New way for Santa to get in OR new animal head above the mantle?

Kyle and his Dad got our mantle up (that I have been wanting for 3 years now) and I am sooo excited!!! I have to say that Hunter is very confused now and thinks Santa is going to come out from behind the TV on Christmas Eve night. We do have somne "discussing" to do with him on that matter still. But here is the finished product!

...now I just need to do some cleaning and go get some more garland! I am so excited!
I have been on another unintentional blog hiatus for the past MONTH of not posting or reading blogs and I feel so out of the loop now!!!! So I am going to backtrack on what we have been up to (and then spend hours during the boys naps (hopefully)seeing what all of YOU have been up to too!). I don't know where the time has gone, but all I know is I feel like I am in a whirlwind of Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, pre-school Christmas baking, Christmas functions, birthdays, fundraisers and anything and everything that has been keeping me so beyond busy I am not sure what to do with myself or where the time has gone!
ANYWAYS
This weekend Grammie and Pop came into town bearing all kinds of goodies!
Kyle and I were so excited to finally move Drakey into a big boy bed and move the boys into a room together! Drake has been able to climb out of his crib since right before he turned 2 so this was a long time coming! But about 5 days before Grammie and Pop got here, we went ahead and moved Hunter into Drake's room...now their new room together. And went ahead and moved out his crib and changing table and move the guest bed back into the guest room to get it back up and running before they arrived this weekend. And to hopefully acclimate the boys in sleeping in the same room. Which, I think they love! But anyways, before their new beds arrived, we had them sleeping on a double mattress on the floor!!! What kind of parents are we??? (I think the coolest according to them because they thought that rocked!!!) But anyways, Kyle decided to move it on a night I had a function to attend and when I got back, this was what I found...

And after I woke up Kyle we went back in to take another picture...

But here are a few pics of the boys working on the new beds this weekend




And Ta-Dahhh! Here is the finished product (minus a few decorating touches:)


And then quickly onto some fun


And then Sunday morning Pop even got to climb in bed with both the boys

Yesterday afternoon Hunter and Drake each got to open one early Christmas present from Grammie and Pop...a Dr's Kit (very fitting for Pop!) and a Story Reader (which Hunter LOVES and is great for Toddlers!)


Both boys have been playing with both new presents all afternoon and all morning now. I think Hunter took my blood pressure, gave me a shot and told me I was so brave about 30 times so far! But that's okay, I love playing with him and I think it is sweet.



And then Grammie and Pop opened an early gift from Hunter and Drakey too



We had so much fun this weekend with Grammie and Pop (and quite a productive weekend too) and we miss them already!

THANKSgiving

We certainly do have so much to be thankful for!
PART 1
We had an action packed week this past week filled with hundreds of pictures I cannot even begin to sort through right now, so I will try to just pick a few highlights!
We arrived at the lake in Alabama at Grammie and Pop's house on Wednesday night. Hunter and Drake were so happy to be out of the car and get to see G & P and their cousins Christopher and Sophie and Aunt and Uncle B.
Thursday, Thanksgiving, so many people came to the lake (I think there were like 25 or 26 people there, including all the kiddos) which made it very festive!
This is what Hunter and Christopher did as soon as guests arrived...went back into a bedroom to watch a movie and eat crackers:


(What Social little Butterflies they are!)
Then Aunt Jenny, Uncle Trey and sweet little Anne Morgan arrived:

Brittny (Aunt B) brought a cute "Pin the Hat on the Turkey" game for the kiddos to play:

Drakey was so proud after he went(even though he was not blind folded)

Look at that mischievous face on Hunty "playing" the piano with Olivia and Zeke, his 2nd cousins (or is it 1st cousins once removed? anyone know how that works?)

While Drakey played Peek-a-Boo with Great...my boys sure know how to par-tay!

I LOVE this picture of Aunt B, Sophie and Christopher with Anne Morgan!

Oh and then we had a series of pictures of trying to get all the great grandkids picture with Great (Pop's Mom) and as you can imagine, they don't work so well with a bunch of toddlers and young little thangs. Here was a typical shot

Honestly, we did not have 1 decent one on our camera.

And Drake jumps up because he HAS to tackle Scooby-Doo...photo-shoot over.

After a wonderful meal Drakey ended up taking a late nap and after he "woke up" and Kyle brought him downstairs, he decided to go back to sleep. He slept like this for a while...Oh to sleep like a baby!


Meanwhile, the "big boys" went on an adventure with Brandon (Uncle B) (and of course the doggies) to find wood to make a reindeer.



Later in the evening I was re-living my inner kid and enjoying playing with play-dough. Kyle ended up joining us and I think there are some pretty funny pictures of that but on someone else's camera. I do wish I had those though!

The next day Kyle and I got to go to the Iron Bowl (Sad) but before we left, Drakey was being so silly and we got a few cute pics of him:




The last day we were at the lake was Saturday and we had a wonderful morning!
Kyle got an amazing picture of the lake (click on this to blow it up if you can!):

And Hunty wanted to be outside with him too

Kyle and Pop worked in "Pop's Shop" for a while working on the boys new beds

Meanwhile Grammie and I outside with the boys

Then Hunty and I went in to pack while Drake stayed outside and helped Grammie and Pop plant:





PART 2
We came back home to Nashville Saturday night and got to spend time with my brother and his family who live in Charlotte. (Uncle Will, Aunt E, Charlie and Anna) and my boys are so lucky to have fun cousins on both sides!
Da and Anna

Uncle Kyle, Drakey and Anna eating some popcorn

Drakey Loves his little cousin Anna...

He had a BLAST feeding her popcorn too!

Hunty and Charlie playin some trains


Cutie-Pie Anna!

Drakey eating with his "headress" on he made at school

Da reading to Charlie and Hunty

And then the night ended in a Dance Party!





We would chant for the kiddos "Go Anna, go anna, go anna, Go Charlie go Charlie go Charlie, Go Hunty go Hunty go Hunty (you get the picture) And the past few days Drake has asked me to move the ottoman out of the way and he starts dancing around our den saying "go Anna, go Anna, go Anna" it is hysterical! I think he must think that is a song?
Neeldess to say I am sad this was the only night we got our camera out because we had so much fun with them and we were so sad when they left!
P.S. If you want to see any of the "Gorilla Squated Slant Swing Dance" by Anna that has been keeping my Drakey chanting her name for days now, you can see a tiny piece of it here