A Man of Many Glasses

You've probably seen a few pictures on the past 2 blogs of Jack's new glasses. I figured it couldn't go without mentioning. After discovering that Jack learned to 'cheat' with the old pair by looking over the top of them, we thought it best to get something a little more durable and cheat-proof. Hence the new, sporty, goofy orange glasses. I must say that they do work pretty well though. They're very superhero chic.



We're taking a poll. Who does Jack most resemble in his new glasses?


Arthur the aardvark?  Smart, wise, good role model cartoon for kids....Not bad.
The late Cubs announcer, Harry Caray?  Take me out to the ballgame, anyone?
None other than Clark Kent..
Ralphie from "A Christmas Story"....
or Harry Potter.  

Maybe he'll take a little something from them all and be an incognito super hero who announces sports by day, casts magic spells by night, hangs out with his animal friends while sporting his Red Ryder BB gun.  

Feliz Navidad!

We had a great Christmas this year! Jack was really into the whole Christmas scene: the gifts, the fact that it was Jesus' birthday, Santa, reindeer, etc. He loved it, and we loved watching him love it. I'm not generally a gift snooper because I love surprises, but I almost wanted to peek to see what Jack was getting from folks so that I could be ready to see his face when he opened it. We also experienced a Christmas miracle. Jack received only one spanking the entire day. With all of the opportunity to be selfish, tired, cranky, and whiny, he actually did pretty well! Finn, as usual, slept, ate, and stared at things.

On Christmas Eve, we went to our church's Christmas service at 6. It was nice to go at night like we usually did at home. I wish I could say we came home to a yummy home cooked meal, but I'd be lying. Instead we came home and busted out the frozen pizzas. So much for starting our own fun traditions that we want to recreate each year. I was so preoccupied with actual Christmas Day, Santa excitement and my usual insanities, that I totally dropped the ball on Christmas Eve dinner. Sorry John. Jack, you're welcome. I know what a pizza fool you are.

One tradition that I attempted to start this year was the opening of Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve. When sharing what I thought was a novel idea to some of my friends, I learned that this must be pretty commonplace in terms of Christmas traditions. We don't mind copying! We'll see if the trend continues next year. Jack wasn't sure what to think about having footed pajamas. He's usually a barefoot kind of guy.


On Christmas morning we woke up to a dining room turned nothing room full of toys! Santa had apparently decided to ignore the most recent tantrums and came to our home anyway! Jack got so many cool new toys. He loved his remote control Jeep and mini Dirt Devil most of all. He's definitely a mix of his father and mother: half Jeep guy, half neat-freak.



Since we were flying it solo this year for Christmas, we decided to invite some of our friends over who were doing the same. Christmas night we hosted a Feliz Navidad party, complete with Mexican food and a pinata. Here's JP Reed getting into the Navidad spirit!

Jack, Shelby, Gracen and Ian enjoyed the toys while the adults enjoyed the food and conversation. It was quite the scene with a toy drum, xylophone and acordian all playing at once. All of the dads were about to lose their minds, but you could see the moms were used to it. Ah, the sounds of INSANITY!!!

And now...the PINATA!!!

The children loved pushing it around and hitting at it.  Here Gracen is taking a swing.  They all managed to escape without any injury.  Once they caught wind that there was a load of candy in that thing, they went nutty.

Shelby attacking the pinata donkey with her left handed swing.  

Jack going postal on the pinata....
And here's Pratt finally having enough and ripping the thing to shreds.


Pratt won the "I demolished the pinata with multiple wrestling moves" award. Shelby keeps telling everyone how her Daddy 'broke the bunny'. SO funny. We're still picking up candy in the yard.

Not your most traditional Christmas, but fun and merry nonetheless.  John, Jack, Finley and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and blessed New Year!

Merry Christmas

Christmas with the Grandparents (and Aunts and Uncles)

Since we've decided to stay in Bluffton for Christmas this year, my parents graciously came to Bluffton to celebrate with us a little early. We had so much fun hanging out with them. Of all the activities, Jack would probably say that opening the presents was his favorite. He loved it. He was so preoccupied with the gifts that he left his glasses on the whole time...AND managed to keep on his UNC Santa hat. This is a small Christmas miracle for us because Jack has never worn a hat for more than 5 seconds. We don't know cried harder when they left: Mimi or Jack.



After my parents left this morning, we headed straight to John's parents for our Christmas gift exchange. They'll be spending Christmas in Puerto Rico this year! We had another great day! Jack was again excited about the presents, and he got to try some yummy hot chocolate (chockit) which he loved. It was so nice having everyone together.






Cutie Finn!

Jack's Debut

The CBS children's Christmas program was this past Wednesday. While the other children sang, or at least stood there, Jack did this. He fell onto the floor and started screaming. Maybe it's because he was overwhelmed with an entire room full of people watching, or maybe it was the loud music. Either way, we're convinced that he doesn't have a bright future in theater. And that's okay. Or maybe he does have some sort of dramatic streak in him, and since he couldn't sing all the words to the song, he thought the best way to get everyone's attention was to throw a tantum. It worked. It wasn't the adorable, tear-inducing production we hoped it would be, but he was 100% Jack, and we loved it.





Jack did redeem himself by making quite the fabulous gingerbread house the other day. He enjoyed putting the M and Ms onto the house and then eating one to reward himself. I wish there was a finished product to show you, but about 5 minutes after this picture was taken I broke the roof in half. Oops. Jack didn't seem to mind. He calmly said "Oh no. Gingeebwed bwokeen. Eat?" ...meaning 'Oh well...let's make the most of this and eat this junk.'

Our friend Leslie threw a Happy Birthday Jesus party on Friday. It was so much fun. The kids wore these hats and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then ate cookie cake. There were crafts and treat bags....so much fun and such a creative way to instill in our children what this holiday is about. Jack loves talking about 'Baby Jeethuth". As you can see, Finley just chilled in his party hat once we got home. Jack wore his on Saturday morning while eating his happy cakes (pancakes) and dip it (syrup).



Yesterday John had to work, so it was just another day for the boys and me. John read in the paper that Palmetto Bluff was having a Christmas festival of sorts. There were food booths, crafts, and cookie stations, and at noon, Santa would come. My first thought, which I'm assuming is my 'mother's intuition', said, 'No way. Not without help.' But I didn't listen. We get to Palmetto Bluff, walk 10 minutes to the Santa line, which is wonderfully short, and it starts to RAIN! Fortunately we were standing under a beautiful live oak which reduced what hit us to a drizzle at worst. Santa finally arrived at 12:20, and the boys were able to sit on his lap within a few minutes. It was chaos. But as I was running back to the car, pushing the stroller in the rain with one hand, singing Jingle Bells to keep Jack content, and holding their Santa polaroid picture upside down to keep it from ruining, I felt oddly happy that we had gone forth with the plan. We were wet, but we were happy.

We got home to realize that Jack's glasses were missing a right lens. We did find it in the car, and the nice optician we met a few weeks ago came in the shop on his day off to fix them! That's the Christmas spirit, huh?

We'll be posting more picture soon. Hopefully we'll all be bundled up. There's a cool front coming here! It's been in the 80s this week. Weird being at the playground in shorts hearing "White Christmas" play over the radio.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas season!

New Rims & Chapel Thrill

Tah-Dah! So Jack has glasses. Whew....what a crazy past few days it has been. Turns out, he's farsighted, which means he can see far away, but not up close. AND...because of the poor vision, his eye muscles are struggling to keep his eyes straight. The glasses are to help the wandering eyes, which may eventually correct his vision. We found this out when we noticed in pictures that the red eye was picking up on one eye but not the other. How bizarre!!! But isn't he so cute? He looks like the kiddo from Jerry McGuire. Only ridiculously cuter.

The saddest part of it all was when he walked up to our Christmas tree and exclaimed, "I see lights!" I think before they must have been a big blur up close. I guess he's never really known any different though.

This picture is more for the ketchup face than the glasses. So far he's done a great job keeping the glasses on...even while ketchup face-painting! And we were pleased to see that the red eye picked up in both eyes. As far as we can tell, the glasses are helping. He will walk around the house looking over the top of them, though, when he's looking far away. I guess he figures he can see that far, so why use them? We'll keep you updated on the vision progress.


This past weekend John, the boys and I headed up to North Carolina for the Kincaid/Gardner/Williams/Ussery Angus Barn Trip. The Angus Barn is a great restaurant, known for it's beef (as you probably guessed with the name Angus in it) and it's very down home barn theme. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone, and the food was umm umm good! It goes without saying that I took few pictures and the ones I did take were terrible. I am in a photography crisis here. There's something wrong with me if I am taking pictures of crazy people at local parades but missing out on family pictures. Whenever you see me missing a great photo opportunity, please slap me. And then tell me to take a picture. My mom's great about taking pictures of everyone, so hopefully she'll send me some of hers.

Anyhoo...

Before the dinner, we went to our old stompin' grounds at UNC. It. Was. FABULOUS! We didn't do anything particularly incredible, but just being there put us in such great moods. I couldn't count the number of times one of us said, "I miss this" or "I love this place" or "When I die, cremate me and throw my ashes on the Dean Dome" We love UNC. I love everything about it: the trees, the sports, the books, and the general aura of awesomeness. Getting back to campus was a nice break from the UGA, USC and Clemson overload we get living here. While I appreciate sharing in their fanhood and excitement, it just doesn't feel the same. Because it's not the same. Another reason why I'm excited about basketball season.

We did happen upon the Chapel Hill Christmas Parade while we were there. Jackie met up with us, and the boys had a great time with her. There were definitely more floats than in the Bluffton Parade, but still enough random things to note. I do respect how the town embraces the university and likes to paint everything Carolina blue. Check it out:


Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas season!!!

The Bluffton Christmas Parade

Apogies abound to all of the MILLIONS of you out there who anticipate an Ussery blog on a daily basis. I know...it's been a while, but only because we've been busy doing lots of fun and exciting things. All of which will appear on here soon, but for tonight (after a 6 hour trip with the boys) I'm pooped and will leave you with the "Tale of the Bluffton Christmas Parade".

Here's the summary: The parade was a freak show.

According to Bluffton, nothing says Merry Christmas like...(watch the slideshow)



What ever happened to Christmas floats? You know, the kind with fake, glittery grass hanging from the back with lifesize candy canes and other Christmas themed things decorating it? Apparently all it takes to make it into a parade these days is something that moves, whether it has wheels or legs, with some sort of Christmas adornment on it such as a wreath. And even that is optional. I just don't get it.

So really, the parade was fun. We just had a great time taking pictures of the randomness of it all. Between all of the bizarre additions to the Bluffton Christmas parade were the usual cute, little kids playing handbells and the line up of classic cars with the drivers wearing Santa hats. Jack learned quickly that if he waved and said Merry Christmas to everyone that he'd get candy. After all the dum dum lollipops he ate, I'm surprised his teeth didn't rot out of his head before we made it back to the car.

Here are our sugar stoked bystanders:


Pavin Denton and Finn in the middle of one fine milk coma...

Gracen and Jack before the dum dums....

After the dum dums....

The Elferys

Check this out! It's a jump start to get you in the Christmas Spirit!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1112459415

(You'll have to copy and paste this into web address bar:)

8 hours

Finley wins the Finntastic award because he has slept through the night for the past 3 nights...and because his name fits well into the made up word. Just thought the celebration was blog-worthy. Here's to night numero quatro (fingers crossed)!!!!!

Giving Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving Day here in the Ussery household. We spent the day hanging around the house watching football and the Macy's parade. I thought Jack would get more into it, but he kept begging to watch "choo choo train" which means the Polar Express to him. My parents came in town for the holiday, which was great. We all ate lunch/dinner (linner or dunch, perhaps?) with John's parents, Jackie, Jeff and Grandma Catherine. The food was great...company was even better. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!


Jack, circa 2005, in "My Little Turkey" outfit propped up against Fall colored pillow.

Finn, circa 2 days ago, in "My Little Turkey" outfit propped up against Fall colored pillow.

Jack thought it would be helpful to stir the pecan pie ingredients. He would run into the kitchen saying "Mimi and Mommy cook!" Since watching Ratatouille, he's been saying cook and kitchen. And Ratatouille, which he says very clearly. It's funny.

Despite being the recipient of his brother's cold, Finley has been all smiles this past weekend. He continues to be such a happy little guy. He smiles all the time!!! Right now he'll smile and then start coughing up a lung, which makes me want to cry. But he's okay.

Besides smiling, Finn is into standing these days. He's so strong. 13lb 5 oz and 24 inches long last week at the doctor's office! He's huge. I thought Jack was big, but Finn is almost 2 pounds heavier and almost and inch longer than Jack was at 2 months of age. Maybe Finn will be our little linebacker.

If tantrums could kill, we would have been dead yesterday afternoon. This is how Jack woke up from his nap...in his usual fit of rage. I just don't get it. We put him down a happy little boy, duckie in tow, and he wakes up a sweaty ball of fury, hair disheveled, clammy skin and a mouthful of screams.

But after a few moments with Dad, he's all cute and cuddly again.

Apparently Jack didn't want Mimi and Poppy to leave today. Or either he wanted to go with him. John tried coaxing him out at first but eventually had to pull him out of their trunk!

Here's Mimi giving Finn a goodbye kiss.

ROAD TRIP!!!

Sorry it's been a while since the last post. There has been a good reason. We headed up to Greensboro last week to see my family. John took a work/vacation trip to Las Vegas where he risked his life rock climbing for the first 2 days and then attended the National Realtors' Convention for the remainder of the time. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures to share from his climbing experience, but he'll be willing to tell you about it if you're interested.

While in G'boro, Jack, Finn and I made the rounds to see a lot of our family members which was great. Jack knew everyone by name before we left. The best pronounciations have to be "Teem and Kaptee" for Tim and Kathy. "Melissa" is hardly recognizable, but funny to hear his attempt.

Here's a look at what we were up to:


Here's Anna and Owen, my first cousins, hanging out with their 2nd cousins. Anna did an incredible job feeding Finley and then reluctantly passed him off to her brother, Owen. Jack had so much fun playing with their toys and being around them. I'm sure he'd love to be with them more often! Jack also was able to see his other cousin, Adam, who was so good playing with Jack! I did get a picture, but it was only the top of his head that you could see. I'm the worst picture taker.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Melissa (and doggy cousin, Fergie in the background) took care of Jack while I attended a baby shower for one of my college roomies (Erin) in Chapel Hill. Jack had a blast as I'm sure they did. It was fun to see my girlfriends from Chapel Hill! I also got a picture of that, but I didn't want to post any pregnant pictures without permission (although the picture is adorable and is very blog worthy).

Although we missed the familiarity of our own beds and toys, we did take advantage of what all Greensboro has to offer for children. Here is Jack at the Natural Science Center petting zoo. He loved the goats probably more than anything...even more than the tigers. Don't worry, they're not part of the petting part. He called the goats doggies for a while. He even laid his head on one of the goats like he does his own dog, Scout.

Great picture of Jack and John walking through the petting zoo. Look at the leaves!!!! Jack loved the trees and all of the leaves on the ground. One day we were riding in the car and Jack says, "Mommy! Trees are orange!"

Apparently the slides in Greensboro carry as much static electricity in them as the slides in Bluffton. This was taken at Country Park, where I got my first and only bee sting as a child.

Mommy and Finn in the swing at Country Park.

Jack loved the Children's Museum as well. I guess he missed home a little, too, when he decided to play in the sand over all of the other toys and displays that were offered! He enjoyed the transportation set up the best: an airplane with a slide that came out of the cockpit, a real police car, race car, fire engine, and toy train set. He's into that kind of stuff.

Hopefully he wouldn't approach a real train in this fashion.
Of all the kiddy things we did, I think this was Jack's favorite: BounceU! It's an indoor playground with bounce houses everywhere. He was one of the smaller children there that day, but he managed to hang with the big kids. He loved climbing up this incline and sliding down the other side. John was very proud to see his boy climbing!

And here's the Finn man. This was at Jump n' Fun, another variation of an indoor playground. Jack again enjoyed it. Finley and I sat on the floor playing and trying to eavesdrop on a nearby collection of playgroup mothers who were not too friendly.
They all had their daytimers out planning the next playgroup, which was titled "Christmas Craft and Play". Funny.

So, thank you, Mimi and Poppy for hosting us last week! And thanks to Gammy, Pa, Mema, and Deda for entertaining us at your homes! We had a great time and look forward to coming back soon! We love you!!!

Hope all the readers out there are doing well.