The "Finnster, et al."

Friday was the boys Christmas Party at school.  Gran, Pa, Michael and I attended.  First we helped the boys make a Gingerbread House.  Thank Goodness Pa was there to help - we all struggled mightily. This is a picture of Sam.  He is supposed to be standing still next to the wall.  Sam is standing next to the wall, but he is clearly dancing. Finn bringing us our Christmas present.  It is a plate with Jesus in the manger.  The manger is made from Finn foot print.  It was really cute. This picture breaks my heart.  This is Sam after the little girl sitting next to him hit him in the stomach. He tried so hard not to cry. Next it was time to open presents.  All the kids brought a small gift to exchange with their classmates. We brought small super hero toys. That morning while I was getting ready for the day Finn told me that he wanted to get the gift that he brought.  I told him that he probably wouldn't get that gift. ...

On Sunday Sam and I traveled to Sparta to visit Papa Bruce and attend the Broyles Christmas Reunion.  Our first stop was to Papa Bruce where Sam taught Papa Bruce to "fist bump."  He also had a great time showing everyone how I "pretend" drop him.  Then we went up to the Civic Center for the Christmas Reunion.  Sam played cars with Bruce and talked with Josh about superheros.   This is a terrible picture of me and mom - but I loves Sam's expression.  Mom, I apologize for the public display of the "closed eyes" picture. 

Since we put the tree up Sam has been hounding us about putting the star on the tree.  It was really quite adorable. In his sweetest voice he said (multiple times), "mama, can I put the star on the top of the tree." Well last week he finally got his chance.  Finn made an angel at church using a cutout of his hands and a cone.  Michael raised Sam up and let him do the honors. We have a been a little bit sick this week (which kind of explains my lack of blogging).  I have been home with strep and the boys now have runny noses and a rattly cough.  On Saturday as Finn was in the bathroom, he heard Sam walk through the kitchen and cough a particularly nasty cough.  Finn looked at me and said, "mom - Sam must have the same disease that I have."  I got tickled with Finn's characterization of his illness. Last night I decided to really tidy up my office. My office is upstairs in my bedroom.  Given how much random filing that I had to do - it too...

On Wednesday, December 10th we all met up at Maggiano's in Nashville to Celebrate Nana's birthday.  We hadn't planned to bring the boys to the event, but ended up bringing them at the last minute.  We were quite concerned that they would not behave all that well in the restaurant.  Turns out they weren't that bad.  Once they brought the bread out Sam and Finn were pretty quite. The night was really nice.  I had been home with strep throat the last few days and it was nice to get cleaned up and out of the house. Happy Birthday Mom.

Last week while Pa was home, the boys went to spend the night with Gran and Pa.  While there they built a Gingerbread House.  They had a hard time putting it together because Sam ate the candy as fast as they could pull it out.   They also helped Pa decorate the house. 

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day Gigi came to the house to pick up me and the boys.  We went to Murfreesboro to do a little shopping and to get cupcakes. While shopping at the Avenue, the boys were mesmerized by the statues.  Once getting to Tullahoma we ate our cupcakes and the boys played with Grandad and Mr. Gene.  Later than evening we went to Nana and Papa's house to spend the night. We ate panini's and then put the boys to bed.  We decided to let them all sleep in Nana's room.  We put Cooper, Hank and Sam on the air mattress and Finn in the bed.  After about ten minutes, Finn emerged from the room in tears.  He was very upset that his brother and his cousins would not be quite.  The boys came out of the room in different pairs to complain about something for about another half hour.  Once all was quite, I peeked my head in to check on the boys.  Hank and Sam were in the bed with Finn and Cooper had the...