2011??2012!!!

So, I have been MIA in 2011 for quite sometime! So now I am not quite sure where to begin from here?! To be real honest I feel quite disappointed in myself for not documenting this past year because it was an amazing year! To sum it up Jackson turned 4, Collin turned 2, I started working full time at the most amazing job, and brad works full time for the church. We had our 6 year anniversary. The part that is missing is all the fun and adventures that those two boys have given us this year. This past year has of course had it's valley's as well as it's mountains, but no matter what we are so blessed!

So for 2012 my goal is consistency, More consistent in all areas of my life including this blog, along with working-out, cooking, reading,etc. I feel like I do this every year, so determined to be better yet somewhere in the year I fall off the wagon. Maybe this will be the year I don't, but does anyone really keep one of their goals (resolutions) for a whole year? It shouldn't really be that hard right? I keep lots of commitments, the one with my Savior, the one to my husband, being a mother, going to work every day.....yet I can't keep this small one, writing about this blessed life. Hopefully it will be different this year, yes it is going to be!!

Thanksgiving

I absolutely love Thanksgiving! It is one of my favorite celebrations! It seems at Thanksgiving is everyone is truly thankful and remembers to be thankful during that festival. While at some of the other holidays people seem to have to work hard to remember why we are celebrating, but not at Thanksgiving! I could go on and on about everything and everyone I am thankful for but there would not be time to get it all in. All I can say is that God is always amazing me! He has blessed our family and moved in our lives in ways that leave me in awe! With that said we had such wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with family. We went to my grandparent, where my mom and dad, aunts and uncles and a few of my many cousins were all there to give thanks together. We also and an amazing time with our Uncle Jerry and Aunt Bonnie. The holidays with them are few and way to far in between, but when we are together it so amazing. We ate amazing food and watched the Cowboys disappoint us once again this season. Jackson was sick the entire time we were at Thanksgiving and stayed in Grandmothers bed with a 101 fever. Poor little guy was so sick, you know it was bad when he wouldn't go play with Cameron and Cooper. Thanksgiving with lots of people around is usually prime time for Jackson, that is when he is on his A-game to spit out some of his funnies. But not this holiday, we will see what happens at Christmas. Collin on the other hand took advantage of the lime light and was trying to entertain everyone. He ran around and danced around and tried to be as noisy as possible trying to get everyone to laugh at him. We had such a wonder Thanksgiving season and we are truly so blessed!!

Randall getting Momma's kisses

Aunt Michelle and Grandmother

Jennifer stole Brad's bread during the prayer!

Sister Susie!

Uncle Jerry and Aunt Bonnie

Dad and Uncle Rusty

Cheers to our Root Beers!

Whip Cream! Yummy!

Sweet Sisters with their Uncle Jerry

Sweet Blue Eyed Angel!

Uncle Jerry and Dad

LOVE!!

Uncle Jerry, Brad and I

Collin's First Haircut

We were so hesitant to get Collin's haircut, I guess we see at as one of those moments that officially proves your child is growing up. He was 14 months old when we finally made this bold step. We had to finally get his hair cut because it was official that he had a mullet. Our entire families were insistent that we do this because they said Collin would be mad at us when he was older and looking at pictures and his parents made him have hair like this just because we didn't want our little boy to grow up. So off we went to get his hair cut and he did so amazing. He just sat there in the little car and pretended to drive while he watched a movie. It was approximately 5 minutes and our baby turned into a little toddler. It is so amazing how a simple hair cut makes your baby grow up. His new DO is so cute!!

Before

During

After

Tennessee

Recently my mom and I took at trip with Jackson and Collin to Tennessee to see Uncle B. Brandon wasn't going to be able to make it home for Thanksgiving so we decided to take a 12 hour road trip to see him. We left on Sunday morning 14.5 hours later we made it to Cleveland. We had to stop several times the boys were so good in the car, but the refused to sleep Collin only slept for a total of 2 hours that whole trip and Jackson a total of 0 hours that trip!! But we made it and I have never see and 3 year old kid so excited to be in Tennessee. Our hotel that we were staying at is on top of a mountain and you can see far of at all the other mountains and their beautiful trees. Jackson walked out to the edge to look at the beautiful site and he said "the trees are glorious!" I laughed so hard, it was so funny and precious at the same time. I have never known a 3 year old to appreciate traveling so much. We spent our time in Tennessee visiting with Brandon and Ashley, we went to a museum, ate and ate and ate. The boys were so excited to see Uncle B. Collin was so sweet, every time Brandon would walk into the hotel room Collin would hold up his arms for Uncle B to pick him up and then he would just lay his head on Brandon's shoulder. They boys love their Uncle B so much! One evening we were all at the hotel and Brandon and Ashely were sitting on one of the beds with mom and I was sitting on the other and the boys were running around the room. Brandon was teasing around with the boys, Jackson was standing in front of Brandon but with his back to him, when Jackson whipped his head around with his eye scowling at Brandon. With a deep and serious voice Jackson says "YOU!!" with a slight pause and then putting his finger over his mouth "SSHHHH!!" We all started laughing so hard which was a huge mistake because now he was saying it to everyone. We quickly had to put a stop to this! He told Jackson that he could say that to Uncle B and Ashely but to no one else. If he were to ever say that to G-Daddy he would be in serious trouble. We discovered that he learned this from one of the movies, opps! But speaking o f being in trouble by G-Daddy, this is a random story but I just remembered it and it has to be told. One day Brandon and I were at my parents house and I had the boys there with me. My dad was having a really serious conversation with Brandon and I, it sound like Dad was upset with us about something. Brandon and I had already come down the stairs with the boys and my dad was still walking down the stairs talking and there was a pause in words when it came our of Jackson's mouth. Jackson says with his serious voice "G-Daddy, I don't have time for this!" My dad stopped right in his tracks, you could tell he was so mad. Brandon and I started laughing on the inside we definitely didn't laugh out loud on this one. So now back to the Tennessee trip. Ashley has a new puppy and his name is Duke and the boys loved playing with him. It was so cute it almost made me want to get the boys a dog but then I decided it wasn't that cute. Jackson called Duke "Dukie" which was pretty funny. We had a wonderful time and of course we were so sad to have to leave Uncle B. But now it was time for trip home. We left on Thursday morning and drove and drove, the boys fell asleep so we just kept driving for 6 hours, they woke up and we go out and had a small picnic, got back in the car and drove and drove. They boys fell asleep again for most of the trip they slept and we drove. We got about 10 minutes from our house and Jackson says "Meme, I can't stay in my seat all night long" in a sad little voice. We felt so terrible because we had only stopped once. So I sped up a little to try to hurry and get home and we were about 5 minutes from our house and I get pulled over and get a ticket! Anyway we make it home and the boys were so excited to see their daddy and be home. We made it home in 12.5 hours! We had such wonderful trip and were so glad we got to see Uncle B!

Halloween

Jackson was super excited about Halloween this year. He would say every day leading up to Halloween that Halloween was on "Fraderday!" Halloween was actually on Sunday which turned out great for us. We went out to Grandmother and Granddaddy's house and got the boys ready for trick or treating and out we went! We must have been really early because we were about the only people begging for candy at 6:00 pm and we got candy and we will have candy until next Halloween. Jackson decided to be the "Black Spiderman" he has no idea that he was the "bad" spiderman. Sweet Collin was a tiger this year. He wore his little tiger hat and he knew just how cute he was! He knows how to cheese up for people! After we were done trick or treating we headed out to our church fall festival for some delicious chili! By the end of the night the boys were exhausted and so were Brad and I.

Somewhere in between.....

Somewhere in between Summer and Fall so much has happened. My baby turned into a toddler and my toddler turned into a Preschooler. Lets start with Jackson. Jackson has the most incredible imagination I have ever heard. He amazes me all the time with the things he does and says. He is developed the wonderful appreciation for hero's and superhero's....Buzz Lighyear, Woody, Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Fireman, a Hunter, A Dallas Cowboys Hootball player (as he calls it).... just to name a few! We Brad, Collin and I are all his evil enemies such as Lots-o-Hugs, the Green Goblin, The Joker, a deer, the defense (because he is always the offense), in the case of Superman I am not the villain but Louis Lane who always get saved. Needless to say we go through these characters and many more almost everyday. Jackson also started Pre K 3 this year and he absolutely loves it!! It has been so good for his, while hilarious but timid personality! With that said Jackson has obviously said some pretty funny and some inappropriate things.
So here are a few things out of the mouth of JACK:
While sitting on the counter one morning as I prepared breakfast for him, he was watching his cartoons as usual and turns and looks at me and says "you idiot!" I was in complete shock!! I thought to myself surely he said something else and then say to him "What did you say?" Obviously not realizing that he would enjoy saying it again and he says louder and with a glare on his face "YOU IDIOT!" I was just as shocked the second time as I was the first, I don't know why, did I actually think he would change his words. What was going to do about this.....you guessed, I covered my mouth turned around and died laughing!!! Wrong thing to do, laughing is code to a 3 year old to REPEAT!!! So we quickly had to stop and figure out where this came from.....you guessed, SPIDERMAN taught him to say those endearing words! Our rule now is you can say "you idiot" all you want but only to the "imaginary" monsters we fight when we are playing Spiderman and not mommy when she is playing the monsters!!
One day as I was driving down the road, Jackson and Collin in the backseat watching their movie as usual, Jackson very sweetly says "Mommy?" I of course reply "Yes baby?" He says "When it is Christmas time, we will have Christmas lunch together and Christmas dinner together and watch It's a Wonderful Life together." My mouth dropped and I was speechless! I know he can remember that we eat Christmas dinner together but we have never watched It's a Wonderful Life as a family we watch Christmas Vacation every year.
One day Jackson walks up to my mom (mimi) and says "The suspense is killing me!!!" As usual she was speechless as we are most of the time. She asked "Where did you hear that?" And there was no response.
Where did he learn some the phrases and $2.00 words he says? Who really knows, but they sure are funny!

Collin is as usual doing his best to keep up with his big brother. He has earned the nickname Tuffy because he can take anything Jackson dishes out! Jackson does not know what he has come for him, one day soon Collin is gonna pay him back! While you have no idea what will come out of Jackson's mouth there is nothing coming out of Collin's. He refuses to talk! He will shake his head "yes" and shake his head "no" and will say momma and dada when it is necessary. I am fairly sure he doesn't talk because of his addiction to his pacifier! Wow are we going to be in trouble trying to take that away from him!

September

So here we are in our new home, just moved in and boxes everywhere, all in time for Collins 1st Birthday!!! I can't believe my baby is ONE!!! Wow how time flies by so fast, We have a 3 year old and a 1 year old...when did we grow up???

Up to this point Collin is still the sweetest little blue eyed angel, he has been so passive and relaxed, especially with Jackson! Then we he turned 1! We had a sock monkey birthday with just family. Mom and I made the monkey cake ourselves....which is really great for us!! It was time to open presents Collin really enjoyed this part and so did Jackson, of course!! We got Collin and Vacum Cleaner and Mimi and G-daddy got him the Zebra toy. He loved both toys so much and couldn't decide which one he wanted to play with and this is when he decided to be a toddler and not a baby.....he sat on his zebra with vacum in hand so that Big Brother Jackson couldn't play with either....Collin finally took ownership of something and Jackson was not allowed to play with Collin's toys!