Twas the days around Christmas

Here is Taylor inspecting the bags of leaves as if Santa was hiding inside. But only after he had drug his handy, dandy oversized leaf loader up and down the sidewalk.

One of the many new Christmas presents from Boo and Gan! Not that we needed another push toys--we now have 6!! But this construction truck is a new favorite!!

Mommy and Turner pose for a quick photo on Christmas Eve!

Turner and Taylor are fighting over the dump truck. ...one of many fights that have occurred since it's arrival.

Look! Santa left goodies on the boy's highchairs. Thankfully, he answered mommy's prayers and did not wrap gifts this year. Next year, maybe?

The talking snail was a huge hit to Taylor. Thank goodness because Turner claimed both monkey blankets as his own. (Funny story. Both boys have monkey blankets to sleep with. Turner had claimed both he and Taylor's. People, he LOVES his monkey blankets!!!! Santa brought two more in case Taylor ever got attached. Now, Turner thinks all four are his.)

Who sees the love in Turner's eyes over a monkey blanket????

The frantic Christmas day look...PRESENTS EVERYWHERE!!!! As you can see, the chairs were another Boo and Gan hit!!!

Motorized four wheelers...zoom-zoom, boys!!!

Through the house we go.......

The 3 Man Slade Band: Daddy plays the clarinet. Turner is the drummer and Taylor plays the flute!

Christmas Day Lunch at Nanny Dove's House with the Dove Clan is a must! See Nanny Dove, Turner thinks your orthopedic shoes are the best!!!

Rocking the day away seemed like a good idea. Until, they thought the rocker was the coolest push toy ever. CRASH!! A lamp and picture down and broken. Sorry, Nanny!! Since our 91 year old Nanny was born in her house, the lamp was an antique.

Anyone know where to get another antique lamp like the one on the table behind the rocker? Boo and Turner pose for a 1 second photo!

T and T had a blast going up and down, and up and down Nanny's stairs. This was after they had taken most of the bows off the presents, stole candy canes from the packages, poked each other with Nanny's fireplace equipment, stuck their finger in the appetizer, threw a brass candy dish at their Great Aunt, and ran up and down Nanny's back hallway. Whew! Know Nanny is glad that Christmas is just once a year!

My cousin Forrest posing with Turner as he shovels his lunch down. I can't blame him because Nanny is an amazing cook!!! Mac n cheese, oyster dressing, sweet potato souffles, green bean casserole, yummy green salad, tomato aspic...the list goes on and on!

And a special thanks to Kirk who made this highchair for Taylor. Kirk has worked for Nanny for years and is like part of the family! His older brother, Vincent, and his daddy also used to work for Nanny. He is her saving grace and watches over her as if she were his own mother. Thank you, Kirk!

The Kid's table before the other kids sat down. As you can see, the Slade boys liked the food!!!

Round 2 of lunch! No lie. After lunch was over, Taylor started grunting and pointing to the table at these Cooper Carrots that were on Nanny's dining room table. (Now, I have made carrots about a hundred times and he has shook his head "no" at me.) So, we fed him about a hundred Cooper Carrots. He gobbled them up as fast as we put them on his plate. Turner tried to come over to eat some (I am sure he was only interested because Taylor was eating them.) and Taylor slapped his hand and grunted at him. (Guess sharing does NOT include Nanny's Cooper Carrots?)

Turner posing with my cousin Coleman's girlfriend, Cecelia, and Forrest! Turner loved playing with Forrest. Wish she lived in Charleston!

Trying on their winter hats at dinnertime! I figured I better have them distracted!

Happy holidays, everyone! New Year cards will arrive from the Slade family by next Christmas, I promise!!!

" Night-night" (Nice rash, huh? Guess it was too many Cooper Carrots?)

" I am really going to sleep now...."

SATURDAY MORNING.....

And a special thanks to our great aunts and uncles for our new outdoor toys. The balls, bats, puzzles and books entertained us while mommy put the Christmas stuff away!

More christmas toys strung out over the house! Who knows how Santa fit that see-saw in the back of his sled?

The week before Christmas....

The week began with a celebratory luncheon for the teachers at the boy's school. Mommy came early to help set up and to watch the "baby room" so the teachers could eat together! Roper Learning Center teachers, we love you and thank you for all that you do for our babies!!!

Before I ventured to the infant room for my shift, I had to check on my babies....sleeping soundly! How sweet they were! Glad to know, even at school, they sleep near each other.

Now to the infant room....Mommy was put in charge of the babies. She was glad to help two men helpers who "don't feed and do diapers" (NICE) and another mommy helping her. Mommy took charge, managing the 10 babies and bossying the other parents around. "Here you feed James, I will change Jack. Here you feed Joshua and I will soothe Sylvie". Mother of multiples has it under control!!!

Taylor and Turner chilling in their cars.

Can you tell that they love their cars? It will be raining outside and they sit inside the house in their cars and grunt.

Diapers.com....YOU RULE! The boxes are perfect for the boys to play in. This time, Mr. Tweety was invited in to play.

Pajama day at school...." Yep, we are ready!"

Posing with Mrs. Lori in front of the Christmas tree on PJ Day!

Our little man, Turner, can now go up and down the steps by himself.

Taylor loves riding the see saw with or without his brother!

Slade boys hogging the see saw. Maybe santa will bring them a see saw for home!!!

Mass chaos!!! Mommy had to work late + raining all day + high tide. Major flooding downtown. The driveway to the school was under water, so mommy drove down the street on the sidewalk. No problem. Problem was trying to get from downtown to Mt. P. TWO hours later and near flooding with Benz stalled on Calhoun St., we made it. I was praying the whole time!!!!

See the high water. Knew daddy would not believe me, so pictures were taken. What I did not take a picture of was the water wave as it went over the BENZ hood emblem as I drove down Calhoun street.

" Thank goodness I am home...I am starving!"

" I am too tired to eat!!!!"

" I will take brother's stuff! I love it!!!"

Rain, rain, go away!!

Another cold and rainy weekend kept us indoors. Here are the boys munching on their breakfast as the dogs enjoy the leftovers!

Turner chilling in his rain gear.

Taylor loving on Gan while we enjoy lunch for Aunt Caroline's birthday! Happy, happy birthday Aunt Caroline!!!

Looks like Turner is up to no good, but no worries, it is the hose to his fireman Halloween costume!

Turn, Tay, Guinnie, Georgia and Jackson hanging in the truck between rain storms!

Whoa, how time flies....

WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN!!!

This weekend was another fun one. Daddy and mommy went to a neighbor's holiday party and had our neighbor, Sterling, sit at our house while the boys slept. It was her first night babysitting and she did great! We met our friends Christy and Mike there, who had their baby monitors attached to Mike's pants, so automatically felt better about having a 6th grader listen out for our boys while they slept. They were asleep, we were just across the street, and we were suppose to be only gone an hour...whoops, mommy and christy started drinking the red wine and well, poor Sterling!!!

Taylor "reads" himself a bedtime story.

Turner is too busy "honking the horn", "unlocking the doors" and "turning on the police siren" to read!

Radio Cruisers through the dining room.....FUN, FUN, FUN!!

Traffic Jam...

Kings of the Slade household! Daddy swore he got these from a teacher friend, but mommy is suspicious since they appeared after daddy's "run to Walmart". UH-huh, sure, daddy! Nevertheless, the boys loved them and enjoyed taking them off each other's heads.

Go Falcons...Today was a sad day in NFL football for the Falcons. Really sad showing. So sad that daddy didn't even watch the game after first quarter. Though the Falcons cups are still a hit. Thanks to mommy's friend, Penny, who got them for us. When Turner saw that Taylor was drinking his water from a Falcons cup, he went over to the cabinet where their cups are kept , pointed and grunted. Not much talking yet, but they can sure make their needs known with those grunts!

Winter wonderland....Family photo in the back of daddy's truck! I was shaking a box of dog biscuits to get everyone's attention. You can see the pointing and grunting from Turner. It was so cold today that our activities outside were limited without bundling the poor boy's up. They looked like Friar Monk from Robin Hood.

More grunting and pointing.....

Taylor loves to blow bubbles with his drinks.....love those boys and their funny traits!

Santa Claus is coming to town...We took the boys to Breakfast with Santa at Roper. What fun it was to see everyone and to introduce Santa to the boys. Frankly, they were more interested in running around, grabbing cords, climbing up the auditorium stairs and just being the wild boys that they are!! Sitting on Santa's lap would have been fine, but Taylor had a meltdown right before it was our turn in line because he was trying to pull the ornaments off the tree. I picked up him up and moved him from the tree after "no touch tree" did not work...The wailing started and got louder. Plan B. Ben and I with the boys...Poor Santa (my friend Ron). The photographer actually managed to get a good photo of the 4 of us with Santa, which I will try to post somehow.

Home Photo Shoot: Ok, I need some help. Which photo should I use for our holiday card? PLEASE email your votes to lizdoveslade@yahoo.com ASAP, as I can procrastinate no longer to get cards our by Christmas. I keep trying to get these two mobile busy bees to pose for a photo and these are the best I think I will get.

PHOTO A: Taking Over the Mini Trees!

PHOTO B: Chilling....

PHOTO C: " The reindeers are back!"