Baking with the Boys

1 Box of cake mix & icing = 2 very happy little boys
Who knew that something so simple could put such a big smile on two little faces. After naptime today, Sam and Eli helped me make some Christmas cupcakes.


no caption needed...he's just silly!


Here is Sam stirring all the ingredients together


Time to fill the baking cups. This is where Eli decided to come in and help.


What are these things??


It was the longest 18 minutes of their lives!


Our Yummy Masterpiece...and they even have 'spinklers'(as Sam says) on them


This was probably their favorite part


Sam told me that these were the "best cupcakes at all!"

YAYYY!!!

Just a potty training update....Eli has been going to the big boy potty all morning. Wooohoo! We haven't even had 1 wet diaper since he woke up. I am so excited! He is such a big kid!

Potty Training - Round 2

Sam had turned 3 before he was even the slightest bit interested in using the big boy potty. Eli, however, has been interested since his first birthday! Of course, he wants to do anything and everything his big brother does. He has been doing great with using the potty all weekend! I'm so proud of him! How great would it be to have him out of diapers by the time he's 2?! He's interested so now it is just up to me....I have to stay consistent (not the easiest thing for me). =)

Please God, don't make it 6!

We have waited all season for this day and it is finally here! Here at the Hairston house, there is a silence in the air. Maybe a quietness of anticipation....maybe it is that the boys are napping and we need to be quiet. None the less, we are ready for tonight's big game. Jay is doing his part dressed up in his Alabama gear, playing his XBOX 360's NCAA football game beating Auburn into the ground. The boys are resting up for the big game:



And I....well....I'm eating junk food. I eat when I get nervous and I am pretty nervous about this game. Alabama's odds of winning this thing aren't that great. We will see......

So Much to Be Thankful For!

From Our Family to Yours!

On the bright side....I'm sure he's cavity free!

So, this morning I was getting Sam ready for our day out. I always let him brush his own teeth in the morning while I brush his hair (Jay or I brush his teeth after his bath at night so we can make sure they get good & clean). We have been working with him on spitting out the toothpaste after he brushes but he still swallows it and then spits. Both Sam and Eli LOVE to brush their teeth. They would have a toothbrush hanging out of their mouths all day if I would let them. Well....I say they love to brush their teeth but I think what they like the most is the toothpaste. This morning, I put the toothpaste on Sam's toothbrush, he brushes his teeth and then he says to me: "Mommy, I'm really really hungry. Can I please have some more toothpaste?" WHAT??!!! Seriously, what is the deal here?! Am I that horrible of a cook that he doesn't even touch the breakfast I made for him and would rather eat toothpaste?
Anyway, he has also been begging to go to the dentist lately. I am wondering if the dentist trip will be like today's Santa visit. He begs to go and then once we are there he changes his mind. I will probably try to make a dentist appt. for him soon. He is 3 so I'm sure I am already way behind in taking him for his first cleaning.

I Love these kids!

Once a month, Jay and I teach a class for our 3-5 year olds at our church. We have only been doing this for a few months but it has been really cool to see and learn the personalities of these kids. When we first started teaching this class, I was really nervous that the kids would get bored with Jay and I....I mean....we aren't that entertaining! =) God has shown us favor though because for some reason, the kids seem to have a good time with us!
I love to see the innocence that they all have and how they are interested (for the most part) in the lessons that we teach. Today, our lesson was on being thankful. We had a turkey for them to color and we went around to each kid and we asked them to list some of the things they are thankful for and Jay & I wrote some of the things on the turkey's feathers. Some of the kids even told Jay and I that they were thankful for us. Isn't that the sweetest!?!
Here are some of the kids in our class:

I love this picture of the kids piling on Jay. I wish it didn't turn out blurry.


They are amazing! We are blessed!

Our Christmas Lists

Last night, the boys and I worked on their Christmas lists to take to Santa. Since they aren't really big enough to write one, we went through toy catalogs and found things that they wanted and cut them out and glued them to a piece of paper. Sam was really really into this and immediately wanted to take his list to Santa. Belive me.....he talked about it ALLLLLL NIGHT! I was thinking by the end of the night that this might not have been a good idea! We had to keep saying that we would go see Santa in the next couple of weeks.
Here is Sam and his list (he is really proud of this, by the way AND he even wrote his own name at the top):


Eli didn't really want to glue pictures on his paper so he just colored Santa a picture. Here he is with his picture (and yes....his pap! We are still battling!)


It is hard to believe that we only have 1 month until Christmas! Where did 2007 go?!

We Are Family

We got to keep my niece, Lexi, for a little while today. I love to watch her and Sam together. They have such a close bond. They are only 8 weeks apart and are inseparable when you get the two of them together...They have been that way since birth. Here are a few pics of the many many pictures we have of them together:

Life with Boys

Let me first start off by saying that I have felt sorry for Eli the first 21 months of his life. Sam has ALWAYS hovered over Eli making sure Eli always knew who was the big brother and in charge. When Eli was much smaller, Sam was always in his face and just wouldn't leave him alone. Now, it is payback time! Eli now knows how to fight back!
Last night we were all in the living room and the boys were in the floor playing with blocks. Sam is a very particular child and likes things to be a certain way. He had worked really hard and built a house out of his blocks. He was so proud of it. He put it in a box and was saving it....who knows what he was saving it for but to him, it was a big deal. Eli comes over and takes one of the blocks that Sam has built his house with and of course, Sam flips out. Eli decides at this moment to hit Sam in the head with the block and take off running. Then, Sam gets upset even more and throws a block across the room trying to hit Eli. After time outs and apologies have been made, Jay and I had to take a second to laugh at the situation. Little Eli has gotten picked on all these months and now is holding his own.








For the most part, they get along great and are best friends.

Pajama Day

It is after 4pm and Sam, Eli and I are all still in our PJ's! We don't have these days often. We have been on the go every day for the past few weeks so it feels nice to have one of these days. Actually, Sam woke up this morning and immediately asked where we were going today. After I told him that I thought we were going to stay at home, he seemed confused.
We are enjoying our pajama day. Tomorrow.....it's back to our normal out and about schedule!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of year! I love when the leaves change colors, when we get to bring out our cold weather clothes (other than the past couple of days!), the Christmas music playing in the stores, the thought of Thanksgiving and Christmas being right around the corner. I am really looking forward to the holidays this year with the boys. I think they are getting old enough to understand it all a little bit more.
The past 2 Tuesdays while Sam has been at school, I have been trying to get some Christmas shopping done. Today, Eli and I ventured out to Wal-Mart. We needed to get groceries anyway so I figured we can do everything that needs to be done at Wal-Mart. While we were looking on the Christmas decorations isle, I showed Eli some of the dancing & singing Christmas toys. He liked most of them but when I showed him the dancing Rudolph, I had to hurry and get my camera out to video him. He kept trying to touch it's glowing nose but was a little freaked out by it. Here is a video of him telling Rudolph "No no no no!"

Funny boy!

Do You Know Him?

My church played a video of this today.
I am so thankful to know Him!

He's the King of Righteousness.
He's the King of the Ages.
He's the King of Heaven.
He's the King of Glory.
He's the King of kings and He's the Lord of lords.
That's my King.

David said, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork."
My King is a sovereign King - no means of measure can define His limitless love.
No farseeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply.
No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out His blessings.
He's enduringly strong.
He's entirely sincere.
He's eternally steadfast.
He's immortally graceful.
He's imperially powerful.
He's impartially merciful.

He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world.
He's God's Son.
He's the sinner's Saviour.
He's the centrepiece of civilisation.
He stands in the solitude of himself.
He's unparalleled, He's unprecedented.
He is the loftiest idea in literature.
He's the highest personality in philosophy.
He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology.
He is the core and the necessity for spiritual religion.
He's the miracle of the age.
He's the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him.
He's the only one qualified to be an all-sufficient Saviour.

He supplies strength for the weak.
He's available for the tempted and the tried.
He sympathises and He saves.
He strengthens and sustains.
He guards and He guides.
He heals the sick.
He cleansed the lepers.
He forgives sinners.
He discharges debtors.
He delivers the captive.
He defends the feeble.
He blesses the young.
He serves the unfortunate.
He regards the aged.
He rewards the diligent.
And He beautifies the meek.

He's the key to knowledge.
He's the wellspring of wisdom.
He's the doorway of deliverance.
He's the pathway of peace.
He's the roadway of righteousness.
He's the highway of holiness.
He's the gateway of glory.

His office is manifold.
His promise is sure.
His life is matchless.
His goodness is limitless.
His mercy is everlasting.
His love never changes.
His Word is enough.
His grace is sufficient.
His reign is righteous and
His yoke is easy and
His burden is light.

I wish I could describe Him to you.
But He's indescribable - yes He is ! He's God.
He's incomprehensible.
He's invincible.
He's irresistible.

Well, you can't get Him out of your mind,
You get Him off of your hand,
You can't outlive Him, and you can't live without Him.

Well, the Pharisees couldn't stand Him, but they found out they couldn't stop Him.
Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him.
The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree.
Herod couldn't kill Him.
Death couldn't handle Him and
the grave couldn't hold Him.
THAT'S MY KING!

DO YOU KNOW HIM?

Picture of the Day

I took this picture of Sam and Eli after they woke up from their naps today. I love the face Eli is making saying "CHEEEEEESE!" And how Sam's hair looks like it is flipping out on just one side.

Oh how I love these little guys! They make my heart full!

My Painful, Whiney Weekend

Let me first start off and say ROLL TIDE anyway! It was a good game and a painful loss but as long as we beat Auburn, I think we will recover. =)
Next, I have had such a toothache since Saturday night. It seriously has had me sick to my stomach in pain. I had Jay call our dentist yesterday morning (he is a friend of ours) and see what I could do to make the pain go away. He is such a nice guy, he dropped everything and told me to meet him at his office. I went and he looked at my teeth to see what the problem is but he thought I needed to go see an Endodontist that specializes in root canals. Uhhh! I'm not much of a dentist person anyway and after tomorrow, I would have had to go to the dentist 3 times 5 days.
Ok...enough of my whining!

Other than all of that, we had a great weekend! We went to play at Pump It Up on Saturday morning. Jay hadn't been before so he loved getting in the inflatables and jumping around with the kids. I wish I would have thought to take a picture but I didn't. After that, we went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants (Stix). We both love Japanese food and the kids enjoy the show.

The exciting life of the HAIRSTONS!!

I'm filled with pride!

Just imagine the joy and pride that I felt when I checked my mail today! I love getting mail anyway but today was particularly exciting because I got this:


THAT IS MY BOYS!!!

Sam and Eli did a photoshoot in early October for this store called Fireflies and Fairytales. I haven't heard anything back from them about the pictures or anything and then got this mailout today. It isn't the BEST picture of them but it is still so so exciting!!