December

While December seems primarily consumed in Christmas preparations and celebrations, we had some fun leading up to the big day!  We did have a visitor come stay with us for the month to keep an eye on things and make sure that fun didn't lead to anything too crazy ;)

Yellow Flower - our Native American Elf on the Shelf [when naming him, Parker picked "Yellow" - his favorite word and Carter chose "Flower"]

Parker (2 years, 1 month)
Parker is such a little two year-old.  He is adorable, sweet and smiling one moment...

And throws crazy crying, on the floor pounding temper tantrums the next.  The poor little guy can't understand why he doesn't always get his way.  He definitely picked up these habits earlier than Carter so hopefully he gets over them earlier as well!

His top two molars are coming in (last two!) so that has led to some of his crabby behavior - totally understandable because that has to hurt!  They seem to be limiting his diet to anything cold to drink and crunchy to eat - in snack form only.

Carter (3 years, 7 months)
We are trying to do a better job writing down the funny things Carter says.  It's a work in progress but here is a memorable one.  While discussing the Christmas story, he started talking about God and Carter told us God lives in heaven and it is up in the sky.  He then" told us that he lived in Heaven once too.  Intrigued we asked him when that was and he told us that boys and girls live in heaven until they are ready for a family.  When they are ready they come down to Earth."  We thought that was very sweet.  Dad then asked Carter how they get to earth: "On a rocket ship".  Makes sense... Wanting to see how far his little mind would go, dad asked how he got in mom's belly once he was here.  He then said he would show us and attempted to climb head first down mom's shirt.  Not very effective to say the least :)

Carter spent most of the early weeks this month enjoying sports with dad.  There were weekly trips to GT Basketball games, generally accompanied by Waffle House for dinner.

He also went with dad to the Dome to watch Lovett play for the state championship in football.  They won and brought home the trophy for the first time since 1970 to mom and dad's high school Alma Mater.  Go Lions!

Cheering is tough business!

And when not watching sports, Carter was playing them around the house.  Golf, football, soccer and t-ball are his current favorites.  

He also found this Pre-K workbook at Publix and enjoys getting it out to do his work.  He is very excited to get ready so he can go to the Pre-K classroom at school next year.

Brothers
The boys continue to enjoy playing with each other (when Carter isn't taking Parker's toys of course!).  Dad typically gets in on the action as demonstrated by this string of pictures of the boys riding their horse.

The boys went to a fun birthday party for one of our Neighbor's and the Tumble Bus came.  

There was a medal ceremony afterwards.  Unfortunately the party started just before Parker's nap time so he was in rare form by then end.  this picture makes me laugh as all the others kids are calm and P is throwing a fit in the middle.  Poor baby.  Good news is he napped like a champ!

The boys got an early Christmas present from Mimi... their own chairs.  They have been a big hit!

And perhaps the highlight of the boy's month was helping prepare for Baby Wren's visit!  They assisted dad in painting the guest room and Carter even put together a toy chest of "baby" toys and books just for Wren.  It was adorable!

Mom and Dad
Mom and dad had some fun this month that I thought would be fun to share.  Mom's work has an annual Christmas Tree decorating contest.  The trees and presents are donated to a local organization who gives them to families in need.  It turns into a fun departmental contest and some groups go all out including skits and music.  Our tree chair this year selected a House Divided tree theme.  As the only Tech fan in the group, it was up to mom to represent the Jackets.  It ended up being a much larger set up than just a tree!  It was a lot of fun and we even had department tailgate for lunch.  We won best theme.

And last, we had a date night to Nights of Lights (Thank you Mimi).  If you haven't been, it's worth a trip!