Merry Christmas!!

The boys and I had a great Christmas morning. Jack and I decided that we needed to wake up Drew around 8:30 because he was still sleeping. They went with their Father at noon so I wanted to spend as much time with them as I could so 8:30 was my limit and poor Jack was roaring to go. Here is a video of us waking him up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CM1iOTeB00. Once we got downstairs, the first thing Jack noticed was that Santa left him a Braves hat (as you all probably know, that is a HUGE step for Santa). After that we opened gifts, played with toys and waited for Bumpa and Christy to come over. The boys and I had a wonderful Christmas morning! We hope you all did too. Did I mention that it snowed in Georgia on Christmas? :)

Here are a few more videos from the morning...

Playtime Woody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbdtWgBPPTM

A Gift From Cousins Eva & Reagan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6tei91q5v4

Drew's Gift to Mommy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biF-k-TtTEs

A House Divided!!

When the house was quiet right after Santa came...

Drew and his new favorite pal, Woody

Jack & Drew loving the new blankets Grandma made them

Mommy and her boys Christmas morning...xoxo

Christmas Eve

The boys and I made cookies during the day on Christmas Eve this year because we got invited to the Redmon's Christmas Eve Party. Jack and Drew were super excited to go over and play with Matthew & Jeffrey. We had a great time. Thank you, Dawson, Lisa, Jeffrey and Matthew for having us. Merry Christmas! When we got home we got into out pj's and put out cookies for Santa and food for the reindeer. Below is a video of the boys sprinkling food in the yard for Rudolph. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj97bswKZTs

Jack & Drew putting out the cookies and milk for Santa

Jack's letter to Santa

My cute little guys all ready for Santa

The Welch Boys 2nd Annual Christmas Ornament Party - Dec 17

Last year the boys decided they wanted to have a Christmas Ornament party with all of our neighbors and it was a success so we decided to do it again this year. I let them pick the ornaments they want to do. This year, Jack picked glitter...oops! I am still finding it in the grooves of the hardwoods but no amount of glitter on the floor can match the good time they all had. Pizza, cupcakes, ornaments and the laughter of little kids what more could we ask for at Christmas time! Thank you to all my neighbors for such a great night! We are about 5 kids short but here is most of our street

Check out those fantastic ornaments

LOVE this picture! Bumpa and Jack making an ornament

Drew hard at work

My job was tying the ribbon on the ornaments

Drew's Pre-K Christmas Concert - Dec 16

Look at that little cutie!! Don't you just want to squeeze his face? This is Drew walking into his Christmas Concert at school. Below is a link to 3 of the songs they sang. You can see he was all about it with jingle Bells but he got over it pretty quickly. That's my Drew! :)

Jingle Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZufjR2WmaA

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT_OlY_3yLc

Santa Claus is Coming to Town
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9CUhongIrg

Jack supporting his little brother

Mommy and her little Santa Claus

Christy, Drew & Bumpa

Cookie Crumble - December 10

They have an event in downtown Newnan that's called the "Cookie Crumble". What they do is for a $5 donation you get a map and a bag and go on a search for 25 cookies that are all around the town square in different shops. We invited Angie to come with us because, well, it was a cookie search. :) We all had a great time and we found all the cookies. It was hard to keep "the kids" and I think you know I mean all 3 of them from eating all the cookies along the way. I posted a picture of their "stash" below.

The boys with their cookie bags full of cookies

Stopping for a snack halfway through the hunt :)

The boys with Angie...who do you think ate the most cookies? ;)

We found Santa at the Coffee Shop at the end of the night. We had a great time!

The boys posing for a picture in the square.

Mommy and her boys near the Christmas tree on the square.

The boys showing off their stash when we got home!

Rocking around the Christmas Tree

Watch here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHWvnzYisGw

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight and had a lot of fun doing it. A few ornaments fell and broke but thats bound to happen. No worries. So, the funny thing is, is that the back of the tree has no ornaments because the tree is so big we didn't have enough. So if you come see our tree...don't walk behind it! :) Drew and Jack with their 2010 Christmas ornaments

Mommy and her boys after the tree was all decorated!

Drew putting his homemade reindeer on the tree

Jack putting his homemade star on the tree

Oh Christmas Tree!

It's that time again...Christmas tree time!! Yay! This year we decided to cut our tree down so we headed to a Christmas tree farm in Senoia, GA with the Naquin Family and we found our tree. Let me just say that it is HUGE! They don't look quite as big outside but when I got it in the house...YIKES! I will post pictures of those once we decorate the tree when the boys get back from their Dad's house. Happy Holidays!! Lucas, Andres, Drew & Jack

Jack & Drew found the tree...It's HUGE!

The boys watching Kevin cutting it down...Thanks, Kevin! :)

Jack, Drew & Andres carrying it off...or at least trying. That thing is HUGE!!! lol

The Fab Four X 2

The Fab Four refers to Denver, Jack, Matthew and Carson. They have been the best of friends for years and when they get together it is entertaining to watch. More than that though the friendships these boys have made have brought me 3 of my closest friends, their Moms. Whom have all helped me tremendously over the last few years, especially this last year. They are amazing woman and I am lucky to know them. They have been a shoulder, they have been an ear but they have also given it to me hard and straight when sometimes I didn't want to or think I could hear it. They are no nonsense woman whom I admire and love very much! Kristin, Lisa and Tammy...Thank you for everything! xoxo

The Boys in Pre-K

December 2008

The Boys

Novemer 2010

Kristin, Me, Lisa & Tammy

"Terapia" ;)

A horse drawn carriage...Nov 28

The boys and I did a little Christmas shopping and we were lucky enough to stumble across a horse drawn carriage. As you can probably imagine, Andrew was super excited to go for a ride. So, after our ride we got off and grabbed some ice cream. No hot chocolate for these boys...ice cream it was! :) It was another great day!

Happy Thanksgiving - November 25

Happy Thanksgiving from Georgia! The boys and I had a great day at Bumpa and Christy's house! We played outside, had a fabulous dinner and enjoyed time with family! We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too!

Mommy & her Boys

What handsome little guys!

My other favorite guy!

Soccer Awards - November 17

What a great and successful season it was. Jack's team did really well and they worked well as a team. You could really see the difference from the beginning of the season to the end. I'm really excited for the spring because they will all be frozen and will play together again. The picture above is of Coach Martha giving Jack his "bobble head trophy". She said a few words about him and referered to him as Mr. Magic because he is so quick he gets from one side of the field to the other so fast it's "like magic". He smiled big when he heard that. Congratulations to Jack and the Rapids on a very successful season and thank you to Coach Martha and Coach Ken! We had a great time!

Jack lost his first tooth...YAY!

Jack has been waiting a long time for this day!! His friends all have mouths full of missing teeth and he really wanted to lose it before he turned 7 but today was the day! We all made guesses when he would lose it (Me, Jack, Drew, Bumpa & Christy) and Christy actually got it right! How crazy is that? Here are a few pictures... It's really hard to see the hole because his other tooth was already growing in behind it...look closely...

Drew, Mommy & Jack all super excited about his tooth and getting ready to put his tooth under his pillow

Jack wrote the tooth fairy a letter and we decided the best place to put it was on his bed. I know you can't see what it says so here it is..."Dear Tooth Fairy I lost my first tooth. I was very excited check under my pillow it will be their. Hope you like my first tooth!! From Jack" I thought that was so cute but I was more impressed that he wrote that all on his own!

My baby is growing up!!!

Thank goodness for Grandparents!!

Jack was awarded the Welch All Star award for 1st grade. I'll put a little information about what that means below but to say I am proud of him would be a huge understatement. The thing is, I wasn't able to go to his awards program. I didn't find out about it until the night before and I had meeting I couldn't move. It was one of those days when you just can't seem to do it all. Anyway, thank goodness for Grandparents!! My Dad and Christy went and Jack was so happy to see them! Thank you, Bumpa and Christy! Once again, you saved me! xoxo

Jack getting his award

Christy, Jack & Bumpa

Payton & Jack
Payton won the award for 4th grade! :) How great is that?!?!

Here is a little about the All Star program...

Welch All Star Character Program
This year we have piloted our first ever character program where 2 children are
chosen from each class each month based on their outstanding character and leadership
abilities. There are 6 criteria that each child must meet in order to be nominated
by their teacher.
1. Exhibiting the Welch Standards that are set
2. Seeking out opportunities to help others in class
3. Being a leader among other students
4. Working hard and doing his/her best.
5. Having a positive attitude
6. Having school spirit
Once a child is chosen, they are invited to an assembly to hear a speaker who
encourages them to be a leader in their home, community and school.
They are given a certificate and a Welch All Star Character t-shirt. Also,
their picture is taken, which is printed in the Newnan Times Herald. After
this, they get to enjoy popcorn and lemonade. This is all to say thank you
for being a role model to the other kids in the school and hopefully to encourage
others to want to be more like them.

Great Game, Jack!!!

Jack had his best game of the year. They won 12-3 and the team played really well together. Jack scored 4 goals and had 3 assists. I really wish I had taped that game. He has come really far this season and has really improved. Great game, Jack! His game was at 10:30 Saturday morning so when it was over it was time for lunch so I let him choose and of course he picked Moe's...shocking! Jack enjoying his burrito and letting you know about his goals...crazy kid!

Drew was enjoying the win too!

5 boys and a sleepover...

Denver, Matthew, Jack, Andres & Carson

As you all know Jack was gone on his actual birthday so I didn't get to have a party for him like we usually do. What I decided would work best because everyones schedules were so crazy was a sleepover. So...I took it on and they did really well. This is a great group of boys and they have been friends for years. Even through different schools, classes, sports, they have stayed close. They are a cute group to watch. Although after you watch the videos I think you'll agree that sleepovers were meant for the tamer crowd...they were meant for the girls. lol :)

Here's before bed after all the sugar...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf-R9evEUsI

Here's the next morning...clearly the sugar is still going strong...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8DdHPgNEpk

Disney Cruise Videos

So here are a few videos like I promised. Linking them to the actual blog was not working. I think maybe the files were too big so I put them on YouTube instead. So here are the links. Hope you like them.

This first one is of the boys at the end of our snorkeling adventure in Castaway Cay. I am holding all 3 masks and snorkels in my hands and trying to get away from these little monkeys...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxmtCkwSsKU

This is of Jack and I going up and in the air in Nassau while we were parasailing. Enjoy! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYWCTL4GXo

October 30, 2010 - Castaway Cay, Bahamas - Disney Wonder Cruise

Welcome to Castaway Cay! We LOVED this island! We had such a great day!

Mom & Jack snorkeling

Jack snorkeling

Drew wore the mask for about 10 minutes and then it broke. We were not pleased!

Drew kept trying to jump on me. Funny thing is I was the one with no life jacket.

Grandma snorkeling

One of the views of the beach

I tried SO hard to get some pictures of the boys. Drew was having NO PART of it!!

Surprise!! Here was my attempt at our 2010 Christmas card...As you can see it is not a keeper. Drew said he could not see in the sun! Oh well...

Captain Hook was waiting to "capture" the passengers as they got back on the ship.

The boys hit the showers before heading back to the ship