It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well, the tree is up and decorated, thanks to the help of Jackson and Cole-sort of.  TJ has been working hard on getting the lights up on the outside of the house, interesting work with only 2 outlets outside.  I love having all the decorations up.  Cole likes to remove all the decorations!  He takes them off the tree, and tries to put them back on, but they all end up on the floor.  Only 2 broken so far!  

Jackson is really becoming a reader.  I love to hear him read.  It is so fascinating to me.  Friends told me at the beginning of the school year that he would be reading by Christmas, and I thought, "No Way!"  Boy, was I wrong.  He has lots of sight words, but those that he does not recognize he sounds out.  My heart just sings when he figures out a new, difficult word.

Cole got both of his top two-year molars.  I thought it would be much more painful(for everyone-think lost sleep), but he didn't have them one day, and the next morning when I got him out of his crib, he pointed to his mouth.  I stuck my finger in and, lo and behold, two new teeth.  He is still not a huge talker, but can repeat many things we say.  He is going to be my strong, silent one...

The boys' favorite things to do together are wrestle and chase.  Cole is the instigator in both of these scenarios.
He will push Jax down (ok, so Jax kind of falls down on purpose after Cole pushes him), and then Cole will jump on top and tackle him.  It is quite the sight.  The chase game is mostly after they get out of the bathtub.  They run up and down the hall upstairs completely naked, chasing each other-mostly Cole chasing Jax.  Then Jax will hide, and Cole will look for him, and then it starts all over again. I think they would do this for hours if we would let them.  And they are both laughing and screaming the entire time. TJ and I just sit in our room and laugh.

Thanksgiving was great.  Lots of good food, family, and fun.
We ate lunch at Denny and Connie's, then headed out to my parents for dinner.
What a blessing to get to spend the holidays with family.