A Blue Christmas...

Yes, we had a blue Christmas in the Henderson household. Santa was good to Garrett and brought him the "real" blue guitar he's been asking for for months. As you will see from the pictures below, he really loved it. He also had a good time mixing up a snack to leave for Santa's reindeer and was truly shocked (see the Home Alone shocked face picture) to discover that the reindeer ate all of it when they stopped by our house. Myles had a nice Christmas also, although he was just along for the ride. Hopefully he'll know what's going on next year. His first Christmas was a delight though. I hope you all had a great Christmas also. Happy New Year to all!

Laurie

Christmas Activities

The Hendersons have had several Christmas activities in the past week- most notably, the Pell City Christmas Parade and Ms. Violet's annual Christmas party. A good time was had by all. I thought I'd share a few pics from these two activities. Enjoy!

Laurie

Just Because......

This post isn't for any reason other than to share a couple of pics. Blaine took this pic of Myles and I just after Myles got out of the bathtub and into his Christmas colored pjs tonight. I happened to have on a gown with coordinating colors. The pic turned out too good not to share. He's a sweetie with his big, gorgeous smile. The other pic is of Garrett in a pair of his "big boy pants." Hopefully he will do a little better with our latest effort at potty training than he has in the past. He was also sporting a brand new haircut in this pic. I actually took him to see Ms. Whitney, his regular hairdresser, on Tuesday for the first time in a long time. He usually acts up so badly if I am there that I'd just rather "let" GiGi take him, but I sucked it up on Tuesday and took him myself (after devising a "tough love" strategy for how to handle any potential outbursts). To my surprise and delight, he was a little angel. Best he's ever done in his 2 1/2 years of getting haircuts, even when the clippers came out. Enjoy!

Making News......

Well, I knew the boys had star potential, and it was finally discovered. Fox 6 Reporter, Chris Montana, and his camera man showed up to do a story on what it takes to get a good portrait of a small child at the same time we showed up to try to get a good portrait of the boys for Christmas. The video clip below, which was featured on the Fox 6 10:00p.m. news broadcast on December 10, tells the story. Just copy and paste the link below into your web browser. Enjoy!

http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=8048220&version=1&locale=EN-US

November Update...

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought it was about time to share some new pics of the boys. We've had a nice month. Myles has learned a bunch of new "tricks." He's now drinking out of a cup and holding it by himself, doing a real crawl (unless he wants to get somewhere fast, in which case he kicks the belly crawl into high gear...ha!), and pulling up on things. He wants to stand up and walk so badly. I suppose he just wants to keep up with Garrett. He's also talking a little. His first real word was "hey!" He'll wave at folks and say it over and over. As you'll see in the pictures, he's also learned how to clap. So, he also says "yeah!!!" quite a bit also. It tickles him and us too. Very cute and funny. He applauds himself anytime he does one of his new tricks. As far as Garrett goes....well, he doesn't have much free time lately, as he spends EVERY waking hour getting ready for Santa to get here with his requested gift, a "real" guitar. Ha! Maybe we have a budding musician on our hands. We'll see. Until next time.....

Annual Trip to Ole Miss and Halloween

We made our annual Mize/Henderson family trip to Ole Miss this weekend. This year it was for the Auburn game. Ole Miss pulled out a 17-7 victory, so at least I was happy, even if Blaine wasn't. Todd and his fiance, Kristy, also went along...she's an Auburn grad also. So, she wasn't delighted with the game outcome either, but we all had a great weekend nonetheless. We also celebrated Halloween while we were there. We did a little "hotel trick or treating" on Friday night. A new tradition, I suppose???? Garrett (Cookie Monster) seemed to enjoy it. Myles (Elmo) mostly just observed, but he's always happy, even if not participating. We also got a chance to hang out with of my very good friends, Kate, one of my best friends from law school, and her boys, Ethan and Aiden. We don't get to see each other much, but it is nice when we do. This was the first time all four of our boys have been together. Enjoy these pics which are a few of my favorite from the weekend's festivities.

Laurie

Myles' Straw Hat

In preparation for the Halloween Hayride party the boys were supposed to attend last Saturday, we borrowed cowboy boots and a cowboy/sheriff hat made of straw from one of the other moms at Ms. Violet's. Garrett was going to be a cowboy, so I also purchased a two gun holster equipped with two shiny pistols and a sheriff's badge. Garrett tried on his outfit Thursday night once we got it all pulled together, but I didn't take a picture since he was going to be in it all day Saturday. I figured there would be plenty of pics made at the party. Yeah, right!!!! G came down with a nasty stomach bug on Friday night (it's still hanging around by the way), so we weren't able to make the hayride. We still made good use out of part of the outfit though. Check Myles out in the straw sheriff's hat. Too funny!

Garrett's 2nd Trip to Bryant-Denny....

G-Daddy, GiGi and myself took Garrett to Tuscaloosa today for the game versus Ole Miss. Although we only squeaked out a narrow victory, it was a great day. Garrett had fun at the tailgate, had a good nap prior to the game, and really enjoyed the pre-game festivities. Oh Yeah, and did I mention that he didn't put his sword down all day except for the brief 1 hour period prior to the game when he "misplaced" it???? Long story....luckily we spotted it on a student's front porch on the way into the game and reclaimed it. He was even able to use it like a shaker while doing his version of Sweet Home Alabama during the pregame fun (check it out below). Unfortunately, it is very difficult (ok...impossible) to harness his energy in such close proximity to other folks. So, he and GiGi had to head back to the tailgate pretty early into the 1st quarter...about the time he started hitting folks in the back and head with his sword..ha! Oh well, we tried. Maybe next year he'll actually be able to SIT through a whole game. I'll not hold my breath though. Laurie

Update on Myles

I know that from my posts it may seem that Garrett is the only one who stays busy around here, but Myles has been quite active lately. Most recently he has learned to sit up on his own, drink from a sippy cup (although he has absolutely no motivation to hold it for himself...probably because there is never a shortage of someone to do it for him), started taking baths without his bath seat, and trying his best to crawl, etc.... And, for a baby who hasn't yet gotten the hang of traditional crawling, he covers more ground than any baby I've ever seen. He can roll or drag himself anywhere he wants to go. Very innovative for an 8 month old. Check out some pics of his latest progess.

Laurie

Pumpkin Patch Visit

Today we visited the Pumpkin Patch at the Old Baker Farm in Harpersville, AL. Myles mostly rode around and lounged in the wagon. Garrett, on the other hand, enjoyed climbing on hay bales, checking out the farm animals and helping Blaine pick out some pumpkins to take home. We ended up with three very nice ones. Here are a few pics from our trip.

Pics with Cousin Cooper....Once in Every Life Photography

Sesame Street Live....

Garrett enjoyed his first Sesame Street Live show last weekend. MiMi went along for the ride and was a good sport. We all had fun and, of course, got a few pics also. Garrett even got in on the picture taking action. Enjoy!

Photo Link

For those of you who may be interested in checking out the full slideshow of all the pics done by Heather Swanner the link is www.heatherswannerphotography.com/henderson.

L

Halloween Preview & Airplane Ride

Here's a Sneak Peek of Garrett and Myle's Halloween Gear and snap shots of their recent "airplane" (aka box) ride. Blast Off!

Our Weekend...Auburn v. LSU, No Kids and Mixed Emotions

Well, we had a great weekend. The boys stayed with GiGi and G-Daddy on Friday night and then with MiMi and Granddaddy Keith last night while Blaine and I went to Auburn for the LSU game. We went down with Cousin Will and our friends, Brian and Kim. A great time was had by all- even if Blaine's team didn't pull out a win in the end. It was a good game, and the company was wonderful. With all of that being said.... I always find myself missing the boys when I'm away from them, no matter how much I look forward to dropping them off when I leave. Mixed Emotions, I guess. There is no place like home....It's always nice to get back to...especially at 2:30 a.m. in the morning when all you want to do is crawl into your bed and go to sleep. While we always enjoy a nice weekend of adult company without any children, it sure does feel good to be laying here in bed tonight watching TV with my little Garrett beside me. What a sweet boy....it's good to be home...36 hours without the boys is more than enough!!!! Listening to constant chattering in my ear, having someone jump on me and playing high five games isn't too bad afterall.

Laurie

Big Brother Helps Out...

It seems that lately Garrett is trying to help out more and more with little brother Myles. Here is a pic of him practicing his new talent, feeding "Baby Myles."

Well....I finally gave in

It seems that everyday someone new sends me notice that he or she has created a family blog. It started with my friend, Mandy. Then I noticed on her blog that there were numerous links to other family's blogs, many which I recognized. It does seem like an awfully handy way to keep folks up to date on your family's news and to share recent pics. I decided to just give it a try. Seems pretty simple so far. So, this one may not get a lot of action, but at least I can say I have one. ha!

Laurie