Go Tell It on the Mountain

On Sunday the kids sang 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' at church. They did such a great job! Here are some pictures and short video.

Sunday evening we gathered with our small group to watch the Copperfield light parade. We arrived at 6:00 to get the best spot along Highway 6, right in front of our church. We walked to Wendy's for dinner then the kids played a little football and ran around waiting for the parade to make its way down to us. It arrived at 8:00 and was filled with lots of Christmas lights and loud firetruck sirens. After the parade, our church host Carols in the Courtyard. They serve hot chocolate and cookies while the choir sang our favorite Christmas songs. This is becoming one of our traditions and I was thankful for the great weather this year.

I also want to share with you Keaton's Christmas Wish List as written by him. I am so proud of his writing and reading. I am amazed with how smart he is and the progress he is already making in Kindergarten. I was surprised to hear at the parent teacher conference that we should not help him spell words when he is writing. They teach them to sound out the words. They don't want them to get hung up on the spelling at this age. Instead they encourage them to write their thoughts freely.

1. Batoon (Bakugan)
2. Bin 10 (Ben 10)
3. Books
4. Mooves (Movies)
5. Rascorz (Race Cars)
6. Cris Mis Sons (Christmas Songs)
7. Mo Gams (More Games)
8. So Wr Pepel (Star Wars People)
9. Zac and Cote (Zack and Cody)
10. Noow Baby Dog (New Baby Dog)
11. Vido Gamm (Video Game)
12. My on Paampr (My own paper)

Maybe Santa can bring Keaton a few of the things on his list, but I think Dixie and Lady will agree with Mark....no baby dog. They would be a little too jealous.

I've got a RAT!

He's a PackRat. And no I am not talking about Mark. It's Keaton! Keaton wants to get and keep everything. Anytime we check the mail he wants all the stuff I am throwing away.

"Mommy, anything you don't want, give to me okay?" He even wants to keep all of the receipts from Wal-Mart or Kroger. He told me, "I collect bills". (Don't we all!) Any where we go, if there is a flier of any sort, he has to take one.

Then he keeps it all in his boxes. It started off as his 'business box' just like Daddy. Since Mark works from home, but travels a lot to his partner's house, he carries around this box. Well, Keaton had to have one also.....only it has grown into boxes, bags (my old purses really--but we call them BAGS), sacks, anything that will hold....well let's face it junk. But it is cute and it is his. Only it grows and it becomes my mess. We sit down to 'organize the business box' and I make piles. He looks at me and says, "are you going to throw that away".......with such a sad little face. So when he is not looking I take it to the garage.

Just the other day I received a shipment of Christmas gifts. After I looked at the items, I turned around to put them back in the box. Except the box was gone. I asked Mark what happened to my box and he said, "what do you think happened to it? Keaton took it." Yes, he had added it to his collection.

One day, he asked me to write him a note. So on a scratch piece of paper I wrote:

Keaton,

I love you. I am so proud of you.

Love, Mom

It sat on the end table for a few days before I threw it away. He must have seen it in the trash because the next time we were writing letters, he told me something like 'you will just throw it away like you did last time'. Heartbreaking! I tried to explain to him that we just can't keep everything that is brought home from church, school, and daycare. We keep our favorite things.

Don't get me wrong, I don't throw away everything. I need a bigger house for all the things I do keep and we are only in Kindergarten!

The Season of Traditions

We made our annual trip to the Christmas Tree Farm with our small group. We traveled to Red Caboose Farm in Magnolia to pick out our tree. The kids had a great time although we were a little dissppointed that Santa was not in his workshop this year. He must be really busy at the North Pole!

Let's go get our tree!

Can I have THAT One?

After some searching, we found our tree!

GREAT JOB DAD!

Although Keaton seemed to be less excited about the tree, and more upset that I took away his 'Power Ranger' stick ...see previous picture. I found myself saying, 'be careful, you're going to poke your eye out' too many times.

Keaton and Cort helped Daddy tie the tree on top of our car.

All the kids on the Hayride

And the Train

Best Buds Keaton and Levi

Cort and Ella shared an apple

To complete the tradition, we ate lunch at Po's and then headed home for a nap. Our tree sits in a bucket of water in the garage until Sunday night when we decorate it....I guess this is part of the tradition?

See how nice we are being?

Where are all the presents?

Pilgrims, Turkey & PIE!

Keaton was a Pilgrim in his Kindergarten program. Mark, Nana (Mark's mom) and I went to the Thanksgiving program and feast at his school on Tuesday. I asked to leave work so I could attend and I was so excited when I arrived to see Mark had scored a front row seat. Then as the kids filed in and found their places, Keaton was on the other side of the stage. And there was another kid's pilgrim hat in front of him. He was all grins to see us and kept peaking around that hat at us. I thought, oh well to getting great pictures, Mark will get it all on video.......only to find out my dear husband accidently hit the button and it didn't record. Well...we tried.

We spent Thanksgiving day at Nana's and then watched The Aggie Football Game.  Friday morning, in tradition, Mark and the Hamilton family worked the cows at the ranch. We joined them for another wonderful Thanksgiving meal that included a turkey cooked in a trash can, cowboy style. We went on an explore looking for a 100 year old tree, played on the hay, and took some family pictures. The boys even had a lot of fun climbing in one of Grandmother's trees.

Playing on the Hay

Exploring

I couldn't keep up(in my boots with heels), so most of my pictures were from behind.....but I think it is cute.

Tree Climbing

But, I can't complete the post without filling you in on our great news! Cort visited the allergist on Wednesday and received the ALL CLEAR! His skin test showed no sign of allergy to Egg, Peanuts or any Tree Nuts. So Thanksgiving feast it was....or could have been. The challenge now will be to get him to try new things. When you have been told your whole life that you can't have it, it is hard for a 3 year old to say, 'okay now I will eat it'. EXCEPT FOR PIE! Cort splurged on Chocolate Silk Pie for the first time Thanksgiving day. Mark and I even let him have a second piece later that night.....and he was bouncing off the walls like I had never seen him before. It was pretty funny! MMMM PIE!

Kid Talk

They grow up so fast. I can't believe Cort will be 4 in January! I want to remember all the cute things they said when they were little. Like....

Lucky for Yucky. They couldn't say the 'L' sound, so for example, 'Broccoli is lucky' instead of Broccoli is yucky. Also Keaton would say, 'Mommy, Cort lelled at me' instead of yelled.

Stink for Think. When asking Keaton what he wants for snack, he would say, 'Let me stink about it'.

Tanks for Thanks. 'NO TANKS Mommy, NO TANKS! Broccoli is LUCKY!' Can't you just hear it. :)

HAM-GER-BUR Cort was so cute, he couldn't say Hamburger. We loved asking him to say this one over and over. He also had a hard time saying camera and hospital---it was cram-ra and hos-i-pi-tal.

PUPCAKE for cupcake.

TEAKON Cort still calls Keaton, Teakon.

Other things not to forget:
Keaton's blankets are Scratchy and Fish blanket. Cort's blanket is Helicopter blanket.

MORNINGS....

Mornings at our house usually go pretty smooth...I say this because this morning did not. This morning Cort, God bless his soul, woke up on the wrong side of the bed and had a meltdown for 45 minutes. Surprisingly, Mark and I still pulled it together and I made it out the door on time...with happy kids.

This is a glimpse of our morning routine (and how much Mark helps me). We are all up by 6:00. While I spend an hour getting ready, Mark feeds the kids breakfast and gets them dressed for school. I take the kids to school so Mark can then get ready for work. At Children's Courtyard, Keaton and Cort are in different buildings so we rotate who we drop off first. There is a key pad to enter the door code....I mention this because of the many fights over who gets to 'push the buttons'. When they were in the same building, after numerous times of pushing and shoving at the door, I implemented the weekday plan. Keaton gets to push the buttons MWF, Cort gets to push the buttons TTH. (Cort didn't realize he was getting the shorter end of the deal) But now, they each get to push the buttons of their own building.....oh the drama of kids. Anyway, once inside we settle in by hanging up their backpacks, coats, and putting blankets in cubbies. I offer breakfast that is being served even though they already ate at home. The answer is usually no, but every once in a while Cort will sit down and eat again. Then after a big squeeze, an 'I love you, and 'have a good day', I am off. Only to get as far as the window outside for our goodbye wave. Cort usually just stands at the window with a smile and waves. It is cute and quick. Keaton is a creature of habit, he has his routines and you better keep them. We salute, blow a kiss, gig'em (you know the thumb thing) and then wave. I may have to do this 2 or 3 times before I make it to the car. If I keep walking, He just knocks on the window until I turn and do it again. It's cute...I secretly enjoy it because I know one day he will not want mom around at all.

So all of this works great except for the days that are filled with tears, leg hanging, and the heart breaking cries of 'but I'm going to miss you'. Those were the days at the beginning of Kindergarten and still happens every once in a while.

Then I have peace as I drive to work in silence maybe calling Mark telling him how the kids did or what our game plan is for the evening....dinner, activities, etc.

Oh, and this is cute.... on the way to school this morning I was talking with Cort about how he had a hard morning and it resulted in a meeting with the 'no-no stick'. Yes, I am posting that we spanked our child, but his comments sum it up. He said, 'It was just a little spanking. I cried, but...I was just teasing'.

EIEIO!

We went to Old Mac Donald's Farm recently for a
birthday party. It was our first time there
and we had a lot of fun! There is so
much to do and the weather was perfect.

Me and the boys in the Indian Village TeePee

HORSE BACK RIDING

HAY BARN SWING

I think this was their favorite

TRAIN RIDE

FEEDING THE ANIMALS

THE DEER

The deer just run free and and are very friendly. 

We got to feed them and pose for pictures.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARK!

Mark celebrated his 35th birthday last week. He spent a few days at The Creek with his business partner and clients. They had a great time relaxing and fishing. Here are some pictures of the fish they caught. And yes, they let them go!

SOCCER!

This was the first time both Keaton and Cort played soccer. That meant two nights a week with practice and 1-3 games on Saturdays mornings. The season went well, but I think that all of us are glad it is over. Cort was the typical 3 year old. Some games he played hard, scoring 4 goals and 2 saves, other times he just wanted to play in the dirt. Keaton was consistent with his game. He ran and kept up with the ball, but we will have to work on his aggressiveness for next year.

Keaton has been begging to play flag football. Absolutely not! He will probably play T-Ball in the spring again, but we will wait one more year for Cort.

Here are some pictures of soccer season.

Keaton's team - FIREBALLS.

Cort's team - HOTSHOTS.

I LOVE TO BE GOALIE!

Mommy and Cort cheer on Keaton. Daddy was helping coach.

Cort and Ella (future wife) were on the same team.

"Let's go pick mommy some flowers!"

Keaton and BFF Levi were on the same team.

There's trouble!

And just because they are so darn cute, here is a flashback to last year
when Keaton and Levi played their first season.

Cort and Ella always did a great job cheering on their brothers.