Early Christmas Present for the Boys...

...including the hubs. Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, we got a go cart this weekend. My husband wanted a motorcycle. I finally had him talked out of it, because, let's be honest, that's a pretty selfish thing for a dad to get. Instead, we decided that if he really wanted it, we would spring for a 4-wheeler.

On Saturday mornings, we've started a tradition of looking in the paper and picking a few good yard sales to go to before we head to Lufkin to hang out at the zoo, park, or, now that it's getting a little colder, the mall. Well, wouldn't you know it, there was a yard sale that had a 4-wheeler for sale. So, off we go about seven miles out of town (and the opposite way of Lufkin) to this very nice lady's house. It was 8:15 am. The sale started at 8:00 am. The 4-wheeler was already sold. BUT, there it was, looking all shiny and blue and pretty, and most importantly, a lot less expensive than a flippin' 4-wheeler: the go cart. Akeem drove it around the yard for a little while, just checking it out. Then, we left to talk it over. We drove back into town and ended up hitting up the ATM to get the cash and back we went. He called one of his friends to help us get it home and we were riding around OUR yard within the hour.

The boys absolutely love it. AJ just throws a fit when he has to get off the thing. And, he can't stand to see anyone riding it if he's not riding too. The boy knows what he wants, and he will whine and cry and throw tantrums to get it. Lots of tantrums.

Here are some pics of all three of my boys on their new toy.

Okay, so Jabari doesn't look too excited in that last one. But, I think it was just because I was taking ANOTHER picture and he didn't want me to take ANOTHER picture. He's definitely into that "I want what I want" stage. KWIM?

Memaw's Visit

My mom, better knowed now as Memaw, visited us this weekend. She got here Friday afternoon and is leaving in the morning when I leave for work. She has gotten to make Pawpaw super jealous because she's been able to hang out and play with AJ all weekend long and Pawpaw didn't get to come this time, so he's missing out on all of it.

On Saturday, we went shopping for my and Akeem's Christmas/birthday present: new living room furniture. I was getting a little frustrated because we couldn't find what we wanted. Then, when we did, the store we found it at said they would have to order it and it wouldn't be in until the middle of the week. So, we went out to Lufkin and looked at a couple of stores there. Finally, we found exactly what we wanted. And, they had it in stock. So, Mom paid for it and we headed back to Nac to get a trailer from one of Akeem's coworkers. We got back to Lufkin and took Mom to Cheddars to eat. It was really good. Our waiter was training, so that was fun. He kept getting the information fed to him by his trainer. It was kind of like an actor in a play who can't remember his lines, but is getting them fed to him from just off stage.

Here it is now, Monday night, and it seems like the weekend has flown by. It's almost time for Memaw to leave and it seems like she just got here. She brought a lot of books for AJ and he's fallen in love with this one picture book that has animals in it (pictured below). He has drug it around everywhere with him the entire weekend. We kept him out of daycare today so that she could spend as much time as possible with him.

Here are some pics I took tonight of the two of them (on our NEW loveseat!).

My Mom is so silly, she wouldn't look up for the pictures because she didn't have any makeup on. ;)

Halloween

Akeem had to work on Halloween this year, so we didn't go trick-or-treating on Sunday. Instead, we went to this event called Scare on the Square. The conversation on the ride downtown went something like this:

Chris: "Can you believe it? We are actually doing something in the community. That's a little different for us isn't it?"

Akeem: "Yeah, it is. It's cool though."

We get to the event and it's okay at first. There are a lot of people, though, and my anxiety starts to slowly build. But, there's a little petting zoo off to the side, so I take AJ over there so he can see the animals. There's rabbits, goats, and even a miniature horse for him to pet. Oh, and a huge great dane that was almost as big as the horse.

We start walking around the square and realize that for AJ to get any candy, we have to stand in line for FOREVER at each little booth. Then, when we get to the head of the line, they give us... wait for it... 2 little pieces of candy. What a rip off! So, we did that for a few booths and I took a couple of pictures. But, little kids kept running into me and parents were cutting in line in front of us. Not to mention that AJ dropped his candy bucket half a dozen times and so I kept having to bend down to pick up candy.

Everything meshed together and there it was - panic attack. So, we moved behind the booths and onto the sidewalk in front of the stores. I composed myself and we took a couple more pictures. Then, we left.

The conversation on the ride back to our house went like this:

Chris: "So, I guess this is why we don't do more in the community, huh?"

Akeem: " Yeah, I think so."


And, now, for the good stuff.


Da daa da daaaa!

Here they are, pics of AJ on Halloween. He was a lion this year. We bought the costume from Walmart (I know, bad mom, I didn't go all out with making a costume or buying a fancy one from a Halloween store, so shoot me), and we subsequently bagged it up, along with some other clothes that Akeem and I don't wear anymore, and took it off to Goodwill. It's practically brand-new, so the little boy or girl who gets it next year will be able to enjoy it just as much as AJ did.

Isn't Daddy scary?



He was just too cute, but I think by the time we made it to the sidewalk, he was ready to get the heck out of Dodge too. (So was Daddy, from the look on his face in that middle picture. **snicker**)