These two....

....I love 'em!

Christmas at Preschool

All the 3 year olds were shepherd in the preschool Christmas program. According to his teachers, Chesson just couldn't decide if he wanted to participate. In the end, he said he would like to sing, but not wear the shepherd's hat. Ahhh, he's a master negotiator at 3. I'm doomed;o)

Chesson is in the bottom row on the far right. Look how many other boys took their hats off. Let's just call him a leader, surely he's too young to be a troublemaker...right?

Thankful for his Christmas cookie to decorate and, of course, eat!!

Every time Chesson looked away from his snack, Anna Corbin would sneak a bite. Funny girl!

Patches

Patches came to visit. Chesson brought him home from preschool on Tues and we kept him until Thursday. I took pictures of the fun Chesson and Patches had together. Then, we put those pictures into a journal and wrote a letter to his class telling them about Patches adventures.

Chesson wanted to teach Patches how to play basketball. It took Patches a few minutes to get the hang of it. :o)

Chesson said that Patches only eats bananas, but it turns out he really like eggs and yogurt too.

No stay at our house would be complete without a lesson in trucks. "Patches, this is a dump truck. It carries things and dumps them."

Anna Corbin even got a brief moment with Patches. She was memorized.

A little afternoon coloring. Patches supervised.

We ended our day at Jack's house. Chesson could not wait to take Patches to meet Jack. I think we wore poor Patches out....he slept great!

Crafty Crafty

Okay, so in all honesty, I'm not really crafty. But, I do love crafts that Chesson can participate in (I guess it's the teacher in me). I also love simple crafts...3 steps or less.

All we needed was clear glass ornaments, glitter glue, and glitter.

We're not afraid of a glittery mess.

After I put the string on this gold ornament, Chesson was 'swinging' it over the the tree. Oops!! Now we have a sparkly floor. :o)

The tree, the tree,

The tree is in the house. Chesson just can't believe we get to have a tree, in our house. ~~ I love, love, love picking out a Christmas tree. I don't care how tall it is, I just want it to be really really fat. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

This year I was determined to reign in my desires and get a tree that fit in our living room.

But, as usual, I lost perspective at the tree lot. I honestly thought this was a reasonably sized tree. It was significantly smaller than the trees around it.

It doesn't look so big here, right?

Daddy's little helper. But, don't let him hear you call him little. He will let you know in a hot second that he is a "big boy." (You'll be pleased to know the pumpkins are gone now.)

Daddy's other little helper.

Gra-Gra is reading to Chesson about Santa's little helper:o)

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by dear family. There were more than 50 of us gathered in a sweet family cabin, tucked in the woods, in Tallahassee. The weather was perfect. The food was delicious. The company was delightful.

All the "Corbin's." Uncle Corbin, Callie Corbin (she's double name girl...love it), Great-Aunt Marion Corbin, Anna Corbin, & Corbin. How fun is that?

Uncle Corbin was a red head. As is his daughter, Aaren. Yay for red heads!!

Betty Ann made coordinating outfits for the kids. They were a-mazing (as usual). Anna Corbin and Weslyn had dresses that went together beautifully. (Can you see Weslyn's shoes? She made those too.) She also made Chesson's pants: corduroy with a striped cuff. Love, love, love it all!

Who's surprised Chesson found a train? I have to admit, even I wanted to play with this train.

Anna Co - 18 months

We gave her a double name, that's 4 syllables long. We know nicknames are going to happen....most folks still call her Anna Corbin, but others like to find ways to shorten it, A.C., being the most common. It doesn't really matter to me, but last weekend, one of her great-uncles called her Anna Co, and I thought it was pretty cute.

Anna Corbin is turning into such a little girl. She loves to wear shoes, boots especially. She like bracelets and bows (she's often wearing two). She is a happy girl who loves to play and be chased by her brother. -- Every morning she happily sits on the bathroom counter while I wet, comb, and wrangle her curls. I'm pretty sure that if we didn't comb out the tangles daily, it would only take about 3 days before she had dreads.

Speaking of her hair, can you see the ringlets? As it gets longer, so do the ringlets. It's pretty much amazing. I cannot make it through the grocery store without at least 6 people stopping to tell me how much they love it. I have mastered the "push and smile." I say thanks as I'm walking by. Seriously, strangers will just talk and talk and talk (sometimes while touching her hair)...and let's be honest, we're usually in a hurry:o) Anna Corbin is a growing girl. She's still in the 95% for height and in the 34% for weight. She is tall! She doesn't talk much, but communicates great with the 'point and grunt,' as Corbin and I call it, or with her baby sign. Chesson does so much talking these days, none of us can get a word in:)

Head band victory! We have been working on different hairstyles lately. It's usually just clipped back with a bow, but the bows seem to fall out. I found this great headband, and brought it home for her. She HATED it. She would not put it on her head. I tried to put it on her baby doll, to demonstrate how it works. Nope, she hated it. When I wasn't looking, she put it in the trash can. She's a hoot I tell ya. But, this picture proves that persistence can prevail;o) I'm also trying to get her to tolerate the ponytail. It's a slow process.