The Mouth of the South

This is karma; when those stories your parents told about you start to happen with your children. My mom used to laugh every time my report card came home, "diligent student, but she talks too much," "A, A, A-, needs to be quiet..." In fact, in high school I had a great teacher (although I didn't appreciate her at the time!) named Ms. Lewis, who never made it through a single AP Composition class without having to tell me that "silence is golden." And of course, I always topped it with "and talking is platinum," and then continued my chatting. Well, I've always known that Brixon is quite the talker, but he seems to really unleash the vocabulary storm at school....especially during naptime! Ms. Kim started sending home detailed reports of what the kids say and do each day, and it is hysterical. Thus far, we have had such comments as "Brixon refused to take a nap. Talked the whole time, and woke all of his friends up," "Brixon said "won't take a nap today," so we put him in the high chair and gave him Play-Doh to keep him quiet," and my personal favorite, "Brixon wouldn't take a nap today. Spent all of his naptime talking about the policeman and fireman that came to his house." Yes, my friends, we had quite the exciting day last week, when it was raining, I was rushing, and I accidentally locked him in the car. My spare key was also in the car, prompting a call to 911. But no, they couldn't just send over a guy with a slim jim. Deep Creek got quite the show when the police car, locksmith, and fire truck parked in my front yard. Brixon was fine; he passed the time playing with his truck and singing the 'ABC's,' and thought it was pretty cool that he had two firemen and a policeman standing outside of his car window!! Well, good thing I had told his teacher about it right away, because with Captain Chatterbox, nothing is a secret. Just ask Grandma Carrie :) Last week, we were watching TV, and a commercial for McDonald's came on. He saw the golden arches, and said "MicaDonalds!, go there other day, eat french fries in grandma's car!" Busted!!

Other than talking, Brixon is really into 'Cars' right now. We have to watch it every night. When it isn't on, he's playing with his "Lightning MicaQueen" magnets, or his Radiator Springs fire truck. He also absolutely loves being outside. My mom got him a bike seat that goes on my bike, and sits in between my seat and the handlebars. We've been going for a ride every day when I get home from work, and we both really love it! He also loves riding around the cul-de-sac on his little 4-wheeler with the other kids in the neighborhood!

In Nick and Casey news, we're getting ready for our 'Dancing with the Charlotte Stars' performance on March 4. Let me tell you, it seemed like a much better idea in theory...married couple, reigniting the sparks through the art of ballroom dance ;) HAAAAA!! I kid...once we got past him letting me tell him what to do (since I kind of have an idea what I'm doing), it really started to come together. We'll see how it turns out, but we're having fun in the meantime! I'll keep you posted ;)

Happy Birthday Brixon

As any parent can attest, there is not a day that passes in which we do not thank God for the blessing that we have been given. Even in the midst of a 'we are in the middle of Carrabba's, for crying out loud' temper tantrum, there is no one or nothing that we love more than our children. Today is Brixon's 2nd birthday, and I have never felt joy, pride and love the way I have since January 12, 2009. In the face of absolute tragedy (the massacre in Tucson, the anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti), I am reminded even more of what a blessing each and every moment with my son is. Happy Birthday Brixon...we love you!!!

"Almost party time!"

My baby will be 2 on January 12. It actually hurts just to type it :) This weekend, we decided to have a jam session/family birthday celebration. I tried to keep it low-key this year, since we had a blowout 1st birthday party last year, but I couldn't resist. Although it didn't really help my breaking of his "Santa Claus is coming...more presents" habit! In fact, the only way we can get him to put his pants on in the morning is to tell him it's party time. Then he runs in his room, screaming "almost party time!," and eagerly pulls his jeans out of the drawer. So last week, I decided to invite all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to listen to the band (we use the term loosely :D), and to have a little fun! This child loves music, especially playing the drums, so the two actually went hand-in-hand. We had a great time, the toybox is overflowing again, and the leftover cake is safely in the garbage can ;)

Papa's old drumset came in handy!

All of the picture frames held music-themed pictures of B

Thanks for the "Hot Mess" shirts, Carrie!

Ahhh, the face of concentration...

Shakin' a tailfeather with Nana!

"Choo-choos, GG!"

Finally, a "really fun New Year's Eve..."

Every year around Thanksgiving, Nick begins his annual "I've never had a fun New Year's Eve" diatribe. The whining usually hits a fevered pitch around Christmas, and then tapers off until New Year's Day, when he complains how last night "was alright. But I've still never had a fun New Year's." This year, after seven consecutive 'unfun' celebrations, I made a pre-emptive strike. I went online to find where the Mummies were playing, in hopes we could make our New Year's celebration a long, FUN weekend. Well, Indianapolis in the dead of winter wasn't exactly ideal, but we rounded up twelve of our favorite friends and family, and flew up last Thursday. Not only was the concert an absolute blast, but Indianapolis is actually a really great city!! We had quite the diverse cultural experience...Mummies, ice skating, shopping, bowling, arcading, eating, museum-going, beverage-drinking...Needless to say, I don't think I'll have to hear Nick complain for a while :)

They loved Dad's cartoon....well, it was a hit on the Bob & Tom site!

The Polar Express

So a lil' shout out to my friend Kami for reminding me that I completely neglected to write about my favorite part of Christmas this year. See, where I'm from (Grand Rapids, MI), The Polar Express is a tradition! The author is a native, so the book was incredibly popular. it has since become one of my favorite books and movies. All Christmas season, I just wanted one night where we could all sit on the couch, drink hot chocolate, and watch "The Polar Express." So two nights before Christmas, we did just that! Brixon never sits more than ten minutes in front of the TV, but with hot chocolate in his sippy cup, and a movie with choo-choos and Santa Claus, he was in heaven! At the very end, Nick and I looked over, and he had fallen asleep sitting up!