Saying Good-Bye to Wub "SUCKS"

We've known it was time to say good-bye to Wub for awhile now and we even tried twice...but hated so see Jack sad (& listen to the crying)...but all it took was thinking about price tags and Jack's teeth looking funky for us to decide this time we were following through with it. Since we were off we thought the Thanksgiving Holiday would be a good time in case the nights and days were rough. So....when every plan for Jack to give his Wub to a baby, give it to Santa, become a big boy, etc. didn't work...we asked him if he would be a big boy and give it to Papa...of course he said, "Yes!" That boy would do anything for Papa- so before he could shake his head "no" (still doesn't say "no" which we've heard is very lucky for us) I was back in the room with an envelope and Sharpie

Jack put both his duck Wubs (at the time we couldn't find the frog he recently bonded with again, but since it has been located and hidden) into the envelope and helped us seal it up.
Outside we headed, pj's in the freezing weather and no socks, to mail the envelope to Papa...of course we had to stop along the way to point at the snowflakes, duck tape, and flag which are all named Papa now since he put them up.

Flag was up and it was off to bed. The first night he cried for about 20 minutes and had a little melt down around 3, the second night he cried for about 15 minutes but went down since earlier that day naps weren't really happening without wub, and tonight (the third night) he cried a long time, we read 800 books, took some "medicine", watched Santa Claus is coming to town, and he's out hopefully for the night. No worries Papa...when he asks we no longer say, "Remember you mailed it to Papa" in fear that he will resent you...we just remind him that, "Big boys don't need ducks."



Keep your fingers crossed that it gets easier and easier. And that we don't cave and rip open the envelope that we obviously went back out around midnight to claim from the mailbox. Especially this week when Nick is out of town and I'm alone...I'll be strong...for his teeth!!!

You're So Vain

I think we have created a monster...

From us doing Jack's hair all the time for school with water, gel, and sometimes the Lice Defense Spray he has become obsessed with it. He'll spend hours in the closet with the spray bottle and comb just looking at himself in the mirror after spraying and combing his hair.
He's so vain and has every right to be because he is so HANDSOME!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday night after Jack spent the day at Watters so Nick could play golf and I could run some errands...Angela and I surprised Robin for her birthday by joining her family at Family Karaoke. It was a good time!

Thursday we slept in (OK-I slept in) and Jack and I caught the tail end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...something that I have never been into...but he sure loved it. I'm thinking this new TV is like a new world for him...he actually sees that there are pictures on the screen. We watched for cousin Savannah but there were so many salsa dancers in red we couldn't pick her out in the group.

While Nick and I were following Bebe's directions for lunch and getting showered/dressed Jack continued to color while watching the parade.

Must have been a commercial because he laid down and got serious about coloring Thomas the Train perfect with his colorless markers....love those things!

"Hello Bebe- I think that they might be burning the turkey...what should I tell them to do?"

The spread!

Just because we have a big kid TV doesn't mean that we are any higher in the classy factor...here's our little man eating his Thanksgiving Lunch sans his shirt.

Of course when cleaning up we remember that Mom had bought us cute turkey napkins and a Thanksgiving plate for Jack to use...

No worries...we used it with leftovers for dinner!

Angela and I headed to a 2 o'clock movie and when we got back Nick headed out for a 5 o'clock movie...well, we didn't want Jack to feel left out so we watched Rudolph together all snugly on the couch.

That night we went over to the Sullivan's so they could meet Nick and Jack. Him and Willow, along with the other kiddos, were everywhere. They had so much fun!

Robin's nephew pulled out some milk for him and as you can see Jack and Willow froze in anticipation that they might get some as well. Check out the serious business of marking ads in the background...pretty sure they had a late night and busy Black Friday...us, not so much and loved every minute of it.

Can't wait til Christmas!!!

Papa and Bebe to the RESCUE

Papa and Bebe drove in late, late on Friday night. Saturday Jack was surely surprised to find Nick and I sleeping on an air mattress in his playroom and even more surprised to see Papa and Bebe in our bedroom. He didn't care how off it seemed, how or when it happened...he was just so happy to see his Papa and Bebe. Mom and I ran some errands while Nick and Dad started working on the garage.

For dinner the McWilliam's Family came over so that we could feed the babies, put them down to bed, then go out for a double date sans Olivia and Jack. At dinner it was too cute...Jack as always was repeatedly shouting Papa....well before we knew it Olivia was shouting along with him. They were so wired we were ready to run out and let Papa and Bebe handle things on their own.

But after dinner, the little ones changed for bed, had their milk, went down easy...and out we went. It was weird walking out with another couple and not having the kids with us...pretty sure Aaron joked about us pushing the car down the street before starting it. Dinner and drinks was FUN, but we headed home early out of exhaustion. Thanks Papa and Bebe!
Jack was up early the next morning hollering for Papa from his crib. The morning was spent waking up and playing with some of the consignment sale toys that Jack never saw from the garage. He did great with the Bristle Blocks and the wooden pattern blocks. Made me decide to add Gears to his Christmas Wish List...we just might have an engineer or architect in our future.

While Jack, Mom, and I ran some errands Nick and Dad continued in the garage. They were making fun of Mom and I having to read the directions to put together the shower caddywe bought at Lowe's...but I'm pretty sure Dad had to look at them later to finish it up.

Jack helped Dad put out some Christmas lights in the yard.

I mean...could he look up to Papa anymore?!?

Because he is precious!

Jack continued to get hands on helping Papa tape down the extension cords. That night when we went out to look at the lights on Jack's reaction was priceless. Now every time we are in the yard he points to all the snowflakes and smooths the tape all while saying "Papa" over and over.

After checking out the lights we all needed a rest- what else do you do when your grandparents are in town....eat cookies out of the jar while watching holiday movies. Jack would lick and take one bite of a cookie then stick it back in the jar. Yummy!

Happiness!

Monday morning we piled in the car and headed to Jack's first dentist appointment.

The place was really nice....very Jack friendly." Papa-Bebe--take off your shoes and come play with me." The place was fun, but getting Jack to leave the playroom wasn't the easiest task ever.

He did really well while Dr. Holt checked out his teeth, put on his fluoride treatment, and talked to us about the need to wen from Wub in hopes to avoid more dental work in the future than Wub has already caused. After lunch and shopping at Willowbend Nick headed to Dr. Patel to get in another dentist chair- but his visit was not as painless as Jack's and instead of a sticker and rubber duck he came home with 3 scripts and spent the rest of the night asleep and throwing up.

Papa, Bebe, Jack and I filled Nick's scripts and headed out to The Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine, TX to check out the holiday lights. Can you see the love between these two? The whole way there they held hands and on the way home they slept head to head.

Jack was tired and quiet but enjoyed looking at all the lights once he got over seeing Bebe all wrapped up walking in from the parking garage-he was not comfortable with her face covered.

This was a 50 foot tree that was spinning.

Jack loved looking at the balls in the garland and over the bridges at all the waterfalls.

There was a real Gingerbread House that had a little store inside.

My little Gingerbread Man!

Papa was only able to get Jack to pose here if Jack took a picture of him posing here first...pretty sure Jack's picture of Papa was a view up his nose.

The trains were a hit with Jack too!

It was late when we headed to dinner at Outback and made the drive back to check on Nick at home. Jack was such a trooper and the night was a success because by the time we were through looking at all the decorations Jack could say "Ho, Ho, Ho" like Santa...too cute! Although he showed us a little of what our Santa pictures are probably going to look like...he wanted nothing to do with the Santa, Mrs. Claus, or the live reindeer that they had. Oh well-he's cute no matter what face he is making in pictures.

Tuesday was non-stop just like the other days. I headed out to get my hair cut while the rest of the crew stayed back to finish up our to do list...Mom did our Thanksgiving cooking while the boys did more manly chores like tightening up the table.

After making the meal Mom even ironed a ton of my clothes that I haven't worn because they were too wrinkly. Like I told Mom...my class is going to be so confused on Wednesday if I'm not wearing the "Wednesday outfit" now that I have some more options ready to go.

And for the first time ever-BOTH CARS ARE IN THE GARAGE-Thanks Nick and Dad-that is going to be nice on those cold and rainy mornings!

Mom made Thanksgiving so easy with her detailed directions..even for us to clean together, loosen our pants, and watch football.

After they headed out we packed up Jack for his day of school so we could have some alone time...Check out the cute turkey cookies I made for his teachers with the left overs from my class making them on Friday.

Thanks Papa and Bebe....Jack is still looking for ya so you better hurry back!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Truck Time

Friday night The Relle Clan had a tasty dinner at the Tavares's and were in bed by 10...we go to bed earlier on Fridays than on weekdays...guess the week just catches up with us. Saturday took a sad turn of events...Laura (a friend, co-worker, classroom neighbors) husband suffered a brain aneurysm Friday night and I spent the day supporting her at the hospital. His surgery went alright and it is a waiting game while he is in the ICU but daily we hear reports that are so promising. Please keep David and his family in your thoughts. By the time I got home I was showering as our dinner guest that night were arriving. Nick had his Northlake friends over for pizza and Wii (& I had Angela over :) ). Sunday was all about sleeping in and family time....I'd read about a Truck Time Expo in "the city" so we loaded in the Jetta and made the drive.

Isn't our man cool in his shades? He is so big now he gets on in the stroller himself without any help. BTW- We dressed way to warm for this event...it was 30 degrees the day before and over 70...guess we should watch the weather more often.
"Thanks Mom for always finding such cool activities...and are you sure this is safe being up this high?"

I've always wanted to see the inside of an 18 Wheeler...this one I'm sure was clean just for the show but for sure smelled like most probably do...an ashtray and I for sure wouldn't let Jack touch the bed in the back. Here he is driving the big rig with me.

Don't ever tell me I'm too much of a germ freak and I'll scar Jack...pretty sure his hands are on a Sanitation truck and they weren't washed til right before lunch...between there was much finger sucking too....YUCK!

We thought this was going to be really neat to see the inside of the money truck...

Pretty sure it was a party bus that I again wasn't too keen on Jack touching the seats...I bet the Sanitation Truck was cleaner.

This one made me nervous...I was waiting in line for the fire truck just praying that the truck above was secure. Jack loved walking up and down the ramps of this one.

Every little boys dream...wish he had his fire hat from Aunt Betsy!

Our Little Fire Chief!

Vroom! Vroom!

Jack figured out how to honk the horn on this one...it was hard to get him off.

Before heading back to the car the fire crew taught Jack how to exit the house if it is on fire and he earned a sticker for "jumping out the window".

Since we were in the city and the line for the hot dogs was long we headed to Bread Winners for lunch. The wait wasn't too bad but we opted to get a table even faster by taking advantage of the beautiful weather on the patio...Jack loved the birds everywhere. The of course one more stop at Right Start where we bought Jack some Christmas Gifts...we'll see if we can hold out til then before giving it to him. By the time we got home we napped for 3 hours which for Jack wasn't a problem...Nick and I trying to get to sleep last night...a problem!