NCSU vs. Western Michigan

Just wanted to quickly share a couple of cute pictures of our boys from the NC State versus Western Michigan game on Saturday, December 29th. We were so happy to spend the day together, a family of four, after being apart for the week of Christmas!

 

During the national anthem before the game started, I looked down and this is how I found Jack and Mark. Give Mark a little slack for having his left hand on the wrong side of his chest and not over his heart, still cute nonetheless!

 

Two brothers celebrating another Wolfpack victory at the end of the game!

Christmas Visit to Mama's and Papa's

Well, when our Christmas plans changed as we had posted earlier and we realized that Daddy was going to be gone to TN for Christmas and Mommy and the boys were going to stay home, we had to develop some new Christmas plans. Mommy really wanted to be with family for Christmas, so we decided to join Granna and Grandpa for a visit with G.G. on Christmas Eve and then a trip to Gastonia to see Mama and Papa on Christmas Day and stay with them for a couple of days. However, on Christmas Eve night, Jack woke up about 10:30 with a fever of 100.8 and then on Christmas morning, Grandpa woke up with vertigo. So, our plans quickly changed again. We stayed home. Jack continued to run a fever on and off all day on Christmas and Grandpa was sick most of the day with vertigo. Granna was back and forth between our house and her house, spending time with Mommy and the boys while also taking care of Grandpa. It was an interesting Christmas to say the least! Mommy and Granna laughed that they had a salad and some spinach dip for their Christmas meal. We didn't have much at home for lunch as we were planning to be gone for several days. We were going to take an asian salad and spinach dip to Mama's and Papa's to have with our Christmas meal, so thank goodness we had those to enjoy!

We ended up post-poning our trip to Mama's and Papa's until the Thursday after Christmas and then came back home on Friday, as Daddy was coming home from TN on Friday. While at Mama's and Papa's the boys had so much fun playing with their cousin Evi and their new soccer balls that they got for Christmas from Mama and Papa. Here are some pictures from our visit:

 

Jack and Mark sharing their new water color paints with their cousin Evi.

 

Watching Mama open some Christmas gifts.

 

Mark helping Mama open one of her Christmas gifts.

 

Mark opening a present.

 

Jack opening one of his presents.

 

Mark and Jack and Papa and their new soccer balls from Mama and Papa.

 

As Granna and I were getting everything set in our hotel room, we looked up and the boys were sitting on the bed watching a football bowl game. How cute?!

 

Mark kicking his new soccer ball.

 

Jack kicking his new soccer ball.

 

Mama, Mark and Jack!

 

Mark, Evi and Jack!

2 Little Santas

If anyone needs someone to step in for Santa Claus next year, please feel free to let Jack and/or Mark know.  They may not have as much white hair, any beard, or a gut like the real Santa has, but they sure could pitch-in in a pinch.  When you add the Santa hats and their Santa Claus pajamas, they could definitely make a passable Santa.  They are just so darn cute.

See what I mean?

How cute are we?  - Santa and Santa...oops Mark and Jack

We really are just waiting on a call from Santa to let us know where to fill in for him.  - Jack and Mark

Christmas morning

After a good night's sleep, we woke up on Sunday morning (also Christmas morning in our house) with joy and wonder.  We ran downstairs to see if Santa Claus brought them any gifts.  He sure did.  The boys were so excited because they received the one gift they really wanted...big boy golf clubs.  Look at how happy the boys were with their Santa gifts:

Coming down the stairs looking for evidence Santa came last night.

Two incredibly excited boys.

Jack finds a set of recorders to be used in the bath tub.

Mark enjoys the comfort of his new tent.

What else could be in this stocking? - Mark

Is this the correct way to hold the putter, Daddy?  - Jack

I can practice my songs in here and no one will see me.  - Jack

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we had to do one of our traditions and leave milk and cookies (this year Oreo's) out for Santa Claus.  Then, we had a couple of photos taken to commenerate the occasion.

Here are our two bundles of joy on Christmas Eve:

Jack and Mark showing off their Santa Claus pajamas with milk and cookies between them.

Santa was awfully nice this year.

Jack and Mark could take their golf clubs and bowling balls camping with them in their new tent.

Opening gifts at Granna and Grandpa's House

After the game, we went over to Granna and Grandpa's house for our Christmas dinner and then opening some more gifts. We had a good dinner.  The boys were so excited from opening gifts earlier, the basketball game (well the part they saw), and then the prospect of opening more gifts left them eager to eat a small and quick bite so they could get to the next part of the night.

Thanks to Granna and Grandpa for all of our nice gifts.  Here are a couple of pictures from the evening:

Jack and Mark standing in front of the Christmas tree at Granna and Grandpa's  house.

Mark opens up a gift with excitement.

Mark tries to figure out how to best use his new toy for the bath tub.

Grandpa needs some more help in order to open another present.

Jack takes the top down approach to open a new gift.

Jack tries a new technique to open his gift.

St. Bonaventure basketball game

After opening presents with Granna and Grandpa, we went to the NC State basketball game.  The opponent on this day was St. Bonaventure (quick - say that 5 times fast).  The boys were a little tired when we went to the game as it was a 3 PM tip off.  The Pack quickly jumped out to a sizeable lead and maintained the steady lead for the entire game.  The boys really enjoyed the first half.  In the second half, all of the drama being taken out of the game, we were all relaxed and then it happened.  First Mark, then Jack.  Both boys fell asleep around the 12  minute mark left in the second half.  It is the first time that both boys have ever been asleep at the same game at the same time.  Mark woke up around the 4 minute mark.  Jack was sleeping strong through the end of the game.  Coach Mark Gottfried has his post-game radio interview on press row approximately 10 minutes after the conclusion of the game.  We decided to let Jack sleep until it was over.  He woke up about 3/4 of the way through the interview (good way to get an extra 15 minutes of sleep).

On the way out, we ran into Mommy's dearest friend, Jenn Crawford and her family.

Here is a picture from the game and one with the Crawfords:

The DeVaults and the Crawfords.

The former Mobley girls (and their sons) and the DeVault family.

Opening presents early

With the change in Christmas plans, we had to change our gift opening timeline.  On the Saturday before Christmas, Granna and Grandpa came down to our house to open some gifts.  We were only going to open the gifts under our Christmas tree.  We all had a very good time opening gifts.  

Here are a few pictures from our time together:

"I think you all are going to like this one."  - Mark, who said that before opening every gift

Stop taking pictures as I have all of these presents to open.  - Jack

Jack and Mark looking to see what Granna got.

Jack and Mark help Grandpa figure out how to open one of his presents.

Mark shows off his sock monkey.

Jack hugs his sock monkey.

Christmas plans are changed

Our Christmas plans were changed this year.  Craig's dad, Poppy, got a virus and it sent him to the hospital. Coupled with his dementia, it really affected Dad more than anyone could have anticipated.  He was in the hospital for over three weeks.  I went to go see him on the weekend of the 15th to give Mimi a break.  Given the lack of a quick turnaround at the hospital, we were going to need to move him from his assisted living place to a nursing home.  Unfortunately, the transition wasn't happening as fast as we wanted, and it appeared he would still be in the hospital through Christmas.  

So, all four kids (children and spouses) got together and came up with a plan.  With Dad still being in the hospital, I would go home alone on the Sunday before Christmas.  Janet would join us on Christmas Day.  Mommy would stay in Raleigh with Jack and Mark.  We would celebrate Christmas with the entire family some other weekend in January.

Therefore, our Christmas was not the typical Christmas that our family is used to having.

The boys and the Christmas Trees

This year, we added a couple more Christmas trees inside our house.  The boys each received a small 4 foot Christmas tree that they helped decorate to be put in their bedroom. They loved it.  Initially, both boys wanted the tree's lights on when they went to bed.  This lasted the entire month for Mark but Jack slowly got to the point where he didn't want the lights to be left on at bedtime, due to the fact that he said it kept him awake.

Here are a couple of pictures of the boys around all of our Christmas trees:

Jack and his Christmas tree.

Mark and his Christmas tree.

Who are Santa's helpers?

My turn to stand up.  - Jack

My turn to stand up.  - Mark

I am leaning to the left so you can get the entire tree in the shot, Mommy.  - Jack

The family in front of the Christmas tree.

A close up shot.  Daddy, Mark, Jack, and Mommy.

Granna, Mark, Grandpa, and Jack.

Reading to Jack's class

Since we were not able to go to Jack's Christmas concert due to Jack's sickness, we decided that we wanted to do something special with Jack at school.  So on the last day of Children's House of the year (SAS is closed between Christmas and New Year's and thus so is the preschool), Mommy and Daddy went to his class to read his two favorite books to his class.  We were going to read them right before lunch time.  Afterwards, we were going to take both boys to lunch, so Mark joined Jack's class while his class would normally be eating.  

Mommy read Jack's two favorite books:

The Night Before Big School
Little Bunny Foo Foo

His class really enjoyed listening to the books.  

After the books were read, we had a family lunch at the SAS cafe.  It was a lot of fun.  

Here are a couple of pictures from our time as a family at SAS:

Mommy reading to the class.  Jack is on the left.

All of the children are in their spot where their name is.  Note two things.  The first thing is that Mark is in the class near Jack.  The second is that a number of children are not in school when we came due to it being the last day of preschool before Christmas.

Jack, Mark, and Daddy having a good lunch while Mommy takes the picture (since she has already finished her lunch).