Family Fun

This past week has flown by! From doctor's appointments to quick visits from family to hanging out with our group of 4...it's been fun. And good.

I'm trying to do a better job about reading to Finn. Jack, being the first, had every book read to him twice a day it seemed. Now that there are two of them, one of me, and the firstborn happens to be a psychopath half of the time, the Finn reading time has been cut to an unfortunate minimum. This picture was taken after finishing a few books with Finley. Jack came in for part of the action. You can tell it's time for bed because this is the only time during the day that Jack doesn't wear his glasses.

Jack is showing me his car, Ramone. No, he didn't come up with that name on his own. It's one of the characters from the Disney movie "Cars". It's his current favorite, and we're not sure why. Jack will be playing with his toys, eating cereal, coloring, whatever...and suddenly will start wailing, "WHERE'S WAMONE?!?!?!" Even after finding Ramone, he won't actually play with him. He just wants him nearby like a little car compadre.

Finndorable had his 4 month check up on Monday. He's growing well and is a healthy little guy. He measured 15 pounds 12 ounces and 24 and 3/4 inches long! I was so pleased that he wasn't in the 'huge' category. Not that I would love him less or more, but IF this is our last baby, I'd enjoy him being small a little longer than Jack was. Finn managed the shots like a champ. Jack was the one who seemed bothered by them. The coat Finn is wearing is a new purchase from Sweet Beginnings. I had the 'new purchase haste' set in after bringing it home. Despite the coat being 18-24month size, I let it swallow my 4 month old for the chilly morning run to the doctor.

We were running out of things to entertain Jack the other night so John whipped out the trusty nasal wash and gave it a test run in front of Jack. Actually, John has been suffering from a sinus cold/infection-ish illness for over a week now and his mom graciously brought this nostril power washer to the house for him to try. John was leaning over the sink complaining that he had rinsed part of his brain out, and Jack was standing by laughing. He thought it was hilarious.

While John was sinus rinsing, Finley was getting loved on by his Gigi and Papa. Notice the nice drool necklace he created on his shirt. Ah...the days of teething have begun!

After John could breathe again, he and his Dad gave some attention to Jack. Jack has been requesting that we hold him recently by saying, "Hold you! Hold you!" all the time. Who can resist?

My uncle and brother came by this Wednesday for a quick business trip and were able to stop in and say hi. Jack managed to take a few seconds break from The Incredibles to interact with them, but Finn was up for some play time. It was good to see them both.

John cleaned out our garage and organized it last weekend, which was great for many reasons...but one main reason is that we found a lot of things we had been looking for. The exersaucer was one of those things. Finn is enjoying his 'new' toy, but gets frustrated once his arms fall to the side and get pinned into the seat. Then, he freaks! But it is nice to have just one more thing to entertain his growing brain. Jack likes to show him the parts around the edge. When Finn copies his brother's instructions, Jack will say, "Good job, Finn!"

After the nasal washing, John thought this week couldn't get worse. He was wrong. He learned it could get worse AND that wool is not to be dried. I was in our closet the other night and heard John at the door saying pitifully, "Oh no...". I turned to see him holding up his favorite sweater, now just a few sizes too big for Jack. Fortunately, I was not the one who did that load of laundry.

It's been cold and rainy here for the past few days. We had a playgroup with our small group babies yesterday to keep the cabin fever kiddos happy and the mommies happy, too. Jack and Gracen had fun playing and eating grapes on their new trays.

Hope all of you are doing well!!!

***Please continue to keep my uncle, Tim, in your prayers. (This is not the uncle Tim pictured above, but another uncle, Tim). His cancer has been identified as squamous cell carcinoma. He'll begin radiation treatments soon and chemotherapy at a later time. Pray that the treatments are effective, that he doesn't experience the pain that is predicted, and for peace and comfort for his family!!!! Thank you!

4 Months of Smiles

At 3:41am this morning, Finn turned four months old. I can and can't believe it. I can believe that I've made that many months worth of bottles. I can't believe that we're already past the sleepless nights phase and that he's such a great baby. Happy 1/3 year birthday, Finnster!

This was the look I got when singing to Finn the other night. He already thinks I'm crazy. You can just see his little brain thinking, "Geez, MOM! Not another picture." Maybe this is just a prep face for the middle school years when being seen with your parents is worse than electrocution.

Gigi and Papa stopped by the other night to say hi to the boys. Finley loves Gigi. She gets a lot of his big smiles.

And this is just one of those pictures that makes me smile. Even though I'm the one who dressed him and put this UNC pacifier in his mouth, I can tell that Finn feels awesome today because of his Tarheel paraphernalia. He was birthed from my womb afterall. We're hoping for a better performance against the Wolfpack today than we saw against Clemson last Sunday.

Some other things that make us smile:
1. Jack's continuing affection for "Baby Duckie" and "Big Duckie". He still has to sleep with both of them. This is Jack this morning with Big Duckie. Baby Duckie was "takin' nap" which means that Jack left him in the bed. Funny.
2. Trying to get a picture of Jack winking, but instead getting a picture of him trying to turn on the television. If there was audio to this picture you would have heard him say, "Heelth" because he wanted to watch the Tarheels play. He had a hard time grasping the concept of "No, baby. They play at noon." What's noon?

3. Jack working his puzzle this morning and purposely putting the pieces in the incorrect spot. He'd look at me and say "wrong!". Then he'd put the pieces in the correct spot and say, "RIGHT!!! YAY!!!"

4. Finn sleeping 11 hours at night!!!

5. Running on Pinckney Island yesterday with John and the boys. The running part doesn't make me smile, but the fact that John ran at my tortoise pace and pushed the jogging stroller does. Thank you, babe!!!

6. The fact that Jack cannot pronounce "truck" without saying the mother of all curse words, but that he can say Tyler Hansbrough pretty clearly.

7. The other night after a quick search for a quiet Jack, we found him in his room, sitting down with his UNC Basketball poster talking to the players' pictures. Sometimes he'll just carry the poster around with him.

8. The infamous Finn Grin.

9. John commenting that my cooking was good this week. I am proud to say that we ate in every night this week and had decent food for once. I even attempted crab cakes, which reached my goal of not making anyone sick.

10. The eye doctor telling us yesterday that Jack does not need surgery at this time! He'll probably wear the glasses until age 5-6 and then hopefully we'll be able to wean him from needing them.

11. The fact that my wonderful husband works his tail off so I can stay at home with the boys and be here to see them as they do these funny things.

12. Jack batting his eyes at us when asking for something that he wants that he know we will not give him without some sort of accomplishment (i.e. lollipops and 'big cookies' which are Nutrigrain Bars). And, no, batting the eyes does not count as an accomplishment.

13. Knowing that everyone who reads this will pray for my uncle, Tim, who was diagnosed with cancer yesterday. Please pray that God would heal him completely from this, that he'd remain positive and that the Lord will protect his wife, Lisa, and son, Adam. THANK YOU!!!!!

Big Small Group

When John and I started going to our church just 4 short years ago, we joined a small group. At the time, there were 3 couples in the small group. Others came and went. Some stuck to it. But over the past 2 years, we've picked up 3 other couples and have had 6 children between us all. It's been so fun to watch the group grow.

Here's Finnderful with his buddy, Pavin (Gracen's baby brother). Pavin is almost 2 months younger than Finn, but Pavin is longer! He's such a cute, big baby!!! I have a feeling they'll be good buddies. They seem to be a little calmer than their older siblings. For now.

Jack is trying to ignore the twirling that is going on behind him here. We were at a Small Group party on Sunday, and these two were going insane. I asked Gracen to strike a pose, and this is what I got. Jack chewed his fingers.

This is Anna sleeping on her mama, Jenny. If I had a picture of her daddy, Brian, you'd see how much she looks like him. Anna is 7 months old.


This is the baby gang at the playground on Monday. Starting at the far left and going clockwise, we have Anna, Pavin, Camden (1 year) and Finn rolling over. Gracen and Jack were elsewhere terrorizing the place.

They did stop the terror for this cute picture, though.

Jack has his pants rolled pedal-pusher style because he went for a good puddle stomp in the wet play area. Who would have known it was January! We could have gotten in the pool.

This is our form of child abuse: Forcing your child to stay up until 10:20 to finish watching a basketball game. Well, it's not as much forcing him to stay up as it was neither of us being willing to take a second away from the UNC/Clemson game. Jack was pretty attentive for most of the game, yelling "GO HEELS!" at everything. But once the overtime kicked in, he grabbed his ducks from his bed and fell into this position between the sofa and ottoman. We took the hint. I was pretty excited about his enthusiastic cheering for the Tarheels, but after hearing him yell "GO HEELS!" during the LSU/Ohio State game, I realized he doesn't quite get it yet.

Frigid

It is COLD here in Bluffton! This morning we woke up to a driveway and windshield full of of ice. Jack and Finn even had to wear their hats on the way to our weekly trip to Target. Jack loved his so much that he wore it around the store and announced to everyone that he was wearing a hat AND glasses. He continues to be such a little socialite when in public. He says to everyone, "Hi! I've got glasses!" As if they couldn't see them.


Here's proof that winter has made it to the lowcountry. I know...our versions of icicles are pretty pitiful, but I think they're the first I've seen after living here for 4 years. That has to count for something. The script is too small in the picture above the the arrow is pointing to the "Bluffton Icicles".

This is Finndorable doing his Tummy Time. For those of you unfamiliar with the phrase, it's what parents are guilted into doing to their screaming child 30 minutes a day for them to strengthen their back, arm, neck and all other upper body muscles. Finn's getting pretty good at it. Although, he is a fan of the side-roll/hand-in-mouth move. I figure our days of Tummy Time are numbered. He'll be rolling over more and more and have nothing to do with it soon.

Last night I found this hat to wear on my date with Mr. Jump Rope. My friend, Jen, and I battled the arctic temperatures and braved a fierce workout in the driveway. Jack found the unfamiliar cold weather gear to be quite entertaining as you can see. John said he looked like MushMouth from Fat Albert, and I'd say that's a good call. If times are too tough this year to purchase a Halloween costume, I think we might pull this South of the Border sweatshirt, orange pants and hat out of the closet for a nice hobo ensemble. Thanks to Jackie for the contribution of the sweatshirt. It's one of our favorites.

This is the milk-in-cheek face that Jack does when he's drinking. It's been the start of many battles with him because sometimes the next step is letting the milk fall onto the floor, his face and anything else in his path. Fortunately, this time, he swallowed.

HNY in ATL

We had a very Happy New Year by celebrating in Atlanta with our friends Phillip, Shannon, Carter, Jason, Lauren, Gary and Kathryn.  This is a picture of Carter and Jack:  new best buddies.  They had a great time playing together.  Carter is such a good little boy, and he's so smart!  We're still in search for a toddler whisperer for Jack because of his incredible high energy level.  In case you're wondering, that's code for insanity.  :)

Our weekend was very relaxing.  The girls went to see P.S I Love You, which was really good.  The guys took a day for fishing and paintballing, and we all convened for New Year's Eve for a nice dinner, some games and a viewing of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.  We all felt so sorry for him!  But then we felt sorry for ourselves having decided to stay up for midnight.  That's not something we EVER do now that we're parents.  

Happy New Years!  Here's to a year full of God's blessings in 2008!!!

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....