According to Blogger, this is my 101st post. That is pretty exciting. So on to the New Year! We spent New Year's Eve with some of our closest friends. Matt and Monica hosted a little party at their house. We ate lots and lots of Tamales, chips and dips, and, most importantly, Bunuelos. If you have never had one, go find somewhere to get one. It is a fried tortilla with cinnamon and sugar. Yum. Matt and Monica have two little girls about the same age as Noah and Wyatt and our other friends have two boys also similar in
age. So we had six little ones 5 and under, mostly boys. It was rowdy. All the big boys stayed upstairs play some crazy board game about world domination all night. Here is Noah trying, with all his might, to get a noise maker to make noise. It being New Year's Eve we had to have some fireworks. The kids had fun with the sparklers and little poppers.We had fun almost setting the neighborhood on fire with some bigger whizzers. My camera did not take very good pictures that night. This is awful of me, but Monica looks good and it is is very festive.
Late, late Christmas night we arrive in Dallas. We stuff stockings for the adults (the rest of the family was kind enough to wait and do them when we arrived- thank you, Dori!) and went to bed. The next morning we had a big breakfast and hung out until Dori and Jay arrived. We opened more gifts. Noah's favorite thing from that round was his Cars (the movie) city. It is made up of several stores from the movies and they fit together with streets that he can drive his Cars cars on. We finally retired Greg's tired old Hot Wheel city and set up the new city on Noah's 'train' table. Mom gave Wyatt a 'cleaning caddy' with
a little vacum, a mop, a broom and other cleaning supplies. Here Greg is helping him open it. Dacy also received some cleaning equipment. They opened these gifts early on and spent the rest of the day cleaning Mimi's house, taking short pauses to glance at the other gift Dori and I were opening for them. Dad suprised Mom, Dori and I with matching necklaces. They are gorgeous white gold, diamond and saphire necklaces. He is the best dad ever! Once again, I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked. I see Dori and Jay taking them and figure they are getting better ones anyway. Visit Dori and I's Flickr sites to see more pics. That evening we had wonderful dinner. Mom decorated her dining room in a beautiful 'snowy' theme. We stayed in Dallas for a couple more days. Mom, Dori and I escaped for a few hours to go shopping while the babies slept, the boys 
played and the big boys installed Jay's new speakers. It doesn't seem like much, but I think it is the first time since Dori and I started having babies that we have gone anywhere without them. Greg was able to visit and ride with a buddy of his from Alabama that was visiting his Dallas family. Friday we loaded up and headed for the lakehouse. We had both the Rav and the 4Runner packed from floor to ceiling. It tooks most of the day to make the trip, but the boys behaved even though the weather didn't. On Saturday we had the annual McDanel shindig. At this time of night, I don't have enough brain power left to calculate how many people were there. It was a great time even with our meager, Charlie Brown-like decorations. Take a look at Dori's pics to see what I mean.
First, we will start with our Christmas in Lago Vista. Sunday evening we met Greg's parents at their church for the Christmas Eve service. It is a beautiful church and the service was pretty elaborate- complete with fake snow. Which was really just tiny bubbles that seemed to stick and not pop in the big, oversprayed hair of some of the women. I had to walk around with Wyatt in the foyer through about half. He settled down once we lit the candles. Of course, Noah was an angel. We went back to Mama G's house and ate Christmas
cookies and drank hot chocolate- oh, and had a little dinner on the side. Wyatt learned that the best part of a Christmas cookie is the icing. Here he is licking it off the top. I read the Christmas story from Luke before we put the kids to bed. The next morning we opened stockings and presents with the boys. Mama G got Noah a new Herbie. 
The Herbie we got him last year was his best friend but after a hard year of going everywhere with Noah and taking some pretty hard falls, old Herbie became undriveable. Noah has promised to take better care of this one. Just in case, we are keeping the old Herbie for spare parts (not that there is much left of him). He got all kinds of stuff, mostly car related, and disappeared for the rest of the day content to play with it all. Wyatt had a great Christmas too. Between
the rideable zebra, wheel barrow, ball popper and shopping cart he was very busy making the most of the large echoing cavern of Mama G's tiled living area. By lunch his noise was drowned out by all the family that came over. It was a crowd. There were four toddlers- Noah 3, Carlton 2, Trudy almost 2 and Wyatt 15mo. They were all very good and kept us old people entertained. Here is a picture of Carlton. 
He has the world's cutest dimples. We had a big lunch and a white elephant gift exchange (we got a gift certificate to Chuy's which we have already used!). Late that night we packed up the car- when I say 'packed' I mean to the top, dogs cannot move, kids cannot see out their windows and I have a lap-full and just enough room to squeeze my legs in- and headed to Dallas for Christmas #2.
Last weekend I got my camera back! I wish I could say that I have a bunch of new and exciting pictures, but I can't. Things have been pretty 'quiet' around here. That doesn't refer to the actual noise or energy level of the house- it just means no big news. Wyatt is still a little parrot. He has too many words to list. He is also developing his animal sounds. Goat and cat are my personal favorites. Wish this was a blog with sound. His noises and ramblings are hilarious and almost nonstop. Today he is pretty sick. He is running a super high temperature. Other than to take naps and a 20 minute trot around the living room (during which he managed to partially unwrap a couple presents, tear up some mail and terrorize Noah) he has been laying in my lap all day with his bottle in one hand
and his quilt in the other. It is so sad. A super high fever for a day or two seems to be the way his body fights even the most minor bug. I am not medicating him and letting his body burn out whatever it is so he will be feeling better for the upcoming festivities. If you look back at my blogs from this time last year I'm sure there are some entries about a fever or two. This time I know that is how he gets sick and I am not going to put him through any traumatic doctor's appointments.Last weekend Greg's parents watched the boys and Greg and I visited Waco. We attended Uncle Blair and Aunt Regina's church's Christmas presentation and then stayed the night and part of the next day with my cousins, Dan and Amanda. We had a great time visiting with family and it was incredibly relaxing. I wish the boys had been with us to play with their cousins and feed chickens. But of course they had a blast with their grandparents and didn't even pause when they saw us come in the door. I think Noah only got in the car with us because we told him that we were going to be back in a week for Christmas.This weekend we are going to have some quality family time, just the four of us, before setting out for the grandparents'. This may be the last update for awhile, but I will return with Christmas pics. I am determined to get more and better pictures than I did last year.My pictures do not match my text very well. Sorry. 
The first one is me enjoying my hot chocolate the same way every mom with toddlers enjoys everything! The next one is Noah sliding down the new firepole Greg added to the swingset. As you can see, Noah has it mastered. Most kids that come over are too scared to try it. It is ten feet high. The last picture is our lettuce. Our summer garden was somewhat prodcutive but always looked on the verge of death. However, our winter garden this year is beautiful. I wish I had planted more. Right now we have lettuce and spinach and the peas and carrots are coming along. Much to Greg's delight, and my bewilderment, we have cilantro popping up everywhere. I think Wyatt may have spilled some seeds. This has been perfect winter weather for fast, robust veggies. I even have tomatoes ripening on my widowsill that I got off my last tomato plant just before it melted in the last frost. Homegrown tomatoes in December! Gotta love Texas.
The past couple of weeks have been filled with lots of friends, family and Christmas shopping. Last Friday the boys and I visited Christie and Ben way up in Cedar Park. We took the boys to go see Santa. Noah almost got sucked into an elevator (mostly my fault), we had to wait in a really long lign for Santa and then Noah peed in Santa's lap (only because we were next in line when Noah told me he had to go and I didn't want to lose our place and made him 'hold' it). Luckily, it was a frontal accident and I don't think Santa even noticed. Ben and Wyatt were both terrified of Santa. He managed to soothe Wyatt with a book long enough to get a picture. Christie and I were not going to pay $20 for a 5x7 from a guy with a digital camera and a
printer, so we took pictures for each other. Our screaming baby Santa pictures are just as good as his were! After the mall we went back to Christie's house and the babies napped, played and ran amok. I managed to leave my sunglasses and my camera at Christie's house. So that explains why there are no pictures from this weekend. Christie, who loves to show off pictures of her kid as much as I do, emailed me the pictures we had taken so I could have something to blog about. But I still haven't gotten all the pictures off my email so hop on over to Christie's blog to see more from that day.
Before I get a bunch of nasty comments and phone calls, let me explain. I really thought Wyatt needed a haircut! It was in his eyes and getting tiny, but impossible, tangles in the back. If I just kept cutting it along his eyebrows and next then pretty soon he'd have a goofy, poofy bowl cut. Plus, I did it after a day of tangles and pulling food out of it. Good thing I don't have a girl because when I am in a moment of frustration with the boys' hair I just pull out my trimmers. I did use the longest guard I have on Wyatt. I couldn't beleive how much he had- I cut off about 4" on the top! I miss his hair and regret cutting it. In my opinion, he now looks like the class bully. Not in this picture, of course. I wouldn't post anything too unflattering unless it was just too funny not to. Noah took this picture and several more really good ones of Wyatt smiling. Wyatt is more willing to smile for Noah than for me.
Other than giving and receiving bad haricuts, this week we have spent a good majority of our time on the playground. Here is Wyatt riding his new swing for the first time. I had to plead for Greg to put in a swing for Wyatt, but it turns out that we should have put in two or three. I spend most of my days now pushing the boys on the swing, breaking up fights over the swing and laying out a swing ride schedule for them and our neighbor's kids. The swing is a big hit. Noah and Wyatt want to be on the playground all the time now. I'm glad it got chilly out so at least when I drag them in kicking and screaming they settle down a little easier when I wipe their runny noses and they realize they can feel their fingers again. I'm very proud of Wyatt's vocabulary, but I am beginning to hate the words 'outside' and 'swing'.
Wyatt is totally focused on talking right now. He tries repeating just about everything and is very particular about his pronounciation. He does tend to put a 'y' at the end of somethings. Like 'hugy' instead of 'hug'. He says 'brrrr' when he goes out in the cold and waves his arms and tries to say 'peee-ewwww' when I change his diaper. I recently discovered that 'mommy' means he wants something to drink. An urgent, loud 'MAW-MEEEEE' means he wants a bottle (which I'm trying to wean him from so my doctor won't give me that 'tsk, tsk, bad mom' look the next time I take him in). Of course he lovingly calls Greg 'dad', usually over and over again when he is playing with him. I guess he doesn't feel the need to give me a title. Isn't the whole reason we have names is to get each other's attention? He obviously feels like he already has all of mine, and most of the time I feel the same way. He is working on saying 'Noah', but right now it sounds like 'No-nah' which is still pretty cute. He just woke up from his nap so I better go!
All we did was gobble, gobble over the Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Dallas for the holiday. Greg and Noah went on several bike rides. We shopped some. We ate ALOT. Our Thanksgiving feast was fabulous. Dori took some family photos for us and we tried to get a picture of the kiddos, but the camera wasn't cooperating and there was a BBQ pit in the background. However, we accomplished the impossible- all four sitting together laughing their heads off. I shouldn't say 'we'- it was really Papa and Sarge. It was Papa holding up Sarge's front legs and making him do a dance routine that got the kids laughing. He
even had Sarge dancing on Dori's head at some point. Dori did capture some good pics of the boys and the four of us, but I didn't want to post any and spoil our Christmas card. We also visited Geoff and Dene one evening. The kids played and we enjoyed some yummy fajitas and pumpkin cheesecake (gobble, gobble). We have always thought it funny how alike Mckenna and Noah are, in personality and in mannerisms and speech. But we are just discovering that Avery and Wyatt are also very similiar babies. It's like I have the male versions of Dene's girls.
Saturday we went to the Homestead's craft fair in Waco. The kids spent over an hour in the petting zoo and ate an unbelievable amount of kettle corn. Noah found a new best friend in his second cousin Lauren and Wyatt learned to make goat noices. It was a fun gathering of lots and lots of family. We were all amazed at how much each other's kids had grown. Good times.
Yes, Yes, it has been a long time. I honestly cannot remember what all has happened since my last post. So I will just try to catch up on how quickly my boys are growing up! As fast as Noah is
growing, he will be a teenager by the end of the week. I really believe he is very smart, but what is more amazing are his social skills. He is known amongst our friends and church (and, at times, total strangers) for his animated storytelling. He loves to tell people about all the exciting things in his life, from how many cup holders are in aunt Dori's minivan to reinacting scenes from movies. His stories entertain those listening and they totally brighten our day because he has a way of highlighting the great things in our lives, reminding Greg and I just how blessed we are. If he could write, I'd let him do the blog. Maybe I should figure out how to do a video blog and just let him narrate our lives. He'd probably tell you about our "whole family" bike rides. He would definitely tell
you about Mimi, Papa, Grandma Jean and Grandpa Bob making a short visit last week and taking us to the Texican Cafe. That was the highlight of our week. Yesterday we did some Christmas shopping and worked on the slide for the playground. Both boys can hardly wait to have it finished. Today in Sunday school Noah made a little turkey and he had to put something he was thankful for on each feather. He put his playground on one of them. That he was thankful for a playground he isn't even able to play on yet, really tugged on Greg's heartstrings and motivated him to get to work on it this afternoon. Unfortunately, he still does not have the slide up because we had to go back up to church for other activities and events this evening. Here is Wyatt making his camera-flash-anticipation face. Wyatt is on the cusp of toddlerdom. He understands everything we say and has a definite opinion on all of it. He has learned to nod his head and, much to my dismay, to shake it as well. He is trying to repeat more and more words lately. He even has a few phrase like 'dog poop' and 'shop vac'. His most used words are trash, eat, dog, slide, sit, dad, please and fish. He loves to help around the house, which explains his vocabulary. He also has learned the word 'that', which he uses whenever he wants to know the word for something. His favorite game right now is to take all the small trash cans in the house, bring them into the kitchen next to the big one and transfer every thing fromt the small ones into the big one- one piece at a time. At our church thanksgiving dinnner
tonight he begged to get down from his highchair and then proceeded to walk around picking up pieces of food and debris that people had dropped on the floor and putting them on the highchair tray. I hope he keeps up this tidy obessesion into adulthood. He difinitely got it from Greg. And last, but not least, is a picture of our furriest family members. Our kid before we actually had kids. I used to have oodle of Riley and Yeti pictures but now my bytes are all the boys. So here is Yeti looking all sweet and clean after his bath... that he had to have because he rolled in something that was too vile to even write about. I didn't take a picture the next day when he rolled in it again and had to have another bath. Is it a surprise I don't give them as much camera time these days?
This picture is just one from about 20 I took of Noah after his haircut on Wednesday. I have a couple very cute, very grown up pictures of him, but this one just seems to capture his recent over abundance of boyish silliness. As Fillmore's driver, he just had to have long hair for Halloween, but he was glad to get rid of it ASAP.I know I told ya'll to visit my Flickr site, but I bet you didn't see much when you got there. My fault- I had the security settings wrong. So try again.This weekend Greg began construction of a massive fort/playground for the boys in the backyard. We had to place it in such a way so that it is not visible from our street or the one behind us because Greg's design doesn't exactly follow our
neighborhood's deed restrictions. I don't know why they don't think a 14ft play structure is a good idea. Like all Greg's building projects, it is incredibly overbuilt and will be standing, along with our deck, if our area is ever hit by a bomb. I will try to keep the blog updated with photos of its progress. Both boys are enjoying 'helping' dad with the construction. With the 
exception of a couple potty and drink breaks, the three of them spent the entire day, from the time they woke till they went to bed, in the backyard. We fired up the grill yesterday morning and threw on some pork ribs that we let cook for about 10 hours. They were soooo good. And, we didn't melt any piece of the deck or house! I think Greg is getting the hang of it!
Oh yeah, I keep meaning to tell everyone that I do read the comments you leave on the blog. In fact, I love them because I like to see who is keeping up with us. You can comment anonymously without signing up for anything and then just sign within the text. There is not a way for me to respond other than directly in the posts. Thanks to all those who have left comments.
So here is what Noah and I have been working on for the past two weeks. Fillmore! For all of you who are not emersed in the world of animated film, Fillmore is the VW bus in the movie Cars. He is also who Noah chose to be for Halloween. I'm glad he picked him instead of Sally, the Porche. I don't know of any Porche-shaped boxes! I hunted down a water heater box and shaped it into Fillmore and Noah and I spent a lot of time painting him. He is to scale and the paint job is pretty close to the original. I even made a bunch of hippy bumper stickers out of mailing labels on the computer. Noah has been out-of-his-mind excited about Halloween. He loved wearing Fillmore. We went for an early trick-or-treating round down our street and then went to a fair put on by a chruch near our house. We entered him in a
costume contest and he won 'Craziest Costume.' He got a ribbon and was intereviewd on their little stage. He spoke up clear and boldly when they asked him questions over the mic. It was soooo cute. He is very proud of his ribbon. After the fair we did a second round of trick-or-treating. By that time most everyone had turned off their porch lights, but the few people still answering their doors emptied their candy bowls into Noah's bag. He had so much fun pretending to drive Fillmore around the neighborhood. Wyatt was Mickey Mouse. It is the same costume Noah wore for his first two Halloweens. We are getting good use out of it. I think Wyatt is the cuter Mickey, though. He also loved wearing his costume and stayed in full character all night. Mama and Papa G joined us for the evening of fun.
This weekend Greg and I attended the Margarita Ball in Dallas, a huge charity even put on my the Dallas Margarita Society. It was kind of a professional networking thing for Greg. For me it was just fun. Since it was a black tie affair, Greg and I got to get really dressed up. So here is a very rare look at us all prettied up. I think we were the best lookin couple there. I love my dress. Anyhow, it was a great night. I think it is the latest we have stayed up (willingly) since college. Mom kept the boys for us because it was an all night event that necessitated a hotel stay. Of course they hardly even noticed our absense between all the cookie baking, lasagna and doting grandparents and great grandparents. Earlier that day we met up with a good friend of Greg's for lunch at Cafe Brazil. Here Wyatt is enjoying the rest of my Chai latte. Don't worry, it is just seasoned green tea with steamed milk. But I am pretty sure I was getting 'looks' from people who thought I was
letting my baby drink down a giant capuccino. Sunday we had a Halloween/Birthday party at Dori's house. I will write more about that tomorrow because I am just tooooo tired right now. I did create a flickr account so everyone could view more of my photos. Most of the time I have more photos than I do things to write. I think the photos are the best part. Visit my flickr.
We didn't do much last week. Just hung out, played, made messes, cleaned the messes, etc.. Thursday was 'Molly Day'. She wore an especially cute shirt that Wyatt just loved. Here they are talking about it. As they get older they interact more and more like real little people. They definitely have a brother/sister kind of relationship. Sometimes they play wonderfully and other times they do nothing but antagonize each other. Those days can get pretty loud around here. Becky and I have taught them the same signs. It is so funny to watch them communicate. When one wants something the other has he/she signs 'please' furiously at the other, gets mad when they don't get what they want, takes the thing, and then the other
screams and signs 'please' back just as urgently while trying to steal the thing back. At least they are trying to be polite. Tonight Wyatt was fussing during dinner because I had forgotten to get him a drink. So I got him some water. He threw the water across the table and did his please sign for milk. How do I get mad at him for throwing the water across the table while he was so politely asking for milk? Today I taught him how to kiss. I ask him for a kiss and he comes at me mouth open, tongue out and plants a zerbert like smooch on my face. Even though it is pretty slobery, I love it. It is my baby drool facial.
Snow in Austin!! Yes, we got actual snow today. The frigid weather began Sunday night and it has only gotten colder and wetter. This morning we woke up to a sheet of ice over everything. Then it began raining which turned into freezing rain which turned into sleet which became snow and then the cycle reversed itself. Now it is steadily raining outside. Our gutters have frozen and, as I type, Greg is out there trying to... do something... so the water will stop pouring into our deck. 
The grass, with so much snow and now rain, is a sea of ice- it has to be two inches thick. I have serious cabin fever. I haven't left the house since church Sunday morning. Ahhh! Greg worked from home today which was good and bad. I had to keep the boys from bugging him. Wyatt would stand at the office doors and point and say 'dad' or just make funny faces at him. Noah's friend across the street, Ezra, was home from school today so they ran back and forth playing at each other's houses and outside. They had a ball throwing 'snow' (more like Sonic ice) at each other and knocking icicles off everything they could reach. We pulled down our winter bag and put Noah in his ski pants.
Those paired with his bomber jacket and ski cap made him look just like the bully's little sidekick in the movie Christmas Story. Wyatt wanted to go outside but it only lasted about two minutes. Greg was supposed to travel on Monday and has had to move his flight three times because of weather. The ariport completely shut down. Tonight we had artichokes for dinner. Noah, who won't even look at a carrot, loves them. Here he is sharing Greg's artichoke. Crazy kid.
