Daddy's Boys

Now I see where the boys get their handsome looks!

John (in the middle) at around 5...It's Eli with brown hair and brown eyes (and missing teeth)!



We know Jed has John's hair. John had lots of curls as a baby, like Jed, then they went away as he got older. I took these pictures of Jed, trying to duplicate the picture of John at the piano.

Fireman Boone

Super Dad!

Jed was asleep about 2 seconds after I took this picture.

Christmas at home

We spent Christmas at home, just our family of four. It was nice and low key...well, as low key as you can get with two excited boys! I think we're going to try to be home for Christmas in the years to come. Eli enjoyed making and setting out cookies and milk for Santa and then seeing the empty plate in the morning. He told me as he was going to bed Christmas Eve that he was going to wake up when he heard Santa and peek out the window to see the reindeer. No luck, though. Also, Santa got Eli and Jed's stockings mixed up somehow. Eli didn't tell Santa that he switched stockings with Jed. Oh well. Eli didn't mind and thought that was silly...whew!
I had a hard time deciding which pictures to post, so I did a slide show including most of them. Can you tell Eli was a little excited about Christmas by all the silly faces?...Jed just feeds off Eli and it's one crazy time!

Christmas visit to Dallas

We were up in the Dallas area once again to spend some time with family for Christmas. We always have fun when we go visit, but man were we wiped out after this trip! I guess it was all the excitement with gift opening, gatherings, late nights, playing all day, etc.

Here is Eli with his cousin Avery riding in the rickshaw. There is a story behind this rickshaw. Growing up, my cousins and I would always beg my Grandad to take us for rides in the rickshaw. We didn't weigh much, but it had to be hard work for him taking us for rides in his hilly neighborhood! Now I guess my dad gets to do the work. Anything for the grandchildren, I guess.


Grandpa took the boys exploring. He used to take my sister and I exploring growing up, which means going for a walk or a hike and taking in all the treasures in nature. Jed was there, too, but he rode on my back in the carrier the whole time. I love all these pictures!


















We went to the mall so the boys could try out the bungee jumping there. I didn't think Eli would want to try, but he did. Maybe it was because he saw his cousins doing it. He had no fear! As usual, he did it while trying not to smile, but he wasn't successful this time! He bounced really high. It looked like fun tome, but Mammy was freaking out just watching. The boys also rode the little train they had, but Jed only made it one time around. Too scary, I guess.

Christmas Cookies & Tree Festival

One Christmas tradition I remember growing up was to make and decorate Christmas cookies with my mom and then deliver them to friends and neighbors. Since Eli was born, I've carried on the tradition. This year we made gluten free sugar cookies that were the best recipe I've found yet! I also made the icing instead of buying the pre-made icing because it's cheaper and only has 5 ingredients opposed to 50+ in the store bought. Why they need so many ingredients for icing, I don't know! Anyway, after we made our cookies, the boys and I went to the fire station to deliver them. Eli was excited to go, but when we got there, he said maybe one word and his expression never changed...serious face the whole time. They showed him the inside of the station and both fire trucks, too. After we got home we delivered cookies to our neighbors.










Since we've lived in Austin, we've enjoyed going to the Trail of Lights every year at Christmas time. It's just a big display of lights where you can walk on the trail and see them, plus food and entertainment. This year the city scaled back on the festival to save money. It was much smaller, but the same idea. We actually liked it better because it was just the right amount of time for the boys. Any longer, and there might have been some meltdowns. It was called the Zilker Tree Holiday Festival because it centered around the big Zilker Christmas tree that has been an Austin tradition for 40 years or so. It's fun to stand under the tree and spin. We got a video of it so you can sort of get the dizzy feeling. In the picture of John and I, we're holding the camera down so it's looking up in the tree. Eli also got to take some pictures of John and I posing behind the statues.

Eli's undies...or lack thereof!

On Saturday we went to our friend's Christmas party and decided to just bring the boys with us. It was at Eli's friend Ellaiden's house, and we knew she and some other kids would be there to play with. They played really well together all evening. Toward the end of the night, they started dragging blankets, pillows, books, drinks, and snacks back to Chris and Jenny's bedroom. They were getting ready for bed, of coarse! When I went back to give Eli the 5 minute warning that we were leaving soon, I saw that they all put on pajamas, too. Eli had put on Ellaiden's pjs, which were purple pants with clouds and things on them and her Christmas shirt, which had ruffly ribbons on it. I think he tried to find the least girly pajamas. It was too funny! I really wish I got a picture, but I didn't have my camera and didn't think to ask someone else to take a picture.
The story gets better! When I went back to have Eli change into his clothes, as he took of the pajama pants, I saw that he had on Ellaiden's undies as well! He later told us that he didn't like girl underwear because they are too tight. As we were hunting for his clothes, we could not find his underwear (they are still missing). It was official, Eli lost his underwear at the Christmas party! This will be a blackmail story for sure!

Snow...barely

Last Friday we actually got some snow! You could see it if you stood really still and squinted your eyes. For a few minutes, there were some pretty big flakes floating around. I don't think Eli and Jed were all that impressed. I tried to explain that we won't see snow at our house very often, but they didn't get it. Growing up in Texas, I knew that as soon as we saw snow outside, we had to be ready to run out the door. We might miss it if we didn't get out soon enough, and we almost did! About 5 minutes after we got outside, it was sunny! Oh well, at least we got to see a few flakes.

Jed's walk

I wanted to post some videos of Jed walking because it's so cute! Also, more bonus cute pictures included...(Eli took the pictures of me and Jed)

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving again this year. Somehow we managed to see all our families on the trip. We started off in Ft. Worth, then to Decatur to see Nana on turkey day, then on to Murphy to see my family. Eli especially loved Nana's because he got to drive a tractor with Grandad! The kids also got to collect pecans from the trees, see cows, and play on hay stacks. I included videos of Eli and Grandad in the tractor, Eli raking while gathering pecans(he's singing 'Do you know the Muffin Man?', and Jed looking at the cows(he is signing 'cow').
It was a nice, fun, relaxing time with family...just what Thanksgiving should be. I think it might be my favorite holiday! I can't believe we're already headed back up there this weekend. Next year, I think we will probably only go up the DFW area for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, not both. It took us 6 hours to get home from Dallas after Thanksgiving! Remind me of that next year!

Jed talk

Kid's songs

At church a few weeks ago, the kids came to "big church" to sing some songs. They sang the Fruit of the Spirit song and Jesus Loves Me. Eli sang the FOS song at home, but when he got in front of the church, he was silent and still, with no expression on his face at all. Stage fright, I guess! Jed actually did one of the motions during the song. He picks up on stuff when we think he's not paying attention all the time. I wasn't even going to bring him out to sing, but decided to at the last minute. Then while we were singing the song, I noticed that he did the gesture for coconut while we were singing! The kid is a genius! If you look at the right side, at the beginning you'll see Jed knock on his head. Look for Eli on the left side.

Trucks and Tattoos

Eli's into tattoos lately. Here's one of a t-rex he's showing off.



We know that Eli loves trash trucks, but now Jed is a fan, too! Whenever Jed hears any loud truck, he gets the wide-eyed amazed look on his face and points to his ear. Then he says "tuh tuh"! He calls all trucks "tuh tuh" right now. It's exactly what Eli did at Jed's age. Tuesdays are an exciting day at our house...trash day!

Shpilkas

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I'm going to try to catch up. We'll start with this video. John taught Eli a fun phrase to say, "You're givin' me shpilkas in my ganectagazoink!" I have no idea where that came from or what it means, but it's fun to say (and spell)!