Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve

The annual family tree picture. I add these pictures to a special Christmas memory book each year. Sooooo fun to go back and look at year after year.

Grant enjoying the tradition of coloring in a Christmas coloring book. We were sure to give the date, time, temperature and artist's name under the picture as the Kilgores have done for 32 years. The coloring books are sooooo neat to go back and look at.


One of the funniest moments Christmas Eve... Rhett was throwing a fit and got his hand stuck in his pocket. He was M.A.D. and we just laughed and laughed.

Santa is coming to town! Grant and Rhett were sure to leave sweet treats

and cold milk for Santa. (I promise Grant was not drunk in this picture.)

Christmas morning

Did Santa come????

YES, he DID come! He brought a remote control tarantula (as specifically requested) and a tree house to Grant, and a rocket and blue bike (as specifically requested) to Rhett.

Grant mentioned several times that he "loves Santa"! I guess Santa did a good job!

Rhett did not give much attention to the blue bike he asked Santa for,

but he did spend time with the space rocket.

Still enjoying Santa's gifts.

Don't forget to check the stockings!

One surprise Santa left in the stockings were battery operated disc throwers.

Although the kids loved them, Daddy had a good time with them, too.

Despite Santa's score, neither Grant nor Rhett minded

when the time came to open the packages.

Grant and his drill-a-design set. And look!

The drill that came with his workbench works on the screws!

Rhett liked it, too.
Rhett and his Superman cape.

He loved run and feel it fly behind him.

Grant's lights and sounds Home Depot workbench. Daddy had a "good" time putting this together.

Rhett with his new Pat Pat Rocket and beloved Little Einsteins.

Rhett and Gramma playing with Handy Manny and the Grant's drill.

If you need help opening your sealed tight presents, just ask my dad.

Daddy texting Uncle Kory and Aunt Kelly in Australia wishing them a Merry Christmas. Uncle and Aunt K decided that that they would spend this Christmas in Australia instead of Japan. They had already done lots of sight seeing by Christmas Eve including a wildlife park where they saw dingos, kangaroos, koalas, wallabies and the such, and were planning on going to the Barrier Reef the day after Christmas.

Joy to the world! Christmas was a BLAST!

The boys received so many gifts, I spent today's entire morning cleaning out, vacuuming and reorganizing their closets of toys just to find a place for all the new ones. Oh, and it also included a trip to Target for more plastic storage containers to aid in the organization. I loved the whole task. I am a dork like that though, and I proudly admit it. Organizing and cleaning just soothe my soul. It feels really good to stand back and smile at those purty closets and their spotless floors when you're finally done.

After enjoying Christmas Day, it hit me that Grant would never be five at Christmas again, and Rhett would never be two at Christmas again. Yes, I knew that - DUH! - but it suddenly sank in our way back to our house after leaving Dude Dad and Gramma's. It sank H.A.R.D. Emotions swept over me, and I began to cry and cry. Rhett was in the back seat talking about how much he loved his gifts and Grant was joining him in the excited conversation. In the background you could Sunny 99.1 on the radio playing Christmas favorites. We passed house after house of Christmas lights and I was sure to slow down so that we could soak in all the sights and joys of Christmas one last time with a five and two-year-old. We turned into New Territory and the boys requested to drive by the houses that had "BaBaBeeBee" (Spongebob Squarepants), "Big Santa", the flying pig, "Egg Santa", "Egg Puppy", and the "Freaky Christmas Tree" for one last hoorah. And then the tears really came. I realized that Rhett would probably not call Spongebob "BaBaBeeBee" next year. He will most likely be able to correctly pronounce candy cane instead of calling them "kinndy kinns". He will probably be able to say Christmas lights and Christmas tree as opposed to the precious "Kimiss hights" and "Kimiss tee". He will probably say Ho!Ho!Ho! when impersonating Santa and not "Who!Who!Who!" I am telling you, these thoughts just speared my heart and the tears did not take my sadness away.

While I'm on the subject of special Christmas memories, I want to put in writing how innocent and sweet Grant is with his love and belief in Santa. He REALLY got the idea of Santa this year, and his eyes would just sparkle... I mean S.P.A.R.K.L.E. when he and I would talk about how cold Santa must be flying up in the winter sky on Christmas Eve and how dirty his perfect red suit must surely get with ashes and soot. How he probably hopes that everyone remembers to put their fires out well before they went to bed so as not to burn his feet on hot ashes, how he most likely loves sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles the most out of all the other treats he gets that night, and that surely once he arrived back home at the North Pole he would be resting by a crackling fire with a big cup of hot chocolate on Christmas morning while he thought about all the good girls and good boys he and his elves would be building toys for again for the next Christmas.

Oh, that look in a little one's eyes when talking about Santa is priceless. Not only do the eyes react to the idea of it all, but Grant will get a big smile on his face - one that crinkles his chin, and then he'll purse his lips together as if he's trying his best to hold in all his exploding excitement, and then he'll let out the most joyful laugh. Oh, what I'd give to box that up and pull it out fifty years from now... to see my precious first baby as a five-year-old loving Christmas for all its wonder and magic. I hope he'll always believe.

And with these thoughts, I cried and cried and cried some more. The more I cried, well, the more I cried. It wasn't like most times when the tears somehow heal the sorrow your heart feels. It was deep. Soooo much deeper than that. So in order to cheer me up, Kerry and I watched "Four Christmases" once the boys went to bed. It really helped get my mind off of the emotional aspects of Christmas with my sweet boys. That Vince Vaughn is one funny guy! He very much reminds me of my cousin Jeremy which made the movie even funnier! And only if you grew up knowing Jeremy, would you EVER truly understand just exactly what I mean by that.


I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and all you moms out there took mental snapshots of your little ones that on that special day that you'll hold in your heart - forever.

Kindergarteners just want to have fun!

Due to district rules that do not allow older/younger siblings to attend the parties, a sweet neighbor watched Rhett so I could help out with Grant's school Winter Party. I was sooooo excited, and so was Grant...

Disclaimer - once again I could hardly get Grant to smile for the pics. Shocking, I know.

...Which is why I was surprised to be greeted with this face...

It didn't hurt my feelings at all...

But he finally began to loosen up and got over his shyness of Mom being there, and that made me feel much better - (even though my feelings weren't hurt in the first place.)

After all, who couldn't have fun with their two bestest friends in the whole widest world?

Nick, Owen and Grant

These three boys do everything together at school!

Including the Silly Freeze Dance

and showing off their green candy cane tongues.

The room mother (Nick's mom) asked me to be in charge of games, so I let Grant help me pass out candy canes after one of the games.

After all that fun, there were only two things left to do.

1. Hug our friends and teacher goodbye.

Do these kids love Mrs. Williams or what???? Actually, now that I write this, I see one little boy loving her in an extra"special" way. Too bad he didn't put his hand lower. It would be ME that would unknowingly snap the shot at that exact moment.

2. Snatch Ashlyn from her classroom and head home for the holidays!
Hoo Hoo Hoo (Rhett's pronunciation for Ho Ho Ho) and Merry Christmas to all!

Scoodle Doots Shopping

I welcome you to visit my Scoodle Doots site for fun gifts for spunky loved ones. New items are added weekly!

Personalized name shirt with matching headband

These onesies and headbands were ordered for 3-month-old twin baby girls, Ava and Ella.

Personalized Travel Mugs

Personalized Ribbon Hoodies

This fun sweatshirt was made for a spunky fifth grader.

The design was based upon her favorite colors.

Hope you'll stop by for a visit as I slowly but surely add creations to the site! Just a short list of items I make =
PERSONALIZED... holiday wear, birthday wear, team wear, school/teacher wear, parent/grandparent wear, travel mugs, sippy cups, sports bottles, lacy baby diaper covers, ribboned hoodies, baby gowns, baby beanies, hooded towels, burp cloths, mouse pads...

On a side note, I would L.O.V.E. for you send me pics of your little ones in their Scoodle Doots designs so I can share them on my Scoodle Doots blog. Adding your pictures/notes is extra fun!

The newest addition to the Food Pyramid

Not only do I find little boy surprises in Grant's pockets like acorns, rocks and sticks, but I also find boy surprises in his lunch box. Leaves and sticks are his top two favorites. Before I can make his lunch for the next school day, I must first literally clean out the boy's lunch kit. Too bad I don't have a compost heap I could add this stuff to. It goes in my "Favorite Grant Memories" section in my heart instead.

Once in a Houstonian's Lifetime...

...It does this...And just when you think you've seen it all, it becomes clear that today is the day pigs must be flying because not only is the snow suddenly falling in a way that would make one believe the heavens truly had opened up, but the snow is actually starting to stick...

Wow!

And all of this could only mean one thing = SNOWBALL FIGHTS with neighborhood kids!!!!!

BIG snowball fights! Take it from someone who found out first-hand = You don't want to get hit in the face with one of these things! (thanks, Ashlyn) These aren't your every day snowballs! (Yes, G was given a heavy coat and gloves. Yes, he did take them off. Yes, his little hands were FREEZING. No, he did not care.)

It means knocking down the middle school kids' snowman (with permission) down the street... (This pic was taken after school. You can see the snow is beginning to melt, but it still gracefully draped the rooftops.) But the snowman was too cold to touch, so the kids resorted to chopping it up with sticks.

Kevin, a sweet neighbor kid, teaching Grant how to roll balls to make a snowman - a lesson that most Houston kids needed that day...
Another lesson learned was that touching snow without gloves makes your hands go numb. Thus the boys decided that maybe playing inside would be a good idea so their hands could defrost.
It was truly an unexpected, magical day. The reports the night before said we had a 50/50 chance of snow. I was one of the thousands that was sure the snow would hit further north. Thank goodness I was wrong. It was so fun to see the kids enjoying the wonder that snow is. Snow is truly a rare occurrence here, so I wanted to be sure the boys got to see, touch, smell and taste it -who knows if/when it'll happen again.

Thank goodness the boys finally decided to come INSIDE by the fire! It was COLD out there.