My big boys

It has been a while since I gave a big update on the boys, so I thought I would take this opportunity to brag about my little men.

Andrew

My big boy has been diaper free for nearly two weeks! That is right - no diapers, no pull-ups - only Scooby Doo, Lightning McQueen, Thomas the Train, etc. big boy underwear for my big boy! He gets up in the middle of the night / early morning to potty and goes back to bed all by himself. We are so proud of him!

He has grown nearly a half inch in the last month alone and he just went through another language explosion, so he is talking up a storm. He tells the best stories and he is very empathetic. His imagination is amazing and it is incredibly neat to watch him make believe. I am so proud to be his mommy!

Tyler

My little man has grown so much in the last couple of months, I can hardly believe it. He has graduated from the "Army" crawl to what I refer to as the big boy crawl (full on crawling on his knees). He has two bottom teeth with at least one of his top teeth coming in right now (which is why we think he has been a little fussy the last couple of days). He loves to stand up any and eveywhere he can and he is cruising along the furniture at every opportunity. He is not standing independtly yet, but he is definitely getting stronger everyday(he will stand up and hold on to me with just one hand) and I know that milestone is not far off. He has an infectious laugh that he most often displays for his big brother.

Brothers

The boys are playing together a lot more these days, especaillu now that Tyler is more mobile and has better balance. Andrew loves to entertain his baby brother, which brings lots of giggles, but he is still learning to share his toys (and in some instances share their toys or Tyler's toys)! Every night before bed, Andrew gives Tyler a big, tight hug and tells him that it is time for night night and that he loves him - it is so sweet! I am really looking forward to seeing their friendship blossom as they both grow older!

7 Glorious Years

On December 28, Douglas and I celebrated 7 years of blissful marriage - time sure flies by when you are having fun! It is an honor and a privledge to be married to my best friend. I feel so lucky to have three such great boys in my life! Happy Anniversary to Us!

Christmas Goodies

Our house looks like a toy store from all of the amazing toys the boys received plus the pretty cool stuff Mommy and Daddy got too!

Some of the early favorites:

For Doug, it has to be his new iPod, torque wrenches, flags and LL Bean Back Pack
For Anne, the 580 EX II flash for my camera, Lands End luggage, panini maker, digital photo frame and of course, clothes from Ann Taylor
For Andrew, the acoustic guitar, kid tough digital camera, leap pad learning lap top, tonka trucks and Thomas the train trains
For Tyler ... the paper and boxes and whatever Andrew is playing with ... and a riding/walking toy, bath toys and books

Plus, clothes and gift cards and DVDs and books, oh my!

Andrew's Great Aunt Cis and Uncle Dave sent him this very cool book and elf set called Elf on a Shelf and I think it is the coolest thing ever! If you have young kids, I highly recommend getting your own elf (www.elfontheshelf.com). The basic concept was invented to answer the question, "How does Santa know who has been good or bad?" ... the elf tells Santa!

The idea is that around Thanksgiving the elf comes to live with us until Christmas and during this time he moves from room to room and place to place each day and every night he flies to the North Pole to report on the days events. After Christmas he lives with Santa and the other elves the rest of the year until it is time to come back to the Moore house. The cute book that came with the elf describes the rules (no touching the elf or he might lose his magic, the elf can't talk to the children on Santa's orders, but he can listen and take notes on the children's wishes, etc) and suggests that you name your elf (and it even has a page in the back for you to commemorate when the elf was adopted into the family). Our elf has been named Fiddle Sticks (Doug's idea with Andrew's agreement) and I am so looking forward to having him around next year!

Merry Christmas!

I love this time of year! I went running on Saturday (in a shorts and a tank top - thank you Houston weather) and saw lots of extended families playing outside ... football, catch, walking, at the playground, grandparents chasing grandkids, etc. It was all pretty sweet to watch -- so much so that it sort of felt like watching a movie where this stuff is scripted.

The weather turned just in time to have a cool Christmas. I put away the shorts and tank top and out came the sweat pants and sweat shirt for Sundays and Mondays workouts. The cool weather was just what I needed to really get into the Christmas spirit. Although a very excited 3 year old is a sure way to stay in the Christmas spirit throughout the month of December, what with the reading of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and A Christmas Story every night, the constant singing of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph and other Christmas tunes.

Christmas Eve Doug's parents came over and we did our present exchange with them, as we do every year, and then we left milk, cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer after reading Twas the Night Before Christmas in front of the fire place. Andrew and Daddy also made a birthday cake for baby Jesus. Andrew was exhausted but like every other child across the globe he was too excited and wound up to go to bed. It probably had something to do with all of the amazing new toys Andrew had already opened from Mom Mom, Peepaw and other extended family members and friends who had so thoughtfully sent gifts for the boys. :) Mommy and Daddy got quite the loot too!

Christmas morning we all awoke to find that Santa had visited the Moore house! Santa brought Andrew a Tonka truck and Spiderman action figure, among other goodies and Tyler got a turtle for the bath, Jungle Book on DVD and much more! Clearly, I have two very good little boys! After opening our Santa gifts we had cinnamon rolls with orange icing and then we headed to my parents house for even more presents! Andrew continued as the designated present opener as we exchanged presents with my parents and then had a huge Christmas lunch of ham and all of the fixings. After lunch we played the Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? Board Game that I had given my parents for Christmas while Tyler napped and Andrew played with some of his new toys. Douglas won $1,000,000 and did not have to say the dreaded, "I am not smarter than a 5th grader" - smarty pants! We (myself and Doug included) got some fantastic goodies from my parents.

After the board game we came home so Andrew could take a nap before heading back out to see Doug's parents so that the boys could get even more presents! It was a full day, but it was wonderful to spend some quality time with our families, especially Pop Pop (Doug's grandpa) who came to Houston to spend some time with the boys.

As Santa would say, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Girls Shopping Trip (and Tyler too!)

I just realized that in the busyness of the last week I neglected to blog about my recent trip to San Marcos, TX to the Prime Outlets. You might be thinking to yourself, "Anne, why is a shopping trip worth blogging about?" ... and if you are thinking along these lines, then you have never experienced the awesome shopping experience that is available in the shopping mecca that is San Marcos.

Off the record, Doug will even accompany me to the outlets once a year or so for a fast round of shopping (usually because we are already nearby). This trip, however, was reserved for the girls (and poor Tyler who had to come along for the ride. For the record, he was a very good boy!). I drove my mom and Doug's mom the three long hours to San Marcos for a full day of shopping. We pulled out of the driveway around 8:00 a.m. and made it to San Marcos around 11:00 a.m. - clearly we should have left much earlier!

This shopping is not for the faint of heart (or wallet for that matter) - there are literally hundreds of stores and in the 8+ hours that we were there, we barely hit half of them! I did walk away with some killer deals at the Ann Taylor outlet (4 new suits later) as well as great deals at Polo and Nine West, just to name a few.

We finished our day with a late dinner and got on the road to head home at 9:00 p.m. -- which means we did not arrive back at my house in Houston until after midnight! Thats right, ladies and gentlemen, I of all people drove the 3 long hours home in the pitch black dark and did not even yawn ... ok, well maybe I yawned but I was wide awake.

It was a fun trip and I am looking forward to making it an annual tradition. Next year both boys will stay home with Daddy and the girls will leave even earlier so that we arrive at the outlets when they open. Happy shopping!

Trek to Santa's Wonderland

Saturday night we made our annual trek to Santa's Wonderland. It just happened to coincide with the first really cold night of the year, so it really put us in the Christmas mood. Andrew was so excited to go see Santa Claus ... we talked about it all day and the hour drive to Santa's Wonderland seemed legitimize that we were going to see the real Santa Claus.

For those of you who don't know, Santa's Wonderland is about an hour outside of Houston near College Station, which is where the other large public university is in Texas (ok, there are many others large public institutions, but I had to say it!). We left our house around 6:30 p.m. and an hour later found ourselves looking at a line that was literally a mile long to see the Christmas lights. Knowing that we were going to be too hungry to see Santa and then wait in line for the Christmas lights, we made the short drive into College Station and had Freebirds for dinner. As a side note - I did feel like a fish out of water driving into College Station with my Longhorn paraphernalia on my car.

After a good dinner, it was back in the car to Santa's Wonderland. Our dinner diversion had done little to dissipate the line, so we decided to go see Santa first and then the spectacular light displays. The boys were wearing big sweaters but no jackets, so we grabbed a couple of blankets from the car and paid our entry fee for Santa's Wonderland.

Side bar - now, not to dampen the Christmas spirit, but I quickly realized how quickly I had forgotten what a racket this place is! It was $13 for us to get in, and that was only because Tyler was free (take in mind that the only thing we really do while we are there is take the Santa photo). $24 for the photo with Santa. $20 per car to the see the lights ... but alas, Andrew's excitement despite the cold weather made it all priceless.

The first thing Andrew noticed when we got there was that it was snowing! No, for those of you who live in the Houston area you did not miss something on the Weather forecast. It was fake snow, but it looked like it was snowing ... and it sure felt cold enough for it to be snowing!

Andrew and I cuddled under the blanket while waiting in line and Doug put Tyler under his big fleece sweatshirt (it was too cute). Andrew was surprisingly patient waiting in line and a short 30 or so minutes later it was Andrew and Tyler's turn to sit on Santa's lap.

I asked Andrew several times while we were standing in line what he wanted for Christmas, but all he would say was "a big present". For days he has been saying that he wants cars, a watch, Spiderman, lights, etc., but today all he wanted was a big present! After taking the photo with Santa, Andrew told him that he wants a big present and that Baby Tyler wants a little present -- even Santa thought it was precious! 2 sheets of stickers and 2 candy canes later, it was off to see the Christmas lights.

By this time it was nearly 10:00 p.m. ... and the line was still about a mile long. So, we waited in line for an hour (thank goodness for the DVD player in my car) and around 11:15 or so, we finally made it to the entry to see the lights. Andrew was still wide awake and Tyler was fighting sleep. In the mad dash back to the car from Santa's Wonderland we managed to lose Tyler's pacifier and he was not pleased! We brought both boys up to the front seats with us and made the slow drive through all of the lights. The wait was worth it because Andrew LOVED it! He even said multiple times, "I like this place!". We made it through all of the lights and strapped the boys back in their carseats around midnight - phew, it was quite a night! Tyler had long since fallen asleep in my arms and Andrew fell asleep within 5 minutes of being on the road ... as did I (but who is surprised)!

Here are the results of our trip:

Santa Pictures over the Years

2004


Notice that starting in 2005, we have seen the same Santa every year, which is also why we will keep making the trek to Santa's Wonderland.

2005 (this was classic!)


2006


2007

We Got Elfed!

We just made total elves of ourselves! Check it out by clicking the link below. Be sure to turn up your volume!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1409343793

This elfin' greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

Andrew sang the first part and then Doug and I chimed in at the end -- and then of course it was elved!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Apparently, Andrew wants to be Mickey Mouse ... or at least that is what he told me on the way to school this morning!

Andrew is very aware of similarities and differences right now. For example, Andrew, Daddy and Tyler are boys and Mommy is a girl. Andrew is a big boy and Tyler is a little boy. Mommy goes to work and Andrew goes to school. If Mommy or Daddy or Tyler has a boo boo, Andrew will show us one of his boo boos too (he always has at least one!).

Well, on the way to work this morning he saw a pick-up truck with a ladder in the back. He loves trucks and ladders. Yesterday he was fascinated by the garbage truck and last week or so it was the fire truck that was in our neighborhood. So, somehow he put all of this together and said "Those are workers (in the truck with the ladder), I am not a worker, I am a boy. That's not a fireman ..." I can only imagine where his imagination was going to take him next, so I asked him if he liked the firemen and didn't get much of a response, so I questioned further, "Well, Andrew, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Without hesitation he informed me that he wanted to be Mickey Mouse. I couldn't help but chuckle. :)

The last 5 minutes of our drive to school was spent with Andrew in the back seat entertaining Tyler. Andrew was putting on a full show for him, and I can only imagine the big smile that Tyler had on his face watching his big brother (he is still rear facing so I could not see his face). Apparently, Thursday night while I was out Andrew did something similar by playing peek-a-boo and the tickle game with him. I love that they are able to play a little more together these days!

When we got to school, I told Andrew that he had to leave his "Pal" Goofy in the car. Andrew wanted Goofy to sit in car seat during the day to wait for him, so he proceeded to buckle Goofy in to his car seat all by himself and then he told Goofy to "hang on" - it was too precious!

Andrew Wants a Baby Sister

Yesterday on the way to school, right after we got in the car, Andrew said, "Mommy, I want a baby sister." I chuckled to myself and said, "Why don't we call your Daddy." I dialed our home number and gave the phone to Andrew. As it was ringing, Andrew also said, "Baby Jesus is at home." We have been reading A Christmas Story and he knows that we have a Nativity Set, so I assume that is what he was referring to. Needless to say, I had no idea what he was going to say when Doug picked up the phone, but as soon as he answered, Andrew said, "Daddy, I want a baby sister!" I think Doug choked on his own tounge!

Now, in all fairness, I did ask Andrew (just to see what he would say) a while back if he wanted another baby brother or a baby sister and he said yes, he wanted a baby sister, but it is not something that we talk about on a regular basis, so it really surprised me when he brought it up out of the blue!

O Christmas Tree

It is officially Christmas at our house and we have a give or take 9 foot Christmas tree to prove it! Saturday we continued the Moore family tradition and drove out to the Spring/Tomball area to a Christmas tree farm so that we could cut down our own tree. We have been doing this since Andrew's first Christmas in 2004, and I have to say, I love that we have started a family tradition! Doug's mom comes with us every year and we make a full evening of picking out the tree and having lunch or dinner and coffee - it is great family bonding time!

We arrived in the late afternoon (not because Douglas got confused about which farm we were going to or anything like that, wink wink) and took a short hay ride to the Leyland Cypress trees. The search for the perfect tree had begun. There were not a lot of Leyland Cypress trees to choose from this year -- apparently all of the rain this summer caused many of this particular farm's trees to drown. This farm also sells Virginia Pines, but their branches are not as soft, so we prefer the Leylands. For the record, I much prefer the Douglas and Fraser firs, but those are not indigenous to Texas (they are trucked in) and thus you can not chop one of those down yourself (here is a link to a site that has all of the Christmas tree types: http://www.christmastree.org/types.cfm ... and yes, it is official, EVERYTHING is available on the internet!).

After walking around in circles, we settled on a tree and Douglas and Andrew began the hard work of sawing it down. Andrew was excited to be there and wanted to help, but he was also enamored with the many sticks that were readily available, so it was tough work to keep him focused on the boring details of taking photos for posterity and things like that! The older boys chopped down the tree and then Doug dragged the tree back to the main farm road so that the tractor could pick us (and our tree) back up. The farm then measures, shakes and bales the tree for you before you load it on your car to take it home. Then it was to Starbucks and Panera - what a treat!

Sunday we (read: Doug) put the lights on the tree and we have slowly started adding ornaments. Andrew was given the honor of putting the angel on the tree this year and he was very excited to do so. I had grand aspirations for him to help with the ornaments this year, but the ones that he puts on the tree keep falling off! Oh well!

In other Christmas related news, we have been reading Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and a Christmas Story, singing Christmas songs, looking at Christmas lights and watching Christmas shows (i.e. Mickey saves Santa), needless to say, I think that Andrew loves Christmas time! He does not appear to be afraid of Santa this year (he already said hello to Santa at the mall), so that is a good start. We will do part 2 of the Moore family Christmas tradition and go out to see a huge light display and visit Santa in the next week or so. So far Andrew is only asking for a "big present" ... oh to be young and care free!

Now, for what you really came to see ...

Andrew on the hay ride


Doug's first choice


The winner










The boys showing of their handy work


Check out Andrew holding a saw!


Tyler had a comfy ride for our excursion


Totally unrelated to our Christmas tree excursion...
How cute is this?


My boys