Look at me! Look at me!!

Hey Mommy's friends! It's Bubba and I am 11 months old today! Can you believe it? My mommy can't and has already warned daddy that January will be a pretty sappy month for her. She is trying to start weaning me...but I sure don't think it's a good idea. We will see if she gives in! :)
I can do so many big boy things now! To get around, I use to get on all 4's, fall to my stomach, and then sit up while pivoting. It was a lot of work, but I usually got what I wanted. But, in the last couple of days, do you know what I started to do??


No, not lay in the floor and kick my feet. I am a good boy and don't do that yet!


If you guessed crawl, then you are right!


One of my first destinations was the kitchen!


There is so much to see in there! Like the electrical outlets and vents. I can't wait to stick things in them!


I also found the blinds! I think I will be able to pull them down soon!


All of this exploration really wore me out, so I had to take a break!


Then, I flashed mommy this smile! I know she is a sucker for it and I can melt her heart. I have also found that she will tell me "NO!" a lot...I just kind of ignore it because surely she doesn't mean it. Although, sometimes she must because she will swat my hand and that hurts my feelings so bad! I don't want her to be mad at me, so I stop what I am doing and crawl over for her to hold me. That makes everything all better!


And do you know that we have stairs in our house? There is a gate on them, but I will try to figure that out on another day.


Mommy just said NO! again, but I don't think she was talking to me! I just can't stay away from the stairs!


I can do many other things too, like waive. I stick my arm out and open and close my hand. Everyone thinks that is so great! But, if you want me to waive while I have my thumb in my mouth, I will only open and close my fingers. I won't take my thumb out for no one!


Here I am looking at the "uh-buh" that is the motion detector in the corner of the room. I like for the red light to come on. I know that if I stick my arm in the air like daddy does, then the light will come on for me. Actually, "uh-buh" is universal for all lights. I can say other things too, like da-da, ma-ma (especially when it is time to nurse), sis-sis, buh-buh, and hi.
Well, I must go get into more things. I am going to make sure 2009 is a very busy year for mommy!

Oh, mommy wanted me to tell you that all of these good pictures were taken with her new Nikon SLR and that is why we don't look like ghosts in our close ups anymore. Thank you Mimae and Papa!
And, she forgot to tell you that all of the things detailed in this post happened on Christmas. The bag swapping was done more by my aunt and uncle, but Mimae had the exact conversation in #1 with Papa...they couldn't find my great-grandmother's toaster oven. Looks like large kitchen electronics seems to be the easiest things to misplace.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy Birthday WB!

Today was The Worker Bee's birthday! We love him so much!!

Christmas...way too much to tell!

So, I'll just show the highlights...beware of lotsa pictures. :)

Sissy with her Christmas dress on...there is no pic of the 2 of them together where they are both cooperating...see Bubba in the background?

My little sweet man!

Christmas with the Honeas Each grandchild gets a peddle tractor for their first Christmas, so this year was Bubba's turn. Sissy wanted to ride it but Bubba didn't want to get off. So, she came up with this and was peddling it for him. Pretty smart.
All of the Honea kids (and WB) Sissy and the twins are 10 days apart in age. This is the best we could do with 4 under 2 1/2. (Well, 5 if you count WB)
Setting out cookies for Santa and Rudolph.
Christmas morning. All Sissy wanted was "twains, whack (track), and a mailbox." We thought we would get her what she asked Santa for this year since it was her first year to understand. I guess we will teach her the 'you don't always get what you ask for' lesson next Christmas.
The infamous mailbox that she LOVES!!
Bubba with his Noah's Ark.
Bubba likes the trains too. Especially when Thomas goes by him so he can grab him!
Momma and Daddy on Christmas Day!
My Papaw always got each child boots for Christmas...since this was our first year without him, Mimae and Papa are carrying on this tradition in his memory. It sure was different without him.

Sissy with her boots
Bubba with his.

Jay picked out this Bambi for Bubba...He LOVES it!
Sissy playing with Jay's blow gun. I wouldn't be surprised if she asks for one next year!
The Super Jay and Super Coco shirts I made for Jay and Coley. Not too bad.

Last of the pre-Christmas festivities and a picnic

I love traditions...be it birthday, Christmas, or whatever the occassion...I think making traditions is part of having your own family. WB and I have a few little traditions between ourselves, but since we've had our babies, we have felt the need to step it up more.
One thing I always do is make the kid's hand and foot prints into reindeer. The top one is Bubba's this year. The bottom 3 are Sissy's in order from 1st, 2nd, and this Christmas. I think I just like to see how much they have grown. We also paint a Christmas plate with their hand (or foot for Bubba this year since I couldn't get him to open his hand). This will be their "Christmas China" when they get older. I hope to continue their china through age 12 so they have 12 place settings for their family.
Sissy enjoyed helping me make the reindeer this year.
Another tradition is having a cookie decorating party with their friends. This is Ava decorating her cookies. We were down 3 kids this year, but still had fun. This is something we started last year and I hope to continue every year as well. When the kids get bigger, I hope to let them bake the cookies themselves and then decorate them...while I sit back and drink a cup of coffee with their mommies! I am sure there will be about 10 more years of helping though!
This is Annalyse.
And of course, my Sissy Bug...eating hers. She is her daddy's child that is for sure!
This is what Bubba did the whole time. Next year, he will be smearing, sprinkling, and eating with the rest of them.

And lastly, today since it was raining for the 25th day in a row, WB decided to take Sissy to the shop with him while he tried to get it organized. This allowed me to go to the grocery store with 1 child (nice!) and get supper in the crockpot.
To clarify,"The Shop" is where WB keeps all of his equipment, antique tractors, and other things that are not appropriate in our house (like old Coke signs, an old mail cart from the Depot, electrical paraphenalia, and some things he doesn't want me to know he has). We have a few acres down the road from the house-aptly called "The Land"-which is where "The Shop" sits (we keep it simple around here folks). This is where WB wants to eventually build a cabin and have a rope swing for the kids...just a place to hang out, he says. And it keeps all of his junk, I mean toys, out of our garage.
Anyway, we went over to have picnic lunch with WB and Sissy. Thought this would be fun for the kids. Sissy just kept saying "I es-sited, mommy!"
Picnicing on the back of the little dump truck. Bubba kept looking around like, what can I get it to? Won't be long and WB will be able to take 'em both. What in the world would I do with my time?!
Helping daddy tape the insulation. She also swept the rocks and learned how to use the measuring tape. She had the best time. I am sure WB didn't get much done, but I enjoyed the couple hours break!

I will close by saying that I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! This will be a fun year for us because Sissy is really excited about it this year and it is Bubba's first. We are looking forward to spending time with our families and making memories with our children.
I encourage everyone not to get wrapped up in the getting, but remember it is the sharing and the loving that counts.
And, not just at Christmas, but everyday we need to remember Jesus. His birth, his life, and the sacrifice he made for each and every one of us!
As a mommy, I can't help but think of Mary and what she had to give up. I cannot imagine giving up my baby boy! What a great example of FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
The Honea Bees

Christmas Traditions while opening gifts

Last night, WB and I were laughing about our Christmas memories from momma and daddy's. There is always good food and great fun watching the kids open gifts...but there are also certain phrases you hear from momma every year.
Now, momma "just wants everyone to be together and to be happy" every year for Christmas. But, she also makes sure we always have something from her and daddy.
Here are our Christmas "traditions" we hear from momma while opening our presents...

4. "You can't take that box home. I'm gonna use it again next year."
3. "Give me that bag." You hear this after you just get your stuff out of it. She takes it and runs off to fill it up with something for someone else.
2. After tearing the paper off of a gift. "Wait...that's not yours!" But, the tag has my name on it. "Your daddy did that. It's not yours." This usually happens to WB every year! ha
1. After you have opened all of the gifts with your name on them (whether they are really yours or not) she says "Is that all you got?" then she turns to daddy "Mike, where's the *whispers out of the corner of her mouth*" Daddy: "The what?" Momma: "You know, the *uses hands while whispering*" Daddy: "It's not under the tree?" This happens every year to someone and it is never a small gift that she misplaces. Last year, it was my sister-in-law...momma coundn't find her kitchen-aid stand mixer. You know, the big ones? I think she finally found it the next day.

The good thing about #1 is that it makes Christmas last a lot longer. Normally, in February, you hear this "Here's the rest of your Christmas presents. I just found them the other day."

We are looking forward to seeing who's presents we open and what momma can't find this year!

More of the same...lotsa pictures

This has been and continues to be a busy month for us. There are more festivities this weekend, so there will probably be more posts like these past 2. Sorry if you don't like em this way. Maybe I will be better in 09.

Bubba in the sleigh that we always put under the tree. Sissy has been trying to get in it again this year, but she is getting a little too big. I will try to find my cd's with past and present Christmas pictures so you can see how they grow.

Look, I found a carrot. I love food!

This is where we found Red the other morning. Evidently he was sitting in Sissy's seat at the table eating Goldfish and heard us coming. He must have jumped to the highest place he could. He also left a mess of crumbs on her placemat. Sissy thought that was so funny! Momma says I should clarify that his name is not Red but "Ray-ud" so from now on, he will be known as Ray-ud.

One of Bubba's many new tricks. He also loves to ride the car and get into stuff (more below), and drop things on the floor and watch you pick them up...over and over and over...

A better picture of Sissy's "pinky tails" just for my daddy.

Sissy showing Bubba around the house. He was giggling because she was showing him new things that he can now reach on the car. He will probably never walk.

We went to the Santa Train in Chase. Sissy LOVES trains and she enjoyed it. It was so cold. B&I went with us, so it was fun for the kids to be together. Here's Daddy and Bubba.

Momma and Sissy

All of us and the Santa. He was a little too touchy-feely for me. I have this thing with Santa's and can be a Santa snob. Sorry, but it's true. I wasn't really concerned with getting a picture with him because he was a little weird and in-your-face. Sissy didn't like him, so somehow I ended up with both kids in my lap because they were weirded out too.

Here is Bubba's new find. Sissy's kitchen. He loves to open and shut the door on the oven. He was also caught dragging the Christmas topiary around the den. And trying to get into the cabinet with the DVD player. Just the beginning.

I will end with a funny. We have been singing "Praise Him in the morning, Praise Him at the noon time..." (I think they sing this in Bible Class too) Sissy was just singing "Pizza in the morning, Pizza in the morning"

All sorts of holiday stuff in one big ol post

***Updated with picture of Coley screaming. Scroll to bottom of post.***
{This is a long one folks, but it has lots of pictures!}
I am behind on postings, so again, I will narrate pictures.

This is the only picture I have from Thanksgiving for whatever reason. Aren't they cute in their matching brown cords? We had a great traditional turkey lunch at WB family's house then were off to my parents for the afternoon. This year with my fam we decided to stick with the finger food type of things, which was a nice change. There are only 8 adults and 4 kids, so it's small and no one wanted momma to go to lots of trouble cooking turkey, etc. So, she just went to lots of trouble cooking other stuff. You never go hungry at her house. That's probably why I feel the urge to eat every time I go over there.
The next night we went to Santa's Village as we always do with my bro, SIL and fam. We take pictures with Santa and then walk around until we are too cold to feel our fingers. This year was the first that Sissy really got in to it. WB was called in to work so he didn't get to go this year. This was our attempt to get a pic of the 2 girls...but the snow started falling and Sissy was distracted. Maybe when she's 8.
Here is the Bubs watching the snow too...in his almost 60 year old coat and hat that was daddy's.
And, Bubba with Santa...trying to pull his beard.
Sissy was excited about seeing him, but Coco and Jay went before us. Let's just say that Coco wanted nothing to do with him...I think this made Sissy a little skiddish. She will take candy from strangers obviously. I guess we will be working on that. Aunt Shanie has all of the good pics...I would love the one of Coco screaming to show you...HILARIOUS!
Someone let out a gingerbread man poot and I don't think it was Bubba. (I couldn't resist!)
"Sissy the Snowman, la la lalala la la"
And, what she really came for...the cookie! She dropped a small drip of icing on the ground and bent down to get it. She loves her some cookies!
Sissy asked for Piggy Tails the other day, out of the blue. I was so excited, but unprepared because here she is almost 2 1/2 and has never had enough hair. I found the smallest hairbands I could and made her some. She said "OOHHH PUURDY!" then had to show WB. You may have to click on the picture to make it larger before you can really see them. They stayed in about 2 minutes tops and she hasn't wanted them since. Again, maybe when she's 8.
Our little man is now 10 months old and trying to get around. He can scoot backwards but not forwards yet. The only way he can get forwards is on the car (which he loves, especially when he runs into things) and scooting on his bottom. He has been trying to pull up these past couple of days. I had to make this picture big because he is so stinkin' cute!
Trying really hard to get somewhere!

And, lastly (is anyone still reading?) we have been decorated for Christmas since before Thanksgiving. When I say we, I mean me and all of the inside. WB got the outside stuff down and to the garage. Maybe it will get outside and plugged in before the end of December. Anyway, I put it up before Thanksgiving because Sissy is really loving everything this year. So that makes us want to enjoy it longer. WB is usually a "one holiday at a time" person, but I knew that he would not even begin to take it down, so I put it up early.
We have a new addition to the Christmas decorations this year. This is Red (Sissy named him) and he is our 'Elf on the shelf.' He watches the kids every day and while they are sleeping, he goes and tells Santa if they have been good or bad. Then he comes back and is hidden somewhere else in the house when they wake up. Sissy will quit crying in a heartbeat when we remind her that Red is watching. He has been seen here...

And here...

Stay tuned for more of Red and his antics!

***Updated***
Mrs. Claus thought it would be good if she tried to step in and help out. It only made him scream louder! ha Good one of Santa though!