Christmas in Virginia

After the 12 hour car ride (that is usually 9 w/o kids) we finally got to Virginia. Not the best way to spend my birthday, but we did celebrate properly the next day. (and Jason took me to the Guns N' Roses concert earlier in December which is the best birthday present EVER!!!)

Richmond has been having a famous "Tacky Light tour" for several years now. It is even featured on TLC. We have been trying to stop by a few house each year to add to the Christmas cheer. The boys loooved all the lights.
This house had alot of homemade lights. He made them from particle board and drilled holes for the lights and decorated them. It was very impressive. This guy got a lot of air time on TLC and he has security cameras from all angles on the roof. The next door neighbors house had a sign that said "What's the point, Ditto>".
My two little snowmen...
We left cookies and milk out for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer.Here is Kaleb with all his loot. His favorite is the Mario Brothers game that he has been playing non-stop since Christmas.
Chase's favorite gift is his Barbie size Ironman. He also loves hats and got a cowboy and pirate hat. The funniest part of this picture is Jason in the mirror trying to get Chase to look up and smile.

We enjoyed decorating a gingerbread house. The best part about it was that it was already put together. We have had other disasterous houses in the past. We enjoyed eating it too!
And Chase tried hard too...
Kaleb and Papa had some good times wrestling.
We had a great and relaxing Christmas in Virginia and then stopped in Knoxville on the way home to celebrate with Jason's side. Apparently we did not bring our camera in. After that stop it was a tight squeeze in the car.

After we got home it was back to business. :( but the kids still had fun helping (haha) to put the Christmas decorations.
Chase can hold his own...and yes we were aware of the "do not let your kids play in plastic boxes" sticker that was on the top of the storage bin.

Christmas Cheer

The Christmas season started out relaxed and fun this year with cookie decorating. Chase even joined in on the fun.
and a huge mess was made by all...
Bath time to the rescue...
So Jason and the boys got out the marshmellow gun to take a few licks at Frosty...at least he's covering up his snowballs.
Chase was not scared at all about the loud sound the gun made. He was really into it.
Then we went to Kaleb's school Christmas play. He's in the plaid shirt in the middle of the picture w/ his mouth open singing. This was the first song. For the rest of the night he was facing the other way and wiggling around without a clue that there was a production going on around him.
He actually did really well on his speaking part. He said "R is for Riches, He left in the sky".
One Saturday Kaleb decided to play Santa Clause and Jason, Chase and I all sat on his lap and told him what we wanted for Christmas. Kaleb did not break character and he was halarious...Santa Kaleb, I'm still waiting for my new car you said I would get!

Visit from the Harrisons

So this is a very late post but I did not want to not have it in my self-jounal. Christie, Brett and Baylor spent the last few days they had in the states with us and my parents at our house. The 3 kids were always together within inches of each other. It was so cute.
Gigi got her grandkid time in.
Cousins hanging out again...
All the kids had birthday really close together so we had a cake and party for them. It was great to have everyone together right before Thanksgiving b/c it was definitely a day to give thanks, whether it was the official day or not.
Cuddle time in the playroom...
Baylor has a personality like Kaleb...very outgoing and very energetic. It is almost impossible to get a picture w/ her unless she is watching Dora.

Chase's first haircut

So, we reluctantly took Chase for his first haircut. I was not at all looking forward to cutting off his beautiful curls, but soon we would not be able to see his eyes so it was time.I can't believe he sat in the chair by himself and let her cut without a fuss.
What a big boy!
So then we all had a big party for him...no, just kidding...i actually forgot to take an after picture so this is the soonest picture after and I really like this picture!

Kalebisms

I post a lot of developmental steps for Chase but I haven't really said to much about Kaleb's third year. Probably because it was a really hard year. Kaleb did not have any difficulty with any transitions in the past whether is was bottle/sippie, paci/no paci, change in schools, big boy beds, etc....until, little brother came along. Wow, it hit him really hard. But, there were also, many other funny and good things that happened last year for Kaleb. He was potty trained, went to a new school, moved into a new house, moved into a big boy bed, and played soccer on a team. He moved from his love for Diego and trains into his love for Superhero's, especially Batman...and at the end of his third year became addicted to MarioKart. He is just like a little Jason and gets so passionate about his hobbies and what he loves.

We've been writing down his funny and sweet comments over the last year and I have just not posted them yet....they are in chronilogical order from 3-4 years.

*"I have Diego underwear on!!!" to the unknown ladies across the parking lot.

*Mom: "Do you know where God lives?"

Kaleb: "No"

Mom: "In heaven"

Kaleb: " I want to go to heaven tonight, Mommy"

*"When I grow up, I'm going to be a Great Bad guy"

*sniff, sniff..."I smell puma"

* Kaleb talking to an older man from church..."What happened to your hair?...Did a tiger lick it off?"

*Dad as he's leaving the bedroom: "Goodnight"

Kaleb: "Don't let the hyena's bite"

* Kaleb: "I only work on Tuesdays"

Mom: "Mommy and Daddy help people's booboos at work. What do you do at work?"

Kaleb: " I protect Sophie from Tigers"

* Mom: " Kaleb, where did you get these booboos on your back?"

Kaleb: "Well, I got this one from riding hippos in India and I got this one in Africa. The Joker was chasing an elephant and I whooshed in and it got me with it's tusk."

* "My tummy's telling me it's not hungry anymore"

* Kaleb's shirt got stuck on his head while he was taking it off and he declared,

"I AM WOMAN!!"

Mom: "Kaleb, do you know what woman is?"

Kaleb: " No, what is woman?"

* Listening to Dave Matthews Band in the car...(Jason's favorite band)

Kaleb: "Wow, this music is fast, but they can't sing very good"

* while walking into the hospital, " I think I hear an E-cock"

Mom: " Kaleb, Do you mean Peacock?"

* "You like pickles? I like pickles! We can be best friends!"

* after hitting his funny bone, "Ouch, my bone is all mad inside"

Mom: "Oh, Is your arm asleep?"

Kaleb: " yea, his eyes are closed like this (1/2 way closing his eyes)"

* Mom: "Ouch, I just got bit by a mosquito"

Kaleb: "Mom, you need to have good skin-muscle like me"

* K: "God made big people and Jesus made the brothers"

Dad: "Kaleb, did God make you a good brother?"

Kaleb: "No, God made Chase a good brother"

*Mom: "Kaleb, I have to call work really quick"

Kaleb: "Does work talk and have skin?"

* singing "Jesus loves me this I know, EIEIO"

* Cousin Nylah crying in the car because she can't hear the movie b/c of heavy rain.

Kaleb: "You should ask God and Jesus to stop the rain"

So, Nylah prays and literally 5 min later it stops raining. Soon, Nylah begins to cry again b/c a toy hits her in the face...and cries and cries..

Kaleb: "Nylah, you better stop crying or God and Jesus are going to make it rain again"

Although, 3 is a hard year discipline-wise...it was a year full of discovery and laughter...Kaleb has really slowed down w/ his funny comments but I'm sure there will be more to post later.

DOUBLE BIRTHDAY PARTY

One good thing about the kids birthdays being a week apart is they can share birthday parties (at least until they object). Since Chase hasn't really built up much of a friend base yet, he shared Kaleb's friends and they all had a blast.
I take the boys here on fridays when its cold or rainy and they both LOVE it.
The first hour the kids got to play in the gym and the second hour they ate pizza, cake, ice cream and cheese balls...and more cheese balls. The cheese balls were a bigger hit than the cake.
It was already past Chase's bedtime by the time it was time to eat his cake so he wasn't too interested. We helped him eat a bit and then he just cried. Poor guy doesn't even like cake.
We had a Batman and Robin theme so I made a Batman cake for Kaleb
and a Robin cake for Chase.
We are so blessed to have two healthy beautiful growing boys. Kaleb spouts out "I'm four!" to anyone he meets now. Oh, he is just too big!

Chase's 11th month

These days I see more of the back of Chase's head than the front. Good thing he has cute curls to look at. He is into EVERYTHING!He also loves to wrestle. I'm in trouble with a house full of boys. I'm already getting beaten up on a regular basis.
Chase pretty much has a wet shirt all the time. He only has 6 teeth and I keep thinking some might come in any day. His mother's day out teacher got him this crown for his birthday.
What a cutie. Again w/ his cylindrical object in his hand. His first words are Uh Oh!, Bubbles and ba-oon (balloon). No Mama or Dada, just the fun stuff!
Here he is on his first birthday. He started walking pretty consistently a couple weeks after his first birthday. He loves to give high fives.
An all around view of the Birthday boy.
He looks so grown up here. We hardly ever put shoes on him because he curls up his toes and the shoes just don't stay on.
He has a blast crawling through tunnels and tents.
Kaleb was pretty obsessed with trains at this age but Chase seems to like cars more. Hopefully the train table will still get some action.
Why is it so hard to get a picture of 2 kids looking at the camera with their eyes open and smiling. This was the best of 10 pics of our front porch fall scenery.