Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas - visiting here and in Memphis.  So much fun to hang out with all of our cousins and grands!
Making Xmas cookies with Poppy:)

Jack's new Kepi hat - a gift from the Cauler side of the fam:)

                                           Xmas eve at the Simpson grandparents.

                                     Cousins modeling their new hats!  Precious girls!

                                             Jack recieved a camo-Jags t-shirt!  Score!

              The boy cousins opening their special boxes from Poppy - handcrafted with love:)

                                                     Will chillin' in the bean bag.

                                                            Ryan waiting his turn.

There are some videos I'll post on youtube - since Jeff only shot video on Xmas morning there are  no stills:( Sorry!

Stitches

Well, we almost made it a whole year without someone needing stitches!  Oh well!  This morning Will and Jack were playing and somehow(?????) Will fell face down on the floor and split open his chin.  We have hardwood floors, over a concrete slab foundation, so there's little give if one takes a spill here. 

After concurring that he would need to be seen by a Dr., we all had to get dressed!  The poor boy sat on my bed holding his chin with a wet washcloth, while the rest of us scrambled to put clothes on and brush our teeth! 

He was so good and brave and patient!  Thankfully our local medical clinic could see us us quickly.  He only cried when they used the lidocain to numb up the area - a needle of course had to be used and it was uncomfortable to say the least!  He really was amazing though!

I had him laughing and being silly while we waited for the area to become totally numb.  We were blessed to have a Fellowship member as our PA - she was great:)  When she came back in to stitch him up, he became really anxious.  But, I cannot express enough how calm he was after she got everything underway.  He kept his eyes closed the whole time:)  I held his hands and just stroked his little head.  She was super efficient and after getting 3 stitches we were ready to go.

He looks like he's got three really dark whiskers:)  Afterwards, we all headed to Chick-fil-a for some lunch.  Because we were in such a rush to get him to the doctor, we never got Will dressed, so he was still in his jammies.  As we got out of the car to head into the restaurant, Will asked me if it was illegal to eat there in your pj's! 

Here's our brave boy after munching on some chicken:)  The dr's office also gave him a "prescription" for a free TCBY treat!  So after lunch we ran over there and he got a cup of cake batter yogurt (sounds gross, but really wasn't too bad!) and some fun toppings - his picks:gummie bears, m&m's, and sprinkles! 
We were all whooped by this time so we headed home for naps.  I'll post some more pics tomorrow after we take off the bandaid. 

Toddlers, and Preschoolers, and Tweeners, Oh My!

Parenting has been really challenging lately.  So much so that this lil' ole blog of mine has taken the back, back seat.  I wanted desperately to stay up on this and keep family posted on the kids etc.  it just seems that most days I am barely keeping my head above water.  I know that this is only a season - it just feels like it may last FOREVER:)  I don't want to sound negative, and most days there is some laughter amid the tears, but geez louise, I'm in the fetal position crying "uncle" - enough's enough! So here's the catch up in photos...

Some of us have been trying new fashion ideas...

 Ella-Kathryn and I joined our friends H and M in Tulsa to celebrate H's birthday...

 The boys are all about wrestling with Daddy - every day, everywhere, all day long!

 Back in early Nov. we had fun with leaf piles:)

 We had a wonderful visit with some great friends here from GA - the boys' mom and I were in grad school together! 

This past weekend we enjoyed Jack and Ella-Kathryn's choir concert.  No pics of Jack though - there is some video, but he's not very happy about the whole thing so I thought I'd leave well enough alone:)

 Last night we headed to downtown Rogers for the Christmas parade.  Daddy rode the BCSO motorcycle so we braved the freezing cold temps (27 degrees when we arrived at 6) to cheer him on.  While we had a great time and the kids filled their candy bags, we did leave early since most of us were losing feeling in our toes and fingers!

Sorry for the scary shot of yours truly:)  It's really hard to take a picture facing yourself while wearing mittens!

Also back in Nov we were able to attend the annual Christmas Toy extravaganza - here in Wal-mart land the vendors break out the latest and greatest toys to show off for the upcoming holiday season.  There were some fun giveaways and Ella-Kathryn had her pic taken with "Barbie" again:)   The little boys were able to see Mater, Lightning, and Fin, although not as up close and personal as originally planned.  Apparently court was still in session at the County Courthouse and since the cars were parked right at the bottom of the courthouse stairs, they couldn't start the engines/honk horns etc:(  Oh well- knowing Will he would've hated all that noise anyway!

So, we are looking forward to Christmas here and in Memphis.  Lots to do between now and then and still trying to keep up with school, so we'll see how I do keeping this updated as well!