Christmas and Sickmas

We enjoyed our Christmas this year.  We loaded up the Tuesday afternoon before Christmas and headed to Newnan.  Wednesday we drove down to LaGrange to spend Christmas Eve with my family.  We always celebrate and open gifts the evening of Christmas Eve.  We had a great time with the kids.  It was our boys and my cousins twins, they are 9 months old.  We tried to get a picture with all of them at the tree but that didn't happen.  

Christmas Day was spent in Newnan with Drew's family.  My parents and brother come up and spent the night so we were all, minus Julie, there Christmas morning.  Santa brought the boys a Wii, and when I say boys I mean Andrew.  We have enjoyed playing it and Ty likes to play some of the games.  He is getting pretty good at the driving range for golf and he likes to drive the cars around in circles.  The Mario Cart game has cows on one of the tracks that you are supposed to avoid.  Tyler thinks it's hilarious to crash into them.  Andrew also got me the Wii Fit.  I weighed myself on it Christmas morning and when I got back on to play that night it told me I gained over a pound.  OPPS!!  The cookies, cake, chocolate and cinnamon rolls were really good though.

We all had colds before we left for Christmas.  But they got progressively worse after Christmas.  Andrew and I have gotten better but the boys colds have turned into much more.  Since Friday we have been dealing with coughs, mucus, snot, throw-up and fevers.  I have not had more then 3 hours of continuous sleep in about a week.  So this afternoon we packed up and headed to the doctor.  The diagnosis: both boys have bad double ear infections and bronchitis.  Ty got his finger pricked, or cut as he tells it, and Nolan got an antibiotic shot.  Both boys are now on breathing treatments, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds.  Add those to Ty's asthma meds and we have a small pharmacy in our kitchen right now.  I just hope I get some SLEEP!! 

All the boys Christmas Eve.  This is right before Ty started crying.

Christmas Morning

I love this picture.  He was so excited.

Ok I need to explain this next picture.  My aunt got Nolan the cutest Christmas outfit.  It is a pair of old fashioned long-john with the button flap in the back.  On the flat it says "My First Christmas 2008  Nolan."  Well it has the flap that actually unbuttons so we couldn't resist.  Yes, we know he is going to grow up and HATE this picture. 

Merry CHRISTmas

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 
 "Glory to God in the highest, 
      and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

We hope you have a Merry CHRISTmas

Love The Reagans

Andrew, Shannon, Tyler & Nolan

Get to know your friends....Holiday

I got this in as an email and thought it would be fun to share on my blog.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?  Gift wrap.  It should coordinate, have unique accessories (cinnamon sticks, bells, ornaments, real ribbon), and look very pretty.  I enjoy the wrapping as much as the buying. 

 

2. Real tree or Artificial?  Real

3. When do you put up the tree?  As soon after Thanksgiving as possible

4. When do you take the tree down?  Before New Years

 

5. Do you like eggnog? not really

 

6. Favorite gift received as a child? my first camera

 

7. Hardest person to buy for? my dad

 
8. Easiest person to buy for? Tyler

9. Do you have a nativity scene?  No

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?  both

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  Can't think of one

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?  White Christmas & The Grinch who Stole Christmas (Dr.Suess)

 

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Before kids, I was usually 90% done by Halloween.  Now whenever I can.

 

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  yes

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My mom's fudge, mom's date-nut balls and my pecan crescent cookies

16. Lights on the tree?  Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? This one is hard....White Christmas, Grown-up Christmas List, pretty much everything but Last Christmas (I gave you my heart).  That is such a stupid song and they play it allll the time here in B'ham. 

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  Travel, we always go to my Aunt's house

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes

 

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?  star

 

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?  BOTH.  Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas morning with Andrew's

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Walmart

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?  Blue and Silver.  I saw a show where they threw in some eggplant colored ornaments, I may have to try that next year.

 

24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Glazed baked ham (Honey Baked or similar)

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For the boys to have a magical experience.  New shoes.

 

 

Christmas Card Pics

We tried to take Christmas card pictures yesterday.  We did get one for our cards but it only took about 40 tries.  Here are some of the pictures.  

Tyler is 3!!

Today is Ty's third birthday.  Wow!  We celebrated on Saturday by going on a train ride and eating at his favorite place, Chick-fil-A.  We also had cupcakes and opened presents then.  Today we did go back to Chick-fil-A for breakfast and he took one of his favorite things to school to share with his class.  Banana bread.  I did add chocolate chips and make muffins out of it, but apparently the kids loved them.  

It has been a wonderful but interesting three years.  Ty was such a high maintenance baby that he was going to be an ONLY child for about the first year.  I was convinced at least for the first six months that I was not going to have any more.  He has turned into a wonderful kid.  

Ten things we love about Ty:

1.  He has a great imagination.  His hands will have conversations with each other.

2.  He is HILARIOUS.  He told me that other day he had a "great big boogie" in his nose and it was named Goliath.

3. He is a very caring kid.  He loves to watch over and take care of other kids.

4. His beautiful eyes.

5. He loves to read.

6.  He is very active and is always playing, though this makes me very tired, I love that he likes to go out and tackle life.  He is a great baby weight loss program too.

7. He is fascinated by so many "little things."  I never knew trucks, tractors, dirt, Christmas lights, bugs, and couches could be so exciting.  Well, maybe the Christmas stuff.

8. He gives the best hugs!

9. The way he loves Nolan.  He is such a great big brother!

10. The way he prays.

Then.......

...and now

Santa was on our train too!!!

  I love this picture.

Ty loved the present part.

My Aunt got this for Ty.  I had one of these when I was little.  Tyler LOVES this things!!

Chocolate Velvet Cake Batter

We celebrated Ty's birthday today.  I'll post more on our adventures after Tuesday, his actual birthday.  I used this recipe to make his birthday cupcakes, Chocolate-Peppermint Candy Cupcakes.  They were WONDERFUL!!  The batter makes a very moist cake and it is really easy to make.  I'm going to have to try some of the other recipes with it too, maybe the Chocolate Velvet Cake with Coconut-Pecan Frosting and the Turtle Cake. 

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=554760

I'm not a baby and driving.

For a long time I have called Tyler "baby."  He is my baby so I have always felt I had the right to call him that.  Well the other day we were in the car and this was the conversation:

Tyler: "Mama"

Me:"What, Baby?"

Tyler: "I'm not a baby"

Me: shocked and taken aback..."I can't call you baby anymore?"

Tyler: "NO"

Since this conversation every time I accidentally call him "baby" he reminds me that he is not a baby.  Why does he have to be so opinionated?  I know he doesn't get that from me :)

We have also had another interesting experience in the last few weeks.  Ty has not been allowed to "drive" in the car for a while now.  Because he knows where the key goes and how to put it in the ignition.   Because Andrew has a stick shift Tyler was allowed to "drive" Andrew's truck until..... Andrew had backed the truck up to the new house to load up some trash to take to the dump.  Tyler was in the truck "driving."  I am inside the house painting.  I then hear Andrew throw something down, a bang and Andrew yelling.  I run to the door to see Andrew's truck slowly rolling down the driveway and Andrew running beside it.  I run outside as the truck goes across the street.  Andrew is finally able to get the truck to stop in our neighbors yard.  Tyler is in the driver's seat with a big grin on his face yelling "I driving." 

Tyler released the emergency break, side-swiped the corner of the bumper on my car and "drove" down the driveway.  You may be wondering why we didn't open the door and get in the truck, cause after all it was moving very slowly.  Well, our "cautious" child made sure he locked the doors before he drove off.  I guess he didn't what any crazies jumping in the car when he stopped.  We have now filed this experience away in the "we're awful parents," "my kid could have died" and "will the guilt ever go away" files of our minds.

We've glad we could make all of you out there feel like better parents today!!

Happy Late Thanksgiving

I know it's been awhile since I posted.   We have been busy working on the house.  I originally wanted to be back in the house for Ty's birthday.  That's not going to happen.  Now I'm hoping I'll be able to decorate for Christmas.  We are putting the house back together.  Andrew has been working really hard to get the hardwood floors in, and they look great!  We've also been panting.  I'll have to post pics soon of what we're doing.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We went to Andrew's family Thanksgiving meal.  They meet on the north side of B'ham.  Then we drove back to the house and had Thanksgiving again with my family.  A few hours later we drove to Newnan to spend the weekend with Andrew while he was on call.  

We even ventured out on Friday for some shopping.  No, we didn't get up a 4 am.  We waited till the boys got up.   Andrew even took me to Duncun Donuts for breakfast.  Yummy, yummy, gives me a fat tummy!!  Since we waited till about 9 am and we were in Newnan the crowds weren't that bad.  We did find a few good deals and got some Christmas shopping done.

Here's some pics from Thanksgiving

Can't get the boy to stay still for a picture

Nolan after enjoying his first Thanksgiving meal of peaches and squash

I changed Nolan's diaper the other day and left him on the floor in his room.  I went to throw away the diaper and came back to find him like this.  

Tyler made this apple turkey at church last week.  It's so cute it sat on the table for Thanksgiving.

Nolan's Six Month Pics

Here's some of the pics from Nolan's six month photo shoot.  They really came out great.  

Smurfs are Real!!!!

I loved the Smurfs as a young girl.  I looked forward to Saturday mornings when I would wake up, turn the TV on and turn the channel (without a remote) to watch the Smurfs.  Some mornings we actually had to go and turn the outside antenna pole to get better reception.  I was always excited when I heard that song, you know it too, sing with me!!

  "La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, laaaa" 

 I wonder if that song writer ever won a Grammy for his creative genius.  Anyway, I was convinced the Smurfs actually lived here on Earth in little mushroom houses somewhere... out there.  This morning I thought I had actually found one.  Right here in my own house!!!  It was a lot bigger then I ever imagined.  I came out of my room from getting ready this morning and was greeted by a smiling blue creature.  On closer inspection though I discovered it was Tyler.  I was disappointed that it was NOT a Smurf, but I now know what an almost 3 year old can do with an ink pad and a paint brush.  

Nolan is already six months old

Nolan was six months old on Saturday.  I can't believe that he is already six months old.  I almost cried I can't believe I'll be planning his 1st birthday in just a couple of month.  It's crazy!!!  We took him for his sixth month appointment on Tuesday and then for six month pictures.  I'll post pictures when we get them, they are good!!

So we went to the doctor and Nolan is doing great.  He's growing great and of course now has all of his shots.  I can't believe how many shots they have to get.  He is 26 1/2 inches tall and 14 lbs 6 ounces.  That's 50% tile for height and 5% for weight.  Yes 5%.  Our doctor said that's a sign he is ready to start solids, which we already had.  He did tell us there was nothing to worry about, his weight will level off and since he "has a belly and chunky thighs" he's getting enough.  

So I went to the store Tuesday and bought them out of baby food.....    

Halloween

I can't believe it is November.  Nolan is six months old today.  The older you get the faster time goes by and right now I need more of it!!  We went to the pumpkin patch again Thursday and rode the hayride.  Tyler had a great time again and Nolan feel asleep at on the hayride.  We will probably make this a yearly trip.  Because we had Trunk-or-Treat on Sunday I did not feel the need to take Ty trick-or-treating Friday night, since we already have plenty of candy.  Instead we headed over to Kevin and Aimee's house.  They were having a "watch the costumes" party.  We ate and hung out on the front porch handing out candy.  Ty and Nolan were the only kids there and some of the guys took Ty around to a few houses.  I know he went at least twice.  We had a great time.  Most of the people there are from our old small group.  We miss everyone so it was great to spend some time with them.

Ty loves the inflatables!!

Hanging out on the front porch

Tyler took this pic of Robert.  He did a great job of capturing Robert's true self.... always has his mouth open.

Ty enjoyed handing out candy to all the kids

Here's our farmer and his pumpkin!!

Trunk or Treat

My first big event as Children's Minister is over (Big Sigh of Relief).  Sunday night we had Trunk-or-Treat.  I'm glad to say that things went well and I still have my sanity, well no less then I had before.  Our family had a great time.  Tyler really enjoyed it and Andrew got to be home for it.  It was a busy weekend though.  Today was another story.  I woke up not feeling well.  My Dad was kind enough to give me a 24 hour stomach bug that consist of nausea, dizziness, weakness, and an overall feeling of YUCK!  Andrew worked on our new house today so I was home this afternoon with just me and the boys.  It's an awful feeling when you can't take care of your own kids because you're sick.  Tyler even told me at one point he did not want to watch another movie.  Of course he had already watched about 3 episodes of Curious George, Curious George the movie, Cars and JoJo the Jetplane(not my favorite!!).  I am feeling better tonight. 

We got a few cute pictures last night.  I did not get one of the boys together. I'll try on Friday.

Birthday & Pumpkin Patch

For those of you who wanted to know where the picture is to go with the last post. I did not want to encourage him to do it again!!

This past weekend we went to Atlanta to celebrate Meemaw's (Shannon's grandmother) birthday. She turned 83 last week.

Meemaw with the future of Auburn football. She has four great-grandsons. Tyler, Nolan, Jackson and Mitchell. Jackson and Mitchell are about 10 weeks older then Nolan.

PUMPKIN PATCH

We went to a local pumpkin patch this past week. It was alot of fun. Tyler actually cried when we had to leave. He enjoyed playing on the inflatables. We went on a weekday and it was great there was hardly anyone there. We are hoping to go back before it closes. I tried to take the boys yesterday but it was closed because of rain. And Tyler cried some more.

Here's the boys with thier pumpkins. I have no idea why Tyler is saluting but this is the only picture I could get with both of them smiling. We had a really hard time getting Nolan to look at the camera. All he wanted to do was try and eat the grass.

We made a pumpkin man with the pumpkin. I painted the face and Tyler painted his pumpkin which is on the bottom. I let him pick out what color he wanted and he picked red. It was only after the paint dried that I realized it looks like the poor things is bleeding out. We also added yarn hair and a hat. He is sitting on our front porch, but he's head is not very stable I'm waiting to come home after a windy day and find that we have a headless bleeding pumpkin.

It's fluffy!

This evening we got the boys in bed.  Nolan was out and Ty, as usual, was playing in his bed.  Most nights from their room we hear Ty talking to himself,  to some of his toys or reading a book.  Tonight as I was sitting in the living room it hit me that Ty sounded a little too happy.  Thus I became very curious.  I got up from the couch and walked into the hall.  I was greeted by the clean fresh smell of baby powder.  That is also when I realized there was some type of cloudy haze coming from the boys' room.  I walked into the room to find Ty and everything else covered in baby powder.  The thickness of the fine powdery substance depended on how close an item was to Ty.  Nolan's crib which was a few feet away had just a fine coating.  The dresser were the powder was originally located was covered in about an inch of baby powder.  Tyler had grey hair and all evidence of his summer tan was hidden.  The floor had mounds of white powder which spread from Ty's feet out into the center of the room.  Tyler looked at me with a big grin and said, "It's fluffy!"  After the room was dusted and vacuumed and Tyler got a second bath for the night he was back in bed.  And Nolan... he slept through all the excitement. 

We bought a house!!!

We bought a house!!!  We are finally going to live somewhere for more then 18 months. Yippy!!  So we found this really cute house with a great yard and it's in wonderful shape.  It is a flashback to the 70s.  Yes, it could be the set for a TV show.  Check out pics of the inside on our "more pics" link.  We will also post more pictures and we put in hardwoods, paint and update.  We are very excited and we're looking forward to move in after we get some of our projects done.