We just got news that two of Josh's sisters are pregnant!! We found out about Robin on the 23rd and Meredith on Christmas Eve. That means that Josh's mom, Mimi, will have new grand babies in May, July and August! We're all so excited!
All the presents ready to go.
Santa brought a big boy bike for Ayden and a tricycle for Ian, and a bunch of other stuff.
Ian among the mess.
Genuine cowboys spurs from Granny and Paw-Paw.
We headed over to Aunt Videt's that evening. Maw-Maw is visiting in Louisiana, so it was a treat to see her. From left: Josh, me, my Aunt Odie, my Maw-Maw, my cousin Court, his girlfriend Kristin, and my Aunt Videt crouching down on the floor. We had a fun and memorable Christmas, 2008. I have videos, but I can't post them for some reason.
Just before we left for Mimi's,
Mimi's delicious spaghetti! The kids had their own table.
Mimi reading "the Night Before Christmas" to Dakota & Ayden.
When we got home , the boys had their baths, got in their Christmas PJs, sprinkled the Magic Reindeer Food in the front yard, and left cookies and milk out for Santa. Ayden was so thrilled about Santa coming, it took him a while to fall asleep. This year he fully understands the whole Santa concept, so we had a lot of fun with his excitement.
Words to the video are below!! Great advice about LIFE! Pure Brilliance!!!!
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:
Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but known that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. You choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts, and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
Ayden took this picture!
The first night was a success!
Our new bunk bed for the boys should be coming soon! They said between 12:00 and 2:00 today. I'm pacing the floors!!!! I had a productive morning after all. I thought I would be a zombie (see last post), but I guess I'm just too excited about this bed. It's just like the picture above, trundle and all (no mattresses or bedding included;). Now we have a place for the boys' friends to sleep when that time comes. I think I hear a big truck outside. BYE!
DOH! It was just the recycling truck. Come ON!
Aren't holiday family traditions great? Well, I have one that's draining the life out of me. I grew up with four other siblings who all had asthma. I was lucky enough not to catch that gene, but apparently I'm a carrier-according to the ER doctor I visited with in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Yes that's right. Here's our family tradition: getting extremely sick and hospitalized during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays. I remember my little sister, Dixie, being in the hospital during Thanksgiving with pneumonia. We couldn't have real Christmas trees because it made everyone get sick, but my mom craved that pine scent one year and got a tree anyway. I think Nikki took a turn in the hospital that time. Now to present day. Ian had RSV the week before Christmas last year and we spent the night at the hospital the day before we left on our Christmas cruise. Then, last night he wouldn't respond to our nebulizar after two treatments, so I called our pediatrician's emergency line and the triage nurse told me to take him to the emergency room. They gave him another treatment which finally stopped the wheezing, but the doctor could still hear rattling in his left lung. They did chest xrays, which showed that it wasn't pneumonia (THANK GOODNESS!) but he does have bronchitus. We got to come home-I think it was 2:30 am when we got back-and he's now on steroids and antibiotics. Tonight was not fun either. I haven't been 100% asleep all night because he's been throwing up and coughing-poor guy-and I have to give him the nebulizar every 3-4 hours. Meanwhile, somehow I'm supposed to wrap like a million presents, help with our church party Friday night, mail out Christmas letters (which I actually did get done), do last minute shopping, set up the bunk bed that's coming in tomorrow, normal day-to-day chores, try to keep calm and rested for the baby brewing in my belly, and attempt giving Ayden some attention-he's been having asthma trouble for the past week, but has improved a lot over the past three days-during all of this. So that's why I am currently naming myself Mrs. Grinch. I really could do without all of the extra holiday festivities right now. Mom, now that I'm getting the "mother" perspective of this tradition, I can see how hard it was on you. Thank you for taking such great care of us kids. I love you.
Okay, I found a gender predictor that is accurate with Ayden & Ian, which predicts that this baby will be a boy too. If you are a mom, go here and see if the chart predicted the gender of your kid/kids accurately. You will need to know your month of conception and your age at the time of the baby's birth. I can't wait to see how this works on everyone else.
Every year I just HAVE to get new Christmas PJs (we call them jammies) for the boys.
A typical morning at our house: 
I spent 5 hours today searching for lost pictures on our old computer
Check this out. I remember this report coming out last year and thinking, "Well, at least Mississippi was ranked lower that us. Not anymore.
After he's finished laughing at the leaves blowing in the wind, he does the arm chug.
Color accent
Black & White
The hayride after the tree cutting (Read on. This is out of order. Sue me.)
Which tree do you like, E?
Um, this is the terrain you get when shopping for Christmas trees in the swampy south.
We spotted a Sasquatch! (I'm only quoting Aaron. Don't hate me, Brent!)
It only took him like 2.5 seconds to cut the tree down. I have video, but it won't post.
Notice anything strange about this picture?
These boys loved the sugar more than the beignets.
The usual torture from Uncle Court. That's Jack. (I told you these were out of order.)
Sockless Ian ate that popsicle in record time.
Josh, the manly turkey carver.
Melancholy cowboy. He wore his cowboy clothes three days in a row.
More torture from Uncle Court! Look at Jack spotting Ayden! How sweet.
The whole crew at Aunt Videt's.
Hiding out with Kota.
Ian and Calyn, the "sort-of" cousins. They are not blood related, so they can date later if they want. It would be a little strange, but legal.
The other night we were at Robin, Brent & Dakota's house-which was already decked out in Christmas decor-when Ayden suddenly demanded to go home immediately. It took a few minutes for me to figure out why he was getting so emotional. The verdict: he thought that because Dakota had Christmas decorations, that Santa Claus was coming that night and if we didn't hurry up and get home to decorate our house Santa wouldn't come to our house.
I'm so excited about Christmas through Ayden's eyes this year. He finally has a clear understanding of how everything works.
I promised him that night (Friday) that we would decorate on Saturday. He asked ALL DAY if it was time to decorate and if today was Christmas. I had to get very specific: "Today is November 29th, there are two days left until December. Christmas is on the 25th of December, which means you have 27 more days until then." We need one of those Christmas countdown hangings NOW!
So, late into Saturday afternoon, after being patient for almost a full 24 hours, Ayden finally asked, "Mom, why aren't you in the attic yet?" Needless to say, our decorations went up last night. We had some "help" from our little friends pictured above, because it was our turn to babysit for the date swap we participate in. I'm sure you can imagine how that went!
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