Fun times around the house!

After Christmas, daddy and Ruston had TONS of fun playing with new toys.  Daddy made the mistake of showing Ruston that he can sit and ride in his shopping cart, so this has become a MUST in Ruston's book!

Ruston also has a tendency to get stuck since he really is too big to fit in the cart... and he has toppled over backwards and sideways a few times too.  Kid's gotta learn about gravity somehow! :)

Due to all the playing, Ruston gets quite tired.  This particular day, he had been in the car after playing at Cindy's house, and he fell asleep in the car.  Usually, as soon as I try to lay him down, he wakes up, but not this day; he was OUT!

Ruston is also learning about snow since we've had a lot of it, and he obviously doesn't remember last year!  He's really not quite sure what to think of it, but he'll sit in it and stare at it.

Daddy was sledding and tried to take Ruston down with him, but since we don't have a SLED and he was using an old boogie board, it didn't work so well!!  Maybe we'll try again later, since Jason tried to get a sled at Walmart, but they were all out.

Okay, so these are a tad out of order, but you get the idea.

Here's the attempt to take Ruston sledding down the hill... it was more like a "scoot" down the hill!

And the hike back up!

Winter has been going on through, and we've been enjoying it thus far, although it's becoming a bit of a nuisance to get up and down the driveway!!

Christmas, Part 2

We didn't think we were going to get a white Christmas this year because we really hadn't had much of any snow, but we woke up Christmas morning to this:

Such a beautiful view off of our deck.  Tucker was also enjoying his Christmas morning outside in the snow.  He really loves to be outside, and is in a fairly large pen so he can still run around okay.

And of course, looking down the driveway.  Luckily, it wasn't too much that we could still get down the driveway... but still just enough to enjoy the winter coziness. :)

Once we got up and going, we headed over to the Thackxton home for Christmas breakfast and lots of presents!  Of course, I didn't think to get any pictures of the table full of food, but it was GOOD!  The kids could barely contain themselves, well, neither could Nanny (Cindy), around all the presents, so the opening ensued.

Yes, that pile of presents are all for Ruston!  He, again, loved opening all his presents from Nanny and Pa.

Once the madness of present opening was finished, we headed back home for a relaxed rest of the day.  Ruston decided it was time to enjoy his Christmas present from Grammie and Papa Boo... this horse!


I also had to get a picture of him in his Christmas clothes.  Such a grown up little man!


Trying to multi-task... there's no way that bottle was coming out of his hand!

Merry Christmas everyone!!  We had a lot of fun this year, and know that each year will grow exponentially in the amount of fun and joy we have watching Ruston grow up!!

Too much snow!

Well I started this post a few days ago and am finally getting around to finishing it!  

We've had a nasty winter here this year, at least for a southern winter.  We had a couple of good sized storms, and one of them put a good 4-6 inches of snow on the ground, topped off with a nice sheet of ice.  Below you can see our yard...

... and the car.
Jason decided it would be fun to go sledding, but we didn't have a sled, so he managed to find a boogie board in the shed left by the previous owners.  It worked pretty well.
All Tucker wanted to do was tackle Jason the entire time he was sledding.


I decided I needed to take Ruston out to see the snow, so I bundled him up in this little snow suit... and as soon as we got outside, he fell asleep!  So much for SEEING the snow, but at least I have evidence that he was out in it.  :)
Just because I thought it was cute... I laid him down on the couch and he slept like this for a good 40 minutes or so longer.  The outfit was a bit big, but he seemed to like it. :)
The second ugly snow was the worst.  I ended up getting my car stuck on the way UP the driveway... yes, even in 4WD.  The ice cover made me slide over the side into a deep ditch... which you can see in the second picture.
I also got high centered.  So Jason pulled me out backwards with his vehicle, and I ended up denting my back bumper by running it into his vehicle, although it didn't do any damage to his.  Could have been MUCH worse...
Then that night, Jason was attempting to sell the 4 wheeler because 1. we weren't using it, 2. it needed some money put into it, and 3. we didn't feel like taking the time/energy/money to figure out exactly what it needed in order to work consistently.  Anyway, while trying to get down the driveway, he managed to get his vehicle stuck too... but his required the tow truck to get him out! :)  Yes, the tow truck came up the driveway and everything.  Luckily the insurance covered that... and we didn't feel too bad because the tow truck driver said we weren't the only ones to get stuck in the driveway, and our driveway is MUCH worse than most!
Anyway, we're ready for the spring to get here!!!

What's this white stuff??

I do have to say I'm a big fan of Christmas. I love all the decorations, and I even made my own wreath for the front door this year (but no picture, sorry). A week or so ago i put up our Christmas tree, and Jason and I decorated it together.  Here's our tree... darn flash and you can't see the lights!  
Here's the lights... but it's blurry.
And here's the tree last night after I wrapped A TON of presents for all the nieces and nephews... one present for each adds up!
I've been told several times that it doesn't snow in Tennessee... or at least not much.  Well then, what do you call all this white stuff?  This is the view from our front porch Thursday night.
Here is my car Friday morning.  There's probably between an inch or two of snow, but it's all melted now.  I laughed really hard when they cancelled school EVERYWHERE around here... no one knows how to drive with any bit of snow... it scares them.
And here's our house Friday morning... just had to get a picture with snow on the ground.
Taco was a big fan of the snow this year.  He ran around and around in the front yard, but I managed to get him to stand still long enough to get this picture.
Here's our mantle... mantel?  Neither of those look right.  Anyway, here it is, sans fireplace, but these are our stockings.  And NO, the little one is not an announcement, it's Taco's stocking. :)  Like our nativity scene?
Lastly, here's just a random picture of Taco.  This is where I usually find him if I get out of my chair to go do something... he likes to take my spot and claim it as his own, and then he won't move out of the way.