Christmas 2013

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It was a great holiday, as it usually is.

We spent Christmas Eve morning at my parents' house. We had a delicious casserole for breakfast and had fun visiting and opening gifts.

Little JCrew loved the SpiderMan plane from Uncle Kyle and the The motorcyle man and dog from Aunt Kerry.

If he is missing the man or dog, we go on a hunt til we find them.

Mr. Brigglesworth enjoyed his car trailer from Uncle Kyle and his race car from Aunt Kerry.

He has a thing for wheels!

Mimi and Poppa gave a construction truck that you take apart and a See and Say with farm animals. And the boys got the 'Cars' DVD. We didn't have that one and the boys loved it!

The rest of the day was relaxing.

The following morning, the boys slept in a little. Little JCrew was up first, so he and I started baking our birthday cake for Jesus.

This year he could actually help.

The previous years I've just posed him for pictures. He helped me mix and pour the batter into the pan.

It was a delicious cake.

Once Mr. Brigglesworth and Mr. JCrew woke up, we had our cinnamon rolls and read our Christmas story.

It was then present time!

Octonauts are a big hit in this house, and that was their main present.

Little JCrew really enjoys playing with little people.

Mr. Brigglesworth enjoyed the box it came in.

The boys got play-doh (What was I thinking?)

And Mr. JCrew made a "Man" out of it.

For lunch we went over to Aunt Kelsey's house. She got engaged!!! Her fiance's parents were over at her house and it was a great time.

The older cousins brought over their big toys and shared with the little cousins.

Little JCrew loved it. Even tried mowing Mr. JCrew and Mr. Brigglesworth over.

He gave the four wheeler a try.

And he even tried driving his brother around. But his legs were too short.

Nana and Boppa gave the boys an animal dancing game. It looks fun!

And they also gave the boys some precious books with our pictures in them.

Thank you, Nana and Boppa!

It was a great, great week spending time with family. I've already taken down my Christmas decorations. I didn't wait long to do that. But I will miss the boys messing with the Nativity scene.

Little JCrew liked to move all the figures to one side. I'd rearranged them and he'd always move them again. I think we will but heads when he's older. Two organizers in the house!

Hopefully we can work as a team. We have Mr. Brigglesworth to deal with and he likes to destroy things.

At least he's a cutie while doing it!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Mr. JCrew's little brother also got engaged. He and Morgan are getting married on Tuesday! They will share our anniversary date! I wish them well on their new adventure in life. Two people becoming ONE is the greatest thing.

The Jenson's

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. May 2014 be the best year yet!

Little JCrew's Second Birthday

Alright... I missed Family Friday, and I have family waiting for pictures from yesterday, so I am posting on a Sunday.

Little JCrew's second birthday was yesterday. All in one day he decided to grow up. He climbed the stairs like a grown up; using the handrail and not crawling. He is using more words to communicate and it is AWESOME!

 Mr. JCrew and I gave him a harmonica. He loved it!

Nana and Boppa sent a gift, too.

It was perfect that his birthday fell on a Saturday. We turned our backyard into a farm and invited all the kids in his age-group.

The morning started off with my sister sending birthday messages from the cows, pigs and sheep on her farm. They were awesome and repeatedly watched for an hour.

The crowd was a good mix of our family, friends and neighbors.

Little JCrew bounced everywhere! He loved having so many friends to play with.

Birthday boy even convinced his friends to pull him around in the wagon.

Little JCrew loves animals. His favorite is a cow. I almost did a milk and cookies theme for his party, but I didn't want just cows since he likes all animals.

I used Paperless Post to send out his invitations. It's like evite.

Front

Back

The back yard was setup with stations.

We had Wagon Rides, Milk Jug Throw,

the OK Corral.

Hay Bale Toss

Cake Walk, Duck Pond, a Barn, and a Cow Pasture.

We drew arrows on the sidewalk to tell people to come straight to the backyard.

We did the cake walk activity first. We played kid tunes and the kids won "cowcakes" as their prizes.

There was a lot of cake. The cupcakes had toppers that had a front and back side to them.

The duck pond was a last minute idea that was a hit. Little JCrew loved it. We couldn't get him to leave.

Other kids loved it as well.

The "Cow Pasture" was a last minute idea that was a surprise hit. I made onesies for the dogs to wear to dress up like cows. I decided to use the "octagon" that I use when I take the boys to watch soccer games and use it to contain the dogs. I knew there were some kids that didn't like, dogs but I didn't want to cage them in the house either.

It ended up having kids in the pasture with the dogs.

It was such a hot day, the kids were sweating! Wish it had been as cool as it was last week.

There were wagon rides and horses to ride on.

Family was inside keeping cool.

The food was inside and directed by a sign.

I had fun coming up with ideas for the food.

The Oreo's were "Tractor Wheels."

The Chex Mix was "Chicken Feed."

Rice Krispie Treats were "Hay Bales."

My favorite was the "Mud." I made little pink pig cookies to stick in chocolate pudding.

There was also some real food besides just sweets. We had a Chick-Fil-A Nugget trey, veggies and fruit.

For the favors, we put together little goody bags for all the toddlers. They were cow print bags with a pinwheel, stickers, a bookmark/ruler and orange mints.

Little JCrew really did have a blast with all the company.

My dad was in the hospital this week. As of noon Saturday, it did not look like he would be discharged in time and he was a grumpy Poppi knowing he'd miss his grandson's party. At around 3:45, Little JCrew started saying, "Poppa" and looking out the window. Puppy and Poppi sound very much alike, so I didn't know which word he was saying. Sure enough, I see my mom and dad coming around the side of the house. Dad was discharged! He was so excited to be here... we all were.

There was so much cuteness in the backyard with all the kiddos.

The mess afterward was so rewarding.

The kids had fun, and that was the whole goal.

If you follow me on Instagram, the whole week I was using the hastag #WilksTurnsTwo. I'd post a daily picture of Little JCrew with that hashtag. I even used the hashtag as part of party decorations.

I was hoping our technology savvy crowd would have status updates or pictures and use the hashtag. Sure enough, they did!

Pretty cool!

At the end of the day, he was all smiles. That's all I had hoped for. Seeing him really enjoy himself.

Happy birthday, my precious boy! You are very loved.