Zoo Trip

On Monday, Nana and Grandaddy took Drew, Amelia and Jay to the zoo. They all had a great time and Drew talked about it for the rest of the day. Here are some photos Grandaddy took. Oh - when you show these to Drew he will name "Mia, Jay, Nana - who's that?" Apparently he does not recognize himself with the hood on!

Happy New Year!

Disclaimer...this is a really long post so if you don't have the time or just don't care (it's not about the boys), feel free to skip it!

Mommy and Daddy had a great trip to Orlando/Tampa this week. We arrived early Monday morning in Orlando and headed to EPCOT. It was chaos! I had been there before on New Year's Eve but apparently had blocked the experience from my mind. We spent the morning doing things you usually skip - enjoying the Innoventions exhibits, a backstage tour of the Land Pavilion, a meal at Mexico, the American Adventure show... Then the rain came and between being soaked and having a sinus headache/migraine, I decided to throw in the towel for the day. Yep...I quit Disney World. I was miserable and it was only 3:30 and the New Year was still so far away and my head hurt so badly...we left. Luckily, after medication, a nap, a shower and some dinner I perked back up and convinced my patient husband to go back and brave the crowds again. We made it back to the park around 10:00 and thoroughly enjoyed the big countdown they do and the great fireworks. All-in-all it turned out to be an OK New Year's Eve!

Patrick making friends on the "Behind the Seeds" tour - we highly recommend it if you ever have the chance. It's well worth the time and money!

Tuesday morning we drove to Tampa for the Outback Bowl. UT won. The details of the game are not important...we played ugly, there was horrible officiating and the UT fans were pitiful. But, the outcome was positive so it was worth our trip. We made it back to Orlando and walked to Downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner. We spent way too long building Drew a Mr Potato Head (yes Kathy - it is SO hard to stop trying to squeeze stuff into the box!) and doing our other shopping that dinner ended up being a hot fudge sundae and a milkshake from Ghiradeli. Highly nutritious and delicious!

Yep...there were as few UT fans there as it looked on TV...it was pretty sad...

Wednesday we met up with our good friends Erik and Mary from Jacksonville. They were in town for the Michigan game and we actually ran into them on Monday at EPCOT - in the midst of the billions of people, we stumbled upon some we knew! They were with family that day so we planned to spend Wednesday with them before they headed back. We had a great time riding the things Mary and I missed in May (she was pregnant too so she was just as fired up to get on them!) like Expedition Everest, Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster. After a great lunch at the Brown Derby, they headed home to see their little girl and we spent some more time at the park. Oh yeah...forgot to mention that the temperature dropped overnight Tuesday and it was FREEZING on Wednesday. Literally - it was in the 30s and 40s. We were completely bundled up and still so cold. So, we did some more things you usually skip when it's nicer outside, like the Animation exhibit. We got to take a 20 minute art class and learned to draw Goofy. If you know anything about either of our art skills, you are probably laughing out loud right now. But both of our pictures actually turned out to look somewhat like the real thing. At least you can tell who we are trying to draw! We finished the evening back at Downtown Disney seeing a movie...at a theater...when it had been out for less than a month... It was a nice experience!

Freezing...just to look at lights on NY street at MGM...

The highlight of the trip was at 2:00 am on Thursday morning, the fire alarm went off at our hotel. So we evacuated and waited for the firemen to give the all clear. It was such a pleasant experience...awake from a deep sleep, stumble to throw on tons of clothes, stand outside in the freezing cold (it got to 28 that night) because neither of us thought to bring the car keys down...all because some moron put a donut in the microwave and left it going until it caught fire. Ahhh...the joys!
We made it home Thursday afternoon after a brief delay at the Orlando airport. Some stupid guy had to be removed from the plane (after we taxied and were in line for take off) because he refused to put his window shade up and then called the flight attendant some names. The pilot removed the guy himself - he was not happy to have to turn around just for an idiot. We had to wait about 20 minutes for them to find the guy's bag but eventually we made it airborne and home. It was so good to see the boys - we missed them so much! They had a great time with Nana and Grandaddy (who were tired but still love the boys) and I don't think they realized we had really been gone.

Lessons learned from our vacation...Don't go to Disney World on New Year's Eve. Don't let Mountain West Conference officials call a major bowl game. Don't assume it is going to be warm just because it's Florida. Don't forget the car keys when the fire alarm goes off in the middle of a freezing night. Don't ignore the strange acting guy walking to the plane in front of you.
Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas day! We had a great day - up in the morning for Santa presents at our house then off to Nana & Grandaddy's for the afternoon and evening. Both boys slept hard last night (Allen slept 10 hours!) and mommy and daddy did too! We'll post photos when we can find the camera...the house is in complete chaos!

He's Growing Up So Fast!

We hit a major milestone last night...Allen slept through the night (8 hours)...without waking at all...in his own bed! He has been napping in his crib for a while now, but I had still kept him in the bassinet in our room at night. This was primarily because I am selfish and if he woke up at 5:30 (which he seems to do a lot), I didn't have to get out of bed to soothe him...I just reached over the side of the bassinet, put his paci back in and patted him until he went back to sleep. But I decided yesterday that the time had come for him to move on. It was sad (and hard for me to do!) but I know it's for the best. Luckily, he slept very well and woke up this morning as happy as ever!

Impromptu Nativity

At preschool last week they had an impromptu nativity. Basically, the older classes (3-5 year olds) dress up as angels, shepherds, wise folk or animals and they come to the manger during their part of the story. There is no real script and it's very laid back - kids are just wandering everywhere. The younger kids, Drew included, come and watch.
This year they asked Allen to be baby Jesus. The catch was that I had to be Mary and Patrick, Joseph! We agreed and it was a pleasant experience. Allen was a great baby and just looked around the church for a long time - then off to sleep.
A real "moment" occurred with one of the wise men wanted to give me his gift he had brought for baby Jesus (a gold painted box filled with fake coins and Mardi Gras beads). He was adamant that I take the gift, so I did and opened it to show Allen what was inside. The little boy was then content and went off to another area of the stage. He was very into his part!


Note the Wise Man's gift at my feet!


Sure, baby Jesus had a paci!! Yep...we honestly had that conversation while we were sitting there...


This little shepherdess just stood in front of me and stared almost the whole time - she was enthralled!

We're Going on a Trip...

Our tickets came today - we are off to Tampa to support the Vols in the 2008 Outback Bowl!

Patrick and I decided to travel to Florida for the bowl game this year. We have only attended one UT away game in our 11+ years together and this game came at a good time for us. We could really use a short trip together (without the boys) and heading to Florida in January is always a good idea! Plus, we do not know ANY other people attending the game and I thought that was sad - so we're going!
We are technically going to Orlando - the flights were cheaper and we got a good hotel deal there. We're just driving to Tampa for the game day. I'm weaseling a day or two at Disney World out of the trip. I missed out on a few things when we were there in May, the whole being pregnant thing and all. We're working out the details for New Year's Eve (our first time to ever actually DO something for that night!) so it should be a fun time!
Hugs and kisses and lots of thanks to Nana and Grandaddy for taking on the boys for 4 days!

Painting Christmas Cookies

On Saturday evening, we had the annual family Christmas cookie painting party. It was a new experience this year with 2 2-year olds, but it turned out much better than I expected! Drew ate more than he decorated, but Amelia made up for his slow decorating skills. She was so into the activity and did a really good job, under the watchful eye of Celeste. Jay and Mike were being very detailed in their art and turned out some good cookies as well. Patrick and I had a harder time sitting down to get any done, but we managed a few. Allen just thought it was all too fun! Should you visit my mom's house this holiday, I'm sure you will be served a few of these culinary delights. You can be comforted in the knowledge that we made sure none of the cookies licked by any children made it to the drying rack for "human consumption"!

Allen's 2-Month Check Up

Allen and Maddie hanging out together...this is from the other night while we were trying to capture good photos for our Christmas card. This one didn't make the cut, but it was just too cute!

Today, Allen and Mommy went to the doctor for his 2-month check up. He was a perfect angel, until the 4 shots of course. He remains at 95% in weight (14 lbs!) and 75% in both height and head circumference (23.5 in and 40.5 cm respectively). So while he is a very big boy, he is staying on the same growth curve which is what we want!

Smoothie!

This photo is horrible resolution (it's from Patrick's phone) but I had to share it. Drew loves smoothies and tonight Patrick took him to get one as a treat (he has a bit of a fever so we're pushing liquids). He ordered the kid's size but asked them to add yogurt to it for some protein. They misunderstood in the drive-thru and Drew ended up with a full size smoothie! It's as big as him!

A Different Look!

Drew reading to his little brother...can't beat that for a good 2-year old!

I thought I'd mix things up a bit and change the look of the blog...maybe it will inspire me to post again!
We had Drew's allergist appointment today and after 3 hours and a few sticks, we came away knowing not much more than when we started. He is allergic to Elm trees. Great...that helps so much! Nothing else came back positive (Maddie can stay!) but there is a 30% false negative rate at this age. The doctor adjusted the dosage of some of his medications, but otherwise we go back in 4 months for a check up.
Christmas is quickly approaching and I'm not ready at all! We did manage to get the tree up and decorated and Patrick got the lights up outside. Otherwise, everything is just a mess and not too festive right now. I'm hoping to get there soon!
We have a busy weekend planned so I'll try to post again next week. Oh - Allen gets to be Baby Jesus at the preschool nativity next week! Won't he be so cute?!