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Christmas Morning

When I was little, Christmas morning started very early in our house. My sister and I would wake up before there was even sunlight outside and run into the livingroom to see what Santa had brought. This Christmas, I wanted so badly to wake the boys up at 5am to go open their Santa gifts. But knowing how grumpy they get when they don't get their rest, I decided to wait. As early as these guys normally get up, they decided to sleep in until 830...Talk about torturing mommy! ha!

As soon as Sam woke up, his eye's popped open and he said "Is Santa here?!" I guess when we told him on Christmas Eve that Santa was coming tonight, we didn't make it clear to him that Santa would not be STAYING =)

Here they are running from the bedroom to the livingroom:

Notice the red eyes? They were upset with me that I had to go into the livingroom first to get my video camera set up. You would think that I would have thought of that in the 3 1/2 hours I was waiting for them to get up!

Here they are opening and playing with their new toys:













Eli was saying "Choo Choo" They were both pretty excited about their train table.

The next Bear Bryant????

I took this picture of Eli today. He's a funny boy!

Looks like a future Alabama Football Coach to me!! ;D

The New Do

I got a little taste of the good life yesterday...Life with STRAIGHT HAIR!!! It was very short lived but I enjoyed all 16 hours of it! I went to a new place yesterday for highlights and a cut. After 5 hours (YES...5 HOURS!) at the salon, I came out with highlights, a cut and straight hair. That was the first time in about 9 or so years since my hair has been straightened. I loved it and so much wish that I had time to straighten my hair at home but with 2 little boys, it's just not happenin'!


(Sam took these pictures. He's a pretty good little photographer, huh?!)

Today, it was back to the hand (or I guess 'head') I've been delt - Curly hair! Oh well! It was nice while it lasted =)

You're the One God Wants!

I love reading the daily devotions from Proverbs 31 Ministries. You can check their website out under my favorite blogs list. Today's devotion is about being the one God wants. I'm amazed and so thankful to be wanted and chosen by God. I feel unworthy!

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You’re the One I Want!

By Renee Swope

1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (NIV).

Devotion:
Christmas was only days away and we still didn’t have a tree. Living on a college-student’s budget with a baby on the way made it hard to spend $25-50 on something we didn’t need. It seemed kind of trivial when I told God how sad I felt that we couldn’t afford a Christmas tree. Then I felt guilty knowing there were children starving in Africa and people who needed so much more than us.

Yet, God didn’t think it was selfish. Instead He provided. The Sunday before Christmas we discovered a nearby tree lot had marked all the trees down to $10!

When my husband came home from classes Monday evening we hurried to the tree lot. As we walked down each row, I looked for just the right spruce to fit in the corner of our one-bedroom apartment. For this pregnant woman, choosing a tree was almost like choosing our child’s name. I took way too much time! The sun went down quickly, they turned the spotlights off and the tree lot turned pitch dark.

My creative and very patient husband pulled our car into the rows of trees and flashed on his high beams. The bright lights dispelled the darkness and standing in front of me was the most precious little tree I’d ever seen. Although it had some droopy branches and a gap on one side I pointed and said, “That’s the one I want!”

Later that night, I sat on our couch looking at my cute little spruce pine reminiscing about our evening. I’d felt sad earlier when the darkness made it impossible to see the trees but when the beams of light illuminated the lot, my heart filled with hope. Etched in my mind was a picture I wouldn’t forget, a picture that drew me back to another time marked by darkness – a time when I wasn’t choosing, but needed to be chosen.

Just when it felt like all my dreams had died and my hope was gone, God’s Light punctured the clouds of depression surrounding my mind as His love poured into my heart. It happened on another cold winter’s eve when God looked at me and said, “That’s the one I want!”

At some point in our lives, I think most of us can identify with that little tree. Scarred by disappointments we wonder if anyone would ever choose us. With gaps that make us feel like candidates for rejection we hope no one will see the holes in our hearts. Like the fate of my little spruce, it seems the only way we’ll get chosen is if all the good ones are picked first.

First Peter 2:9 reminds us that through Christ we are chosen! God sent His Son to light our darkness and fill the gaps in our hearts. Hold onto the truth that God sees you today and in His heart He’s saying, “You’re the one I want!”

Dear Lord, that spruce pine and I have a lot in common. Even with my gaps and broken branches, You chose me and made me part of Your family through Jesus. Thank you for sending Your Son to illuminate the dark corners of my life and bring hope to my heart. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Power Verses:

Isaiah 43:1b, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” (NIV)

Isaiah 43:4, “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you.” (NIV)

Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (NIV)

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Feez Nobidob!

Feliz Navidad has quickly become Sam and Eli's favorite song of the season. They will go around the house singing "Feez Nobidob Feez Nobidob Feez Nobidob of my HEEEEAAARRRTTT!"
My mom found these singing stuffed dogs that sing Feliz Navidad and shake maracas. She brought them over to the boys yesterday and it has been nonstop Feliz Navidad ever since! We were listening to it until we went to bed last night and then heard it all start back up again at 630 this morning! Thanks, mom! ;)

Christmas Break begins...

It has been a much better day today than it was yesterday. Today was Sam's last day of school before Christmas break. They had their Christmas party and he brought home lots of goodies. He was excited that he got to eat cake at school and celebrate Jesus' birthday. They opened up their worship service for the parents to come and watch the kids sing their songs and listen to the story of the candy cane. Eli and I went and got there pretty early. Thinking I wouldn't find a seat, I was one of the first 3 people in there. It made my heart so happy to see Sam sing his songs and lift up praises to God. He has such innocence...it was so sweet! Not even knowing one of the songs they sang, Eli joined in with them. He's hilarious!

Today was also the last day for one of Sam's favorite teachers, Mrs. Dina. I love anyone who loves my kids, and I know without a doubt, she loves Sam. Last year was Sam's first year at Mom's Day Out. With me being a full time mom, I knew that Sam needed something that he could be involved in that I wasn't a part of. I know that sounds strange but he needed some independence. I knew that I had to enroll him in something once he wouldn't stay in the church nursery without me staying in there with him. I found this Mom's Day Out but they had a waiting list....uhhh! I went ahead and put his name on the list. A few months passed but and they called me and said that they had an opening. Yippeee! A bit hesitant and excited at the same time, I took him for his first day of big kid school. He was only 2 but to us, he was getting to be such a big boy. Not knowing the teachers too much, I felt a peace about leaving him in their care. If you know me, you know that I am very picky about who I will leave my kids with. These 2 teachers took Sam in and not only took care of him but loved him. Although it was hard for me to leave my baby, I knew that he was safe and being loved.

Here he is at his first day of big kid school

Once this year started, it took Sam a while to adjust to having a new teacher (who he now loves also). I was so exctied when the year began though and I found out that both of his teachers from last year were no longer teachers but helpers. YAY...they could still help keep an eye out on Sam for me. They have been wonderful. It is really sad to think of Mrs. Dina not being there. I explained to Sam that Mrs. Dina wouldn't be at his school anymore and he said "Mom, she breaks my heart!" Poor little man! Although he will move on through many years of school & many different teachers, I think he will always have a special bond with his first two teachers.

It Has Been One of Those Days!

Our day started off good....Sam and Eli both slept until around 7:15 this morning. They have been waking up at about 6 for the past couple of weeks so 7:15 was sleeping in for me! They woke up and wanted their version of morning coffee - Pediasure, which they call "teddy bear milk." Because they are such picky eaters, they get this every morning & they ask for it as soon as their little eyes open each day. We watched a few of their morning shows....My Friends Tigger and Pooh, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Backyardigans (our normal schedule). They colored in their new Christmas coloring books while I took a shower and got ready for our day. All sounds pretty good, right?
When we left the house, it was like I took 2 totally different kids with me! What happened?!
First, we went to Pottery Barn Kids. We are wanting the boys to share a room and turn the other bedroom into a playroom. Jay gave me the go ahead to get their bedding today, so I did. They were so incredibly loud and couldn't keep their hands off each other the entire time we were there! They kicked and screamed to get out of their stroller because they wanted to run around. We went in there with purpose, so I didn't want to chase them all around the store. I didn't budge...They stayed in the stroller!
Next, lunch with Grandma! We decided to meet up with my mom at Moe's. I noticed myself constantly saying "Eat your food." "Sit still in your chair." "Stop calling me Leisha, you call me mommy!" "Lower your voice, everyone in this restaurant does not want to hear the Veggie Tales song." "You have to go to the bathroom AGAIN?! At one point, Sam even got himself stuck in the chair. How he did it, I haven't a clue. So, we eat, head out to our car, & Eli starts screaming....he wants his drink and I couldn't give it to him because it was leaking red fruit punch every where (Spill-proof sippy cups...not so spill-proof!) A nice man was getting out of his car and says to me, "Uh-oh! Someone's not happy." Wondering if he was talking about Eli or myself and a bit embarrassed, I say "he is in need of a nap!" When I look at the clock, we are still 30 minutes away from our normal naptime. Eeeek!
Already stressed out, I should have headed home at this point but I had one more stop to make. A friend of mine found some really cute Christmas ornaments at Old Time Pottery, so I headed over there to get some. I tell the boys that I am laying the seats back in the stroller and don't want to hear a peep. Sounds mean, I know, but after the morning we had, they needed a nice long time-out (and I did too!) We get there, the ornaments are sold out. They marked everything down to 50% off so pickins were slim. Also, I guess I walked past something there that set off my allergies and I couldn't stop sneezing. I can only recall this happening to me one other time in my life so this was strange. Anyway, after 8 times (yes, 8 times!)of telling people "They're not twins, they are 21 months apart" which I get way more often that I should, and about 20 sneezes later, we make it out the door.
Both boys had fallen asleep while we were in the store so I load up the sleeping boys and head back home...FINALLY!
Sam and Eli are normally pretty well behaved kids. They have their share of off days every now and then but we all do! However, days like today, when they both have an off day at the same time, I need to learn to just stay at home! =)
Even though it was a super stressful morning, I praise God daily that I am able to be with the guys each and every day. I am so thankful to be given the huge and humbling responsibility as their mommy. They really are incredible little guys!

Home sweet home

Just an update...
Jay finally arrived home at about 10:30am...PRAISE THE LORD! It really was a long week!

Houston, we have a problem

After an extremely long week, Jay was supposed to arrive back in town last night. He got to the airport yesterday afternoon but due to bad weather (I guess in the west), his flight was delayed for a couple of hours. His flight was supposed to go to Houston and then he was to fly back home from there. He was hoping that the delay wouldn't cause him to miss his connecting flight home but it did =( He was scheduled to be on the last flight to Alabama from Houston so he was going to have to wait until this morning to fly out. Fortunately, he has a friend who moved to Houston earlier this year, so he was able to stay with his friend rather than sleep in an airport. He has been away for 6 nights now and we are really missing him!

HOW SWEET!!

Sam came into my room this morning and said "Hey, girl."
I was like "Did you just call me GIRL?!!
He said "Yea, you're my girl and I love you!"

Brotherly Love

I wanted to share the favorite part of my day (on Tuesdays and Thursdays) with you. It makes my heart melt every time!


This is how it is every Tuesday and Thursday at about 12:30 when we pick Sam up from school. I love the way that Sam peeks his head around the corner just to make sure Eli and I are there and then he takes off running towards us. I know he should probably be staying with his class and walking quickly in line but I just love this so much to correct him! I love to see how excited he and Eli are to see each other! The hugs are usually much longer and sometimes are taken down to the floor but Sam got a fruit roll up out of the treasure box today and he was excited to come and show it to me.

On a side note, I'm sure I looked like a total goofball being the only mom who was standing there holding a camera but I had to get this on video!

What a week!

There has been so much going on this week and Jay has been out of town since Sunday. I hate for him to be out of town and this is the longest he has been away in the 5 years that we have been married. Thankfully, his flight arrives back home tomorrow night at 930pm. I have missed him so much but I know Sam and Eli have missed him even more. They haven't known daddy to be away for longer than about 3 nights. Every time they hear our washing machine make a noise (I guess when it goes from the spin to the rinse cycle, it is kindof loud), they think it is the garage door opening and that daddy is home. Even though it is great that I am getting some laundry taken care of while Jay's away, it is sad seeing the look of disappointment on their faces when I tell them that it was just the washing machine.

I am such a baby about staying alone. I turn on our alarm system and then barricade all of our doors with something heavy so no one can get in. I think I must also sleep with one eye open just in case my alarm system doesn't go off or the barricade's don't hold up =) Actually, this past week, I have probably gotten a total of 3 hours sleep per night. First, I was just scared. I know I'm not supposed to be filled with fear but it does get scary lying in the dark when every little sound is magnified 50 times! And then I started thinking of everything that needs to be done....christmas shopping, grocery shopping, house cleaning, wrapping presents, etc. After all of that, I'm staring at the clock at it's 3 in the morning! I'm looking forward to the good night sleep that I will get tomorrow night when Jay is home safe and sound.

With Jay being gone and I have 2 very picky little eaters, I haven't really put forth the effort to "cook" dinner. One night, I ordered pizza. The other night, we had PB&J's. Last night, went to McDonald's for chicken nuggets. (One of my new year's resolutions is to eat healthier!) Anyway, the boys and I got a little grocery shopping done the other night and Sam begged for some powdered doughnuts. I normally don't like to buy too many sweets....especially when I know we will be seeing my mom soon because for some reason she thinks she needs to fill her grandkids with any sweets or candy that their little hearts desire...but I did cave and got the doughnuts. I let them have a couple each after their chicken nuggets last night. And I will tell you....they really enjoyed them! I think I even had to clean powdered sugar out of Eli's ears...it was everywhere!

Life with Boys...Part II

It normally starts off very sweet like this...


Then it goes to this...


And then there is some of this...


And this is how it ends...

(They were fine, by the way. They are laughing because they fell down)

WELCOME TO MY DAY! I have no doubt in my mind that these two love each other. Sam is very protective of his baby brother and Eli just thinks the world of Sam. However, there is constant tackling, pinching, etc. These boys will take each other down to the ground and not even flinch. I have to admit that I love to watch them play together and they do get along for the most part but these guys are rough! I have a sister so this is all new to me!

The Hairston Version of Snowman Candy Canes

Sam, Eli and I decorated some of our candy canes for our tree today. We tried to make them into snowmen. Although they didn't really turn out the way we had planned, we still had fun making them.


Messy Man did help but he had to take a break to eat a purple sucker (as you can see all over his bib!)


The finished snowmen =)

And so the Christmas partying begins...

Eli and I went to our first Christmas party of the season today. He had a great time playing with his friends, eating lots and lots of sweets and doing Christmas crafts.
I'm not sure when Eli went from being a baby to being a toddler but it came up on us really fast. I was amazed watching him today. He was decorating his Christmas cookie and doing the crafts just like the bigger kids that were there.
Of course I took plenty of pictures to share =)

Here is Eli with one of his good friends, Kate. He was so excited getting ready this morning because he knew he was going to get to see her! =)


He decorated a teddy bear cookie but kept eating much of the candy before he could put it on his bear.


Here is the bear decorated with the candy that made it through until the end




He decorated a Christmas tree with stickers. He's got such a look of concentration on his face!


More sweets! This time it was a cupcake!

He did it!

Tonight, Sam put together his first 100 piece puzzle by himself! We normally get him the 24 piece puzzles and he puts them together in no time. Jay got him this one yesterday just to see if he could do it and he did! YAY, SAM! What is even cooler about it is that it is a double-sided puzzle so he had to figure out what side to put it together on. Not too bad for a 3 year old!



It was a proud moment!

Mission: Santa Claus

We took Sam and Eli to the mall yesterday to see Santa. It went way better than expected. I had taken them to see him a couple of weeks ago but they didn't want to get too close. They liked Santa but they liked him from a distance. This time, we were on a mission to take their Christmas lists and get a picture.

Here is Sam's Christmas List:


and here is Eli's:




We have been building up this trip to the mall all week and got them pretty excited.
Look at this face! I don't think you can get too much more excited than this!




They didn't want to sit in Santa's lap so we ended up getting a family picture but I was really proud of how brave they were. When it was our turn, we went to Santa, they gave him their lists and we sat down, talked to Santa for a minute, got the picture, gave Santa high fives and we were done.


Eli has been saying "Santa, Santa, Ho Ho Ho!" ever since.


I was looking through some pictures from a couple of Christmas' ago and found this:


Looks much like this year's picture! Sam didn't want to sit in Santa's lap then either!

Such a mess!

Very often during the day, I will hear random toilet flushes. We normally try to keep the bathroom doors shut but if we forget, Eli is in there immediately flushing the toilet.....over and over and over again.
The other day, I caught him in the act. This time he decided to add a little toilet paper in there as well.


This boy makes me laugh! I really envy his laid back and easy going personality. He is such a funny kid. Here are more pictures that I have taken of him over the past couple of days:

He's got a way with words!

On the car ride home today, I hear Sam in the back seat struggling to open his box of candy that he got from school. He says, "Candy, I don't have time for this." I then realize....maybe I should be more careful the way I word things! Kids pick up EVERYTHING! I know he got that phrase from me because I use it way more often than I should with him.
It reminds me of when Sam was about Eli's age and Jay would always say "OH, CRAP!" Sam would drop a toy or something and say "OH, CAP!"
Kids are so funny!

Back at the Farm

We went back to the Old Baker's Farm yesterday and cut down our Christmas tree. I love this tradition that we started last year. It is so much fun to go out to the farm, walk around and pick out "the perfect tree."
Sam and Eli were really excited about going to get our tree.

They weren't picky, they wanted to bring EACH and EVERY tree home with us.


After about a 45 mintues of searching....and chasing the boys all around the farm,

we found our tree!


Jay cut it down

and then, with Sam's help, carried back up to the front of the farm to pay for it.


Up at the front of the farm, Sam and Eli got a coloring book


and a candy cane.



Then we got to take a wagon ride pulled by mules around the farm. Here is Eli petting one of the mules before we got on the wagon.


And...a family pic on the wagon


If all of that wasn't exciting enough, then we got to come home and decorate the tree. The boys "helped" untangle the lights for us

and then they were out for the night. They were exhausted from our fun and busy day. Jay and I finished decorating the tree after the boys went to bed so they didn't get to see it finished until this morning. Although I keep telling Sam that mommy and daddy decorated the tree after he went to sleep, he is convinced that Santa came and decorated it for us.
He is really into Santa this year. He has looked up in our fireplace many times today already looking for Santa to come down the chimney.