LSU sweater

Gigi's former neighbor, Ms. Nell, knitted this LSU sweater for her grandkids several years ago. They grew up and no one needed the LSU sweater anymore. She kindly gave it to us when Jack was little and we've been saving it for Theo. Now it's cold out and Theo is big enough to wear the sweater. Isn't fun to take a trip down memory lane and see Jack when he was under 2?

Here is a picture of our tree, all decorated with ornaments!!

Eli is back

We have an Elf on the Shelf (that we tell Jack we adopted) named Eli that shows up every year the night that we put up our Christmas tree. He brings the boys new Christmas pjs to wear the first night that he's at our house! Eli flies home to the North Pole to see Santa every night and reports about Jack and Theo's behavior for that day. Eli has really helped the boys have better "listening ears" and helps convince them to take that extra bite of vegetables so they can stay on the "good" list! Genius! The hardest part of Eli's month-long visit to our house is remembering to move him each night :)

Bundled up

It's been pouring rain here for 2 days and it's gotten COLD (40's). The boys have had to bust out their heavy coats and they sure do look cute! Here's Theo showing off his dimples in his puffy jacket.

Trimming the tree

Most of the indoor decorations are up! Phew. The tree is now fully trimmed with ornaments, all sentimental. I put my most treasured ornaments up high, for obvious reasons, and this year I let the boys hang more durable ornaments on the lower half of the tree. Jack and Theo loved helping out and save one broken ornament, all went well! I changed up the mantle this year and added some colorful bows that I made using my favorite invention of the moment: EZ bow maker. Love it! My house is filled with bows that I have made. I may need an intervention!

The boys also decorated a miniature red tree with tiny ornaments for the entry way. Now I just have to tackled the outdoor lights. Oy!!!

Giving thanks

We traveled over to College Station on Thanksgiving day to see my extended family. Jack and Theo adored seeing Uncle Bill, Aunt Sonja, cousins Cody and Ashley and Mama again. They wouldn't leave poor Uncle Bill alone!! Mimi gave the boys giant cookies and they took their time enjoying every bite. We left bright and early Friday for Baton Rouge to attend Dave's 15th high school reunion. Dave got to see a lot of "blasts from the past" and I hung out with a couple of the spouses.

Saturday night we went to the LSU/Arkansas game (thanks to Uncle Dane for babysitting!!!) and cheered on the Tigers to a victory!!! We got home this morning and I went to work busting out the Christmas decorations. The tree is up, the mantle is trimmed and our stockings are hung :) More to follow........

Here's comes Santa Claus

We're in Houston this week visiting my family for Thanksgiving. We took the boys to the Galleria today to see Santa. They got to ride a small train around the mall and then sit with Santa. My mom and I shopped for an hour (heaven) while Papa and Daddy corralled the boys in the mall. We're heading off to College Station on turkey day to spend it with Uncle Bill, Aunt Sonja, Mama and our extended family and cousins!!! Can't wait.

Plates are in!

The plates that Jack and Theo decorated came in and turned out great! They are dishwasher safe and will totally be something fun to do each Christmas. The kids were not in the mood for pictures this morning so this is the best I could do. Love Theo's "cheese" face huh?