Christmas Has Come and Gone

My last post (which was 100 years ago) stated that Christmas was coming!  Well it has now come and gone.  This year celebrating Christmas was so much fun with my sweet little family. I loved seeing the spirit of the season and excitement of every thing like the first time through Hill's eyes.  We've talked about Jesus' birthday so much to Hill that he is now talking about birthday's all the time.  Birthday cake, birthday candy, "Happy Day to You" he sings.

Our 2011 Christmas Card
(Thanks, Sukie!)

Of course I am the party mom of the century (or at least of Hill's daycare class) so I was excited to capture party pictures and make goodies for all of his little friends.

L-R: Rhett, Maci, Hill & Britton

The crowd was sparse since EVERY kid was out with either the flu, strep, stomach bug, hand foot & mouth or some other debilitating daycare disease.  These kids have iron clad immune systems and therefore had the opportunity to eat my zombie reindeer cookies.  They did not turn out like the picture I saw online.  Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?

Note to other party mom's...2 year olds cannot eat pretzels with m&m's mixed with white chocolate and made into a ball.  Their mouths are not big enough and they can't grasp the concept that the food can break into little pieces and they don't have to gnaw on it and break all of their baby teeth out.  My bad. Again, the thought that counts right?

So now that I've learned Martha Stewart is not child friendly in her gourmet goodies I can just be myself.  What a relief.  At least the kiddos enjoyed their grapes.

My mom sent Hill no less than 6,000 presents individually wrapped so the week before we let him open one present a night.  He loved tearing into them.  He'd open it and say "Oh!  Book!  Read Book!" or his favorite was the Cars 2 movie she sent.  I think we've watched it 32 times in the past few days.

My pictures of Christmas are few and far between because I'm still learning how to use my Mac and resizing pictures has not been figured out yet.  I'm sure you have NO DOUBT that I took a million and are probably appreciative I'm not replaying every tear of every box onto my blog....because I could and would if I knew how.

Hill woke up and walked into the living room and straight to the corner where he left the present he'd opened the night before.  He didn't even turn to check out the whole living room was filled with dinosaurs, cars, race tracks, clothes, a Black and Decker workshop, play doh, coloring books, stickers, magnets, and not to forget the slew of wrapped presents.

So, since he totally missed the three ring circus of toys when he walked in the living room Chip and I were really able to see the shock on his face when he turned around and saw all the loot!  His face literally was like, "Umm, what is this?  Seriously, what is all of this?  OH MY GOODNESS IT'S ALL MINE!"  It was a slow motion process and hilarious!  He was so busy running around trying to give everything the attention it deserved I couldn't get a good sitting still Christmas morning picture.  So here you have it... an action shot.

Working on his new fire truck with his new screw driver

His big gift was already given to him since Master Carpenter Chip had to construct it over a few day period.  We've had a 20 foot tree house in our back yard since we moved in.  It was the adult tree house and for sure not kid friendly unless you want your toddler to start bungee jumping early.  So WE built a 1st level 5 feet off the ground with a slide and steps for the young outdoors man to enjoy now.  I use the term "WE" loosely.  I did a good job of moral support.  Chip hammered every nail and cut every board and did all the magical things to make Project Tree House 2011 happen.

Chip and Hill building the tree house.
Hill had his plastic blue hammer to help Dada.

My favorite toy was his digital camera.  My son can now be vain at his leisure instead of insisting 24-7 to see my cell phone to view "Pictures of Hill."  Yay for Fisher Price Tough Kids camera / video camera with a lens that flips so he can film himself!  I'm glad to know that maybe just maybe other kids are as egotistical as mine.

I also liked the fact that my genius son figured out that the dinosaur could hold his jelly beans and then he could put the dinosaurs head in his mouth to get the jelly bean out an eat it.

Who knew dinosaurs liked Jelly Beans?

As for Doug the Elf, he will be missed until next Christmas.  Maybe he will drop by mid year to keep a check on Hilly poo.  This was where Doug was last.... waiting for Santa and ready to ride away on the reindeer.

As Hill would say, Yee Haw!

As if Hill didn't have enough fun on Christmas, he woke up the next morning saying, "Open presents?"

What did Chip and I get for Jesus' Birthday you ask?  Well Chip got the super de duper HD blah blah blah 3D structure detector and monster jaws loch ness monster locator.  That's my translation of a state of the art fish finder for his fishing boat.

And yours truly can go ahead and kick the bucket after February because Chip is fulfilling my #1 bucket list item - - Elton John tickets.  We are going to Las Vegas to hear Elton John and my husband can video me screaming and crying and clawing my eyes out like those teeny bopper girls when they saw the Beetles.  Oh my goodness I am going to FLIP!  I may just go ahead and die while he plays Candle in The Wind.  That might just be better than being old and dying in my sleep.  Ironic, yes, but blissful and Heavenly - no doubt.  I wake up every morning wondering if it's time to go see Elton yet.  I think my other present was that we are getting a garage door, but I can't remember because I'm going to Las Vegas to see Elton John.

Christmas Is Coming!

What a great busy holiday season this has been so far!  I'm loving that Hill is loving the whole idea of Christmas and Santa and elves.  This past week has been full of watching him absorb the spirit of Christmas.  Oh through the eyes of a babe.

Thursday was the M&F Bank Christmas Party.  We had such a great time.  Hill would have sat and watched Dylan Davis play his guitar until the end of time.  Thanks Dylan for being so sweet and singing all the fun Christmas songs.  I'm pretty sure we will have to call Dylan if we ever need a babysitter all he would have to do is just sing and play the whole time.

I told Hill he couldn't watch Dylan all night because there was someone special here at the party to see him.  Hill had no idea that SANTA was there!  I was anxious to see how he would react because last Christmas at 11 months he wasn't really aware of what was going on.  He did the picture thing, but it wasn't really impressionable.  This year we brought a list to Santa of the things he wanted which was a fabulous idea because it was an icebreaker for Hill to walk up to Santa.  I gave him the note and told him to take it to Santa.  So he walked up to Santa sitting in his chair and gave it to him.  He saw Santa had candy canes which was all it took.  Hill popped up in Santa's lap and posed for the camera.  This is the picture I got, but the one the photographer took is going to be great because Hill was cracking up laughing when he snapped it.  I'll share it when I get it.

After listening to music, visiting with Santa and drinking 89 gallons of punch we all headed to the Christmas parade.  I wish this picture wasn't so blurry, but I couldn't help but post it, I thought it was sweet.  Hill and his Dada walking on the Square before the parade.

We went to my office building to watch the parade.  The 3rd floor has balconies that overlook the Square and I thought that was a great place to get a birds eye view of what was going on.  Also, since it was freezing outside we could go in should we need to.
Before the parade we hung out with some of the people I work with.  Hill and the President were conducting serious important business.

Hill was giving Jeff a demonstration of how his dump truck works.

Absorbing all the commotion

Hi FIRE TRUCK!

Chip and Hill watching the parade

Sweet Rhodes hanging out on the balcony.

Silly Ellie!
Hill sure loves him some Ellie Develin.

As if watching someone play the guitar, seeing Santa, and catching the local Christmas parade wasn't enough...when we got home we found someone new in our house!

This is Doug.
Doug is our family's Elf on a Shelf!

 I read Hill the Elf on the Shelf story and explained to him what he does and how we can't touch him.  The first step was to name him!  I asked Hill what he wanted to name him and under his breath he mumbled something.  Chip and I asked him what he said and it came out softly and mumbly, "Duhk."  I turned to Chip and said, "Doug?"  Chip hit the floor laughing.  Doug?!?  It's perfect, but how in the world did Hill come up with that?  We don't know anyone named Doug.  It could quite possibly be that he said 'Duck' but we stuck with Doug.

Doug has already made an impact on Hill.  That night as he was fighting bedtime Chip reminded him that Doug was watching and would report back to Santa him being so disobedient.  Hill looked up at Doug and gave him the meanest look.  If looks would kill Doug would be dead and have lost all of his magic right then and there.

This weekend Chip has his annual Mountain Man Weekend so Hill and I are left to party it up.  Last night, Friday, we went to visit Nana and Papa.  Shane Preston was there and so he and Hill watched the Elf on the Shelf show that came on TV.  Shane Preston has an elf at his house too, his name is Red.
 

Sweet cousins

After a late night at Nana and Papa's we headed home.  Chip and I have established that I am the fun play parent and therefore Hill has a problem listening to me.  Well with Chip gone this weekend Hill sure tested bedtime...again.  On the way home he informed me that we needed to put on our pj's and sit in the rocking chair (recliner) and watch Kiki (Mickey Mouse.)  I was so tired I was ready to go to bed as soon as we got home, but I caved.  Finally at 10:15 pm I went into his room and got into his full size bed and hoped he'd come and join me.  Nope.  So as I started to fall into a coma I decided that child protective services would not be happy if I left my not even 2 year old awake watching Mickey while I went to bed.  Against my inner voices I got up and turned off the TV and made him come to bed.  I don't really remember the fit that was thrown because I was so tired.  Yet, when I woke up this morning he was asleep and didn't wake up until like 8:15 am.  Why is it that I wake up at 7 the one time he actually sleeps late?

ya'll so much for including us.  They had so many fun activities planned out.

Here is Hill and Mrs. Fenwick painting with their hands!

Here is Tanner getting ready to paint with Mrs. Alford!

Mrs. Fenwich helping Hill glue on the ornaments (pom poms) to his hand painted tree.

Tanner and Hill hanging out.

Story time!  Hill doesn't meet a stranger.  He sat right in this lady he's never met lap.

Then as if all that playing and painting and reading wasn't enough for one day we went to the movies!  Junior Auxiliary had their Santa Express this afternoon at the local movie theater.  Santa was there again and remembered Hill from the other night!  Hill gave a half eaten cookie to Santa and he ate it!  Hill thought that was the funniest thing EVER.  So did all the rest of us.

Since Hill has never been to the movies I explained beforehand how we were going to watch a big TV and they had popcorn and Santa there.  I was really worried because he hadn't had a nap and has had such a busy day but when we got there he got his cookies, saw Santa and immediately remembered he needed popcorn.  

He's a professional movie goer now.

This elates me to no end.  I LOVE nothing more than to go to the movies.  I don't even have to like what I watch, I just love going to the movies.  So my heart is warmed that Hill does too!  I will have to remember next time to get him his own drink and a large popcorn.  He ate the whole medium tub of popcorn (well 97%) and didn't like sharing!  He did good about watching the whole movie.  He did get up and sit on the aisle steps towards the end, but he continued to watch the movie...Polar Express.  How fun!  Thanks JA girls for all your hard work on this event.

It's 5:30 pm now and Hill has been asleep for and hour and a half. He fell asleep in the car on the way home from the movies.  Normally this would bother me and I'd have kept him up because he wouldn't sleep tonight, but we are about to head over to the Warrington's to eat and play with Harvey and Tanner so I'm hoping that he wears out again and doesn't put up a fight come night night time.  Wish me luck.

I guess if he gets crazy on me I can always summon Doug.....

Holiday Cards That Create Smiles

I may be too late in the game for those of you that are on the ball this holiday season but I would be remiss if I didn't let you know that tinyprints.com is offering 10% off orders of $49 or more.  All you have to do is enter in the code SMILE10 to receive the discount and 13% of all the sales will be donated to Operation Smile!

How awesome is that!?!

Why are you so funny?

Hill has been doing some monstrously funny things lately.  He can communicate really really well.  If he wants something he can ask for it or give you direction to figure out what it is he does need or want.  He’s very good at saying No.  He has never said the word Yes, he only says “ahh” like in a ‘that was refreshing’ type way or starts laughing.  If you are sitting down and he wants you to get up to get him something he will pull your arm and grunt while trying to lift you up.  He usually needs me to be doing something for him so it’s always “mama geh up!  Ugh! (grunt pull grunt) Geh up!”

He’s obsessed with trucks, fire trucks tractors and anything that has wheels.  He’s always sure to point out the “wee-eews” (wheels).  He has learned that there are men that drive fire trucks and they are evidentially called fire truck mans.

He understands that there are different kinds of balls.  You have baseball (bayball), basketball (back ek ball), football (boo ball), but my favorite is soccer ball (caca ball).

He knows that his name is Hill Hawkins and if you ask him to say it he usually will unless he’s being really shy.  It’s pretty much the cutest thing ever to hear him say Hawkins.  He pronounces it very clearly.  The other thing that he pronounces fantastically is the name of his chapstick.  It’s called Baby Kisses and it makes me want to eat him up when he says it so precisely. 

My son is a male diva.  I don’t know what you call a male diva but he is so vain.  He thinks my cell phone is dedicated to pictures and videos of him.  If he sees my phone (or Chips) he says “picture Hill” meaning I know you have pictures of me in there and we need to sit here for 3 hours and look at them over and over and over.  If he finds my phone sitting alone somewhere he can reach he will grab it.  The boy knows how to open the smart phone.  Push the button at the bottom then slide the bar across with your finger.  My password seems to aggravate him because he can’t get past it.  So so vain. Wait until he finds out he has a blog that’s mainly about him one day.  We will all be up a creek then.

The kooky things he still does is obsess over his shoes, socks and shirts.  He MUST pick out his own clothes otherwise it makes for a long long morning.  I’ve come to the conclusion that some kids have their pacifiers, others their blankets…Hill has his shoes.  He has specific names for them.  There are his cool shoes (kooh shoe), tennis shoes (tennih shoe), his car house shoes (car shoe) and many others but those are the main ones that have a name.  If he doesn’t have them on when he goes to sleep then he requests them in his bed and before he goes to bed he usually puts them on himself - - the correct foot 98% of the time.  And I’m sure that you didn’t know but there are certain shoes that require certain socks depending on the mood of the day.  Yes it’s true and my son prefers navy blue socks if I give him a choice.

The latest is manners.  Daycare has done an outstanding job with teaching him manners.  No ma’am, please, thank you, welcome.  He always tells me, “thanks ma.”  So nonchalantly.  Ma?  Really?  What are we the Walton’s?  Night John Boy.

We’ve established he’s a good eater.  I hope he doesn’t become obsessed with eating but at this age I never know if he’s really hungry when he says “eat” or if it’s just habit?  He’s just as bad with his eating set up as he is with his shoe fetish.  If he’s eating a snack he likes them to be in a bowl.  He can go to the cabinet and pick out his plastic bowl of choice then bring it to you to put his snack in.  His sippy cup debacle usually causes the most drama. He associates his cups with people, situations and likes.  He likes the movie Cars so he likes his Car sippy cup or his Truck sippy cup (the red one specifically not the yellow one with trucks on it.)  He likes the juice bottles that have batman or superman or some type of figurine on the top to drink out of - - that is what he calls a “man bah”  - Because it has a man on it and it’s a bah-bah (aka sippy cup).  Capri Suns with the surfer on it is a man bah as well.

Those three types of cups are the ones I can usually get him to drink out of without drama.  Sometimes I’m supposed to read his mind and know that he wants “Harvey’s bah” which he and Harvey have an identical sippy cup so it’s called the Harvey ba.  Then there is “Addie’s bah” which one time when cousin Addie came over she drank out of it so now it has been dubbed her bah.  It’s obscene and a tad overboard on the OCD’ness.

He’s a hoot. Says and does the most hilarious things.  As Thanksgiving approaches he has been coloring and making crafts with lot of turkeys so after school he hands me his work of the day and says, “Chicken!”  Like one of our friends say – Turkey / Chicken whatever they all eat good.  J

Ok so the mother of all stories…the other day I was working in the yard.  I was on all fours picking weeds and Hill came up behind me and pulled the waist of the back of my pants and said, “Mama! Poo Poo?”  We are always checking his diaper by doing the same thing so he was just looking out incase his mama had a stinky hiney!

Love him!

School picture 2011-2012

Have you happened to see the best school picture in the history of all school pictures?

Sukie, my love, you never cease to amaze me.

My 2nd favorite day of the month

Every year my brother gives me the Southern Living magazine subscription for Christmas.  When I open the mailbox once a month I always feel like I’m 9 years old and got a piece of “fun mail.”  You know those days before the bills and donation forms had your names on them.  I get that exciting feeling when I receive my Southern Living magazine. 

I’m glad to say that my son feels the same way.  The other day we sat down and looked through the Thanksgiving edition and Hill got hungry.  He asked me to get him a spoon so he could eat!

That silly nut!  I will say that he knows who the cook around here is….not his mama.  When he’s hungry he says “EAT!” then climbs into his highchair and sits down (yes he insists he climb up all by himself)  sometimes he says “Dada, cook.”  If he wants a snack then he knows to come to mama and say what he wants…which may be gold fish (ish), gummy snacks (nummies), popcicles (pah kikle), or my favorite dried cranberries (nuts.) 

He still prefers broccoli, peas or lima beans over corn dogs or other fun fattening foods.  He could eat fish for every meal but chips and french fries trump everything.

Maybe his mama will find time one day to cook like the Southern Living people.  In the meantime he can just pretend to eat the delish food they take pictures of.

Extra Protection

The phase of wanting to potty train himself that he started at 19 months has since dissipated.  I didn’t push him only encouraged, so big boy potty is only brought up occasionally when I think he may need to go.  It usually involves taking his fire truck or tow truck or 3 boats (Mama boat, Dada boat & Hill boat) to make the process fun. 

Yet there are times Hill feels the need to be extra careful.  Sometimes he instructs me to put on his diaper then his pants then another diaper.

This way he can safely....

Pick out books

Pose for pictures

Mr. Potato Head approves

play outside

and sweep

The world is officially a safer more protected place now.

Pumpkin Patch

We had an AWESOME day Sunday the 30th of October.  My friend Marsha recommended a pumpkin patch about 40 minutes away in Duck Hill, Bull Bottom Farms - so the husband, son and I loaded up for a Griswald Hawkins Pumpkin Patch Extravaganza!

Hill waiting patiently for us to get ready to go!
He pulled the box of dish detergent out to sit on and wait.

We arrived at 2:20 pm and time flew by so fast after an hour and a half we had done so much and had so much fun!

There were goats, cows and bunnies.  Hill loved them all!  He’d hop like a bunny and try to shove grass in the goats mouths all the while laughing his sweet belly laugh that makes my heart melt.

They had a slide that was in like a homemade sandbox, but instead of sand it was filled with corn!  How stinking creative is that?!  I think these people KNEW how much I hate sand and glitter and didn’t have any of that jazz anywhere.  I love them for that.  The corn was neat!  We buried Hill in it and then Chip asked Hill if he knew what that was?  “It’s corn, Buddy.”  So what does Hill do?  Shoves a hand full in his mouth!  Yuck!  

 

My little Scarecrow

We swung in the swing and Chip decided we had to get this type of swing if Hill is a good boy for Santa to bring or maybe for his birthday?  I love watching his blonde blonde hair sway in the wind back and forth like when the breeze hits the corn stalks in the field.  Hill’s big sweet smile that comes from the tickling in his tummy because his Daddy is pushing him higher and higher.  That’s what life’s all about.  Those moments….these moments…

After that we walked through a corn maze.  I showed Hill that the corn came off the stalk or “stick” and lived underneath the shuck or “blanket.”  He carried two shucked pieces of corn around the whole maze.  Then when we got out of the maze I asked him to put them down and he opened his arms and just dropped them as if his obligation of carrying that corn to civilization was accomplished.

They had a mini hay bale maze for Hill sized kiddos.  He liked to crawl over the hay to get to where he needed to go.

Then the Mother of all Mothers… we loaded up on a trailer for the TRACTOR to take us on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch!  Hill just sat and stared as if this was the best day ever – he was being pulled by a tractor!  He’d say “tractor vroom vroom.”   

We came over the hill and there it was - - the pumpkin patch.  Hill yelled out “PUH-KIN!”

He got two little pumpkins.  He liked the greenish colored ones best and didn’t want to run through the field with all the pumpkins just stay in his one little area with all the little pumpkins.  

After we got back to where the activities were we decided to call it a day.  We certainly had a blast and would recommend Bull Bottom Farms to anyone looking for a good wholesome family fun time.

Hill brushed the pumpkins "hair" all the way home.

Halloween 2011 - Bam Bam

This Halloween there seemed to be a lot of Spiderman’s and Pirates….but not Hill.  If you recall, we Hawkins parents take full advantage of the fact that our son doesn’t yet have an opinion of what he wants to be for Halloween.  Last year Chip got to choose…

The infamous Tree Car Air Freshener

This year I got to choose…

My Little Bam Bam

I capitalized on the fact that my son is a spitting image of Bam Bam from the Flintstones.

We had so much fun this Halloween!  Wednesday, the 26th we were invited to go to the Methodist Church Halloween Carnival.  We ate hot dogs, jumped in the bouncy house, bobbed for apples, colored, threw bean bags and played Plinko.  Our good friends The Pettit’s invited us, as they always do, to their fun events.  Even our buddy Harvey was there and we got to see our friend that we met back at Easter, Cobb Hendrix.  We had a blast!

Hill loved the apple bobbing (with a net)
He handed me his hat as he walked up like
"Hey Mom, hold my hat - I've got this"

And he did have it!
He got 2 apples and a bunch of candy from Mrs. Jennie Cook 

Jumpin' in the bouncy house!

Coloring his 'puh-kin'

Sweet Harvey resting his horsey while he colors.

Tanner, Hill & Harvey

Cowboy Tanner & Bam Bam

Two cowboys and a caveman

I'm not too sure what Hill is doing to Cobb here.
They sure are cutie patooties though!

Monday afternoon, Halloween Day, our local stores on the Square do trick or treating from 3:30-5:30.  Some retailers dress up, some just have huge bags of candy to hand out to the swarm of children (and the occasional teen) as they round the Square in their costumes. It really is neat that our community comes together to do this.  I picked Hill up early from daycare to go to Nana & Papa’s house to put on his costume.  Nana had so much candy and toys for Hill that it filled his pumpkin to the top!  When we got in the car I had to pour it into a sack so that he could make room for more candy!  (Chip started his diet 2 days before Halloween - - bad idea - - didn’t work)

Off to the Square we went….my office is on the Square so Hill and I had to make the rounds to show off his cuteness to my work people.  I really think that they were waiting to see what Hill would be this year because everyone at work kept talking about the hilarity of his being an Air Freshener last year.  Chip met us up at my office and by the end of our trick or treating stint on the Square Hill was a pro.  He knew to put the candy in his ‘puh-kin.’  We did at one point have to sit in the middle of the floor of loan operations and eat a tootsie roll.  

Mr. Toby Tyler & Hill on the Square

 After the Square we went to go see Ed and Daisy Dog.

Daisy Dog

Ed & Hill

We tried to go to the Cheeks (Stephen & Sherrie), because that was the 1^st house Hill ever trick or treated in his whole life, and they always go all out - - but it was early and they weren’t home yet.  

We did however go to our friend Hollee Cheek’s house.  We were her 1^st trick or treater ever!  She’s lived in that house 3 years and never has had a trick or treater before.  So of course we had to make it a picture-esque moment.  You see, Hill has always had a crush on Miss. Hollee but she will be getting married in April and so Hill has had to reevaluate their relationship and I think he’s comfortable with it now.  Candy always makes situations better.  Thanks Miss. Hollee!  We love you!

Love this picture of both Hollee and Hill

I've decided this is next years October Southern Living magazine cover.

 I apologize in advance I cannot get the rest of the pictures to turn right side up....

This crazy gourd was on Hollee's porch

She even made pumpkin people!

After a good 2 hours of gathering candy, taking pictures and being stopped by people walking or driving in their cars to tell us that he hands down has the best, cutest costume they’d seen this year.  We had one more special stop to make.

Sassy & Pop’s house! (Sandra & David Landrum)

Hill had so much fun at Sassy & Pop’s house…they always have something special for him.  Not only does he and Pop love Smarties as their favorite candies, but Sassy knows what Hill likes too – trucks!  Especially a truck with Ole Miss on it!  He calls it his “webel truck” (rebel truck.)  Macie dog was there and Hill and Macie played and played so much that Hill woke up the next morning still talking about Macie dog.  

Hill and Macie

Sassy, Hill & the 'webel truck'

Thanks so much to everyone for making this Halloween so fun and memorable.  We only have 364 days left to plan his next costume!