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)!

Construction on our street!

Thursday was a very exciting day here on Gateshead Circle. We got notice that our cul-de-sac was going to be resurfaced that day. So, we had to stay home and wait for them to come, of course. I'm glad they came in the morning, or it would've been a long day! Eli's dreams came true as we first saw the street cleaner come (it made several loops around) and later the asphalt spreader. I never thought I'd be so excited to see road construction trucks. We sat in our driveway and took in every moment. Jed liked it, too. Every time he sees a truck now, he opens his mouth wide in amazement and tries to say truck. After they cleaned up and told us the street was all ready, the boys tested it out. I think it passed inspection. Eli also did some finishing up with what he called his clean-up trucks.


Check out how well Jed gets around on the 4 wheeler!

Bros

Lately Jed wants to copy Eli and Eli wants to copy Jed. It's cute most of the time. The squealing back and forth gets to me...and hitting, tackling, wrestling, etc. How did I end up with two energetic, very loud boys?

A Big Step for Jed!

Well, I guess Jed is walking now. (sigh) I'm not too excited about this because this means that he is now a toddler and not a baby. It means that he's growing up too fast. It also means that a new chapter is starting. I know what's coming...a whole new level (pardon the pun) of mischief and curiosity. Jed is so proud of himself as are the rest of us, of course! He started taking more than a couple steps and actually walking Monday, and yesterday he was practicing all afternoon, going further and further. Crawling is still the preferred mode of transportation for now, but I know that will change soon. So, here we go!

Fireman and Frog

The boys got many compliments on their costumes. It was easy this year because Jed wore the same costume Eli wore when he was a baby, except Eli was 6 months when he wore it and Jed 13 months. Eli was huge! And this year for Halloween Eli got to wear the fireman gear that he wears almost everyday. We had fun trick-or-treating at a few neighbors houses and then going to a party our friends had for the kids. They had candy all over the ground at the party (an ongoing scavenger hunt?) and Eli could care less. He didn't eat or want any candy the whole night! I was so relieved!