Gettin' Their Groove On

Tuesday Grayson and I went to MOPS in Fort Smith to a cookie exchange.  My SIL Rachel hosted

and did a mighty fine job despite this tree

taking a tumble earlier in the morning.  Thankfully no ornaments were broken and she was able to get it back up and securely in the stand.

I took fudge and came home with this.

Yum!  They are all so good!  So good that I am surprised I (or Bobby) have not gotten sick the last couple of days by the amount of cookies and fudge I have eaten.

I think all the ladies had fun and the kids enjoyed playing and eating and eating...

Grayson and I stayed the rest of the afternoon to play and hang out.  Grayson and Ada had a really good day together.  That has not always been the case, but they are getting much better at playing together. 

They now have fun pretending and teaming up against "Swiper" a.k.a. Isaac.  They think they are so much older than him!  It's funny!

While Rachel went to pick up Isaac at Mother's Day Out, I took a few photos (and videos) of Ada & Grayson singing and dancing together.

They were singing some song from High School Musical.  Ada actually knew some of the words, but Grayson just made some up.

They were having so much fun.

They were gettin' their groove on!

Everyday At Least Once

Everyday at least once Grayson asks to wear his (now much too small) "monkey" pajamas.

Everyday at least once (or 100 times) Grayson asks, "What number are you?" (referring to what # your jersey would be if you were playing football).

Everyday at least once Grayson asks to put on his Razorback football uniform.

Everyday at least once (or 200 times) Grayson asks, "Daddy, can we play tackle?"

Everyday at least once (even though it's freezing cold outside) Grayson asks if he can put on a "short sleeve shirt" and "short pants" (a.k.a. shorts).

Everyday at least once during a meal Grayson says, "I need to go to the bathroom".


And though these things get tiring day after day after day, he also...

everyday at least once gives us a hug,

everyday at least once gives us a kiss,

and everyday at least once he tells us he love us.

He is sooo worth it!

It's Santa!

Today while we were on a shopping trip in Fayetteville, Grayson got his annual "picture with Santa" made.  I hadn't really prepared for it.  Grayson's hair was standing up everywhere (his shirt even said "Bad Hair Day") and he wasn't wearing anything remotely Christmassy.  But, I'm not sure when we'll be back and the later it gets the longer the lines will be, so we got it made today.

When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he said, "I don't know, yet."  Then, he put his finger up to his lips and said, "Let me think".

O Christmas Tree...and more

Though I started decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving, I just finished (mostly finished anyway) last night.  The boxes of decorations sat in our entryway and dining room for several days just begging me to put them up.  The problem was I wanted to buy a few new things and didn't want to do much until I had them.

I wasn't able to get all of the new things I wanted to buy.  Turns out if you don't buy some stuff in October when the stores start putting out Christmas decorations, you're not going to get them.  But there's always next year.

So, here's my house decorated for Christmas...

The mantel

On the coffee table                           

       & on the buffet in        the dining room

The Nativity on my sofa table

Above the television            & in the kitchen

The chandelier in the dining room

On a shelf in the dining room & the back of the front door

My snowman collection

And, finally...the tree.

I still have some ribbon to put here and there and I need a table runner for the dining table (I'm hoping my SIL will make me one!), but I think I'm (mostly) finished.

New PB Ornaments

Today the UPS man delivered some new Christmas ornaments I ordered from Pottery Barn Kids.  I saw online somewhere that PB had free shipping and free personalization on some of their ornaments.  And, they were also on sale.  So, I decided to order a personalized ornament with Grayson's name on it...

and then one each with my nieces, Ada and Kali, and my nephew, Isaac's names on them.

Now, I just have to insert a picture into each of them and hang them on our tree.

I think the sale/free shipping/free personalization is still going on for any of you who might want to order.  You can also get these ornaments in a circle shape or a pewter finish.  They are only $5.99 + tax and oh, so cute!

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Not that they are as nice or as sturdy as the PB ornaments, but a couple of weeks ago I made my own picture ornaments for next to nothing.  I used scrapbook supplies I already owned and made these...

I cut the shapes out with my Cricut, adhered the pictures between the two layers, and tied a ribbon on top.  Voila!  Now, they're hanging on my tree.

Everyday Paper Dolls Craft

I recently purchased the Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge.  Among loads of other things on the cartridge there are several sports cuts that can be made from it.  Some of these include a football player, full uniform with helmet, goal posts, football, foam finger, etc.  Since Grayson loves football and we are always in need of something quiet for him to do in church, I thought it would be neat to make him a field, scoreboard, and players to take to church with us.  So I did.

Once they get laminated, they are ready for play.

One player is a Panther (of course) with a #12 uniform.  The other player is from the Pottsville Apaches, a team in our conference.  For some reason Grayson really likes them.  When he's playing football with his dad, he is either a Razorback, a Panther, or an Apache.  I guess he just likes the sound of the name.  Who knows?

Santa Grayson

Sunday night as I was putting up the Christmas decorations, Grayson found a Santa hat.  He put it on and declared himself, "Santa Grayson".

The scary thing was that he also said that he was "Santa" just like Daddy was last night (a.k.a. last year) when "Momma made cookies".  Surely he can't be figuring this Santa thing out already, can he?!

Exhausted

In between meals on Thanksgiving Day we came home for about an hour and didn't think there was time for Grayson to take a nap.  We let him watch tv in our bedroom (while wearing his Razorback uniform that he insisted on changing into as soon as we got home). 

Grayson, however, had a different idea.

He just couldn't make it the whole day without a nap.  He was exhausted.

Thanksgiving Day 2009

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my parents and family this year.  Bobby and I switch off every year.  One year we have lunch with his family, the next year with mine.

Here is Grayson as we are heading out to go to my parents' house.  He just had to bring his football.  He doesn't want to miss any opportunity to play tackle.

Once we arrived, it was hugs all around for Grayson.  Here he is with my Aunt Darla.

As we waited for lunch to get ready

Grayson chilled with cousin Seth.

After a wonderful meal and some relaxing, it was time for some family pictures.  First up was the Arbaughs, which includes my Uncle Carl and Aunt Darla and their children and families.  On the left side of the picture is Jovie, Brian, Brandon, and Seth.  On the right side is John, Deann, and J.R.

We tried to get a picture of my cousin, Jovie, and her family, but somebody would not get out of the picture.  So, here's the Swains + 1.

Here is a four generation picture, which includes my Aunt Ruby with her daughter Nancy with her daughter Melody with her son Kade.

Next, a picture of Grayson with two of his cousins.

I'm not fond of the picture of Bobby, Grayson, and me so I won't post it, but here is a picture of me with my sister, Angie that Nancy took.

After pictures we headed home for an hour or so before leaving again to go to Fort Smith for dinner with the Freemans and Lundys.  Sadly, I did not take the camera out of my purse one time.  So I have no pictures. 

We had another wonderful meal that evening prepared by my SIL Rachel and her mother, Cindy, that included fried turkey, vegetable medley, homemade rolls, dressing, and many, many delicious pies!  It was sooo good!

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Though I did not get out to the Early Bird sales on Friday morning with all the crazies (i.e. Rachel and Crissy), I did do a little shopping on Thursday evening before we had dinner.  I went to Michaels for their Thanksgiving Day sale with my SIL Rachel and her sister Crissy.  They had Cricut cartridges 60% off!  I had to have a couple or three.  So now I have added Everyday Paper Dolls, A Child's Year, and Sports Mania to my collection.  And, my Cricut buddies added about 6 or 7 more to which I have access.  Yippee!  Just one more thing to be thankful for!

Team New Moon

A couple of weeks ago the movie, New Moon, from the Twilight series came out.  Though I haven't read any of the books (which are extremely popular), I went to see the movie the first night/morning it came out.  I did want to see New Moon, but I wasn't sure I wanted to go the 12:22 a.m. showing that some of my friends wanted to go to.

First of all, I honestly thought that I was too old to be going to a just-after midnight movie.  Secondly, I think I would have been fine to have waited to see it when it came out on pay-per-view in a few months like I did with the first movie in the series.

But...I am glad that I went when I did.  I liked it more than I thought I would and I am excited for the next installment in the series, Eclipse, which comes out at the end of June 2010.  Maybe, I'll read the books before then.  Maybe.

I'm not an obsessed Twilight fan (yet), but I did really like the movie. 

And, going to a midnight showing was fun (maybe a little silly).

So Long Golden Boot

In an exciting overtime game Saturday night the football Hogs lost to LSU.  I so thought we had it won when we scored our last touchdown at the end of the 4th quarter, but it was not to be.  We did enjoy watching the game together, though.

Grayson watched some of it sitting beside his dad.

And, though it didn't help us win, I caught Bobby praying during overtime.

Not only was I not happy with the loss, but I was also not happy with the game being on Saturday instead of Friday as it usually is.  It has become a tradition of ours to watch the Hogs vs. LSU football game with my cousin Jovie and her family.  With the game being moved to Saturday, we weren't able to do it this year.  Hopefully, next year the game will be moved back to Friday and we can resume our tradition.

Yay, Corn!

Wednesday evening Bobby, Grayson, and I went to dinner with my FIL Bob, MIL Rutha and friends Don and Cheryl to celebrate Bob's birthday.  We went to Western Sizzlin here in town. 

When Bobby was filling Grayson's plate from the buffet, Grayson said he wanted corn-on-the-cob so Bobby got him some.  As soon as they returned from the buffet, I saw the corn and asked Bobby why he had gotten it (Grayson has never eaten corn that I know of.  We have tried, but he has never put it in his mouth.).  Bobby said that Grayson said he wanted it (actually said he "loved" it).

So, Grayson starts his meal and at some point asks for help in eating the corn-on-the-cob.  Though I still didn't believe he was going to eat it, I held up the corn so he could take a bite (believing the whole time he was going to get really close to it and then shake his head and say he didn't want it).  To my surprise Grayson takes a bite.

And then another...

And another.  He ended up eating most of it.  He said he loved it.

Just when you think you have your kids tastes all figured out, they throw you a curve.  Yay, corn!

Back To The Land Of The Living

Yesterday Grayson looked like this

and he felt terrible.  He didn't sleep well Sunday night.  He had a runny/stuffy nose.  He coughed often.  His eyes were watery looking.   He was extremely warm.

Around 1:00 a.m. Sunday night/Monday morning he told us his ear was hurting, so Monday Bobby and I took him to the doctor.  The bad news was he had ear infections in both ears.  The good news is we got medicine and he is now on the mend.

Yesterday he laid around all day while covered with a big fleece blanket because he was cold.  And he hardly ate a thing.

Today is different.  Although he is not completely well, I do know he is feeling much better.  No more lounging time for him.  Today he is back in his Razorback football uniform and he has a little bounce in his step.

Grayson is now back to the land of the living...and playing!

Crafts, Crafts, & More Crafts

Lately I've been trying to get some Christmas and "just because" gifts made.  A couple of them I can't post pictures of yet since they are Christmas gifts and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.  

The hardest part for me about having some of the gifts completed is not giving them for another month!  I'm usually bad at surprises.  I want to know too badly.  And, it's equally as difficult for me not to tell others what their gifts are.

Yes, I'm the kind of person who as a teenager unwrapped the Christmas gifts under the tree to see what they were and then wrapped them back so my parents wouldn't know I had done it.  And they didn't know...until years later when I told them myself.  I'm also the kind of person who DVRs shows like Survivor and America's Next Top Model just so I can fast forward to the end of the show to see who has been kicked off.  Then, I rewind it and watch it from the beginning.  It's a sickness.

Anywho...on to the crafts.

The first one is a picture puzzle I made for Grayson to give to him at Christmas (I think I'm safe putting this one on the blog.  Grayson isn't really into blog reading these days.). 

It started out like this (purchased for $1.99 at Hobby Lobby).

I then took a 4x6 photo, traced out where the puzzle pieces would be, cut it out, adhered the photo pieces to the individual puzzle pieces, and decorated the frame.  Here's what it looks like all finished.

I thought it was a cute idea especially for a young kid who likes puzzles.  There are only 6 pieces so it's not too difficult.  Whoever you give it to would know the people in the picture, which would make it more fun for them.  You could use a picture of the child you are giving the puzzle to or a picture of their grandparents or a picture of them with their siblings or just about anything or anyone they love.

The next gift I have made recently is for some friends of ours.  We don't exchange Christmas gifts, but I wanted to make them something.  I plan on giving it to them the next time we see them.  Hopefully, they won't look at my blog before then.  But if they do, it's okay. 

***(Oops, I just pushed the wrong button.  I intended to add a photo, but pushed "publish post" instead.  Sorry to those of you who got a partial post.)***

I got this idea from a Hobby Lobby idea magazine.  I thought it was very cute.  I cut out all the pieces to this using my Cricut.  I then added jewel embellishments to the chandelier and chain.

I hope they like it as much as I do.

In a previous post I showed you a "magazine cover" I framed for Grayson's room.  I did it online in the photo department at Walmart.com using a picture of Grayson in his football uniform.  I wanted to do two more so I would have three to put together above his bed.  Here is Grayson on the cover of "Home Run Magazine",

where he has been named "Player of the Year".  And here he is on the cover of "Basketball Quarterly",

where it appears that the Atlanta Hawks intend to sign him to their NBA team at the age of 3.  What a stud!

This last picture is of a Thanksgiving scrapbook page that I intend to put out as my flag on Thanksgiving Day (as long as it is not raining).

It's simple, but I like it.

If I don't say so before Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Grayson, The Cover Boy

I have been trying for months now to decide what to put above Grayson's bed in his room.  Today I got an idea.  I was looking online at Wal-Mart's photo department when I saw that you could take a picture and put it on a magazine cover.  They had several to choose from. 

Since I have a picture (several, actually) of Grayson in his Razorback football uniform, I thought the cover of a football magazine would be really cute.  So, I uploaded a photo, chose the cover, added a caption at the bottom, and sent it to the 1-hour photo department at our Wal-Mart store.  An hour later I had this:

Well, I really only had the picture (it prints in an 8x10).  But once I got it home I put it in a frame and mat I already owned.  It only cost around $3 and I think it's way cute!

And the best part is Grayson really likes it.

I have two other frames exactly like this one, so I'm going to do a couple other covers with different sports.  Then, I'm going to put the three of them on the wall above Grayson's bed.