Got 10 Minutes?

That's how long it might take to get through this post! :) I had a lot to cover, so I'll try to make very little to read and a lot to look at!

Part of my parents Christmas we took pictures of all the Grand kids

(These pics may look like it turned out but WOW!!! Being a photographer for children is HARD WORK!!!)

Wes found that the toys are just as much fun in the toy box as they are out of it!

We've a few sick weeks at our house this December and I saw this scene on more than 1 occasion. Two sickies taking a nap on the couch.

Wes has officially found and eaten his first piece of dog food! He is getting very quick and if we turn our back for a second we know where to find him...he b-lines it for Chaes's food every time! :)

Wes's Great Grammy & Grampy sent him this zebra for Christmas and he LOVES IT!!! Every time we put him down for a nap for to sleep he some how always seems to find the zebra and cuddle up with it! It is the cutest thing ever! But, honestly I would too...it's super soft.

This was at my sister house for a Christmas Eve dinner.

Then home to open Christmas P.J.'s and put the little one down to sleep.

Wes in his Christmas Jammies in front of the tree. He has truly emerged as a true cheeser!!! If there is a camera in front of him he will laugh and squeal and clap his hands over and over and over again. I probably have 10 pictures of him doing this...I couldn't stop laughing or taking pictures!

Wes and Uncle Nick being silly!

Wes and Ryan on Christmas morning. Wes really did not get Christmas AT ALL!!! Not that we thought he would be he wouldn't rip paper or anything so we basically passed around his gifts till they were all open.

Rachel, Wes' birth mom spoiled him rotten! :) Everything you see in this pic (expect the football--that was from his ever hopeful father) was from her, and more. That little dump truck came with these little balls that rattle and he LOVES THEM!!! He just holds them and shakes them, bangs them together, and holds them when he crawls. It is actually really funny--I will post a video of it soon. Over all Wes made out like a bandit in the toy department--oh, to be a kid again.

Another gift he got from "Santa" which actually turned out to be one of my FAVORITE things was the Chicco 360 Hook-on. Wes needed a new seat to sit in. Once upon a time he had a Bumbo which we loved but then a certain mom put it on the top of the car and drove off...she will remain unnamed. So, in the Hook-on/high chair battle I found this little number and have loved every second of it!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

Wes and "St. Chase" lounging and playing.

I'm telling you point a camera at him and you'll get this reaction every time! Also, coming soon a video of what this moment actually sounds like. :)

Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year!!!

I'm not sure what 2011 could bring that could trump 2010 but I'm looking forward to finding out! :)

Santa Clause is Coming to Town...

Our friends, Lisa, Arron, and Gabe, invited us to go to the Dickens festival with them to go see the "real" Santa...and he was! This guys has been Santa at the Dickens festival for over 30 year!!!! The people in line in front of us said they had 30 years worth of pictures with this same Santa for all of their kids! That's AWESOME!!!

Well, this was Wes' first encounter with the "Big Guy" so I love these pics because it showed the natural progression of his encounter...

Pic #1: First time he laid eyes on Santa...

Pic #2: Still can's take his eyes off of him and just when I thought he this was going off without a hitch...
Pic #3: Total Melt Down!!! :)
I love it! We had a great time and we will have these memories for a life time!

Traditions

Is it just me or does everyone feel like they need to establish traditions when you have kids? Maybe it's just me but since having Wes in our family I feel this need to have our own family traditions even though he is still so young. Ry and I have traditions but mostly ones that kids might not love like going to a Bed & Breakfast every New Year's Eve. So, when Ryan was little they went and cut down their Christmas tree each year and I LOVE THIS...so this is our new Christmas Tradition. We started this year! We found a tree farm in Farr West (yes, that is actually the name of a town that is not near Far Far Away in a Shrek movie :) ). We loved it!

Here is Wes all bundled up for the drive there...

Wes got to hitch a ride in his back pack. He seemed to be happy. His little nose and cheeks were bright RED but he always had a smile on his face.
After looking and looking we found one we loved. It took this tree 8-10 years to finally fulfill it's Christmas Destiny!
We each took a turn sawing. Ryan took a much longer turn than I did. :)

A man and his tree!

Happy as ever!

Me and my little guy!

Unthawing on the way back home!

The finished product! It was a lot bigger in our house than it looked outside so we had to trim it on the top and sides quite a bit to make it fit. It is still pretty huge but it's fun to have a huge tree we picked and cut down ourselves. Also, it's not perfect like trees we've had in the past that we've gotten from tree lots this one has personality!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Give Thanks...

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. And since I was the host and wanted to enjoy my holiday instead of do dishes all day we had a paper & plastic Thanksgiving. But, just because it's paper & plastic doesn't mean it can't be classy, right! :) So, with my scrap booking paper place mats to the place cards I loved it!

On each plate was a card that said, "I am thankful for..." and everyone had to write what they were thankful for and put it in a container then after dinner we read them and tried to guess who wrote what. It was kind of fun, the kids loved it.

Wes for thankful for the following items (they were stated on his shirt :))

1. mom & dad

2. yummy turkey (which he had by the way--he is just growing up too fast)

3. football :)

(Sweet hair huh? it gets this awesome curl if it's not combed right after his bath :))

Oh, and he was thankful for a Thanksgiving nap! :)

I'm always thankful for Thanksgiving; good food, good company, but always thankful when it's over! :)

Wes also did something else this past week. He learned this:

Documentation attempt #1: one week ago (11-19-10)

Documentation attempt #2: today (11-26-10)

And YES, his biggest insentives are my phone and the remote! What is with this generation and technology? What next an ipad for Christmas?

Now, I'm off to finish cleaning up the mess...

Blessed...

Blessed: 11/14/10 (it was planned for the day after the sealing but Wes was sick so it was postponed till the next week).

My favorite part was when Ryan blessed Wes to have an understanding of adoption. I thought that was so cool. We pray so hard that he will grow up to understand it and be grateful for what his birth-mother did for him.

Blessed by my dad!
Blessed to have such a great Grandpa and Uncles to be apart of the blessing.
Blessed to have such a great kid in our lives!

Blessed to have a good buddy!

Wes is starting to find his way to Chase and mess with him, pretty funny to watch.

Blessed to have such great dad!

Blessed with funny expressions! :) and slobber!

Blessed to be growing! :)

Blessed with yummy food!

Blessed to have Wes apart of our family!

Side Note:

Ryan was so nice this year and helped me set up a little but of Christmas before Thanksgiving. We are having Thanksgiving at our house this year and thought it would be fun to be a little festive. So, after much pleading and butt kissing the outside lights are up and so is our Christmas Village (which is one of our favorite things about Christmas). By the end of the day even Ryan loved it and was happy to be enjoying it so early. :) (Yes, this village is getting bigger every year and will soon take over the entire room!)

I can't wait...

I LOVE Halloween!!! It is my FAVORITE holiday. It's been SO HARD to figure out what Wes should be this year on his FIRST Halloween. We've thought of everything but in the end it seemed fitting...DOPEY! My family thinks he looks like Dopey because of his big eyes, so we went with it. I bought a men's long sleeve tee-shirt at Walmart and got to work.

Here is our little Dopey...

Not too shabby right? For only taking a sewing class in 7th grade I surprise myself sometimes. :)

Dopey is also fitting since I'm Snow White. Now, if I could only get Ryan to dress up as Prince Charming or another dwarf like GRUMPY, since that's what he is when it comes to dressing up! There will be many more pictures to come...I can't wait!

Oh, and a bit of information...Wes has 2 bottom teeth poking through! :) I can't believe how much he is growing and how fast it goes by. He has been a trooper and hasn't really fussed about it. The only way we know is that we felt them and then looked. The only thing different is that he is sleeping a lot more and his little cheeks are pink all the time. He's the best and makes every day better than the last!

Merry Christmas from Indiana

We spent the last week in Indiana! It was a blast! We went to visit Ryan's dad and his side of the family. It was a jam packed week of vegging and running around--the time was gone before we knew it. I had to pick and choose which pictures to Post because it seemed like the common theme of our pictures too place at restaurant tables...if felt like all we did was EAT! There are way too many good restaurants in the little town of Columbus, Indiana. We feel like we need to get them all in and it really takes some effort! :)
This is Me and Ryan, his little brother, Pat, who is in the army and is being deployed in January (it was really great to be with him--he is actually in Utah this next week :) ). Also in the picture is Grammy & Grampy--two of the nicest people ever! They truly are so kind and loving, I really enjoyed the time we had with them. This was at a ice cream parlor--we ate lunch and were way too stuffed for ice cream so...yeah, Ryan and I went back later for ice cream! :)

This was at a restaurant called Bistro 310--a restaurant that was way to fancy for us but, it was GREAT food and GREAT company! We went with Grammy & Grampy, Jana, Ryan's Aunt, Greg, Ryan's dad, and Teresa, Greg's wife.
One day we went to Brown County and went hiking! It was cold but awesome! I had never really been so close to a frozen lake, I kind of liked it! Swimming was prohibited--IT WAS FROZEN!

The next day we went to Nashville, a LITTLE touristy city and we went through the little shops and hand lunch and hot chocolate at a little place called, "The Daily Grind" it was a snug little joint :)

We did make it up to Indianapolis to have a Christmas party with Ryan's mom's side of the family "The Smiths". It was a lot of fun! I met David and Pat who even after 6 years of marriage I had yet to meet. It was really fun to sit and catch up!

Then on Christmas Eve we spent with the Jones Family playing Guesstures and Apples to Apples. Which has always been on of my favorite games but I am questioning who since I am flat out NO GOOD at it! After about 20+ rounds I was the only one to not have one card! I know pitiful! The game finally finished when I was able to win with a pick your own card... It's hard not to pick the one whose card means "Chewy Sweet Tarts" and the word is "Chewy"! I know like a said, SAD!

We left Indiana early Christmas morning and got to my sisters house about 2 in the afternoon. We spent the rest of Christmas with my family...The Backs :)

Over all it was a GREAT Christmas filled with family, friends, and good food! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE JONES'
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!