Dear Drake,

Mommy loves you so much! You are such a spunky little boy who’s full of life. There are many things I love about you. I love how your favorite thing is to “go bye bye” and are ready at any moment to get in the car and embark on an adventure.

I love how you adore your brothers and love to play with them. I know you don’t realize this but FYI you’re 6 years younger than Dylan. Just thought I should clue you in. 😉

I love that you insist on eating every meal on Daddy’s lap! Because of this you’ve developed a very “manly” pallet. You’ll eat meatballs, pasta, and your favorite is lasagna.

I find it so funny that you’ll eat moss, gravel, and dirt but you won’t eat banana’s, crackers, or cereal.

You’re quite the rocker! You’ve got a great rhythm and some great moves, kid.

I love how you’re a Daddy’s boy. I want you to know that I’m not offended when you hit me because Daddy’s kissing me. Or when Daddy and I are snuggling watching TV, and you try to pry me away from him with your feet. It’s also OK when you pull my hair; it doesn’t hurt, that much.

When you do smile – it’s so AMAZING! It’s lights up the entire house. I love how ticklish you are and even when you’re grumpy you can’t resist the urge to laugh.

I love how you like shoes. I think you like shoes more than anyone else in the family, including me!

However, little guy, we have a huge problem. With all the things I love about you, there’s one thing that you need to work on. Baby, PLEASE stop throwing your binki and blanket out of the crib the moment you wake up.

I don’t know if you realize this but because of your screeching, Mommy hasn’t woken up in the morning to a quiet house in 22 months. This is a bad habit and we need to do something about it.
Love you more than the Universe,

Mommy

Merry Christmas! I hope you all enjoyed the special time with your family.

Ours was a success! Davis said over and over that this was the best Christmas ever. I think it had more to do with the fact that he got to wake up at midnight to help stuff Drake’s stocking and put presents under the tree while playing “Santa”.

He also kept telling me all morning long that, “I was the best mom ever!” It was so fulfilling that he realized that Santa hadn’t been doing this for him year after year – it was me and Jason.

I agree with Davis that this was the best Christmas ever – not because of the gifts but because of the special bond we made with Davis helping us play Santa. I’ll never forget it.

We’ve had a fun several days and I wanted to be sure to document our experiences. Jason and I went to both of the boys winter parties at school. I had Drake at Davis’ party where they made these cute snowmen out of socks.

How to Make the Snowman: The body’s a sock with yard tied in 3 sections to make the body, a glove for the hat, a piece of felt for the scarf, 2 brown pipe cleaners twisted together for the arms, buttons for the eyes, and a little light bulb for the nose. All the kids had such a great time making them!

Drake and I went over to meet Jason over at Dylan’s party. We were there a minute or so when Dylan started waving at us. Drake went crazy! He was yelling and shaking – so excited to see Dylan. Dylan came over and grabbed him and they embraced at their reunion. It was so endearing it made my heart swell. 😉

Right after school we took of on a 6 hour drive to Galveston, Texas and our adventure at Moody Gardens. (Drake cried 5 out of the 6 hours. Grrr.)

We hit all the pyramids: The Rain Forest

The Discovery Museum

And the Aquarium.

We also took a ride on the Colonel Paddlewheel Boat. When we lived in Katy – we had season passes and this was a picture I tried to get the boys to recreate:

They were 6 and 4 and a little cranky.

We all went ice-skating, yep even Drake! He lasted one lap. 😉

The sunset on the beach was beautiful!

After a nice dinner, we went to the Festival of Lights. It was amazing and completely breathtaking. We borrowed a stroller from customer service and Drake loved it! {whew!} Davis pushed him around the entire place all day and evening without complaint. It made the day so wonderful and enjoyable.

Saturday, we went to Grandma & Grandpa Rhodes and celebrated Christmas there. They got the boys a telescope that hooks up to your laptop, yada yada yada. I couldn’t tell who was more excited the boys or Jason. 😉

The next morning was a Christmas celebration with Nana, Grandma Betty, and Grandpa Gary.

They spoiled us as usual. We love them so much and were so grateful to be able to spend some time with them.

I was relieved to find out that everyone loved the First Year Books I made. Mission accomplished! Afterwards we drove back home so we could wake up Christmas morning in our own beds.

Hey, I’ve missed you Ladies! Here’s a quick post about what we’ve been up to. I bought a Gingerbread house and we decorated it together. They boys had soo much fun.

Drake actually enjoyed this activity as well. 😉

We delivered our Red Plate gifts to our friends.

While we were at Tatiana’s house, I noticed how creative she got with her tree. She has 2 girls under 2 and put a gate around the presents. Genius!!

Davis won the holiday card contest at school and was invited to the KISD Board Meeting to receive his award. If you can’t guess, his is the boy with the “DT” on his hat.

His principal is so amazing, she gave him a new Webkinz to reward him on such a wonderful accomplishment. Davis is STILL beaming from this gift.

After the ceremony we all went for ice-cream to celebrate.

We had some new friends over for dinner last night and then it was off to the 3rd grade winter program.

Davis had a small solo part and he did so well! His voice was on key and loud for all to hear. We were really proud of him, but not for the reason’s you think. 😉 This year he didn’t:

• Rock back and forth so aggressively that he knocked the little girl off the stands that was standing next to him.
• Make any silly faces.
• Distract the kids standing next to him.
• He only picked his nose 2-3 times instead of during the entire program.

Ah, my little guy is growing up. I’m so proud of him!

I got so sick this week! Grrrr. I’m still tired, but feeling much better. Wednesday, Davis won 1st place in the Raingutter Regatta at Scouts. This is his second year to participate and 2nd time to win 1st place.

So much for the “Good Sport” talk we had before the race. 😉 Needless to say he’s so excited about getting another trophy.

2 weeks ago we got notification, in the school newsletter, that Davis won 1st place in a Holiday Card competition at school and will be representing our Region. I still haven’t received any information, so that’s all I know. We’re very proud of him and it’s doing wonders for his self-concept.

My dilemma now is what to do with the very competitive but less driven son? He most certainly has won the award for ‘Most Red Days’ in a row; as he continues to bring home discipline notes almost daily.

I need to think about it a little more, but I think I just might order him a trophy myself. He is the most helpful male in my home and so loving. He’ll never win a trophy for those characteristics and they mean the world to me.

The reason this is an issue is because Davis has already won TWO 1st place ribbons for art work. Dylan is beginning to feel inferior.

Any suggestions?

I can NOT believe it is Thanksgiving already! Where did October and November go?

I met the boys for their Thanksgiving feast at school (last Friday). They loved it and it was the perfect way to start our week of family time. Drake even ate some turkey. (I know, I was shocked too.)

I finally gave in and decided to host Thanksgiving here at my house this year. {{sigh}} My sister, Lisa, and my sister-in-law came early so we could have some quality time with them and the kids. Samantha is my newest niece at only 4 months old. Drake did NOT appreciate me holding her. 😉

We took the opportunity to take the fam to the Dallas Aquarium. It was a really cool experience and the boys loved it!

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tease Lisa a couple times during our excursion. (ha ha)

Not only is my mom in town but I have agreed to cook. Needless to say I’m stressing a little. 🙁 I’ll be much better on Friday when it’s been confirmed that no one got food poisoning from my cooking. (I’m NOT joking.)

What’s your favorite part of Thanksgiving? Family – Food – Travel – Counting my Blessings

What a crazy week! I’ve miss you guys. Halloween was fun with the boys and needless to say they had a great time. Today Davis had his 9th Birthday Party. He wanted a Bionicle party.

Davis has spent the past 2 months putting together all of his Bionicles so he could decorate the house with them. I was really proud of how committed he was. It also took me off the hook since he did all the decorating. 😉 Thanks Big Guy!

We played Guess how many Bionicles in the bowl and Name That Toa.

We had a Toa Challenge consisting of an obstable course with 6 events related the Toas’ elements – water, earth, air, ice, stone, and fire.

and afterwards a Crystal Hunt (ring pops).

The party was a success and this expression made it all worth it! If you want more information on the party head over to Executive Homemaker for specific details and free printables.

We’ve been celebrating Halloween all weekend! It’s my favorite holiday. Here are the boys with their carved out our jack-o-lanterns.

We finally decide that Drake should be a little devil. It’s completely appropriate! 😉 He loved dressing up and poking everything with his pitchfork.

Boys will be boys!

Here’s Jason (I mean his name is Earl) handing out candy at the trunk-or-treat. Our friend, Brian, is a dentist and made himself and his wife vampire canine teeth and came as “Belle” and Edward. They looked so great! I wish I had taken a picture. All you Twilight fans would have loved it.