The weather was absolutely amazing today!! We played outside with Will most of the day while John started putting together a swing set we bought for Will for his 2nd birthday. It came in a large, narrow box. I have posted pics on here before of John dragging Will down our hill in a diaper box. Well, I could tell when he was opening it that he thought it would be the perfect box for going down really big hills...John wanted to try it out. We decided to have a little family outing and pick up lunch and head to Vulcan Park, where I was sure NO ONE would be out and about on New Years Eve. There are good hills there, so I figured it would be the perfect place to try out his box. I was wrong-the place was packed, but John still got the big box out of our car after lunch and he and Will had a ton of fun. I will let the video tell the rest of the story.
Happy 2011!!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Christmas in Pictures!
I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!
Ring Pop...Breakfast of Champions
Santa did not disappoint...
He LOVED the trains the best!
Mickey and Train Pajamas!
Hello Mr. Potato Head
Who wants some nuggets? McFlurry anyone??
Where's Will? Oh yeah, there he is...the only kid not smiling and crying for his mama :)
He literally played with them all day...
Our attempt at a family shot...
Enjoying some stocking stuffers...bubbles and color tabs that make our bath water crazy colors!! (Thank you Pughs for the cool dinosaur foam stickers-I love them!)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
A Whole Lot of Christmas!!!
I was going to just put all of our activities in separate posts, but seeing as how I have barely found time to blog this month in the first place, I think it might be easier to just condense all of it into one! Hang with me....
We took Will to pick out our real tree this year....I've always been a REAL tree kind of girl-full and fat. It wasn't quite the Christmas tree farm experience...with LOTS of 280 traffic just beside the lot, but that didn't really matter because Will was not in the browsing mood. We took home the first one John picked out and luckily it turned out to be what I think is our best tree yet!!
The 2nd weekend in December we met our cousins out in Calera at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum for a special train ride with Santa! We have been talking about doing the Polar Express train ride since about August. Helena started calling/checking online in October to book our tickets. This is when we quickly found out that tickets for the Polar Express train ride go on sale in JULY....so needless to say they were sold out. They had a daytime train ride with Santa that was not sold out, so we opted for that. It turned out to be perfect for Will and James' age. The Polar Express wouldn't have really meant anything to them since they haven't seen the movie or read the book, but the hot chocolate and warm cookies would have been pretty sweet!
Will's school Christmas party was this past Friday. John took the day off of work, brought him up to my school for our breakfast and then dropped him off at school and attended Will's Christmas party. He took a FEW (4) pictures for me...pretty much what I expected...lots of eating and a little dancing :)
Sunday night we took Will to his first Zoo Light Safari at the Birmingham Zoo. This was John and Will's first time and it did not disappoint. I mean, you don't go for amazing light displays like Callaway Gardens or something...there is just a bunch of lights and inflatables, and of course the carousel and train. Will was super cozy in his stroller and thankfully it wasn't too cold!
Monday morning we were lazy in our pajamas and made our first Gingerbread house. Nothing too crazy-just the store bought pre-assembled one from Wal-Mart but Will seemed perfectly content. He ate as much icing and gumdrops as we put on the actual house, but I guess that pretty much goes with the territory when constructing a gingerbread house. Every time he walks in the kitchen, he says "houuuuuse."
Mix in a few Christmas parties, shopping, wrapping, and trying to get it ALL done, we've been busy! I even attempted to make Christmas cut out cookies today-what a mess!! They turned out decent and I think Santa will be pleased, however I am not sure I will try to go that fancy next year. I think I have cleaned my kitchen 17 times, and that was all before 11:30 this morning. Whew....it has even taken me 3 days just to finish this post :) Merry Christmas!!
We took Will to pick out our real tree this year....I've always been a REAL tree kind of girl-full and fat. It wasn't quite the Christmas tree farm experience...with LOTS of 280 traffic just beside the lot, but that didn't really matter because Will was not in the browsing mood. We took home the first one John picked out and luckily it turned out to be what I think is our best tree yet!!
The 2nd weekend in December we met our cousins out in Calera at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum for a special train ride with Santa! We have been talking about doing the Polar Express train ride since about August. Helena started calling/checking online in October to book our tickets. This is when we quickly found out that tickets for the Polar Express train ride go on sale in JULY....so needless to say they were sold out. They had a daytime train ride with Santa that was not sold out, so we opted for that. It turned out to be perfect for Will and James' age. The Polar Express wouldn't have really meant anything to them since they haven't seen the movie or read the book, but the hot chocolate and warm cookies would have been pretty sweet!
Will's school Christmas party was this past Friday. John took the day off of work, brought him up to my school for our breakfast and then dropped him off at school and attended Will's Christmas party. He took a FEW (4) pictures for me...pretty much what I expected...lots of eating and a little dancing :)
Sunday night we took Will to his first Zoo Light Safari at the Birmingham Zoo. This was John and Will's first time and it did not disappoint. I mean, you don't go for amazing light displays like Callaway Gardens or something...there is just a bunch of lights and inflatables, and of course the carousel and train. Will was super cozy in his stroller and thankfully it wasn't too cold!
Monday morning we were lazy in our pajamas and made our first Gingerbread house. Nothing too crazy-just the store bought pre-assembled one from Wal-Mart but Will seemed perfectly content. He ate as much icing and gumdrops as we put on the actual house, but I guess that pretty much goes with the territory when constructing a gingerbread house. Every time he walks in the kitchen, he says "houuuuuse."
Mix in a few Christmas parties, shopping, wrapping, and trying to get it ALL done, we've been busy! I even attempted to make Christmas cut out cookies today-what a mess!! They turned out decent and I think Santa will be pleased, however I am not sure I will try to go that fancy next year. I think I have cleaned my kitchen 17 times, and that was all before 11:30 this morning. Whew....it has even taken me 3 days just to finish this post :) Merry Christmas!!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
HO HO!!
This is Will's new favorite word! Anything red with white hair or a beard has become Ho Ho! We weren't sure how this year would go with Santa. Last year was bad. Will turned all shades of red as his cry was so high pitched nothing was really coming out. You can revisit that trip here. This year, we headed back out to Bass Pro Shops to visit with Santa. This place is awesome during the holidays. They have a whole Santa's Winter Wonderland. LOTS to do while you wait in line-Will was entertained the whole time! As we got closer to Santa, Will wouldn't take his eyes off of him. He didn't say anything or smile, just stared very intently. I walked him up and sat him on his laugh and he just sat there. He didn't look at Santa or smile, but he didn't wail either, so we considered this a good start. He literally didn't move AT ALL while we tried to snap some pictures. The little elves were screaming his name and shaking the bells and he just sat motionless. If you notice, his shoulders are leaning away from Santa...this is how he was the entire time. He didn't seem scared, but also wasn't willingly going to socialize with a stranger.
Look at that sweet face....
He loved the train!!!
Got so excited when it would come at him through the tunnel!!
Hmmm....Maybe Santa isn't so bad after all!!
Hmmm....Maybe Santa isn't so bad after all!!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Introducing...
Mr. Personality!
When we got a letter home at the beginning of October announcing school picture day in a few weeks, I couldn't believe it. I thought it was hilarious that they even had school picture day in Daycare. John and I discussed what he would wear. John wanted to make sure he looked like a boy, so I agreed that he would not wear a John-John to school on picture day. We went with a navy blue polo and cargo pants. I could not wait to get the proofs back! At the end of October, six proofs came home. One he looked on the verge of tears, a few were cute and he was looking at the camera doing somewhat of a smile...and then there was this one. From the moment I saw it I cracked up because his face honestly portrays how he felt about daycare the first 2 months! I never considered ordering it, though I have to admit it was probably my favorite, until a lady at school gave me some pretty good advice. She said, "Brooke, you are going to pay someone good money to capture good pictures of him that you will put all over your house, but you will never capture this personality like this again. Plus, you have to have good funny ones like this for his rehearsal dinner video!" After that, I was convinced we were making the right decision. His teachers all told me they were glad I ordered this one too...they literally said this was pretty much his main facial expression the ENTIRE first month and a half or so. Thank goodness he loves going now (this morning I put him down and he looked up at me and said BYE BYE)-Progress people!!! So here is our sweet boy at 21 months old...his first school picture!
And while we are on introductions...Introducing Rocky...
He/She has already fallen into the role as 2nd child seeing as we had this ultrasound a month ago and the picture is just now debuting on the blog. For those of you who don't know, John decided when we were pregnant with Will that all of our fetus' would be named after former Auburn Football legends (Will was Caddy after Carnell "Cadillac" Williams...you can read about that here). So Rocky comes from Tracy Rocker. I had another doctor appointment today and everything looked good. I am 13.5 weeks. We are set to find out if Rocky is a boy or a girl in January! We are thinking BOY....I feel basically the exact same as I did with Will. While I have had no corn dog cravings, I am craving all things meat and salty....no dessert really which is insane because I am such a sweets person! Most recently, my weirdest cravings have been mayonnaise on sandwiches (I can't even believe I just typed that...I have NEVER eaten mayonnaise!!), fried bologna sandwiches (again, so weird. My grandmother, EE, used to make these for me when I was little and I would visit her in Piedmont-I probably haven't had one since the last time she made one for me...at least 15 years ago), bacon (can't get enough-we eat it every morning for breakfast and BLTs have become a week night regular), guacamole, and potato chips! At our ultrasound appointment, we learned the heartbeat was 182-this was exactly what Will's was at our first ultrasound appointment (both at 9 weeks). I guess time will tell. You can now cast your vote on the right of the blog-tell us what you think Rocky is!
When we got a letter home at the beginning of October announcing school picture day in a few weeks, I couldn't believe it. I thought it was hilarious that they even had school picture day in Daycare. John and I discussed what he would wear. John wanted to make sure he looked like a boy, so I agreed that he would not wear a John-John to school on picture day. We went with a navy blue polo and cargo pants. I could not wait to get the proofs back! At the end of October, six proofs came home. One he looked on the verge of tears, a few were cute and he was looking at the camera doing somewhat of a smile...and then there was this one. From the moment I saw it I cracked up because his face honestly portrays how he felt about daycare the first 2 months! I never considered ordering it, though I have to admit it was probably my favorite, until a lady at school gave me some pretty good advice. She said, "Brooke, you are going to pay someone good money to capture good pictures of him that you will put all over your house, but you will never capture this personality like this again. Plus, you have to have good funny ones like this for his rehearsal dinner video!" After that, I was convinced we were making the right decision. His teachers all told me they were glad I ordered this one too...they literally said this was pretty much his main facial expression the ENTIRE first month and a half or so. Thank goodness he loves going now (this morning I put him down and he looked up at me and said BYE BYE)-Progress people!!! So here is our sweet boy at 21 months old...his first school picture!
And while we are on introductions...Introducing Rocky...
He/She has already fallen into the role as 2nd child seeing as we had this ultrasound a month ago and the picture is just now debuting on the blog. For those of you who don't know, John decided when we were pregnant with Will that all of our fetus' would be named after former Auburn Football legends (Will was Caddy after Carnell "Cadillac" Williams...you can read about that here). So Rocky comes from Tracy Rocker. I had another doctor appointment today and everything looked good. I am 13.5 weeks. We are set to find out if Rocky is a boy or a girl in January! We are thinking BOY....I feel basically the exact same as I did with Will. While I have had no corn dog cravings, I am craving all things meat and salty....no dessert really which is insane because I am such a sweets person! Most recently, my weirdest cravings have been mayonnaise on sandwiches (I can't even believe I just typed that...I have NEVER eaten mayonnaise!!), fried bologna sandwiches (again, so weird. My grandmother, EE, used to make these for me when I was little and I would visit her in Piedmont-I probably haven't had one since the last time she made one for me...at least 15 years ago), bacon (can't get enough-we eat it every morning for breakfast and BLTs have become a week night regular), guacamole, and potato chips! At our ultrasound appointment, we learned the heartbeat was 182-this was exactly what Will's was at our first ultrasound appointment (both at 9 weeks). I guess time will tell. You can now cast your vote on the right of the blog-tell us what you think Rocky is!Thankful!
This year we have so many things to be thankful for....ESPECIALLY this little guy! He warms my heart and makes me smile!!
We love Thanksgiving because it gives us lots of time with family we don't get to see as often as we'd like!! Will loves playing with all of his cousins...
The night before Thanksgiving we celebrated Thanksgiving Part 1 with the Vakakes side. Will and James entertained themselves, and all of us for that matter dancing to Choo Choo Soul, throwing things, basically being boys.
They got to take a bath together and James taught Will how to "swim" in the bathtub. They looked like little frogs in there!
Their Yia Yia's thought it would be a good idea to pile up all of Will's stuffed animals in his crib and then put them in there. They thought it was pretty funny!
I hope these little guys are the best of friends!
Thanksgiving Day we celebrated Part II with my dad's side of the family. There are LOTS of cousins there-Will is the youngest. I had to be in the little cousin picture this year because Will would not let anyone hold him. I have a feeling I will be in the little cousin picture for a while!
We moved on to Thanksgiving Part III at John's mom's side of the family. There he played with Emma, in matching outfits of course!! We tried to get some good pictures of them but they all looked like a jail line up!
Emma and Will were so sweet playing on the stairs...they kept giving each other kisses through the rails! Adorable.
Thanksgiving Part IV took place on Friday at my parents house, and well through the weekend as we got to visit with my brother, sister in law, nephew, and niece. John was at the Iron Bowl, which was a good thing-it would have been very interesting to watch that game all under the same roof with John and my dad and brother-especially this year. Saturday we hung out some more. Kiki TRIED to get a good picture with her grandkids....You can see how Will felt about that.
We celebrated Brandon's birthday Saturday night at Maccaroni Grill and sent them all on their way back home on Sunday.
The picture at the top was taken on Saturday afternoon when I desperately tried to get a few good pictures for our Christmas card. I thought last year was bad....NOTHING compared to this year. Will would hardly stand still for a split second. When I got inside and looked at all that I had taken, most were blurry because he had taken off into a sprint. I managed to get one, maybe two options. This is why I decided not to do a whole family card this year-too difficult getting Will to look at the camera, much less all of us at the SAME time!
We are looking forward to getting our Christmas tree this weekend and a much anticipated trip to see "HO HO."
We love Thanksgiving because it gives us lots of time with family we don't get to see as often as we'd like!! Will loves playing with all of his cousins...
The night before Thanksgiving we celebrated Thanksgiving Part 1 with the Vakakes side. Will and James entertained themselves, and all of us for that matter dancing to Choo Choo Soul, throwing things, basically being boys.
They got to take a bath together and James taught Will how to "swim" in the bathtub. They looked like little frogs in there!Their Yia Yia's thought it would be a good idea to pile up all of Will's stuffed animals in his crib and then put them in there. They thought it was pretty funny!
I hope these little guys are the best of friends!
Thanksgiving Day we celebrated Part II with my dad's side of the family. There are LOTS of cousins there-Will is the youngest. I had to be in the little cousin picture this year because Will would not let anyone hold him. I have a feeling I will be in the little cousin picture for a while!
We moved on to Thanksgiving Part III at John's mom's side of the family. There he played with Emma, in matching outfits of course!! We tried to get some good pictures of them but they all looked like a jail line up!
Emma and Will were so sweet playing on the stairs...they kept giving each other kisses through the rails! Adorable.
Thanksgiving Part IV took place on Friday at my parents house, and well through the weekend as we got to visit with my brother, sister in law, nephew, and niece. John was at the Iron Bowl, which was a good thing-it would have been very interesting to watch that game all under the same roof with John and my dad and brother-especially this year. Saturday we hung out some more. Kiki TRIED to get a good picture with her grandkids....You can see how Will felt about that.
We celebrated Brandon's birthday Saturday night at Maccaroni Grill and sent them all on their way back home on Sunday.The picture at the top was taken on Saturday afternoon when I desperately tried to get a few good pictures for our Christmas card. I thought last year was bad....NOTHING compared to this year. Will would hardly stand still for a split second. When I got inside and looked at all that I had taken, most were blurry because he had taken off into a sprint. I managed to get one, maybe two options. This is why I decided not to do a whole family card this year-too difficult getting Will to look at the camera, much less all of us at the SAME time!
We are looking forward to getting our Christmas tree this weekend and a much anticipated trip to see "HO HO."
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