A Really Good Hair Day

The most amazing thing happened while we were in Houston celebrating Christmas. That Houston humidity that I usually don't enjoy, did marvelous things for my baby boy's hair. He woke up one morning with the sweetest little curls at the nape of his neck.
Isn't that the most darling thing you've ever seen?!?! I couldn't stop looking at the back of that precious little blond head... It made me smile all day long. :)
I just never dreamed that my straight-as-a-board haired self could ever produce a child with curly locks - and blond at that! Wonders never cease to amaze me...
Of course, the front of that sweet little blond head is pretty fun to look at, too. :)

Nothing says "Christmas" quite like a trip to the E.R.

Kelli & Doug were so sweet to invite us to Christmas dinner at their house. We were excited to get to spend the evening with the Ylda clan, Wade's grandparents, Pam, and Nana. The Yldas throw great parties, so we knew that it would be a fun night.

Kelli had a yummy meal planned. She is definitely a wonderful hostess!
Everyone was in the kitchen prepping for dinner. There was food galore, and it all looked so tasty! Just as they were pulling the beef tenderloin out of the oven, I heard Wade's Aunt Kim scream. She said, "Drew just touched the oven!!!" He had put his hands directly on the open oven door! I immediately panicked, of course, and ran to scoop up my baby. I ran to the sink and put his hands under the cold running water. He screamed, and he screamed, and he screamed. It was awful!!! There is nothing worse than knowing your child is in horrible pain and there is nothing that you can do to fix it. :(

Everyone went into first aid mode bringing ice packs, frozen peas, toys for distraction, pacifiers, etc. After a few minutes he seemed to be calming down a bit. His hands were pink, but there weren't any blisters. We just held him and tried to keep something cool on his hands at all times. However, after about 20 minutes he was still screaming in pain. Wade & I loaded him up and headed to the E.R.

On the way to the hospital, he screamed and cried even worse than before. He was arching his back up out of his carseat and grabbing for my arms. It really did break my heart! I cried with him for most of the ride.

By the time that we got inside the E.R., he had calmed down quite a bit. The triage nurse saw him and looked at his hands. There were little blisters forming by this point. :( We waited for a little while and then they took us back to the room. The doctor confirmed that he had first and second degree burns on his hands. Poor Baby! They gave him Silvadene cream and bandaged him up. They teased that he looked like a boxer with all the gauze on his hands. :) They instructed us to apply the cream 3-4 times a day and redo the dressing as needed. It should heal within 2 weeks with no scarring. It could have been so much worse! I am sooo thankful that it wasn't!

All of our family was so helpful throughout the whole ordeal! People were calling and texting constantly to see how Drew was. Kelli, Kim, and Grandmom insisted that we leave Clayton with them while we took Drew in. I was so thankful for that! Wade & I both got to focus on Drew without worrying about Clayton. We knew he was in great hands!

We were in and out of the E.R. within about 2.5 hours. So, we got to go back to Kelli & Doug's and see everyone for a few more minutes before heading home.

The boys wrestled in the floor with Joe

Doug is a big kid at heart, so all of the kids adore him. Clayton is no exception...

He LOVES Doug!

My cutie pie little boxer baby...

Today, the blisters are really showing. The one on his right pinkie finger is the worst. Ouch!

He has slept and played very well, though. I am so thankful for that! He doesn't even act like it is bothering him. Thank you, Lord, for making children so resilient!

It was an eventful Christmas for sure! Some parts were great, and some parts were not so great. But, it will definitely be a Christmas that we will never forget.

Christmas Morning 2009

What a wonderful Christmas we had! I say this every year, but this was the best Christmas EVER! Clayton was so much fun this year, and Drew was darling as well! Clayton got excited about every, single gift that he opened. It was awesome to watch his little face light up! The thing that I love the most about this age is that he couldn't care less how much a present costs. He was just as excited about the dollar store stuff as he was about his big gifts. Oh, how I wish that he would always be this easy to please... :)

For Christmas breakfast, I made the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, and they were positively delicious! I made the dough before we went out of town and then froze them until we got back home. All I had to do was thaw them the night before and then bake them on Christmas morning. I am pretty sure they will be Christmas breakfast every year from now on. And, since they are pretty much just flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, more sugar, and more butter... they will only be served once a year. :)
Wade and I woke up early so that we could see Clayton's face as soon as he walked down the stairs. We sat there drinking coffee and wanting anxiously for the kids to wake up. I love that nervous giddy feeling! It truly is better to give than to receive! :)

We had to sit for over an hour, because both kids slept in. Isn't that par for the course?!?! Clayton was up first. When he came downstairs, he was so excited to see his pile from Santa!

Drew woke up a few minutes later and was pretty excited about his Santa gifts, too.

Clayton got a Batman sleeping bag, which was a big hit

Wade & I decided to do our gifts to the boys a little differently this year. We had gotten Clayton a bike and Drew a rocking horse and rocking chair. We hid them in the house with a string attached to them. Then we wound the string around the house, so that they would have to follow the string to their gifts. Clayton loved finding his treasure!

His bike was hidden in our bath tub. Ha!

What a big boy! He looks so old to me in this picture. *Sniffle* This is definitely a far cry from his 12 inch Diego bike that he has been riding since Christmas 2007.

Clayton helped Drew find his gifts. He loved his rocking chair. It's just his size. :)

The rocking horse was a big hit, too.

Sweet Boy with his stocking

I never surprise Wade, like never ever ever. I always just get him whatever he asks for. This year, however, I really did surprise him! He mentioned casually several months ago that he wished he had a bike to ride with the boys. I tucked that away in my memory. Then I went and got it for him and hid it in the attic until Christmas morning. So, it was the year of the bikes at our house!
After we had opened all of the presents, Clayton said, "I guess that's all..." Wade said, "Well, are you sure? Is there anything else that you asked Santa for?" His eyes got as big as saucers and he ran to the window to look outside. He started screaming, "Santa brought us a play set! Yay!!!!" It was priceless!

Daddy carried him outside in his PJs to see his present

Santa even made a giant tag and huge bow for the play set. Clayton immediately noticed those two things. Gotta love Santa's attention to detail. ;)

Our neighbors were outside playing in the snow, so he recruited Avery to come over and try out his new play set.

Then they went sledding in the driveway. Snow + Christmas = A Perfect Day!

While Drew was napping, we made a Happy Birthday Jesus (& Joe) Birthday cake. :) Wade's Uncle Joe has a December 25th birthday. Clayton said, "It's so cool that Joe has the same birthday as Jesus!" :)

Shortly after I took this picture, Clayton walked over to the fireplace. He stuck his face right up to the screen and screamed, "Thank you, Santa! And, Happy Birthday, Jesus!" So funny!

We're hoping that you all had a very Merry Christmas as well!

Christmas Eve 2009

We came home from Houston on Christmas Eve. We left at 9:30am, so that we could be home in plenty of time to go to our church's Christmas Eve service at 4:00. We stopped in Corsicana for lunch at around 1:00. While we were eating, I got a text from my friend, Leah, saying that it was snowing in our town. What in the world?!?! The high had been in the 70s just the day before. We were totally shocked! Needless to say, the closer that we got to home, the worse that the traffic and roads got. By the time that we got home, it was too late to go to the Christmas Eve service. I was so, so sad about missing it. It really in one of my favorite services of the year. Nothing beats singing about the birth of Christ in a sanctuary filled with candles on Christmas Eve.

So, we settled for unpacking our car, watching the snow fall, and singing Christmas carols in our living room. The snow was so gorgeous! I don't even remember the last time that we had a truly White Christmas! The thought of snow on the ground for Christmas morning made my heart so happy!

We did all of our traditional Christmas Eve activities - opening Christmas pajamas, baking cookies for Santa, sprinkling reindeer food on the lawn, reading Twas the Night Before Christmas, and reading the Christmas story. It was a precious time with our family of 4. :)

Our babies in their Christmas jammies...

Clayton making cookies for Santa
(Yep, we used store bought dough. I had every intention of making homemade, but after a week away from home, it just didn't happen. Clayton made homemade sugar cookies with my mom in Houston. Doesn't that count for anything? ;) )

Cookies & milk set out for Santa (And carrots and water for the reindeer)

Clayton sprinkled his reindeer food from preschool on our snow covered lawn.

It was so neat to see it glitter in the snow. :)

Daddy read the Christmas story from Clayton's Jesus Storybook Bible

He also read Twas the Night Before Christmas

What a wonderful evening! We were all giddy with anticipation of Christmas morning...

Christmas in Houston

We were in Houston from Dec. 21-24. We had a wonderful visit! The boys enjoyed all of the quality time that they got to spend with their Gran, Papa D, Aunt Becca, Uncle Jeff, and their cousins. Wade & I did too! :) The boys played and played. It was loud & rowdy with 4 boys in the house! I'm pretty sure that it was VERY different than what my parents remember from when Becca & I were little. Ha! But, I'm certain that they wouldn't have it any other way...

I took GOBS of pictures, but I can't post most of them. :( Since A&J aren't officially adopted, we are being extra careful to protect their privacy. I, for one, don't want to do anything that could prevent those sweet boys from being ours forever. So... I'll just have to post a few of my monkeys for now.

My Mom & Dad gave the boys each a small present to open each day. The boys had fun searching for the gift that had their name on it. It spread out Christmas over several days, which was great for all of the kids. Plus, all of the gifts were activities (silly string, coloring books, puzzles, etc.), so that gave them something fun to do together.

Clayton with his silly string from the first day.

Drew figured out how to unwrap presents while we were there. Clayton had been "helping" him unwrap, but he finally figured it out on his own. He thought the tissue paper was great fun!

My parents have always had the tradition of giving us Christmas pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. We always opened one present on Christmas Eve and it was always our PJs. In keeping with tradition, they gave the boys a set of Christmas PJs. :)

Drew got a Beginner's Bible board book. He LOVES books, so it was sweet to watch him "read" it. ;)

We definitely had a wonderful Hendrickson Christmas. Thanks, Mom & Dad, for all of the work and planning that you did to make our visit so great!

Our families are both so special to us! I wish that they all lived closer, but the extended time that we get to spend together at the holidays sure is precious. We enjoyed having a full week of celebrations with our families! What a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

Gingerbread Nativity

A lot of last Christmas is kind of a blur, to be honest. Drew was 2 months old and I was just starting to get a good night's sleep again after 8 weeks of sleep deprivation. So... I rely on pictures and our blog to clear up my vague memories. :)

I do remember making a gingerbread house with Clayton. I was determined to make my own gingerbread and use the mold that my mom had saved from when my sister and I were little.

Well... this year I wasn't quite as ambitious. I totally wimped out and bought the kit from Joann's. Ha! I decided to do a spin off on the traditional gingerbread house and make a gingerbread nativity instead. It turned out pretty cute!

Clayton opted out of most of the creative process and just ate the candy. He did, however, enjoy taking credit for the final product. ;) We melted a banana Laffy Taffy and molded it into the star. The manger is graham crackers. Baby Jesus was a bit tricky. I was planning on using an unshelled peanut, but couldn't find any in the grocery store. We settled on marshmallows and a gumdrop. It looks like a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, right??? Mary and Joseph were cut out of rice krispie treats. Joseph's staff is a candy cane. Mary's robe and head covering are made out of a fruit rollup. (My brother-in-law was quick to call her Little Red Riding Hood. Thanks a lot, Corey!) And, for the grand finale, the hay was made out of Shredded Wheat.

The only problem came when marshmallow-loving Clayton wanted to eat Baby Jesus.... I had to veto that. ;)