New Year's Eve...

... And more importantly, Uncle Ben's 30th Birthday!!
Above: The Farmhouse Inn in Madison, Georgia!
Below: Ben getting the festivities started.


LR, Jess, Steph, Gina & Beth
Tucker loving the animals.

Cute matching outfits!

I am my Daddy, part II

More from Christmas in St.Louis.

Jackson got to spend the week with his cousins, Herbie and Reagan (Brian and Betsy/Casey's dogs). He slept all the way home after a week of constant play.
We spent our last afternoon in St.Louis at the emergency room after Tucker took a header in to the Hogan's front stairs (cement!) He was so tough, but it was bloody and terrible. Instead of stitching it, they glued it. We'll see how the scar turns out!

Christmas Update...

I can't get these in order, so we'll start with Christmas morning! Tucker really loves trains and he got lots of trains! He was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of presents he was expected to open -- he just wanted to open and play with whatever he opened. We'll do it differently next year to keep him from ending up in tears!
He sat with his new Brio stuff for many hours! This is his very serious face.
The Holley's new puppy beagle, Yadi (named after the Cardinal great Yadier Molina). He and Tucker were quite a pair. First Tucker would chase Yadi and have Yadi all over the place. The Yadi would chase Tucker, nipping at his behind and Tucker would yell out between giggles "No, No, No, No..." swiping him away. It was priceless.

Christmas Eve brunch at Casey & Betsy's...
Tucker has become quite the male model. He stops for the camera and strikes a pose every time. Sometimes a smile, sometimes serious, sometimes a profile shot. We need to work on getting this kid's education paid for.

Below: The fam. Congrats to Casey and Betsy! They will be having a baby July 6th.
Waking up Christmas morning -- excited to go open presents!!!

What happens when I try to clean...

This afternoon I tried to do some cleaning which meant not having two eyes on Tucker the whole time. In a 15 minute period, I found him twice.

First, Jackson pushed the door open for him from the outside and I find him heading down the stairs with no pants and hmmm... scissors! But he is always willing to smile for the camera!

He is gifted at finding the thing in the room he should not touch - palm pilot, scissors, cell phone, pen without a cap on it, whatever! He can locate and be playing with the item in seconds.


Then I find him in our room just doing a little work on the computer. Again, smiling even when caught!

He is really hilarious - even though he enjoys being naughty. About a half hour after I gave up on cleaning, he had a discipline issue with the Christmas tree (about twice a day these days) and he had to go to his time out chair. While sitting in the chair quietly he hears Jackson in the front yard howling at the train passing (those of you who have been to our house longer than an hour know that Jackson puts his nose to the air, puts his ears back and howls at every single train that passes). So, when Jackson begins howling, so does Tucker! He puts his head up and makes this cute little howling noise from his time out chair. Priceless.

Santa!

Gross, but cute.

Tucker really likes this medicine dropper. It's kind of like his toothbrush. He walks around with it for hours at a time very happy. I'm not exaggerating. Hours. Here, he is doing his usual - hanging out with Jackson while chewing the dropper.
Now he is starting to pose for the camera. Check out the belly on this child.
Now, he decides to share the joy of chewing on the dropper with Jackson! They did this for awhile! I don't know what we would do without the two of them to entertain each other.
... And yes, he walks around the house half-clothed often. He likes it.

First Hair Cut!

It looked good on Saturday... then we realized Cliff actually cut the hair back in to a mohawk! Oh well. It's Tuck's "thing." He has a mohawk. He'll always need a comb-over. He can't help it.

Betsy & Casey visit!

Tucker thought this was the most fun he's ever had!


We enjoyed a great week with Casey & Betsy -- We spent Thanksgiving with Betsy's family (her aunt and uncle also live in Jacksonville and her parents and grandparents and others were here visiting from Maryland and Kirkwood). It was so fun!

Tuck & Teddy

They were being so cute together, I had to document the play date!

November is a blur...

We had a phenomenal weekend in Big Canoe, GA last weekend with some of the Rhodes clan! This is the incredible view from one of the many decks off Girbs' parent's house. It was such a blessing to be at an amazing house in the mountains. We did lots of eating, talking and watching all the toddlers and babies! We have been quite busy buying a car and hanging out with our high school small groups and having family in town and getting Tucker back to wellness (he had a fever for days and a rash) and working and... This week just flew by. Casey & Betsy get here Sunday for Thanksgiving! Yeah! But is it possible that Thanksgiving is here??

It is nearly impossible to express how PRECIOUS this moment was. He was giving his future wife a sweet love --




Tucker and Olivia.



The Boys... William Gituku, Robert Scheer & Tuck.



They loved adventuring together!

ps. For those of you who know our dear friends Brad & Heather, they had a baby girl this afternoon -- Catherine or Katherine (not sure how they are spelling it :))

Another classic.

Adventures with Pop and Nan

At the fire station. Tucker is really starting to grasp the bigger world around him. He is very aware of passing trucks, airplanes, fire engines, etc and always gives them a wave! He is particularly in to fire trucks and makes the sound something like "we-ah-we-ah-we-ah" - I'm not sure how that works out phonetically, but it is really cute when he does it.

We had a great visit with Pop and Nan... he really enjoys having people to entertain and is particularly fond of extra folks staying in our house. He wakes up from every nap ready to get busy bringing everyone joy.

Tucker loves his new Caterpillar train set! He got it for his birthday, but is now ready for it -- he sat for a LONG time staring at it going around and around.

Bad Hair Day

Yes, this is natural. 5 minutes after a nap.

Halloween Part II

After 3pm(when I last posted), Halloween began shaping up. First, we went to the pumpkin patch - or Winn Dixie -(no more pumpkins) then Publix (success) to pick from their six pumpkins... 4 of which had odd painted faces on them. So, we had our 2 pumpkins. No time to carve them, but at least we had pumpkins! I don't think Tucker even noticed we weren't in a fun, cute pumpkin patch and everyone at Publix thought it was normal that I was taking pictures of my son picking out his pumpkin on Halloween day at the front of Publix. It worked.
Then we headed to Firehouse Subs where I got word that they hand out free fire hats to kids. Mission accomplished - we have a costume! Then we headed to Scotty and Ted's for some Trick-or-Treating. Tucker and Teddy (the smiley puppy dog) got to ride in the wagon. They were loving it!
By the end of the night, Mary Scott (the kitty cat w/ Tuck's fire hat) was in the wagon, the boys were walking and everyone was tired and ready for bed!
This is just a picture of Kyle and his partner, Ted. Aren't they cute?