Forrest City Christmases

This is the "baby" now, Cameron is a year behind Mason, so he is 7 months. He is an adorable, blue eyed, serious baby! Mason loved him, unless I was holding him!


This was about an hour before Cameron left, and Mason decided he needed to share his kisses.

Dean, Carli & Mr. Cameron

Pop & Cameron

The Brothers Grimm....anything but.

Braden was enamored with his cousin Rhyan.

Justin got this bear for Braden and it is bigger than Mason!

One of Braden's favorite finds at Nana's was the massage chair.

Braden and his favorite wrestling buddy, Papa.

Nana and her boys.

Mason loved Nana's banana pudding.

A rare family picture.

Sugar Cookie Coma

We officially kicked off our Christmas traveling season on Friday as we headed to Mountain Home. Mason fell asleep early, which we knew would make for an interesting afternoon. About 3 hours into the trip Braden pulled his very loose tooth out. I wrapped in a napkin and wrote "Braden's Tooth" on it, but have no idea where we put it. As soon as we got home he wanted it under his pillow. This is when I realized I couldn't find it. So we put a note in the car from tooth fairy and handed him his cash.



For the last three years we have had a major sugar cookie factory going on in Ann's kitchen. Braden loves it! This year Ann had all of our dough made up and Becki, Braden and her Blake cut them out. I mixed up the icing and Braden helped me mix the colors. Amazingly this all happened while Mason napped.



Since I didn't have an apron, I had to put a "work shirt" on, knowing it was going to get messy! I thought this shirt was appropriate! Ann was amazing at letting us mess up her kitchen with all of the cookie decorating supplies. She worked around us preparing a fabulous dinner of ham, twice baked mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, 4 layer chocolate pie, 8 layer salad and cream corn. Delish!!!!

"Before"

"After"

Braden took one of the leftover ribbons and became a Ninja!

Tis' the Season

It's amazing how busy this time of year is. I have no complaints but it seems like we have a party, dinner, reception, Christmas program or bags to pack every night of the week. It's fun, but it leaves me with a constant fear that I'm going to forget something.

Tuesday, Mason in his Reindeer sweater at Braden's Christmas program.

Braden and a friend before they went on stage. Braden was so excited to actually be on stage and sing his Chritmas songs. Our school is very unique, since it's an older school it actually has an auditorium upstairs.

Wednesday, Ladies Luncheon, Wish List party for Cyndee Harvey's jewelry

Friday, Blake and I, taken by the babysitter, as we headed to a Holiday Dinner at Mt. Carmel.

Peas and Carrots

As we prepare for our holiday travels, I was recently asked by my mother-in-law what the boys would eat. Although I'm missing a photo to accompany it I thought it would make a great post to look back on.

Mason, 18 months
At this point Mason cannot have nuts, egg or egg substitute.
He loves:
Green beans, peas, black beans, corn, sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, broccoli, etc.

We usually give him small bites of meat, chicken, turkey, ham, etc. and he likes apples and canned peaches, not a fan of bananas like Braden was.

Braden, 5 years
Braden is not a fan of casseroles or spaghetti. But he likes "clean noodles" which means no sauce on the, and he'll dip his bread in the sauce. He likes all fruit except pineapple, most veggies (corn, green beans, not cooked carrots but he does like raw, most all beans) he doesn't like salad, but he likes the ingredients by themselves, sliced cucumbers, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, etc. Braden also likes most all meat, bread, and mashed but not sweet potatoes.

They both love grilled cheese sandwiches, sausage, and biscuits. Braden loves scrambled eggs.

Bananas, Shades and tiny t-shirts

Mason had already eaten his lunch as I was peeling this banana for Braden's plate. When Mason saw it he insisted "Bana, bana, bana," I give it to him so I did and peeled a new one for Braden. At one point Mason was no where in site and I found him laying on Braden's bottom bunk, eating this banana.


Too cool for school. These sunglasses apparently kept him very occupied while I ran a few errands.


I got out tote of Braden's "old" clothes that Mason is growing into. Braden insisted this was his shirt "now" I told him the size, 24 mos., and he wanted to try it on anyway. Sad thing, if it were a little longer, it could almost fit! Long and lean!

Constructing our Christmas Tree

Most importantly the pre-lit tree, lit. But when I opened Rubbermaid container number 1 I got a nasty surprise, worse than coal in my stocking. At some point in the last 11 months, probably when we had standing water in our basement after Blake had been out of town for a few days, this tote with all of our ornaments was a mushy, moldy, stinky mess. Not that our ornaments were heirlooms, but they were the product of many, many, many after Christmas sales, and pass alongs from different family members. There were a few I just couldn't throw away and let them soak in some dish soap for a few hours. Amazingly there was a box of "fragile" balls I didn't put out last year, that were not in this tote, so they made it on the tree.

I headed out on a mission to buy a new skirt, new topper and some new ornaments. There was not a topper or skirt that stole my heart, so I went home and scrubbed the mucky rust off the angel we had. At the top of the tree you can barely see the flaws.


Braden LOVES to help decorate the tree, and I have to let go of my urge for everything to look perfect and let him hang the ornaments wherever he wants to! I do pretty good, until I look from across the room and see a gaping hole, then I discreetly shift them around. He even got his stool out so he could get some up high.

Now the trick is to teach Mason to touch gently. I'm not so worried about our tree, but all the trees we will be visiting!

Thanksgiving Feast...not roast beast

Wednesday night Braden and I slaved away in the kitchen making fudge pies. Braden was so excited for Uncle Ty to get to our house. He asked all day if it was time. While at school he even made a special drawing for Tyler. Then when the big moment came, and Tyler arrived, one of Braden's first questions was "Why did you run into mail boxes to stop your bike when you were a little kid?"

The next big moment was when Tyler found out he was literally having a sleep over with Braden and sleeping on his bottom bunk. This thrilled Braden!

Thursday, Mason and Braden braved the frigid temperature to be outside with the "guys" Daddy and Tyler as they monitored the frying turkey.

Uncle Ty with the two monkeys.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

Mason's first Thanksgiving feast that did NOT come from me or a jar!