Bye-bye, baby curls!

Dylan couldn't avoid it, but he had to work late tonight. So, this evening, my Mom and I took Daniel for his very first haircut!!!! He did great! Although, I shouldn't be too surprised by that since he's usually always the picture-perfect baby. =)

A lot of his curls are gone now, but he looks like such a big boy now! Now his haircut matches his size! Ha!

Getting started...


Doing such a good job for Ms. Kim!




Not really sure what's going here...


But, I sure do look handsome!

We're back!!!!

Well, we made it safe and sound back from Georgia. All 894+ miles! The boys did great on the entire trip (well, for the most part.) A lot of thanks to my Mom for catering to their needs during the long drive. I drove the whole way and she handed the boys whatever it was they were asking for. Yes - I probably had the better end of the deal on that one.

The trip on the way home went a little faster than on the way down. Once we figured out that Daniel is capable of drinking his weight in milk, we were sure to keep him well-stocked on the trip back. Man, I have never realized how much that little man can drink until I had to be sure to keep his cup filled for a 7 hour period.

Anyways, on Thursday when I picked up Jacob from preschool, I was greeted with an extra passenger that would be joining us for our trip - Chester, the bear! (Actually, there were two extra passengers since Chester also has a bear of his own, Sunny.) Chester is a bear that his teacher gives to a student to take home each weekend. When they return to school on Tuesday, the student gets to tell the class all about what they did with Chester and where they took him. Little did Chester know just how well-traveled of a bear he was about to become! Here are the pictures that Jacob will be taking in for show and tell tomorrow:


Jacob, with Chester and Sunny, at the SC/NC border.


Jacob and his Great-Grandpa Dobinski.


At the Georgia Welcome Center.


Outside of a rest stop right inside the NC state line.

And for extra cuteness, here are some pictures from Jacob's PJ day at Preschool:


They were doing the letter "P" at school that week, so here he is in his Penguin Pajamas and ready to have a Pizza Party for lunch. Oh, and to add on to that Pop-Pop picked him up from school in his pick-up truck! I know, I know - I'm just too much for myself sometimes, too!




Oh - and here is the final product before we left the house. (Notice in the first pictures that his hair wasn't brushed??? Yeah - I was so focused on it being PJ day that we almost forgot to do his hair that day!)

Georgia... on my mind (& Grandpa, too!)

The boys and I are traveling to Georgia to see this man on Friday and I could not be more excited! I love going to visit my Grandpa and here's why:

1. He loves to call the boys by their initials (J.D. and D.J.) and I love it. But only when he does it.
2. I love that my Grandpa cares enough to give my boys their own special nicknames. It makes ME feel even more special.
3. I love the fact that I can talk to my Grandpa about anything. Well, that is, as long as he has his hearing aids turned up so he can hear me. :)
4. I love riding in his car with him. It makes me laugh nowadays to be a passenger and watch how he drives. Trust me on this one - you would much rather be a passenger in his car than be in a different car for this experience!
5. I also love riding in his car because repeat after me: Grandpa's car = Lifesavers Wintergreen Mints
6. I love going down to my Grandpa's and seeing all the family pictures that my Grandma loved to display in her bookcase and how Grandpa has added to this collection.
7. I love listening to my Grandpa's stories. I love going to see him because I always come home with at least one new story.

There are many more reasons, but it all comes down to this: I love my Grandpa and I always have. As I get older, so does he and so I have learned to cherish every minute that I am blessed to spend with him.

And here's hoping that everything will truly be great in '08 - yes, I am that cheesy!

Well, Christmas is over. That's right, my favorite time of the year is over. The lights have been taken down and the tree has been undecorated. Notice how I didn't say it has been taken down? Yep, we have a Christmas tree minus the decorations still sitting in our family room. Dylan assured the tree that today it would be meeting it's end. Apparently it's either been too cold or too dark or both over the past 3 days for Dylan to take it outside and rip the lights off of it and throw it next to our trash cans. Hey - I'm not complaining because y'all know that I'm certainly not going to be the one to do that dirty, pokey pine needles, sticky sap kind of work. I'm just hoping that maybe the two of us can get motivated enough to finish packing up the rest of Christmas so that I can finish getting the house in order.

The boys had a wonderful Christmas and so did I. Jacob's favorite part was going out on Christmas Eve to leave some "magic" food for the reindeer. Who am I kidding? Jacob's favorite part was really the PRESENTS!!! Santa brought him a lot of things off of his list and he was very happy with all of it. He thought it was pretty cool that we let him go out in his PJs on Christmas morning and try out his new bike. Daniel loved opening his presents. He didn't really care too much what was inside, he just liked ripping them open. Of course, as soon as the last presents had been opened at my in-laws' house, we had to come home and pack up some of the boys' current toys to make room for the new ones. Jacob actually did a really good job helping me choose which toys he was ready to pack up and which ones he wanted to keep. I was amazed that he was able to let go of anything at all!

Anyways, I hope you all had a very Merry and very blessed Christmas! Now it's time for the pictures:


This is what happens to you in this house if you sit still too long while I am decorating. :)


Jacob and Daniel pick out the next ornaments they want to put on the tree.


Jacob puts on the star while Dylan appears to be spending some one-on-one time with the tree.


All the grandkids together in front of the tree at my Mom's house.


Oh, yeah - and did I mention that Daniel started officially walking a week before Christmas! Yeah!!!


It may have been Jacob's gift, but Daniel clearly has been enjoying the kazoo.


Eddie found his favorite spot - right under the tree!


Speaking of the tree... here it is with all the presents under it.


Jacob's reaction when he came downstairs was absolutely priceless!


Jacob helps Daniel open a present.