Pre-Christmas

Photos from Christmas day will be here soon, but until then, here’s the lead up to Christmas.  To start with, we did something rather “un-Christmas-ey” on Christmas Eve.  We went to Chuck E Cheeses.  For some reason, we thought it would be a good idea.  I’m sure you are thinking that it would be packed.  After all, it’s done nothing but rain for days.  So if you were thinking that, you’d be wrong.

It was DEAD.  Which was awesome for us.  There were literally 10 cars in the parking lot.  We had a great time and managed to win enough tickets for cotton candy (a personal fave).

After visiting Chuck, we came home.  Haley did a little research on the computer.  She wore her Mr. Potato Head glasses.  In fact, we had to pry them off of her before going into Chuck E Cheeses.  She looks so funny wearing them around.

We went to some friends’ house (the Littles) and had a Cuban Christmas that night.  We had pork, rice and beans, plantain, avocado with balsamic and some sort of Cuban egg-nog.  It was fantastic.  Even more so was spending time with them and doing something a little out of the ordinary for Christmas.

By the time we got home from the Littles, it was around 9:30.  Time to tuck the little ones in.  Laura and I spent some quality time together putting gifts under the tree.  We really had a great time.  Then it was off to bed.  We were so excited when we thought about those little feet running down the stairs.  A least we were hoping they would be running down the stairs.  We weren’t sure though.  As I tucked Haley in, I asked her if she was ready for Santa Claus to come and bring her presents.  I got a solemn, “No, Daddy, I don’t want him to come.”  I knew things would be different on Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas Eve

The creatures are stirring around here, and we are getting ready for Santa to come.  Last night we had a great time with the Plattens eating dinner and opening gifts.  Haley’s already been up this morning playing with Mr. Potato Head. 

Laura and I have started trying to get the house clean and a little more organized in preparation of the explosion of gifts that have already started appearing.  Between what Santa brings and what our family gives to the kids, we may need to rent a storage unit.  Wish us luck!

We’re excited about spending time at home with just our family and starting some new traditions.  However, we’re presented with a slight challenge…we need to figure out what traditions we want to start.  I guess we’ve still got a couple of hours to make that decision.  One thing that I do know is that our new traditions will involve putting out reindeer food for Santa’s reindeer and reading the Christmas story.

Here’s a photo of Laura in her new Fancy Nancy hat that she got last night.  Isn’t she cute?  I’m a lucky guy.

The Children Were Nestled, All Snug on the Stairs

Just two days until Christmas.  I can hardly wait!  And Haley can hardly wait.  She’s ready.  I mentioned something to Haley yesterday about us going to get a gift for Mommy.  It was really a ploy to get her to follow me to the car.  I didn’t think she really cared.  Little did I know, she talked about going to get a present for Mommy for the next hour.  Guess that means I’ll be taking her to get Mommy a present!

This past Saturday we took gifts to a family that our Sunday School class adopted.  We made sure we brought our kids.  On the way down, Haley was pretty excited.  Laura was trying to figure out how to tell Haley exactly what we were doing.  Before Laura started the conversation, she asked Haley what she thought we were doing.  Haley said, “We’re bringing presents to the kids.”  Laura asked if she knew why we were bringing presents to the kids.  Haley quickly responded, “Because they are sad and we want to make them happy.”  Sounds like Haley already knew exactly what was going on.  No economics lesson needed.  There’s a reason that God talks so much about faith like a child.  Its refreshing to see how simple life is through a child’s eyes.

Below is what I found when I went up last night to make sure Haley was snug in her bed.  She was asleep at the top of the stairs with a plastic ice cream sandwich.  Not sure what she had in mind, but I got her back in bed.

All I Want for Christmas…are lights and stockings

I’m loving this time of year! Christmas is in the air. It is hard to believe how quickly the past 6 months or so have gone. Things are good around the Simons household. We’ve gotten the house decorated. Well, the inside at least. The outside looks the same as it did a month ago. I know it sounds bad, but I opted out of doing the outside. The lights on the outside of the house are always a lot of fun to put up, but taking them down is a nightmare. I’m thinking that we should do wreaths on the windows with lights pointing up at them. We’ll look into it. Next year.

Trey and Haley are doing great. Haley’s been getting ready for Christmas. Her main items on her wish list are pretty easy. Stockings and lights. I’m not sure why she always says those two things when we ask what she wants for Christmas. Trey has been as happy as a clam. He finished up his last dose of antibiotic for an ear infection today. I’m telling you, that kid doesn’t have a bad day. The only way we knew he had an ear infection is because he wasn’t sleeping much and had a fever. He wasn’t fussy a bit. He is starting to smile and laugh a lot. And, he’s reaching out for things. If you get anything near him, he’s going for it. That includes remote controls, cups and faces.

We took family portraits this week. We needed something for the Christmas card. I think they turned out great. I got a new tripod, which seemed to make it easier. Of course, I’m sure it was all in my mind. What really did seem to help was the remote I bought a few months ago. It allows me to have the camera snap a shot at a pre-defined interval. I set it for every 3 seconds. So, once the lights were set up, focus adjusted and exposure nailed, it was just a matter of sitting with the kiddos in front of the camera until a we got a good picture. Easy Peasy.

Cute Kids

That’s all.  Now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

Christmas Time is Here

Over the past couple of days we’ve been decorating the house.  Haley has been having a ball.  Every morning she gets up and starts grabbing the ornaments and bringing them around the house with her.  She even did most of the decorating of her tree that we put up in her room.  It was really cute watching her decorate the tree downstairs.  Laura and I walked out of the room for 10 minutes or so and when we came back in, there was one gigantic clump of ornaments in one tiny section of the tree.  Near to the ground of course.

We took Haley and Trey to see Santa.  Haley was extremely excited about about seeing him before she got there.  Unfortunately, once we got there it was a different story.  She bawled.  We finally got her on Santa’s lap and all was semi-okay.  Trey wasn’t phased.  I guess he was just happy that Santa’s sleeves were absorbent to help out with his drooling!

Trey’s got an ear infection right now.  It doesn’t seem to phase him too terribly, much, but you can tell he’s under the weather.  Laura took him to the doc and got some meds for him.  So, he should be in tip top shape before we know it.

Party in the USA

This weekend, Haley and I rode down to Starkville together for the MSU/Ole Miss game.  Trey was feeling a little under the weather so Laura opted to stay home with him.  One of the benefits of this was not only watching an awesome game, but getting to spend some quality time with Haley.  It was fun for us to go on our date.  As soon as we got to the game, she was telling my dad about how “Daddy brought me to Stark-bill to see the Bulldogs”.

It was really fun in the car as well.  Most of the time was spent talking and singing.  Most of the songs we sang were “Wheels on the Bus”, “Twinkle, Twinkle”, “Zaccheus was a Wee Littel Man” and “Jesus Loves Me”.  Of course, we threw in some Miley as well.  And you know it was because she wanted to hear it.  Definitely not because I think it is catchy.

The game itself was a lot of fun as well.  Haley was cheering nearly the whole time.  After the game, most of the fans stuck around in the stadium.  In fact, the video below was shot about 15-20 minutes after the game ended.  You can see that the exit gates below where I’m standing weren’t being used very much, the band was still playing and the crowd was still cheering.  The only empty section was the visitor’s section.  Quite glad that I made the trip down.

Christmas is in full swing at our house.  I knew that it was coming soon, but I didn’t realize it was coming this weekend.  When I got home from Starkville, I was greeted with about 25 of those massive tupperware containers full of Christmas decorations.  Somehow Laura managed to bring them all downstairs herself.  Either I married superwoman or I’ve forgotten how capable a woman on a mission can actually be.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We spent the day yesterday with Laura’s family.  We had a great time just sitting around and doing not much of anything.  The food was great, as was the board game that was played after dinner. 

While Thanksgiving means turkey and football for some, for Laura and her sisters it means shopping.  They’ve come to grips with the fact that when you consider the value of time and sleep, there aren’t that many deals out there.  But for them, it isn’t about deals.  Its about the thrill of the hunt and the time they spend together. 

Of course, Laura rose at 3:45 a.m. to make sure they were there when the doors opened.  She met her sisters at Target and the fun began.  You would think that most people would look like zombies at 4 a.m.  Not Laura.  She was ready.  List in hand. (yes, the picture below was taken at 4 a.m.)  Unfortunately, after being woken up at 4, I had trouble getting back to sleep.  Even though I was awake, I had ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE to go fight those crazy crowds.

In other news, Haley got her first haircut this week.  It really looks cute.  Although, I’m going to miss the wild and crazy curls.  They’ll come back.  I definitely think getting it straightened up was the right thing to do.  Laura took some pictures while she got her hair cut.  She jumped right up in the chair and smiled the whole time.  Every time someone mentions her hair she gets this bashful grin on her face.  So sweet!

Trey is getting a lot more interactive.  I’ve gotten to spend some good time with him lately.  He’s starting to get some personality, which is fun to watch unfold.  We’re going to be taking his six month pictures over the next few days, so stay tuned!

Bulldogs - 3, Bama – a lot

Well, the Dogs didn’t look so hot on Saturday.  We still had a great time at the game.  We managed to have a late lunch at Old Venice.  Always nice to have Old Venice.  The kids both did fine at the game, but if I could go back in time, I don’t think we’d have brought them.  This morning, both of them (Haley especially) sounded pretty rough.  I feel bad saying it, but I really think Haley’s voice is cute when she’s hoarse. 

While most around our house are still puny, we’re definitely on the tail end of the illnesses.  I’ve got a feeling we’ll be feeling tip top by mid week.  I wish we’d been well this past week.  The weather has been awesome!

We’re starting to get back into the Holiday season already.  Seems like we have a dozen things already planned for next weekend.  I’ve got a feeling the rest of November and December are going to go by in a blur!

Before you ask, yes, I did take the photo above before going to our seats last night.  It was edited in Adobe Lightroom with a preset I build last week.

Fun Weekend!

What an awesome weekend!  And it isn’t even over!

My parents and grandmother came up on Thursday to help out with the kiddos while Laura went to Birmingham.  She’s visiting a bunch of her college friends and having a girls’ weekend.  It is also doubling as a baby shower for one of them.

I spent last night at SoulMate Live doing a quick monologue.  When I got in, we chatted for a while and hit the sack.  I started the morning sleeping in a little.  I actually slept until about 8:45.  I can’t tell you the last time I did that.  From there, I worked on a Sunday School lesson a little.  By about 10:30, Dad and I were headed to a couple of stores to get the parts we needed to convert our wood burning fireplace to gas logs.

When we got in, we had shrimp and grits for lunch (de-lish).  By 3:00 we’d installed the logs, “almost” fixed our doorbell that was broken and moved some things from the garage to the shed.

Tonight we had a cookout with Haley.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire.  Man, did she enjoy it.  I think she ate a dozen marshmallows.  I’ve got a feeling she’s going to be up for a while!  Trey boy shouldn’t have a problem going to sleep.  We kept him out of the marshmallows.

Trey seems to be having a good time with the visitors.  He’s been just as giggly and smiley as can be this weekend.  And, he’s growing so fast.  I’m telling you, he’ll be walking before we know it! 

I’m sure Laura is having a great time, but I’m ready to see her again.  Hopefully she’ll be coming home early tomorrow!