The Lover Boy

Almost everyday this week, Jack has been greeted in his class by a little girl who shall remain nameless. Her greeting used to just be an enthusiastic "Hi Jack!", well now it has escalted into a kiss, full on the lips! He doesn't seem to mind it, and any time we talk about it, he just smiles! Boy, oh boy, I'm not quite sure what to think about this.
Tuesday afternoon Jon was picking the boys up and said that he could barely get Jack out the door because he and another little girl had to keep hugging and saying goodbye to each other. I was talking to one teacher today and she said that I was going to have my hands full! He is only 2, imagine when he is 15!!

Visiting Cissy

A few days after Christmas we went to Hartsville to visit Cissy and to see some of the family there. We had lunch with Cissy's and visited in the afternoon. The boys had a good time. Luckily they were on their best behavior! Jack always likes going across the street to play on the playground and see the ducks. Give Jack a swing, slide and some animals and he is in heaven!

There is nothing like a hug from a great-grandmother. Ben was happy right where he was. I think Cissy was pretty happy too.

First Steps

We have officially taken our first steps on January 17th! We took one, and then later in the day took two in a row. All to get to the ball popper, like I have said, it is a very popular toy!

Big Boy Bed

The weekend after New Year's Jack started to attempt to climb out of his crib so Jon and I decided it was time for the "big boy" bed. We went to Target (a.k.a Targa) and bought new sheets and a comforter, etc. We tried to get Jack very excited about it. He was very excited about sleeping in the big bed, especially when he realized he could get out! We are still working on keeping him in the bed. He is getting better. I have been using the "super nanny" technique of putting him back in the bed and not saying anything when he gets up. It is working pretty good so far. He woke up the other night (4am) and wouldn't go back to sleep. I refused to sleep in his bed, so I told him to stay there and not cry and wake up Ben. I told him mommy would be "right back." He obviously was waiting on me, because when I went to get Ben up at 6:15 I found Jack asleep on the floor in the hall. I am probably going to end up on the bad mommy list for that one, but oh well. We all slept and sometimes that is more important!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas! Well we had a very good Christmas this year. Jack was very excited about Santa coming, unfortunately Ben was sick on Christmas eve. He started on Tuesday afternoon running a fever and by Christmas Eve it was up to 102.5. I ended up taking him to the doctor on Christmas Eve morning just to make sure it was not his ears. It was just a virus that had to run its course. Needless to say he was pretty puny on Christmas Eve at Gran's house. Jack was wired on the other hand. I don't think he ended up going to sleep until about 10:00.

Christmas morning Jack was up and ready to go at about 5:30 (normal time for him, I will never understand how he has so much energy). Santa got the boys a giant crab sandbox. The first thing Jack said was "Elmo!". We did not correct him, so as far as he knows we still have a giant Elmo sandbox in our backyard. Of course, it was raining Christmas Eve/morning so Santa very wisely delivered the sandbox inside and left the sand on the back porch.

Having fun in the giant "Elmo"

The other big item from Santa was the ball popper. If you have kids and do not have one of these may I suggest getting one. This by far has been the most popular toy of the Christmas stash. Later in the morning Gran, Doda, Kiki and Gigi came over for breakfast and we opened more presents with them. It was a great morning for the boys, and then they were ready for their nap.

This Santa guy is good mom, he brought me PUFFS!

Christmas night we went and had dinner with the Rose family. Of course, they were eating at 3:00, and we didn't leave our house until 3:00 and then we were 3 minutes from their house and remembered we forgot all of the presents. We had to go back to Lexington and didn't end up at their house until after 4. Punctuality has become sort of an issue with us lately. Luckily, they are laid back and didn't mind the fact that we were almost an hour and a half late. They helped us all get our plates and get the boys fed, which was great. The boys got to open more presents there and it was just almost too much. I think they were in present overload. Jack woke up on the morning of the 26th at 4:00 and asked Jon "Where presents?"

It was a great Christmas!

The Lights Before Christmas

We decided that we needed to take the boys to see Santa. I however refused to go to the mall and stand in the lines that I had seen while we were out shopping. We decided it would be a nice family outing to go and see the Lights Before Christmas at the zoo (even better we didn't have to pay since we have the family pass to the zoo!). We got to the zoo before most of the traffic started and the first thing we did was get in line to see Santa. Luckily we were only about 5 people back in line. Jack was very excited about Santa, until we but him on Santa's lap. He was a little unsure about what the heck was going on. Luckily neither one of them cried. We then walked around the zoo and saw all of the lights. It was a great night to go because it was so warm. I think the highlight of the night though was the fact that we got to see the "ELEPHANTS". There are not enough words to explain how much Jack loves elephants. He is always asking where the elephants are, where is the baby, etc, etc.

"Mom, you better not leave me on this guys lap, even if he is Santa."

We even got to see a pony. Jack was very excited to pet the pony, until the pony sneezed. All that he could say after that was "Pony sneezed, he sick." It was a very cute pony. I was glad that they had some of the animals out.

After the zoo we went with Gran, Doda and Kiki to Salsaritas for dinner. The boys were just about on their last leg, but it made for quite an entertaining meal as usual.

"I just cannot take anymore of this Christmas joy!"

Less than One Week

I cannot believe Christmas is less than a week away. I really need to be wrapping Christmas presents instead of blogging, but it will still be there to do tomorrow! I had to work a little bit late tonight so Jon and the boys came and picked me up and we went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner. Going out to dinner has become more of an adventure these days than a fun outing. Luckily tonight we got there early and they stashed us upstairs in the corner where we couldn't interrupt to many other people. At one point in the night Ben was screaming because we wouldn't let him eat crayons while Jack had climbed under the booth and was screaming "I'm stuck." Later Jack become one of "those kids" who likes to stand up in the booth and watch the people next door that are eating...great. I have become the parent of one of "those" kids. It was inevitable...
Ben met some "ladies" while we were out. He spent half the night turned around backwards in his highchair smiling and laughing with the 3 girls who were sitting beside us. It was very cute. He is still in his cute, sweet, quiet phase thank goodness. When they are both under the table, I am going to be in some deep trouble.