Four Christmases!

The day after we went to McGehee was Christmas Eve. We celebrated at our Aunt and Uncle's with my Mom and family. I left it to my brother to get pics so I only ended up with ones of Ross swinging. They have a set up for outdoor swings to be brought inside for the winter. Very cool and Ross loves it! My Mom's house now has the same set up! He found another swing and decided to pull it out and work with it.

Next stop was my Dad's where we spent the night and had Christmas morning. One thing Ross got was a band in the box. He's playing with the symbols here.

He also got a John Deere tractor! All 3 grandsons got one and he liked to gather them all up in a line. Of course farm work is more productive that way.

He is quite good playing the triangle. Our house gets a little loud now from time to time. Especially when we beat the tambourine with blocks like a drum AND play the wooden clapper at the same time. FUN! We'll have a jam session soon and everyone is invited.

He pretty much stayed in my lap most of the time while we opened presents. I'm not sure if it is b/c he wanted to sit with me or b/c he knew I had the candy from the stockings.

We went home later that day and had Christmas there. One of his favorite things is a 3D fish tank we got him. I hung it on the wall and he loves it. He also got a pillow pet and a mailbox. It has wooden postcards and places to put stamps. Of course he mails everything separately; including the key to the mailbox.

The day after Christmas we went to Murfreesboro to celebrate with the Martin family side. It was a great time! True to younger kid style Ross most enjoyed the paper and the boxes.

Let Christmas travels begin!!

Our first stop for Christmas visits was McGehee to see Aunt Deb. We also got to see Uncle John and Jesse at the shop for a few minutes.

Uncle John is an avid hunter and has all sorts of animals mounted. Last year when we went to visit Ross was just crawling. The main thing he liked was the crocodile. I think that is b/c it was on his level. This year he liked EVERYTHING! I think he stayed in that room 90% of the time talking about all the animals. It was so funny. He renamed them. He loved the zebra rug!Meet the "Tiger"! He also liked to pet them.

Next up we have "Kitty Kitty".

"Dog".

I'm not sure what he called the croc. This was about as close as he'd get to it. I tried to get him to touch the teeth but he was having none of that. Just a couple more pics for my hunting friends.

I always plan to get pics when we go visit and I forget to, except for one of Ross and Aunt Deb. This time I did a better job. We are going back soon and I'll see if I can't get more of him with the animals in the other room. Ross is quite enamored by the whole set up. His excitement is so sweet.

School Christmas program

Grace had their Christmas program on Friday afternoon. It was the Cliff Notes version of The Christmas Story followed by all of the other classes participating in singing some Christmas carols. It was a really cute production. I was on the second row though and couldn't get good pictures.

First we have the Angels (who were quite enthusiastic about waving but not so much about their parts). :o)
Next; Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

and lastly the 3 Kings.

Enter the Freshman and Sophomore classes for singing.

I believe at this point my child caught a glimpse of us in the audience.

Yes, here he is saying "please let me go to Momma".

After the polite asking didn't work he decided to turn on the water works for a second.

No luck with that so ok he's going to take matters into his own hands. He's telling her to please look the other way while he makes a break for it.

Too late... she caught him. Mrs. Heather decided to whisper that the torture of seeing us but not being able to go to us was almost over so he sat tight with her for the last minute.

Believe it or not I was actually proud of how Ross acted. One song he actually saw me doing the motions with them so he did a few. I'll work on getting a video downloaded.

Warmest Wishes

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Cards

Well once again we set out to get some pictures for our Christmas card. These are my favorites but Da-Da picked a card option that had another picture on it. Of course I can't post that picture.

This picture was taken at my Dad's. Ross kept climbing a stool and each time he'd get to the top he'd look at my brother and say "cheese". He did it at least a dozen times. It was so funny. Brent was good and took a picture each time too!

This one wasn't in the running but I just like it so wanted to post. Too bad his head is cut off. Something my brother always says that I do, but he is the one that took this pic! :0)

Playing in the leaves

I wanted to try and get some pictures of Ross for our Christmas cards over the weekend but it just didn't work b/c of the lovely background. :o) I did end up getting some good ones though of him playing. He loves to throw the leaves at us and at the poor kitty. He also had a good time throwing the football. Pure bliss!

My sweet little man. He's growing up so fast!

Daddy and Buddy. Ross will go up and down the stairs as many times as you let him to get leaves and bring back up to throw at kitty. Kitty tolerates it b/c we give her A LOT of treats.
Poor kitty is in the background realizing her fate. She really is a great kitty. I'm sure all of the houses she visits thinks the same thing. ha

A puppy!

We kept a friend's puppy on Friday night while they were out of town. Her name is Ruby and she's a Goldendoodle, which is exactly what we've agreed on when we finally get a dog. She liked Ross, though he wasn't always tolerant of Ruby. :) She especially liked to pull at his pajama bottoms while he was walking or stealing his toys! She was quite fascinated with his toy that shoots balls out of the top. After playing they decided to just sit for a bit and watch some Barney.

One of Ruby by herself. It was always hard to get a picture of her b/c she wanted my camera, much like Ross! ha