Saturday, December 30, 2006

It's the Holiday Season






Simon and Matt dining at Buck's BBQ in Cartersville where we surprised our favorite hostess, notice Simon's "mp3" player that he loves! He kept singing with it and showing it to people 'lucky' enough to be seated near us.
Little Alex is trying to get Uncle Matt's attention.
I put Simon in his Tennessee jersey to see what kind of energy it sparked among our family who tend to be very much pro-Bulldog.

More Holiday Pictures






Christmas Day Play on the old school Nintendo that has been revived
Snapshots of Troy, Jessie Leigh and Stephanie, our South Carolina cousins
Simon in his soccer gear on the stairs.
Simon in the sand that he called "snow"
Simon also called the cows "elephants"

Christmas Pictures







Simon taking a shower in Pendleton.
McDaniel family pictures in Ringgold.
A picture of Simon painted by his papa.
Simon in blue-tinted bath water.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The Weekend Continues






Matt was hilarious. Only a son-in-law could get by with his behavior that night. When it came time for us to open gifts, he was on his laptop (laughing everyonce inawhile at who knows what) and actually had the "son-in-law" gumption to ask Scott to turn down the Christmas music mom has purposefully playing in the background for ambience.

Matt is endearing in his boyishness. Just as Simon and Alex immediately began playing with their toys, Matt played so much with a toy chicken that he received from the Gilberts in his stocking, and when he received the movie "Nacho Libre," he immediately put it in the laptop and began watching his favorite parts. At least then we knew what he was laughing at.

Mom commented on Matt's diversity and multi-faceted nature when one of the gifts she wrapped for him contained the dvd "Nacho Libre" as well as John Piper's book "A Hunger for God" which is about spiritual fasting.

Cry Babies





I think this is how we all feel after a weekend of so many posed shots. These boys had just had enough. We were trying to get that perfect "Christmas picture" of the two redheads in front of the tree. Alex started crying and Simon (our sympathetic crier) began crying also.)

Simon took two great naps on both Saturday and Sunday at Gigi's house. From around 3 until almost 7. He was on a crazy schedule with his bedtime the last two weekends being around 11:00. What a trooper!

Simon broke down during a prayer at church on Sunday. Pastor Kenny mentioned the word "house" (in reference to the Lord's house) at the exact time Gigi left the piano to join the choir in the foyer. Simon began bawling, "Gigi's house, Gigi's house" and was fairly inconsolable for a very long 30 seconds or so.

Family Photos






What a beautiful, diverse family.

Weekend Pix






These are some pix from this weekend.

Friday night we had some late night friends come in (Kellie and little Terry.) They were able to stay until the next a.m. after breakfast. I think I am still recovering from the lack of sleep that night.

To me, Simon looks like a giant next to Alex, or, at the very least, he looks much older that a 2 year old.

Simon was cracking us up. Most of the time when he would touch Alex, he would say, "That's wet." (Because Alex is still at the young age when drooling is very common.) In the tub, Simon kept pouring water on Alex who didn't mind at all.

Simon is a sympathetic 'crier.' If we are in a store and we hear a baby crying, I have to remind Simon that doesn't mean he needs to cry, b/c he will usually cry in resonse to the cry. This happens a lot. On Saturday morning, I unfortunately got a large amount of soap in my eye, and it hurt! I haven't been in that much pain in a long time. Anyway, I didn't cry but I definitely cried out in pain many times and Simon came running and was so confused and also begin to cry out in pain. His empathy is really quite touching. I explained to him that mommy's eye hurt and many times throughout the day he would say, "Mommy hurt eye." "That's okay."

Usually when I put him down at night I remind him not to get down from his bed. I also remind him that he is a big boy, a good boy. In the morning, after he says, "Good morny" to me, he might comment, "I a good boy."

So, last night I was putting him down and I asked, "Are you my good boy." He said, "No." But, he stayed in bed all night and its been 12 hours so he must be my good boy, after all.

It's hard to leave him when he makes pleas, "Mommy, hug? Kiss kiss? Mommy, pillow." (When he wants me to lay down for a bit.) Matt and I almost fight over putting him in bed now. Many times I have gone back in for one more hug/kiss (usually for my sake,) to find Matt in there getting another hug also. We've bumped into each other in Simon's doorway before. "Hey, what are you doing?" "Giving Simon one more hug. What are you doing?" "Giving Simon one more hug."

Friday, December 15, 2006

My Little Art Prodigy





I think Simon did a marvelous job of associating green with the trees and coloring primarily around the shape.

He received the coloring book and crayons on from the Nabors Wednesday night at the youth christmas party. I thought it was perfectly slendid the way they remembered him and in general how much the youth love Simon, their little mascot.

The party was so much fun, and again I was sad not to have a camera. Matt with his India bag full of odd and specific gifts for each person.

I love the pix of our sink. Very calming. All of the clean dishes. The Dukes of Hazard metal t.v. tray is Matt's from his childhood days of tv splendor.

Si and Timmy







Simon and Timothy are becoming fast friends. It is so sweet and hilarious to see them get so excited to see each other. They are quite vocal and animated in their joy.

While they were eating lunch yesterday, one of them one say a word of a common object in the room and the other would echo.

We're trying to work on Simon's hugging. I"m trying to teach him: hug, let go. He seems to get stuck on just hugging and doesn't let go and it comes across a little strong and 'bullyish', depending on the recipient. I wish he would hug me that way :) My hugs are momentary seconds of time between play.

Simon and Timothy are going to have to form a praise band one day.

I wish I had had my camera yesterday. Simon and Lorena were both in car seats in our van and when I looked back at one point, they were holding hands. Lorena with her movie star sunglasses and smile was just too cute and I was really sad not to have a camera.

Now, they had their moments of angst, but overall, as with Timmy, love and joy availed much.

There is a photo of Simon taking a toy from Timothy as proof to my mom (who has trouble believing) that Simon is, ... um, not the perfect model of agape love. What is uncommon, is how he smiles and enjoys taking toys so much. Matt was looking at the picture and jokingly telling me that I was like a person filming a documentary who does nothing to stop the evil around them. (I am sure that I intervened right after the pix was snapped) :)

Yesterday, Natalie perfectly captured a moment of our day. We were driving in the van in 73 degree weather, on our way to take Lorena and Simon to Chick-fil-a and were listening to Harry Connick Junior's "The Songs I've Heard." Natalie commented, "Somewhere in the United States there are people driving around in the snow, listening to Christmas music, and drinking hot chocolate. Here we are, listening to jazz music and drinking icees in weather that is far from snow." [Natalie is Lorena's older sister (11) and that might not be a direct quote, but I think it is close enough.]

Friday, December 01, 2006

More Dancing

More dancing from Hillsong...

Simon Dances

Simon dances to Hillsong United, which was a birthday gift to Matt from Kellie, but our whole family has gotten lots of enjoyment out of it. Simon loves to dance to the music!

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Thanksgiving Continued







The cold, icy pictures are from today, November 30th. Yesterday at this time it was 79 degrees. When we drove to church last night, it was 78 degrees. By the time we reached church, it was 52 degrees, and on our way home it was 42 degrees. When I stepped outside today I realized how wonderful it was to have such pleasant temperatures over Thanksgiving. The weather was wonderful. You could be comfortable in short sleeves, long sleeves or a light jacket. This weather is nice, too, ... for penguins and polar bears :)

Tonight we are going to put the record player in the living room, play old timey Christmas music, and wrap any Christmas gifts that we have bought already and put them under our tree!

Ooh, that reminds me that I need to post a pix of our tree soon.

So, I wonder if I will still get to play tennis this Saturday with Gretchen ...

Also hoping Simon gets better from his cold so that we can go to Timothy's birthday party on Saturday! I love the pix of Matt, Timothy, and Simon at the piano! When Timothy came over last Saturday, Simon was still taking his afternoon nap, so he was completely surprised when he woke up to see that his good friend Timothy was here. Usually Simon takes a few minutes to wake up, but when we went into our closet to get him up from his nap (yes, he slept in our closet during Thanksgiving in a playpen so that Ollie could have Simon's room and a bit of privacy,) Simon just woke right up, smiled, and said, "Hi, Timmy!"

Simon was a little trooper sleeping in the closet. He only climbed out of his playpen twice (and that was on day one and two), and then he quickly adjusted to his new 'rules' of sleeping. When Ollie left and we put SImon back in his room, he quickly adjusted to that, also! PTL!

Even more from the Thanksgiving Holidays







Simon absolutely loves the marble game that our friend Duska sent his way! When he pronounces the word marbles, it sounds like 'bibles.' So, sometimes he will plead (whine) "Bibles!" Which is kind of funny because it sounds so misplaced with the tone that he uses. It is kind of like when he wants me to put music on the computer while he is eating. He either requests "Monkey Song" or "Holy is the Lord." So, sometimes he just keeps chanting "Holy is the Lord," in a very whiny, demanding, and sometimes angry tone. Memories :)

Caption: Simon and Uncle Ollie on the playground.

Caption: Simon and his friend James on the playground.

Caption: Simon wearing his mommy's black shoes.