Christmas '09

We decorated our tree a few weeks before Christmas...

On Christmas Eve we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Pearson's house where we ate a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner. Grandpa left for a few minutes and then reappeared at the front door with a Santa hat on, a lantern, and a sack with a few presents. I think this was my mom's idea, and though Justin and I thought it was unusual, the boys liked it. The boys each opened a present that night, and then we headed home to get "snug in our beds".

The next morning the boys woke up to find their stockings filled and presents under the tree. Jackson got trains and a Buzz LightYear action figure. Drake got puzzles and other toys, but he was just interested in the snacks he got in his stocking.

After our small at-home Christmas we went back over to Grandma and Grandpa Pearson's house. We ate breakfast, tortured the cat by making her wear a Mrs. Claus hat, and then we opened more stockings and presents. The boys were so excited to have so many fun new toys.

We celebrated Christmas twice with Justin's side of the family. We went over a few days before Christmas to celebrate before Justin's sister Jennifer and her family went out of town for the holidays. Then we went over again on Christmas afternoon. Below is a picture of the boys with all of their cousins in front of Grandma Cersey's kids' Christmas tree (she has at least 3 trees up every year). Jackson doesn't look so happy, but Drake is compensating by being overly enthusiastic.

Grandma Cersey gave Drake his favorite thing, a ball. Jackson got lots of toy cars and some transformers.

How blessed we are to have so much family nearby to celebrate the holidays with. I am so glad that my boys are growing up surrounded by such love. Happy Holidays Everyone!

Playin' at the Park

 

A few days before Christmas my cousin Eric cut my hair at his salon (it was just a trim and I forgot to take pictures). Anyway, after the cut the boys and I went across the street to a little park. The boys loved running around the fountain. Thanks for the cut Eric!

Jackson's Haircut

So, I really wanted to grow Jackson's hair out, but I never comb it and so many people kept asking me why I let my kid wear a mop on his head, so I decided to cut it. Here are the before and after pics.

 

Disney Days 6 & 7

Epcot, Day 6

On our 6th day at Disney we went to Epcot, one of my favorite parks. I love visiting the different cultural displays. We got there in the morning and hit up a few rides. We rode "Soarin'" first. It was a really fun hang gliding ride. Then some of us rode the race track ride, but it broke down before Justin and I got the chance. We also looked at some of the future and safety displays. Jackson enjoyed learning how to prepare for thunderstorms, but he was afraid to go through the fire safety course. I guess he thought there might be a real fire. Then we got this cute picture of the kids with grandma and grandpa.

We left for lunch and then came back to the park later that afternoon. Justin and I finally got to ride the race track ride. Then we split up and looked at the different cultural displays. Unfortunately this was the coldest night in the history of Orlando (might be a slight exaggeration). We were so cold that we rode the indoor Mexican ride 3 times in a row to get out of the cold. The boys were able to find a train table at the park in the England exhibit (Thomas and friends are apparently British). For days I had been telling Justin that I really wanted to eat at one of the foreign restaurants in the park. They were all very expensive, but we finally settled on a small Japanese cafe. It wasn't that great, but I was pleased to have come to a compromise with Justin.

We ended up leaving before the big fireworks display because our kids were dead tired and we were all freezing (as you can see in the first picture, taken when we were leaving). The rest of the family said it was amazing. Oh well, next time.

Animal Kingdom, Day 7

On our last day at Disney we went back to the Animal Kingdom. We rode Everest. It was really fun. Then we went to look at some animals. Jackson liked looking at the animals, but Drake passed out. We got really close to some tigers. They were only a few feet away from us separated by a window. After a few hours of exploring we headed to down town Disney where we checked out the cool Lego displays. The dragon behind Jackson in the picture below is made out of Legos.

Drake fell asleep again.

We had a great time at Disney World. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Cersey for the amazing Christmas present. We will never forget our fun week at Disney. Love you!

Disney Days 4 & 5, and Thanksgiving

Day 4

On Wednesday we had a lot of this...

But late in the day we decided to venture out anyway. Justin and I took Jackson back to the Magic Kingdom while Drake stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa. It was really wet and cold but we made the best of our evening at Disney. First we rode Thunder Mountain. The roller coaster looks like a train, so Jackson was excited to ride. He is just the right height to ride and he loved it. Check out his expression in the top right pic below. That's not fear, that is pure joy. Then we headed over to the carousel where Jackson picked his favorite horse. We took a spin on the flying Dumbo ride and then our last ride was It's a Small World, which was one of Jackson's favorites.

To get back to the car we had to take the monorail. Usually it was cram packed with a ton of people, but this time we got lucky and we were the only ones in our train car. We took advantage of our solitude and went a little crazy. You can't see it in this picture, but Justin's feet are suspended in mid air. This was my favorite ride of the day.

Day 5, Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving we went to the Animal Kingdom. A great park to visit on the day that we carnivorously feast on animal flesh! We rode on a safari ride where we saw a ton of cool animals. Check out how close we got to these guys. One of the pics below is actually just the boys playing the drums, but that was fun too. Justin and I rode Everest, which is a new ride since we last went to Disney (Jackson is not tall enough for this one). It was pretty sweet. The shot on the left was taken from the top of the ride. We also saw the Lion King show (don't have pics of that), which was kind of fun. We got 3rd row seats in the warthog section (pretty sure that was a good thing). We also saw the Bug Life show, which scared the boys to tears because it is 3D and they weren't comfortable with bugs flying at their faces. Justin and I rode the Dinosaur ride which almost scared me to tears. What? It was a little terrifying!

Just to make sure the boys had enough fun before we left for the day, we let them play in Dinoland. They were suppose to be digging up dinosaur bones, but Jackson decided to bury Drake instead. We also saw some fish. That's the best explanation I've got for the pic on the top left. We left Animal Kingdom early (3pm) to get home and get ready for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great traditional dinner with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, sweet potatoes, corn, some tasty jello casserole thing, pie, and probably other stuff I can't remember. After dinner the kids sang a song that Grandpa wrote about Thanksgiving that was really cute. Grandpa is very creative and he writes a song every year. Here is a pic of all the grand kids with Grandma and Grandpa.

Disney Days 2 & 3!

On our second day here in Florida (Sunday) we took it easy and hung out with family, but on Monday we headed back to Disney for a day at Hollywood Studios.

Disney Day 2

The adults enjoyed a ride on the Rockin' Roller coaster first. It is one of the best rides in all of Disney World.
Then we headed to the Tower of Terror. Jackson met the height requirement so Justin decided to make him try it. Justin warned Jackson that it might be a little scary which was a big mistake because he was terrified through the entire line. I tried to convince Justin to let Jackson skip the ride, but he was determined to make his son a man. Justin told Jackson to scream at any ghosts he saw on the ride and that would scare them away. We all loaded onto the elevator ride. Jackson sat between Justin and me. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. It was dead quite in our packed elevator and 4 Ghosts materialized before us. Jackson opened his mouth and screamed as loud as he could for at least 30 seconds and then the ghosts disappeared and the doors closed. Daddy's advice paid off and Jackson made it through the rest of the ride without another peep. Jackson was not interested in riding again.

I took the boys to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. This was one of their favorite places. They rode down slides, played in a giant web, and crawled through little caves. Drake was so cute that one foreign couple asked if they could take a picture with him. Weird?

We got Jackson some Mickey Mouse ears which he has worn almost nonstop since. We went to the Playhouse Disney show, and rode on the new Toy Story ride, which we all loved. Jackson got to meet 2 of his favorite characters, June and Quincy from the little Einsteins show.

We stayed at Hollywood Studios all day. When it got dark the "Streets of America" lit up with over 5 million Christmas lights. It was amazing. Every few minutes they played a Christmas song and the lights would flash on and off with the rhythm of the music. Really cool.

Disney Day 3

On day 3 we went back to the Magic Kingdom. We took the kids over to Toon Town where Jackson rode and airplane roller coaster twice. Then we rode the train that goes around the park twice for Jackson's sake. We also rode Pirates of the Caribbean, which was a little much for the boys. We saw a parade and then headed back home for lunch.

After lunch we rested for a couple hours and then went back to the Magic Kingdom for the night time parade of lights and fireworks. We maneuvered around thousands of people and found a great spot from which to watch the show. We still had some time to kill so some of the adults ran over with our fast passes and rode Space Mountain. The boys really liked the parade, but the fireworks were a little too nerve racking for them at 10:00pm after a long day. After the show we rode one more kids' ride while we were waiting for the crowds to dissipate.

Drake was so exhausted.

1st Day at Disney!

For those of you who didn't know, we are in Orlando with Justin's family. We got here on Friday night, had a rough night of little sleep with the boys, and then got up early yesterday morning for our first day at Disney World. We started at the Magic Kingdom. The boys had a great time riding the rides and seeing the shows. Later in the afternoon I took Drake to a little play area called Pooh's Corner and he was so tired that all he wanted to do was sit in a little chair in Pooh's tree house. He sat there for 10 minutes and then we put him in his stroller and he took a nap. Though Jackson was dead tired, he stayed up all day and had a blast exploring the Magic Kingdom with his cousins.

Today we are taking a break, but we will be back at it tomorrow when we will hit up Hollywood Studios! We are so grateful to Justin's parents for putting this trip together and to the Browns who are letting us stay in their vacation house. You guys rock!

Saturday Night Fever!

Last Saturday night Justin and I went to a disco party to celebrate Andy and Esther's birthdays. It was at Mike Baughs' warehouse. Jess did a great job with the decorations! No admittance was allowed unless you were dressed to impress. So, of course I went all out. Most people wore wigs, but I was sporting an all natural fro. Justin was stylin' with his friendly mutton chops. If there had been a competition for best hair, we totally would have won.

There were about 30 people there and everyone was disco ready. Here are pics of all the ladies and all the fellas.

Several people sat on the side lines, but the rest of us weren't afraid to get our groove on. Ryan did some handstand splits during the YMCA and ended up with a nice tear in the crotch of his pants. He didn't let that stop him though. I don't think Blossom sat down once the entire night. That girl knows how to get funky! Rachel and Jess were rockin' out in there hot go-go boots. Nicole and Jonny made it to the dance floor a few time, when the music tickled their fancy. Chris and Justin remained passive observers most of the night, freezing their aces off while the rest of us worked up a sweat.

Happy belated birthday to Esther! Happy birthday today to Andy! Thanks to the Baughs for providing the location. Thanks to Jess for pulling it all together. Thanks to Justin for helping me create my fro. And thanks to Grandma Cersey for watching the boys while we partied. We had a blast!

?

I left Justin home with the boys the other night and this is what happened while I was gone. Normal?

Personally, I think my boys look better without any facial alterations.

Girls' Night

Once a week Nicole invites a few of her friends over for a girls' night. Most of the time we just watch TV or play games, but sometimes we get a little crazy (see bottom left picture).

Its nice to have a night to ourselves where we can have mature social interactions. Thanks for hosting us every week Nicole! Today, Drake decided that he was big enough to sit at the table like everyone else. He perched himself in this chair and refused to get down. Jackson and Drake enjoyed their PB&J's like big boys this afternoon.

Partay!

So, people like to make fun of me because I like to celebrate my birth-week instead of just my birth-day, but the joke is on them because they indulge me on this. On Tuesday we went to Macaroni Grill, on Wednesday we had a girls' night (we do this almost every week so it wasn't explicitly for my b-week), and then on Friday night we had a partay! On Wed. Nicole taught us a card game called Nerts, which I suck at. Not only is it one more game that Nicole kicks my trash at, but now I have a new rival in Jessica, my sis-in-law, who also kicked my trash. We stayed at Nicole's until 4:00am. Not the smartest thing.
On Friday we had the partay at our house. Ryan and Brindi brought over their huge honkin grill of awesomeness and the guys cooked meat on it. Sweet. Justin made me a cake (admire its beauty below). I wafted the candles out with a notebook so as not to spit on my cake (a pet peeve of Justin's). I'm not great with pictures so, there isn't any real evidence that people actually came to my partay except for Brindi in the corner of one pic below. People that showed (just take my word for it): Jessica, Nicole, Brindi, Ryan, Thayne, Rachel, Nicole, my Dad, Darron, LuAnne, Chris, and Carey. We played games and then around midnight we busted out the old home videos. Chris, Carey, Justin, and I stayed up until 4:00 watching that crap. Good times.

So this post is not entirely selfish here are some recent pictures of the boys. They seem to have switched attitudes. Jackson can't stop scowling and Drake is generally content to do his own thing. Look at the little guy loading a water bottle full of Crayons. He only ate one that I know of. It appears that Jackson is learning too many bad habits from his mom.

My Last Year in My 20's

Yesterday was my birthday and I decided I wanted to go to the Macaroni Grill for dinner, but I didn't want anyone to feel like they needed to pay for my dinner and I didn't want to pay for it either. So, I called and asked the manager if he would give the birthday girl a free entree if she brought in more than 10 people. To my surprise they agreed. I also had a coupon for a free appetizer. All in all it was a sweet deal for me, but the waiter refused to give me birthday cake and sing to me and I swear they put a laxative in my food. Oh well. I guess even the birthday girl can't have everything. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with me! Everyone made it in the picture below except for poor Boston who is behind my mom.

Happy Halloween!

We had a lot of fun things going on this October. First we went to Grandma Cersey's annual Halloween party. Grandma goes all out to throw the best party imaginable. There was a haunted house, pumpkin decorating, spooky gingerbread house decorating, face painting, a huge inflatable bouncing house, a doughnut eating contest, limbo, costumes and photo shoots, tasty lunch and dinner, and lots of Halloween treats. Did I forget anything? We had a blast, as usual. Thanks Grandma! Below are some pictures of the haunted house. Justin was hiding in the bathtub that was made to look like a coffin. I should have won the "eat a doughnut off a string without using your hands" contest. Justin must have cheated because I was beating him the whole time. On the Thursday before Halloween we went to Randy's Pumpkin Patch, another annual tradition. Brindi and Aiden joined us there and we took a lot of pictures.

Jackson and Drake liked roaming around and looking at all the pumpkins and decorations. Jackson and Aiden went into the bunny petting zoo, where they tortured the small creatures with there loving tight squeezes.

On Friday we went to our church's Trunk-or-Treat activity. Justin, Drake, and I were the Rubbles (Barney, Bamm-Bamm, and Betty) and the Woods were the Flintstones (Fred, Wilma, and Pebbles). Jackson was a Ninja, but he was running around with Grandma and his friends the whole time, and I am sad to say we never got a picture of him. Grandma Cersey was Cruella DeVille and Megan and Alexis were 2 of her dalmatian puppies. They won best costume for obvious reasons.

On Hallween day we ventured out to our local Publix. Why? Because they have Halloween activities for the kids of course. Jackson fell asleep on the way. He was a dinosaur this time. We met Carey, Boston, Nicole, Jonny, Maggie, Jess, Andy, Megan, and Lex there. The grocery store is a happening place on Halloween. The kids decorated cookies and pumpkins, and played bean bag and ring toss games.

I wasn't going to dress up on Halloween, but after Justin told me that I always look unhappy and angry, I decided to be happy and optimistic for Halloween. I wore a pink shirt and pearls because thats what happy people wear. I accidently broke character a few times, and when I acted the part I over did it a little and it got annoying, but it was a nice little exercise. After Publix, we went to Grandma Pearson's house and had dinner. Then we suited up again and headed out to do some good old fashioned trick-or-treating. Grandpa Pearson went out with us while Grandma stayed home to pass out candy. Jackson decided to be a Ninja again, and Drake changed into a dragon, a fitting costume I think. The dragon costume was a little small, but Drake didn't seem to mind. Drake tried to walk into a few houses at first, but he caught on fast with his big brother showing him the ropes. While we were out we bumped into Grandma and Grandpa Cersey as well as the Dollars and the Baughs, so we tagged along with them for awhile. It was a rainy cold night, so we didn't last too long, but it was fun while it lasted.

We had a great October and we hope you did too!