Dayton VS The Tableware

Looks innocent enough huh?

And THIS is why Dayton isn't using Tableware yet..... :)

An exciting night at the dinner table.

I have been off work since Friday, one more day off tomorrow, short days Wednesday and Thursday and then off again for a three day weekend! I am definatly not complaining! All that to say that since I was home my goal was to have dinner ready when Austin got home. My day was pretty hectic, and it reminded me how thankful I am for my mom. Since I was home, I also decided to try a new recipe. I had found a recipe online for "Everyone's Favorite Pork Chops". The name itself drew me in because my first thought was- I wonder if Tate will like them. Tate is my VERY picky eater....he eats no type of meat without "Pop" aka Ketchup. And sometimes even vegetables are dipped in it as well. Gross! The recipe was definatly easy and it was a hit! Everyone cleaned their plate. Big accomplishment in this household. Tate even told me how yummy it was. And to make the night even better, Dayton used his sign for "please". We have been working really hard with him on sign language. Tate loved the Baby Einstens "Signs" DVD. Dayton is terrified of the caterpillar at the beginning, so its never really grasp his attention. So, we've been working on it with him. So far we have "More", and "All Done" but now we added "Please". I know this is a silly thing to be excited about but we learned with Tate that sign language was a great way to communicate, and if hes communicating we at least want him to be polite! :)

"Everyone's Favorite Pork Chops"

1/4 Cup Flour
1/4 teaspoon of Pepper
1 Tomato- chopped
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Tablespoon Oil
Onion- thinly sliced
Cooked Noodles

Combine flour, garlic powder, pepper. Coat and brown chops on both sides in oil over medium heat. Sprinkle tomato and onion over chops. Pour Soy Sauce and 1/3 cup of water over all. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until tender. Turning chops over once, serve over noodles.

If you are anything like me, easy is my top priority. And this recipe was definatly easy and the fact that everyone LOVED it- made it even better!

Tate's Day

The school Tate has been going to for the past 3 years is run by a small Methodist Church here in town. Every year the men's bible study group from the church hosts a "Breakfast with Santa" for the kids. They cook pankcakes, bacon, sausage, and pastries. The 3 and 4 year olds always close out Breakfast with Christmas Carols. Last year Tate sang through his teeth, so this year when he came home and informed us that he has a "line" in the Christmas program, all I could think about was his line coming up and him FREEZING. But he did great!! His "solo" was in the 12 Days of Christmas. They sang "On the first day of Christmas my teacher gave to me....." Tate was the 7th day and his line was "7 Balls for Bouncing". I was so proud of my little (or should I say big) man. They sang about 4 or 5 songs, and for the most part he sang all of them word for word. :)



Not only was today Breakfast for Santa, but Tate was recognized in Chapel for being Student of the Week. He got to get up infront of the school (which isnt that big) and be recognized. They read off all the special things about Tate (in his words):
His Birthday: February 6th
His Family: Mommy, Daddy and Dayton (which he can spell Daytons name!!)
His Friends: Sawyer, Jackson and Drew
His Favorite Color: All the Rainbow Colors
His Hobbies: Coloring and Playing Mario
I was so glad I was able to stay and see him be recognized, and so was he!


After Chapel Tate convinced me to stay for snack time. They made Christmas trees out of waffle cones, icing, m&m's and marshmallows. It was a really cute idea. Minus the green icing and M&M's of course! :) But, Tate being the trooper that he is settled for a snow covered tree (white icing) and marshmallows and broken up Hershey's kisses. Im excited that we learned today though that the Whole Foods store here in town does not carry anything with artificial colors in it. All colors are all natural. So, I will be able to go and get him M&M type candy (which is what his teacher hands out at school for treats) and we were able to get all kinds of things for him to decorate cookies with- AND Candy Canes!!!! It was quite traumatic for mommy (the candy cane-aholic) that she is, not to have Candy Canes in the house this year! But, problem solved!! :)



And tonight my sweet boy was spending the night at Ma's house. Sure was quite around here! Grandma's church was having a Christmas get together and mom wanted to make sure that Grandma had her "greats" there to show off. Plus, Santa was coming!! I just got the sweetest call from Tate "Mommy I got a "Cha-Chow (Lightning McQueen) remote control car from Santa!" He was so excited! Mom said he waited until they got home to open it and she prayed the whole way that it would be something he would love. A great end to a wonderful day in December! Im off to finish up my last little bit of shopping tomorrow night.....only one week to go!!

The Trip to see Santa....

The picture by itself shows the adventure that this trip was.....

I have been astounded this year by the amount of criticism that people have been throwing out in regards to Santa. Ive heard everything from Im lying to my kids to Santa being Satan. Really? I was raised believing in Santa and never ONCE thought my parents had lied to me. I feel that while some feel that we have moved away from the true meaning of Christmas (which, I will give them, a lot of people have) we have moved away from giving our kids the chance to have an imagination and be a KID. I had a friend post out of curiosity what people did in their homes about Santa. Now, I believe to each their own, but some people have just taken it too far. How is believing in Santa any different than believing in Super Hero's or Princesses? I guess we should just crush our kids dreams about that as well.

My kids know the true meaning of Christmas, and for that reason I see nothing wrong with celebrating with Santa as well. When Tate was asked what Christmas was all about, his answer was "Giving, and Jesus' Birthday". Santa was not even mentioned. Now, does he enjoy the presents and the extra fun? Of Course. But he also enjoys baking our Birthday Cake for Jesus and singing Happy Birthday to him. I believe that God gave us an imagination, and I believe that we should allow our children to use that imagination to the fullest. Jesus is in this house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Santa comes once a year, and Super Hero's, Mickey and Princesses (yeah right) are welcome in this house any day of the year. <3

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Christmas is one of my most favorite times of years. Christmas decorations, Christmas Carols, all the hustle and bustle. And most of all I get to share with my boys the most important reason for the season: Christ's birth. I asked Tate the other day what Christmas was really about, his response "Giving and Jesus' birthday". I love all the fun of the season, but I always want my boys to remember that precious baby who came to earth so long ago.

This year we "adopted" a little boy from our Christmas for Kids program at church. His name is Isaiah, and he is 5 years old. Tate and I went one Friday night and went shopping for Isaiah, I dropped his gifts off at church on Monday night. Tate had a lot of fun shopping for his "new friend". Im not quite sure that he truly understands the concept behind helping those who may not be as fortunate as us. But hopefully, in a few years, he will understand.

I wanted to share some of my "favorites" from around our house this time of year....



My little artist has been busy at work. He is insisting on coloring pictures to cover all of our cabinets. My mom used to decorate her kitchen with all our holiday artwork. The difference is, that Tate wants to fill the whole kitchen in one day. :) I keep trying to explain to him that he will make plenty of pictures at school for him to decorate with. By the end of this Christmas Im afraid my kitchen may be one large Christmas coloring book.



May I introduce Christopher-Pop-in-Kins? He is a new addition to our Holiday season. Chris showed up on our doorstep Thanksgiving Day. Apparently he made a deal with Santa to visit real boys and girls until Christmas Eve and keep an eye on them for him. He occasionally "pops" out while we are sleeping and reports to Santa on Tate and Daytons behavior. We always know when he has been gone, he ends up in a different place in the house when he returns. So far Chris seems to have had a pretty positive effect.



One of my favorite decorations are these "star" ornaments that we found in the basement of my Grandaddy's house when we were cleaning it out this past summer. They are from when my dad was young. I love having a memory of my grandparents near on Christmas.

I will finish with a family tradition that I started with Tate. Every year the boys each get an ornament of their choosing. Of course the first year they both have their first Christmas ornament. Then Tate has a Tractor (2007), Batman (2008), A Power Ranger (2009) and this year, of course, is Iron Man. Dayton isnt really old enough to "choose" his. I had a really hard time deciding too. He loves music, so I thought I would find something musical and kidproof. I found an old Fisher Price Ornament on Ebay that plays "Oh Christmas Tree". Its plastic, so totally kidproof. He seemed to approve. Here is a picture of the ornaments and then of the boys showing them off. I think I will make the picture a tradition too. :)

A Year in Review

I AM NOT good at this. I openly admitted it. They say that admitting a flaw is your first step right?? I really want to be good at it- so, I will try harder. I have been keeping up with other peoples blogs, not to mention a few awesome coupon and deal-finder websites. All done by moms- and I always think- if they have the time to do ALL of this I should be able to keep up a blog for my family. Ive gotten so busy with life, that I have forgotten to take time to document it. Poor Daytons baby book hasnt even been written in. I really need to get to that...... :)

WELL, its been a year. My baby boy just turned one and my big boy will be 5 in two months!! I cant believe it!

Tate is wonderful. He is getting so big and doing so well in school. I had a parent/teacher conference with his VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) teacher yesterday and he is doing great. He is student of the week next week, we had to take in pictures and ans a questionare....I will have to post a picture of his poster. He recognizes 17 out of 26 letters of the alphabet! And that was in Sept. She said she is pretty sure he knows them all by now. He is always asking me if he is writing his letters correctly. He loves to just sit and write his letters. And he LOVES coloring and painting. He is my little artist. He is always making beautiful pictures for all of us. I know I will treasure these one day, but for now it seems like most days my house is over taken by paper. His new favorite thing is to play Mario on my Wii. He loves it. He gets 30 minutes a day, if he behaves, and if his homework is done, his toys put away, and he has had his shower and is ready for bed. Most nights hes on top of it, some nights, not so much.. :) Here are a couple pics of my Tater this past year...





Dayton is getting so much more independent everyday! Hes not only walking now, hes running! :) Its tough keeping up with those big boys! Hes a tough one though, he can fend for himself. He is already learning exactly what makes big brother tick. He can make Tate mad SO fast- and he laughs. Boy, am I in for it. He is so sweet though, you pick him up and he just lays his head on your shoulder and give you love. I love it and Im treasuring every moment, I know they wont last. He loves anything he isnt supposed to have, like most kids I assume. But particularly remotes, cell phones, iPods and laptops. And he knows the difference when we take the batteries out...He keeps us on our toes!





Austin and I are great- both jobs are going well. We have lots of plans for projects around the house in the upcoming year or so. Cant wait to get started! :) Well, thats enough for now, post again soon! :)