Cheese and Crackers

Christmas Night

I gave up on my picture-taking skills after some shots of my kid. But we really had a great time at Trace's house, honest. Dad & Terree came down and, best of all, we got to talk to Noelle for FORTY MINUTES! Not long enough, but oh sooo good.

"Smile, Isaac!" No smile. Just a reply of "smile." Oh, well.

Christmas Morning

We got spoiled on Christmas! Thanks, everybody!

We read all the books right away.

Christmas came early at Mama Brough's

We had a great time celebrating in Cedar Hills on Sunday night; Mom just couldn't wait for all of her presents to be opened!

Finally, we got to see the Gibson family together again (welcome home, Adam!).

Ashton's still my sweetest nephew. (I wonder how long I will be able to say that?)

Isaac loves his cousins and aunts and uncles, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much and he resigns himself to quiet observation.

The 38th week

Ho ho ho! Isaac's telling Santa Claus what he wants for Christmas 12/23/07. My belly shakes when I laugh, just not like a bowl full of jelly. Man, I thought Christmas would never come (I'm like a kid again) and now it's already passed us by.

A Great Idea

So we decided we like it when Isaac sees his bike helmet and asks to wear it around the house randomly. It's just better for those frequent bumps to the head. Seriously! Stop laughing at my son; he's happy.

Sleepover

We had my niece Kennedy over for the night on Monday. You'd think she'd be used to having pictures taken of her (if you know her mom, you know what I mean), but this was all I could get. I guess it really is a talent.


We had so much fun and she even helped put Isaac to bed. We are going to miss her when she moves away next year!

Gee Gaw

These are my two handsome boys in their crazy ties. Isaac insisted.
He's in this new phase now, where if you ask him something mundane, he'll answer "gee gaw," "that's a gee gaw," "is that a gee gaw?" This is his made-up word for everything he knows you know he knows. Make sense? He thinks it's pretty funny, too. So, watch out, school. He's going to be bored if you don't challenge him. You have a few years, but get it together. Otherwise we'll have a class clown on our hands.

Ho ho ho

Do I look pained in this picture? Sorry, but I am. This sciatica is killing me! So much for week 36; this is week 37. You can only post so many pictures of yourself. If everybody wishes really hard, maybe there won't be any more pictures of me...just of a baby boy who still has no definite name. Nah, then I'd have to blame you all for making my life prematurely more difficult than it already is. Don't do that to me.

I know that song!

It's that time again, everybody!

I've been saving up "Isaacan" quotes for weeks now and I'm busting to share them all. Well, we won't share them all; only the 'more appropriate' ones.

We have a top ten list, interspersed with a few random pictures of the kiddo:

10- "Happy Holidays!" This is one he randomly started saying...quite vehemently, I might add...and usually trying to get a word in edgewise while an adult conversation was attempting to take place.

9- "Not right now..." This is his new way of saying "I am in charge; it's not time for bed or prayer or whatever it is you just asked me if I wanted to do. Maybe later, but I'll probably protest then, too."

8-"Do you want a drink, Scooby-Doo?" He is trying to be polite to his sippy cup, which has a straw not to far from Scooby-Doo's mouth. It doesn't quite work, though, so that poor little doggy is still thirsty.

7-"He's saying a prayer." This is also a reference to that blessed cup. Scooby-Doo is holding a flashlight and looking down at it with a measure of trepidation. To Isaac, though, his hands are in prayer position, so that's all that matters.

6-"Thank you for the gospel." This is what his prayers are filled with. He will start to repeat what we tell him to say, but it just ends in "gospel," which is good to be thankful for, too. It's a start.

5-"Do you want to go under the blanket?" This is what I hear prior to finding a lump where our nativity scene used to be. It's a daily occurrence.They always end up under the red napkin. The smaller, more expendable scene (a.k.a.the dollar store set) will all fit in the candle that sits next to it. Isaac never forgets to put the lid on it after stuffing them in.

4-"Do you want me to hold you, Baby Jesus?" Again, the nativity scene. This is one I've only heard him say once, but I had to take note, just the same. I told Isaac that some day he may find himself asking Jesus the opposite question.

3-"'That's Elmo's World!' Remember that song?" These were some of the last things we heard Isaac say to himself as we left his room after putting him to bed last night. I think he talked to himself for over an hour.

2-"I like this song!" Everytime we hear a Christmas song he's heard before (which is just about all of them now), he gets so excited.

1-"This is not cool for me." I have to admit, this is one of my favorites. Maybe it's because I have no idea where he got it from. Maybe I just like that he can voice what's cool and what's not. For him.

Misc. Post

So we spent Thanksgiving at my Dad's. I won't say anything negative (awkward pause).

It was good to hang out with family, though. We don't get to see Dad, Terree, Grandma, Bobbie and Corky together very often.

Thanksgiving was also our 4th anniversary. We celebrated the following Saturday with a perfect date. A perfect day, actually. Every once in a while we are smiled upon with one of those. We are grateful. Ha ha, suckers! You thought we went to a beautiful place to celebrate. No, this is from 2004 in Argentina. You don't see a lot of pictures of just the two of us very often, so I had to dig.

And here is a random shot of Isaac helping me re-discover the winnings of last year's after-Christmas sales. This hat fit him as a newborn; now it just kind of sits on the top of his head. Aren't you proud of him for saying "cheese"? I am.

On Sunday he somehow knew it was testimony meeting before anyone else. He kept saying loudly "I want a testimony!"

He always makes for good entertainment at church. Did I say good? Well, he keeps everyone around him smiling. The baby was kicking while he was on my lap, so I thought I'd point it out to him. Instead of watching my belly, he transfered himself to Jared's lap, repeating the question, "does Daddy have a baby?" Of course, after some smiles he felt encouraged and concluded "Daddy has a baby" with a sly grin. Over and over. Not whispering. You get the picture.

Now he likes to greet us with "Hi, Mommy (or Daddy), how are you doing? What's your name?"

A nutshell

Since I'm a slacker, this shot counts for both 34 and 35 weeks. I know you're all sorely disappointed. But it's official. January 8 is a-comin' soon.
So is Christmas. Isaac had a lot of fun helping decorate. What he doesn't understand is why he can't keep redecorating the Christmas tree while at the dinner table.

Sundays after church around here are usually quiet because we read the paper. Isaac has even taken up the comics.

So that's it. Our life in a nutshell. Today, at least.

Oh, and I can't forget the man behind the camera. He's the reason we have any peace around here. Yesterday he took Isaac to the office with him so I could get stuff done around the house. It was beautiful! Thanks, Jar.

Hello, baby

This is a nursery in the making. There's still a lot of work to do, but I put a lot into reorganizing and consolidating to make this much happen. It's frightening to think of how much will have to be set up in the near future, much of it never disappearing again until we move next summer!

Goodbye, sunshine

Isaac had his hair cut. About a week ago Jared finally did the deed and now Isaac's not quite as blond. We love it, though-- it's so easy!

Happy Veteran's Day

We know a few veterans and we'd like to thank them all. In particular, we'd like to take our hats off to Adam, Laurel's brother-in-law, who is still in Iraq now. His homecoming will be December 22nd, a wonderful Christmas present for the whole family...especially Trace.

In recognizing the veterans, I think it's equally important to applaud the supportive families, the wives and children and parents of those serving our country. Trace, you're awesome.

Birthday Fun

Isaac was SO excited to have a birthday. He kept saying "on Saturday is my birthday" and "I want to have a birthday," and other such wishes were expressed.Here he is, saying something like "I love birthdays!" We were just waiting for the guests to arrive. In the background you can see part of Jared's masterpiece: the burning building.He was very glad to wear his firetruck shirt, since that was the theme of the party. Still waiting. Fortunately, Isaac's cousin Tanner came early, so we had some fun before the festivities began.
Dallin is Isaac's friend from church. He and Laurel were the only ones on time; but that's my family! Once they all arrived we played games like "pin the dog on the firetruck" and "throw the fireman (a.k.a., bean bag) into the burning building." We had thought that to get those bean bags in any of the "windows" would be next to impossible, but soon my Mom, Corky, Bobbie and Jared proved everyone wrong.Mom was pretty excited when she got it in. No one else had managed yet.

Ah, yes, the cake. Our sweet friend made this amazing cake and I had the privilege of decorating it. My first. Those dang gels are harder than they look to squeeze uniformly. But I must say, my favorite part was making the firemen point their hoses at the candle.

And then there were presents, presents and more presents. Take a look at this loot! Even Isaac looks overwhelmed (of course, that was taken right after his nap).

With the exception of phonecalls and accommodating early leavers (and, oops, forgot the ice cream!), we quite enjoyed ourselves.

When it was over, we just relaxed, watched "Jungle Book" (which, sorry to say folks, is Isaac's FAVORITE present...who would have thought?), and hung out. Oh! And went outside to ride the new awesome bike from Bobbie & Ashton! Aren't these firetruck PJs the greatest? We love them! He was overwhelmed by the amount of "fire" stuff. Awesome!
This is my little fire-loving boy and me reading some of his new books together on the evening of his second birthday. Life is sweet, isn't it?