Oh Christmas Tree

So I may have gotten a little out of order on the posts, but I'm playing catch up. This one should probably have come before the one where we went to see Santa. Oops.

We got our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We got it at Wal-Mart since Jason had good luck there the last time he got me a real tree. The only problem is that it's hard to tell exactly how big around the tree will be once you open it up. Jason had to trim it down a little but as you can see, he had help.

We did eventually get it in the house and Lawson went over to say hello. :-)

Once it was in the house we did a little more trimming, so Lawson "helped" me clean up the mess. Haha. He loves to get the broom out and sweep. And, yes, he's wearing his diaper and t-shirt with his boots. Doesn't everyone?

After Mr. Tootie Pants went to bed I tackle the lights and other stuff. I think next year I'll get some new stuff. I realized as I was putting it up this year that the vast majority of it is from our first Christmas after we got married. 

The next morning Lawson got to see it for the first time all decorated. He said, "Whoa! Look at that Cismas tree!! Look at THOSE balls! I have 'em?" I told him he could touch but not to take them off the tree. So, of course he wanted to give "knuckle sandwiches" (fist bumps) to as many of the ornaments as he could reach. And he gave the Charlie Brown ornament a kiss. Silly boy. 

 

I just love his enthusiasm! He has done really well with not pulling stuff off the tree, but has almost knocked it over a time or two with the knuckle sandwiches. Haha.

Cookies With Santa

Last Saturday the UAFS Alumni Office hosted Donuts and Cookies with Santa. We attended Cookies for Santa and took Miss Addison with us. She wrote Santa the sweetest little note. I should have taken a picture of the letter, but basically it said, "Dear Santa, Thank you so much. I love you so so so so much. I

hope you have a very Merry Christmas. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO." Not a single "I want" or "bring me". What a sweet girl. When prompted she did tell him that she wanted an Easy Bake Oven. She's a girl after my own heart. :-)

We didn't get any pics with our phones of Lawson with Santa, but as soon as I get the ones from the Alumni Office, I'll post them. I am happy to report, though, that he did not cry or scream. Now, he didn't actually sit on his lap either, but he did sit on the couch next to him and tell him he wanted a guitar. After both kiddos had seen Santa, we had a cookie and worked on a few crafts.

Before we left we tried getting both kids to talk to/sit by Numa (our mascot), but they weren't really interested at first. it took a little warming up before they would even set near him with Jason. 

Eventually though, they made friends. Of course Lawson wanted a knuckle sandwich (fist bump) and a "wi-fife" (apparently some combination of Wi-fi and high five...silly boy)

Then we got really brave and walked up to him all by our self. This boy is such a mess. 

Addison finally warmed up to him enough to have her picture made too, although she still wasn't real sure about him.

I just love that our Alumni Office does stuff like this! We were there a total of thirty minutes and they will send me a link to the photos...FOR FREE! I can print whatever I want. No line. No cost. No mall parking. I'll take it!

Family Christmas: Part I

Each year we have our smaller family Christmas dinner and exchange gifts at Grandpa and Gigi's house a week is so before Christmas Day. I started making a picture ornament for Addison an Jevin their first Christmas. Here are this years pictures for their ornaments.

We also have birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Such a great tradition and a great way to remind us all and teach the kiddos about the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Lawson enjoyed his cake. Ha! 

Grandpa and Gigi tried to get a new picture with all the grandkids too, but Lawson was having none of it. I actually think this was before cake and he may have been try owing a little fit because he wanted cake. Not a picture. Jeez!

We also exchanged gifts and just had some fun. Lawson even got to practice a little on Grandpa's guitar. 

A couple of days later we headed to Miss Addison's Christmas Program at school. 

I love spending time with family and there's just something extra special about it at Christmas time. 

Thanksgiving 2013

I am a huge slacker at taking pictures when there is a lot of food to captivate my attention, so I only managed to snap a few shots during our Thanksgiving festivities. These were taken at my Dad's. I cannot believe how big our boy is getting!

Cousins! This is cousin Jaxx. He is about five months younger than Lawson, but they are pretty close to the same size. He's such a sweet little boy! As you can see, Jaxx wanted to hug on Jason, and Lawson didn't quite know what to think of it.

Lawson also has another cousin, Destini, who is only four months younger than he is. She's such a sweet, pretty little thing! It's hard to believe that two years ago at Thanksgiving these three weren't even here yet.I love that they are all so close in age. It will just make the holidays that much better! In this picture with us is my Uncle Dave (Destini's Grandpa) and my Grandma (Gram). Gram is 80 and just loves all her grand kids and great-grand kids. I'm working on a separate post about Gram. Stay tuned for that.

The day after Thanksgiving Carla and I and our moms headed to Rogers for our annual P.F. Chang lunch. We usually go the day after Christmas, but Carla has two weddings to work on the day after Christmas (crazy!). We had all eaten a lot of turkey, so we loved having something different. It's such a fun day to get away and just have a little fun!



My sweet friend Heidi was in from Colorado with her precious kiddos and her hubby the week of Thanksgiving. Heidi and I met when she came to visit UA Fort Smith for a campus tour. The tour lasted two hours, but our friendship is one that will last a lifetime. Since it's been a while since Heidi has been on campus, we took a little campus tour (yes, this is what we chose to do with our time together) and then had a leisurely lunch. It's always so nice to catch up with her and just share our lives. She and her kiddos came out to play with Lawson the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and we had such a great time. The kids had such a great time playing. It was a beautiful day, so they ran and played in the back yard. I just love that we can get our kids together to make friends. They may live many hours away, but hopefully these kids will always be a part of each other's lives. Perhaps we will make a trip to see them soon.

Keaton and Kelsey are such precious kids! Look at those sweet faces!

Lastly, here's a picture of the turkey I made for our door. My sweet friend Shanna found this on Pinterest (because that's where you find everything). Jason was kind enough to cut them out for us, and this is how mine turned out after I painted it and made a burlap bow. I think it turned out pretty cute!



Homecoming 2013

Back in November we had Homecoming Weekend at UAFS. Jason and I are both alums, so we took Lawson to the Homecoming Parade and Tailgate. Addison and Nanna joined us too. Both kiddos had fun at the tailgate.

And of course there was food. Lawson loved his hot dog and cookie.

Lawson's favorite thing was actually watching the Athletic Band. They have a great drum line and he loved just standing there watching them play. When they would finish, he would clap and say, "Good job, guys!!" Too cute!

I just love spending my days with these to boys. They're my favorite!

Jason Mraz

Lawson loves music! He loves playing (ok, banging) the drums and he walks around the house pretending to play the guitar on random household objects. He's always been this way. He is most interested in something on TV at the beginning and the end when the music is playing. Several months ago Jason happened across a short segment on Sesame Street where Jason Mraz sings a song about going outdoors to the tune of his "I'm Yours". Elmo and the other monsters sing back up. Jason recorded it on our DVR and we used it any time Lawson was fussy or didnt' feel good. No matter what was happening, he would just stop and watch any time we played it. He loved it so much he started to ask to watch it randomly. Then I purchased "I'm Yours" on iTunes, and we listen to it in the car if he got cranky about being in his seat for too long. Now, I can barely get the kid loaded in his seat before he starts telling me, "Turn on Jason Raz, Momma!" Look at how he just stands there and watches. It's crazy!

Sadly, about a month ago, yours truly accidentally deleted this episode of Sesame Street. I have since recorded no less than 30 episodes of Sesame Street to try and catch it again, but with no luck. So, we now watch Jason "Raz" on my phone on YouTube. It's crazy, but Lawson still loves it. Here's a link to the video in case you're interested in seeing what all the fuss is about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrqF7yD10Bo.

Campus Visit

Back in November I took Lawson to campus to walk around. Jason was doing a Welding Badge training with a local Boy Scout troop, so Lawson and I just took a little tour of The Green. Jason and I are very fortunate to work on such a beautiful campus, and we want Lawson to feel at home here too. He's been here many times, but this is the first time we've really just taken the time to walk around. He heard the Bell Tower before he saw it and said, "Hear dat, Momma?" I told him it was the Bell Tower and he said, "I can see it bull tower?" so, off we went. He LOVED it. As you can see he was super excited when he saw it. He just kept saying, "Look at that BULL tower!!!" and "I reach it BULL tower high in the (s)ky!" His enthusiasm was priceless.

Maybe Mr. Lawson will be a lion one day too...