Lil' Drummer Boy

After we left Maw-Maw Lin & Paw-Paw Bip's, we stayed with my Aunt Sarah in Baton Rouge. Her hubbie was gone for the weekend & her two college-age boys, Ben & Jeffrey, are in & out, so we got to see them here & there, mainly in the evenings. Ben is the younger of the two & really amazed me one evening by OFFERING to let William play his drums. Now, most guys I know that age (20) don't want kiddos anywhere near their stuff because, as we all know, little boys are curious & like to occasionally break things. Ben, on the other hand, seemed delighted to show William how they worked & to let him bang away. Here Ben is helping William over to the drums:

From Playing the Drums

And, William trying to figure it all out:

From Playing the Drums

Actually playing them:

From Playing the Drums

From Playing the Drums

And trying to figure out how the cymbals worked:

From Playing the Drums

From Playing the Drums

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As you can see, my little guy was truly amazed by the drum set. We even heard him "boom, boom, booming" on the base drum later! Thanks to "Cousin Ben"!!

Christmas at the Palens

On the 26th, we packed up all our gear & drove down to Slidell to see Maw-Maw Lin & Paw-Paw Bip. Scott's older brother, Brian, and his wife, Kristy, drove over from McComb, MS with their 3 kids to exchange presents & hang out. My kids always have a great time with their "Mississippi cousins"! William LOVES Jay Douglas, who's ten, and the girls, Madelaine and Meredith, love to play with my little guys. They're 6 (going on 21, as their mom says) and make great baby-sitters. Makes my job so much easier when they're there.

From Maw-Maw Lin & Paw-Paw Bip's

From Maw-Maw Lin & Paw-Paw Bip's

From Maw-Maw Lin & Paw-Paw Bip's

From Maw-Maw Lin & Paw-Paw Bip's

The kids all ended the day in the front yard, doing "flips" in the grass. I've got a great video of my two trying to keep up with the 6 year olds. I'll try to post it later!

From Maw-Maw Lin & Paw-Paw Bip's

Christmas with Nana & Grandpa Sam

We headed down to my parents' house on the 21st. The boys had a BLAST running around outside with Grandpa Sam & the dogs. If William weren't allergic, I'd be looking for puppies after watching them with those two dogs! Daniel & Zoe, my sister Laura's lab, made great friends. It was too sweet. Here are my babies playing with my family's babies. The weather was even cold enough for REAL coats!

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

Here are the boys sharing a Christmas kiss at the big party my mom throws for my dad's whole family every year. Click the picture for lots more of them playing with their cousins, opening presents, and playing with their new toys. Pay special attention to the one of Daniel with his truck's remote control up near his face. He kept putting it up there & shouting "Say CHEESE!" Silly goose thought it was a camera!!

Nana & Grandpa Sam's

My cousin & I are due a day apart (May 3 for me & May 4 for her), so of course we had to get the obligatory "belly pic". It's my 3rd & her 1st, so cut me some slack, please!

 

And, then just to be funny, my brother, "Uncle Knucklehead" to my kiddos, took one with me. Didn't he do a great job of sticking the ole belly out?? (And here's to hoping he doesn't KILL me for posting this shot!!)

 

Here are a few pics of them opening presents with my family on Christmas Eve & then their second Santa visit on Christmas Day (apparently, Santa saved some presents to give to them on Christmas.) THIS time, William gave Santa some cookies. But not Oreos--only home-baked ones from the Christmas Eve party!

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

From Nana & Grandpa Sam's

Daniel's Twin???

So, my parents have this picture framed next to their bed. Look familiar? It's amazing how genes work. This is my sister, Laura, and even though people think we look alike NOW, we didn't when we were this age. So, as much as I like to say Daniel looks like me, he actually looks like her, right down to the expressions they make. We even discovered over Christmas that they have similar food tastes. Genetics are such a weird thing.

 

And one of Daniel, just for comparison:

From breakfast with Santa

Our First Santa Visit

So, it appears that Tricks, our Elf on the Shelf, told Santa that we were going down to Louisiana for Christmas. Santa was wise enough to know that we may not have enough room in our van to bring all the toys home with us, so he decided to make a trip just for the boys so they could enjoy all of their presents a bit early. What a wise man he is! Here is a quick snap of the "loot" before it was all ripped apart:

From Dec 2008

William worked really hard the night before deciding what to put out for Santa's snack. I told him that Santa really liked cookies, but since the only ones we had in the house were Oreos & they're William's favorite, he kept insisting that Santa liked bananas much better than cookies. (I think he just didn't want to share!) Apparently, he was right because Santa sure ate that banana all up. He even finished the milk!

From Dec 2008

And here they are coming down the stairs & when they see all the stuff for the first time:

From Dec 2008

From Dec 2008

From Dec 2008

From Dec 2008

Here they are playing with their new "doorway playhouse". It fits in any doorway and has a working doorbell and a mail slot. They played with this all day. If you look closely, you can see William inside. He kept making Daniel ring the doorbell so he could say, "Who is it?" and then look out the peephole before he opened the door. Too cute!

From Dec 2008

And they finally discovered that there was stuff IN the pretty stockings that have been hanging up on our house all this time. I think they originally thought they'd just been placed on their chairs to look nice. Check out Daniel's face!!!

From Dec 2008

Camels, donkeys, trolleys, and Christmas lights!

Last year, Scott & I intended to take the kids to the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine to see the Christmas lights, but we ran out of time, so this year, I pulled up the website & showed it to
William & what's the one thing you think he zeroed in on? No, not the trolley rides (although we did that, too--check out below), but the CAMEL rides. Yes, you read that right: they had camels (and very large ones, I might add!) for the kids to ride. I wasn't too sure Daniel would be down with it, but he was right behind William as they raced up the steps to the platform to get on the huge things. They took two laps around the ring & then climbed off to go ride the donkeys (click on the pic right below to see all of the camel pics & the donkey ones). It was the highlight of the night, for sure.



Here we are waiting for the trolley. Some nice guys who were there for an Air Force Christmas party volunteered to take a picture of all of us, so this is the only one I managed to get with us all in it:

From animal riding

And, here's what the boys were doing while we waited for the trolley! I couldn't get them to stop putting rocks from the "rock garden" on the "rock pole". Gross, isn't it??????

From animal riding

And, the finished product:

From animal riding

Here they are on the trolley (finally--it was COLD outside!) and a couple of pics of the lights. Light pictures were hard to get because the trolley had to be completely still so it didn't get blurry with the flash off & that rarely happened, but I got a couple.

From animal riding

From animal riding

From animal riding

From animal riding

So, all in all, it was worth it to brave the cold weather for the beautiful lights & all the activities. We'll definitely be doing it every year!

School Christmas Parties

The boys' Christmas parties were today at school. Here is William decorating the beautiful red present they made for the parents (see the bottom of this post for a completed picture!).

 

 

Here he is waiting patiently for his candle to be lit so he can sing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus:

 

 

And if you click the "play" button below, you can see several pics of him decorating his cake with frosting & sprinkles. This was a big day for William!! He's eating REGULAR cake, made with milk and eggs. He's been able to handle a little of it (as evidenced by all the food-swiping he's been doing with Daniel's food!), so we've been gradually trying it. This is one of the first times he's had food made with both & he had no reaction! Keep your fingers crossed for us.



Here are a few snaps of Daniel. His party wasn't as formal as William's. They just had snacks & got to watch a Christmas movie. He got to wear his reindeer outfit again, tho, and as he said when he got dressed this morning, "I am a really handsome boy, Mommy!" I'm not sure what's up with the basket on his head, but he's really into boots (see previous posts!) and hats these days.

 

 

 

And, finally, here are all of the presents the boys made for me at school today & earlier this week:
1) Gingerbread man ornament (William)
2) Beautiful red present decoration (William)
3) Dated wreath/picture frame ornament (William)
4) Handprint/angel ornament (Daniel

Aren't they beautiful???