Odds and Ends

Here are some random End-of-the-Year pictures from the last few days:

This kid loves him some basketball!

 We decided to do a New Year's date swap with our friends Todd and Ashley. We watched their kids Thursday night and then Friday night, Ashley's mom watch all 4 kids so we could all go out! Whoo Hoo!
Thursday night, Philip and I went to the grocery store and when we returned, we learned of all the fun the kids had:

Super Hero Addie!
Wesley texted this picture to Todd and his response was: If Addie is wearing the Super Hero Costume, who is wearing her princess crown?

Answer: Flash! 

Addie, Jackson and Tucker had so much fun in Jackson's playroom!

And then they all enjoyed the basketball game!

Lynne gave Philip this adorable UT sweatsuit. She knew it might be a tad too big for Philip, but no one knew it would fit Jackson so perfectly. Wesley took a picture to send her....

Philip felt left out so he posed for one as well!

Even with all the toys they got for Christmas, something was missing.
Jackson and I were walking through the Clearance Toy section of Target and he saw this McDonalds play set.
He "just had to have it!" It cost what Drubby gave him for Christmas so I told him he could use his Christmas money for it.
That kid was so excited. He carefully helped me put it in the cart and then held on as we walked through Target to the checkout counter!

He asked Wesley to take a picture of him making the hamburger!

Philip:

• We don't understand, but his favorite expression is "B-O-B" He says it when he is counting or when he sees letters. We guess these are the only letters he knows and he loves to say them over and over again!
• On occasion, he will impress both of us with what we can only assume he is learning in school. He has started singing Twinkle Twinkle and Jesus Loves Me. It is adorable!
• Trucks = DaDas
• Milk = Thirsty

Jackson:

• His favorite word is "Dem" as in "'den' still have 'dem' lights up." (Most people would say "they still have their lights up.")
• His memory and imagination still amazes us. We were at the park tonight and he said "Remember when we go to Mimi's and Mommy runs in the race. I am going to play that." He then runs in circles and makes us applaud as he nears the end!

Cell Phone Photos

Every now and then, I go through my texts and realize there are some cute pictures on my phone I have forgotten to share. Here is a sampling of the recent pictures:

This was a meal at Disney World that Philip and I did not get to go to.
Jackson and Wesley were in 7th Heaven. Jackson with a chocolate cookie for dinner and Wesley with all-you-can-eat crab legs!

I get several pictures every Tuesday from Wesley while I am at work. Here are some cute ones along with their message:

"Have a great day at work Mommy"

When asked if he wanted to ride, Philip said "Noooo..nooo.no.no.no"

We mooched off the two girls who were paying to ride

Flash went over to Emily and Ryan's house for a Thanksgiving treat. At first, he didn't know what to do with a dog on the couch, but he quickly learned it was okay around Maddie! 

"I'm not doing anything wrong!"

Last day of school 2011.
I had to work and Wesley had a last minute meeting so Jilli picked the boys up for us. They love it when Jilli comes to play! 

 

For a Christmas treat, Jackson's Sunday school class made Rainbow Bread. Here he is showing off his creation.

Trains!

Since most of the Bender crew arrived on Saturday, they all left on Tuesday morning. The four of us stayed until Wednesday. Jack and Lynne had taken the grandkids to see a train exhibit on Christmas Eve so Jack offered to take our boys Tuesday afternoon.

It was a beautiful display and I remembered all the train shows I went to growing up with my Papa. Papa is/was a huge train lover, and he would be so proud of his namesake. Jackson Drubby feel in love with the display and ran around looking over every detail until we had to pull him out and head home!

Gorgeous Display! 

I guess Jackson is around too much University of Georgia things because once he saw this UT train, he went crazy. He started yelling "Grammy! Grammy! It's Tennessee!" (I should point out that one: Grammy wasn't even there. And Two: we were in Knoxville on the University of Tennessee campus! What did he expect?!)

KD and Philip

I was on Jackson duty and Wesley was on Philip duty. I had the camera and sadly didn't take any of Jackson. Wesley had his phone and captured the above pictures with it.

That being said, I did capture this picture of Philip about to climb over the guard rail while Jack and Wesley carried on a conversation!

Holiday time in Knoxville

Wesley and I decided in 2009 that we wanted to spend Christmas morning at home in Cumming. We have enjoyed having Santa come to our house and relaxing with all the new toys!

This year, after our Cumming celebration, we headed to Knoxville to spend some time with the Benders. The rest of the family arrived at Jack and Lynne's on Saturday so they were anxiously awaiting our arrival and family present time!

As soon as we arrived, we sat down for a delicious Christmas feast! Thanks, Jack!!

Yay! A picture of us! 

Hungry boy!

We have posed him for WAY TOO many pictures!

Cousins!
Jackson, Cole, Philip, Macey, Trent and Luke

KD and Macey

" I am so ready to open!"

Watching the dinosaur go around on his new puzzle.

Jackson LOVES his cousin, Cole! 

Bender Family Present Time!

Working on the puzzle

The boys playing Wii...or something electronic! It's amazing how many games these kids can play!

2012 Christmas

Christmas morning, Jackson was up bright and early. He came into our room around 4:30. Wesley took him back to bed and tried to get him to fall asleep, but we don't think he ever did! At 6:30, Wesley let him wake Philip and me up so we could see if Santa made an appearance at the Bender house.

Poor Philip - he did not want to be up so early and was not a happy camper!!!

Jackson, on the other hand, was ready to go! 

Santa came!! 

Jackson
On Jackson's list were a Publix truck and a yellow sports car & Santa delivered! 

Philip
He asked for nothing this year, but Santa knew to get him a basketball goal for his room!

Santa even tried our milk and cookies

After the boys played with what Santa brought, we started into the large stash of presents under the tree!

Philip got a new chair.

Jackson and Philip got this basketball goal from Wesley and me to hang in the playroom.
Philip played on it all morning...

It was a hit!

Jackson got some "dress up" boy clothes.
A police man (with whistle), a construction worker outfit and a super hero cape.

Santa brought these Santa scissors to Jackson and he used them all morning to open every present!!

My mom got Wesley and Jackson Star Wars aprons and Star Wars spatulas....

Which they used to make dinner!

Poor Flashers. He watched the festivities from the window.