Santa Claus is coming to town...

Christmas 2008

This was such a fabulous Christmas.  It was SO RELAXING.  Once the kids woke up a bit after 7am we opened gifts.  John made out with was Star Wars toys, action figures, board games, clothes, etc.  Pretty much everything that he received was Star Wars related.  Adelynn received a few things but after her first present she was done.  She received clothes and a her first cell phone.  The rest of the day we lounged around trying to put a 1000 piece puzzle together, watching the Christmas Story, playing with our new toys, and took Beanie on a nice long walk.  Santa was good to all of us.  

Cookies and Milk for Santa

Gingerbread house constructed by Hampton Construction

Christmas 2008

Christmas morning 2008

Playing with the bad guys (his favorite guys).  Darth, Gen Grievous and Battle Droid.

Testing out Johns new Leapster.  He's playing Star Wars, Duh!

Addies first cell phone

The Battle

Christmas Breakfast.  Thanks Santa

Hampton Construction Inc.

Christmas Tree 2008

Life Lessons

Life Lessons

It is priceless watching as memories between a father and son are made.  Dan and I went to his annual Christmas party a few weeks ago.  Dan needed to polish his shoes and asked John to help.  Johns eyes lit up with excitement in anticipation of helping Dan polish his shoes.  It was so sweet watching my boys polish shoes together. 

  

Sorry Ms. Hampton

SORRY MS. HAMPTON

So I am going to apologize right now to Johns future bride. And you all are witnesses. It must be in the Hampton men DNA to be passionate about specific things. I am sorry for what I have allowed to happen. I swore that my son would never have a Hampton passionate gene. For Leon it is geneology. For Dan it is WWI and WWII propaganda and propaganda comic books. It is amazing the amount of time this man spends on the internet looking and drooling at books made out of crumbling paper. So when John started becoming interested in Star Wars and comic books I knew that there was no turning back for this little man. He loves reading and looking at anything related to Star Wars. He has had at least 3 books fall apart because he looked at them so much. He will sit and become a stone if he has something Star Wars or a comic book to read.

He also is like his father and loves comic books. This part I am taking, well putting, responsibility and blame on Dan. We allowed this to happen and for this I am truly sorry.
I am SO SORRY!!!! but know;

Never fight this force. You won't win. Trust me.

notice the box in the background...guess what's in them...
COMIC BOOKS.
and there are three more under that one

Again,
I am sorry

Deck the Halls

Deck the Halls

This year has been so much fun decorating and getting ready for Christmas. John has really been into the holiday spirit and Addie loves all the sparkly lights and glitter. Her favorite thing to look at on our tree is a Santa ornament that John made last year in preschool. John was Joseph in the church skit of 'The Birth of Jesus'. He was so sweet with the baby Jesus. Every time we pass a nativity he says " Oh look at the sweet baby Jesus. The angel Gabriel told Mary and Joseph that they were going to have baby Jesus."
Here are some pictures of us getting our tree and decorating it. We are not yet ready to spend $100 on a tree so we hit Lowe's for a beautiful tree for only $30. We still get the felling of searching all the trees until we find the perfect one. This year we broke our yearly tradition of getting a tree on the rainiest night of the season and went on a clear yet chilly night. No fighting or cursing under the breath. It was fabulous. I think we are going to make that our new tradition.



John and Adelynn riding on the lumber cart.
They not only rode on the cart but rolled all over the floor at Lowe's. They were filthy by the time we left.



The Perfect Tree
Dan found the perfect tree on the first test. No needles fell off and John got a new rope snake from it. Notice John's high waters. He has grown so much since the beginning of the school year. He was a good size 4 almost size 5 back in August now he is on the border of size 5 going into 6/7.




Decorating the tree




Decorating the Tree
John likes to put all his ornaments in one spot.




Putting the Star on the Tree.
This is John's favorite thing to do. Every 2 min. "daddy can we put the star on now?"... "daddy can we put the star on now?" The whole night until the star is on the tree. AAARRRGGGHHH





2008 Hampton Christmas tree

been a while

So it has been over a month and I am just now catching up with life. We had family in town for 2 weeks and then a week later went back to New Mexico for a week to visit some more. During the past month a lot has happened. We went up to Williamsburg, VA with my parents and had a lot of fun. Halloween was even more fun because of all the candy we received... i mean the kids received : ). John was Darth Vader and Adelynn was Princess Leia. But most importantly Adelynn turned 1 year old on Nov 6th : (

We keep telling her that she needs to stop getting bigger, but she isn't listening.
Here are some pics of the past months activities.

Williamsburg

mommy was thinking "hmmm...can i take this device home with me?"

Adelynn

John



Relaxing in a tree



Halloween

Darth Vader and Princess Leia



New Mexico Visit


Dan, John and Adelynn hanging out in Nana and Papa's backyard



Adelynn hanging out with Daddy and Papa



Adelynn's 1st birthday


Kitty Cat cupcakes


Birthday girl
Adelynn loved her birthday cupcakes. Red Velvet Kitty Cats



"oh, don't take my picture "

Post party clean up

Visit with Great Grandmas

Gogo, Adelynn and John
(Angie's moms mom)

GiGi, John and Adelynn
(Angie's dads mom)

Sweetest faces

Natural Light

What is it about natural light that casts the perfect light onto a child's face as they look out the window. These are my 2 most favorite pictures of the kids. Innocently looking out the window at some activity going on outside. To small to participate but old enough to teach me a hundred lessons of life in just a brief moment.

Adelynn 10 months

John 1 year

She's a climber

To Stand on her own two feet...

While we were playing on the floor this afternoon Adelynn decided that she needed the toys in the red box that was placed on a small table in the living room She climbed herself to a standing position.
It fun watching the wheels in her brain trying to figure out how this event was going to happen. She chose the placement of her feet and hands very carefully. Slowing inching herself up the table legs then Voila! she was standing. She was very graceful unlike her spastic brother who is unable to do anything without a sound effect or speed.
Moments like these make me proud to be a stay at home mom.

Can we slow it down a bit?

How is that one day your little one can hardly hold their head up alone and the next thing you know they are dropping them off at school in the carpool line, allowing them to walk into to class alone. Why does time go by so fast as you get older. Why can't time be like it was when we were children? Time would slowly pass from one birthday to the next and days seemed to last forever as the sun very slowly crept behind the mountains.
Can't that be the way with your children growing up? Can we hit slow motion allowing us to capture every moment and really let the experience settle into our memory so that we can recall every move they make?
I have been keeping a journal of the kids since the moment we found out we were pregnant with each of them. Every now and then I glance back through the years and just allow myself to live in that moment for a little while. That has been the best thing that I have done for myself as a mother. I think I drive Dan nuts with my speratic reading from the past years of John and Adelynn. He, on the computer, trying to keep up with the buckeyes or the latest must have comic book and me ranting on about "remember when..." I know he secretly loves it when I do that.
I makes me sad to think that in a blink of an eye we will be empty nesters and I will be wishing for John to leave a saucy trail on all the cabinets and light fixture in the bathroom after having pasta for lunch. Or Adelynn allowing the artist, within her, to come out while she has a poopy diaper... I will leave it at that : (
I will try to remember this blog the next time...

Funny Times

John and Addie make me smile a lot during
 the day with the silly things that they do. 

Bath Time
Bath time is one of the funnest parts of the day. It is very exhausting to get the job done but the kids have so much fun together in the tub. John makes Addie laugh the whole time.



Sour Candy
John begged for a piece of Atomic Sour Candy and we finally gave in. It was hilarious watching the faces and puckered lips. After the candy was gone he asked for another piece.



Bed Time
We let john read (look at books) for about 15 after prayers and this night he feel asleep with puzzle pieces stuck to his face and about 15 books in bed with him. I removed everything from his bed without him being bothered.



Car Time
Our car is the home to many of John's toys. He is very good about sharing his things with Adelynn. He had given her a princess book to read to calm her down because she was very sleepy and cranky...that didn't work. so he gave her his Batman to snuggle on. It worked. Within a few minutes she was out.



Play Time
If there is a bucket of toys it will get dumped, oh yes, it will get dumped. These two can play for hours with this small box of Adelynn's toys in the living room.

Star Wars

STAR WARS

John is obsessed with anything and everything Star Wars. Everything straight turns into a Light Saber. He quizes Dan and I all day long about Star Wars facts and trivia. He even sits at the computer studying photos of Star Wars characters.
He has read his 3 Star Wars books so much that we have taped them a few times and they are still falling apart page by page. He will be Darth Vader for Halloween and has decided that Adelynn will be pricess Leia, Dan Hans Solo and I am to be Jaba the Hutt. I am in protest.

Enjoying Life

Full of Love, Life and Laughter

Adelynn loves life to the fullest. She is such a happy little girl. Always full of joy and laughter, She is now 10 months. Were has this year gone?