't get around to taking them until this afternoon. When we reached the store (an ordeal in itself between traffic and the general Christmas hysteria that encircles any mall) we were told they'd been sold out of the reindeer for weeks...for weeks!!??!! It's only December 18th! Well, now I know when they say "while supplies last" they REALLY mean it! As Travis dissolved into a puddle of despair, Cole, who actually has no idea why we're even at the mall, begins to wail in sympathy for his brother. And the same weary shoppers on the benches outside the store who, just moments earlier, had watched two red and green clad youngsters eagerly skip into the store with anticipation, now tried to avert their eyes as I staggered out one sobbing boy clamped to each leg. I suggested we head upstairs to the food court for some Chic-Fil-A and a few rides. As we topped the second floor on the escalator, we discovered the food court was undergoing renovations. The Chic-Fil-A was open (a small miracle) but the rides had been taken out. Not a coin fed spaceship in sight! Travis then said the quote of the evening, "I want to speak to the owner of this mall right now!" I laughed out loud at that...and so did the people from the next table. To prolong the pain, I had to stop at Macy's before we could leave to buy some makeup. Travis was still bummed out and Cole just knew if Travis isn't happy, then he can't be either. The wonderful woman who checked me out at the make up counter gave the boys both a lollipop. She'll never know how much that random act of kindness helped the three of us. We made it to the car and home and I'm sure the whole thing will soon be forgotten with all the other excitement of the holidays to distract. I'd taken my camera to document the stuffing of the reindeer, but I think these shots tell our very different story.

A Walk Through Bethlehem

Travis and I had an amazing experience this morning at church. As a new addition to the yearly Birthday Party for Jesus, the church added a Bethlehem marketplace where the kids could follow a map from one activity to another. All the adults were in costume and "in character." The first stop was the census taker where we signed in with our family name and village. The other activities included toy making, fabric dying, stone carving, rope making, mosaics and bread making. When the bugler blew her horn, we all visited the living nativity (complete with petting zoo animals) and then went into the Family Life Center to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and enjoy a cupcake! The gifts we brought go to the children placed in foster care by CPS during the year. It was a great

morning and a great way to spend some "Mommy/Travis time!"

School Pictures

Cole--Preschool, age 2

Travis--Kindergarten, age 6

Haven't had time to cut and mail these to relatives, but wanted to share our cute school boys this year.

Santa's Lap

Santa came to Travis' school tonight. Travis couldn't wait for one more chance to tell him what he wanted...Cole just couldn't wait for the whole thing to be over!

Santa Collection

I've started a Santa collection of both figures and ornaments. It's fun to look for new and interesting Santas everywhere I go. We bought a bigger tree for downstairs this year and it's decorated solely with Santa ornaments and ribbon. The boys have had fun looking at all the fun ornaments and surprisingly only one has gotten broken so far.

A Tree for Everyone

This year we added a few trees to the house...one in Shayne's study for all his "manly" ornaments. And the boys finally have their own tree in the playroom complete with multi-colored lights (which Travis think are the prettiest) and all their cartoon ornaments and the ones they've made at school.

First Deer

Our yearly tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving at the cabin took an exciting turn for Travis this year. As he and Shayne discussed the possibility of shooting a doe on Friday, they practiced how they would position themselves so that Shayne could brace the rifle and Travis wouldn't get hit with the kick back. All was good until a long day of not seeing anything made Travis declare that this would not be the day he killed his first deer...no sir, he was prepared to wait until next year...so convinced was he that this would not be the day, that he climbed off of his Dad's lap and took his own seat in the deer blind. Just then, a big doe walked out in front of them. Travis looked at Shayne and said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" In order not to spook the deer away, they kept their seats and modified the original plan. Travis took aim, fired, and dropped the doe in her tracks! Yea! Unfortunately, Shayne was not in a good position to reduce the kick of the rifle, and when it fired the scope came back and hit Travis above the eye leaving a large gash. Four hours and one trip to the emergency room later, Travis not only had his first deer, but his first set of stiches--six in all! I'm really proud of myself for not completely flipping out...the worst thing I did was offer him extra Christmas presents for being so brave. (A video game for every stich...that was before I knew there would be six!!!) But all in all we're very proud of him. And he's proud of himself as you can tell from the pictures. Unfortunately, as a result, Cole will probably be in college before he gets to shoot!

Thankful???

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast at Travis' school. The kindergarteners prepared all the side dishes themselves yesterday and he enjoyed that tremendously. But today when it came time to actually eat, well, that was a different story... He was nearly in tears as he took his seat and reported that "Just a whiff of this stuff makes me want to throw up!" Even with his bad attitude, I thought he was so cute in his Native American get-up complete with a handmade head dress and the obligitory brown paper bag vest. Here is our sad little Indian on his "worst day of school ever!"

Get that buck!

It's deer season and that means lots and lots of Monster Bucks DVDs being viewed around here by the guys. In preparation for the big Thanksgiving hunt, Shayne has been watching the DVDs with Travis in the playroom. Cole has become obsessed with them and during each hunting scene he gets a toy rifle and shoots the TV. Then he screams, "GOT THAT BUCK!" I think pretty soon Daddy will have two little hunters to take out and Mommy will have some solitary shopping time!!!

Thanksgiving Feast

Cole's preschool had the annual Thanksgiving Feast today. He got to wear this cool "Native American" outfit handed down from big brother. Unfortunately it was in the mid-80s today so he was a bit warm, but hey, it was appropriate for the occasion! He didn't do too much feasting, but he ate all his applesauce and mine too for that matter!

I Wanna Be Like You

I had to get a picture of the first time they wore these Jungle Book shirts. I think they're so cute and so especially appropriate for the way Cole looks up to Travis. He is Cole's complete hero...he copies everything he does all day long. Luckily for us, Travis is a great role model most of the time! And although the mimicking gets annoying at times, I know Travis really loves Cole back! I keep telling them that someday they'll be best friends...I hope I'm right.

HURRICANES!

Travis' soccer team, the Hurricanes, had a double header on Saturday. They are nearing the end of the season and sooooo much improved! We've gone from losing every game to a four game winning streak--the league doesn't keep score, but Travis and Shayne do! Here is a pic of our little soccer dude on Saturday showing off his "Goal!" temporary tattoo on his hand.

Opening Weekend

This was opening weekend of deer season, so of course we headed to the Hill Country. Travis and Shayne went out on Saturday evening and saw seven deer from their new two-man deer blind...none of them were shooters and Travis was totally exasperated, "I just don't know why we sit out here for three hours if we're not going to shoot anything." He opted not to join his Dad for the early morning Sunday hunt and of course, that's when a turkey hung out at the feeder for over an hour...Shayne was so disappointed that Travis wasn't with him to see it...maybe he'll be back in time for Thanksgiving dinner! Here are a couple of pics of Travis with his little "Cricket .22" and all of the guys in the new hunting vehicle.