Goodbye 2011

In the past two weeks, we've had all sorts of crazy weather.  From highs in the 60s to our first flurries of snow, and now we all have runny noses.  Not surprisingly, John Thomas loved the fluffy white flakes falling from the sky.  I really hope we get enough snow this year to get a day or two off from school, so that we can spend the day sledding and drinking hot chocolate.

Our boy turned 20 months old this week!  I think the months are actually going by quicker and quicker the older he gets.  I've had to raise the rim on his goal.  He's also become quite adept around the kitchen.  He loves to get all the pots and lids out, set them around the kitchen and then stack them back in the cabinet.  Maybe if I'm lucky, he'll love to put his toys away for another 16 years or so.  I'm not holding my breath though.

I think John Thomas' haircut turned out much better than the last time.  He hates getting a haircut so much, I don't know if I'll ever be ready to take him to a barber shop.  Rather, I don't know if there's a barber shop in town that'll ever be ready for him.

Did I say he turned 20 months or 45?  I was cooking dinner the other night and I turned around in the kitchen to see this.  He had climbed up into the chair and started reading the headlines.  He cracks me up sometimes.

The treat of the week was definitely Papa's mid-week visit.  John Thomas got some uninterupted book time and I got a great sushi dinner courtesy of my dad!  As far as we're concerned, he can come back anytime he wants.

We all knew this day was coming, and it's finally here.  John Thomas has finally figured out how to climb atop Chester.  And wouldn't you know, Chester lets him!  To all the grandparents, especially those with a sense of humor, please don't get John Thomas a saddle for Christmas. 

Speaking of Christmas, I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and safe and funfilled New Years.  And when you wake up to shiney packages and eat lots of yummy food, please remember what we are all really celebrating.  Jesus' birth is the true gift of Christmas.

Gobble Gobble

 As Turkey Day approached, I think John Thomas was starting to lobby for a seat at the grown up table.  He now crawls up into the kitchen chairs at meal time in hopes that we will retire the high chair.  If he's lucky, maybe he'll get a booster seat for Christmas.

 Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year.  John Thomas and I were so lucky to be invited to the Cole/McAffry Thanksgiving extravaganza.  I'm not kidding when I say that their family can cook.  Everything on the table (except my broccoli casserole) looked and tasted like it belonged in a gourmet magazine.  While I thought the best part was the food and the company, I'm pretty sure that John Thomas' favorite part was hanging out with Lola in her oh-so-awesome ball pit in the basement.  Thanks again for letting us crash your Thanksgiving guys! 

 It's no secret that John Thomas loves his Mommy and Daddy very much, but Chester gets most of the snuggles these days.  By the looks of things, I don't think he minds too much either. 

 Beyond the actual T-Day festivities, the extended weekend was fairly routine.  John Thomas helped me do laundry.  When I say helped, I mean he loves to push the laundry basket into and out of the laundry room and play in all the bedding and pillows.  I guess with the right helper, any chore can be fun.

 This is my favorite part about being home for a holiday break instead of at work.  I am so blessed.

 This week, John Thomas got to go to a high school basketball game.  He did pretty well, mostly because I brought food and he had to eat dinner there.  Either way, he was right at home on my lap while I was yelling at the girls.  Must be because the whole time I was pregnant, I was in the gym coaching.   I know some of the fans were giving me funny looks, but evidently you can take the coach out of the game, but you can't take the game out of the coach.  We also attended the Powell Christmas Parade yesterday.  Lots of fun things to look at, including the marching band, flashing police cars, and floats of people tossing treats!

Whoever said a dog is man's best friend must have been talking about my little boy and his favorite pooch.  Here's a teaser for the next blog, I cut John Thomas' hair today.  The good news is, it will likely grow out enough by Christmas that people won't be looking at him funny.

Raking In the Fun

I have never enjoyed raking as much as I did this Fall!  I'll give you one guess why.  That's right, it's because I've got the cutest little yard hand around.  John Thomas LOVED helping me rake the leaves and cart them to the garden.  

Kids must be born with the innate ability to know what to do with a huge pile of leaves, because this guy needed no coaching at all.  He was tossing them, pouncing in them and having a big time before I could finish raking the first pile.  

By the end of the job, we had the process down like clockwork.  I raked the leaves into a pile, John Thomas rolled in them and walked through them while I loaded them in the wheel barrel, then I loaded JT into the wheel barrel to escort the leaves to the garden.  En route, he tossed the loot overboard, "leaving" a trail so that we could find our way the next time. 

Chester even tried to get in on the action.  I guess all the Kirkpatricks love to play in the leaves. 

John Thomas is a regular Renaissance boy; yard hand, cutie pie, and sous chef extraordinaire.  He had to help me cook dinner one night this week.  He definitely knows his way around the kitchen, including tracking down a mixing bowl and whisk so he could help whip something up. 

I'm not sure this will be impressive to anyone else, but I have to be a proud Momma for a minute.  John Thomas is really starting to get good at stacking blocks and then karate chopping them down (thanks to his Daddy).  This week, I noticed he was stacking the skinny cylinders on top of one another. 

As you can tell, even he was impressed with himself after he managed to balance four tall cylindrical blocks on top of one another. 

I captured this shot about five seconds before he chopped it down.  Oh the joy of destruction that our little boy has.   John Thomas and I had a nice weekend.  My mom came in on Friday night, so he got to spend a little quality time with Gramma.  And, my college girl friends, Jen and Katie, came in to spend Saturday with us.  He was in hog heaven.  Our little boy knows how to work his cute around the ladies.   

He had so much fun, he even woke up with a smile on his face.  Notice his eyes aren't even open, but with a great night sleep and a furry yellow dog by his side, what else could a kid need?

What a Treat!

I hope you're prepared for a few Halloween pics, because I just couldn't resist how cute our little bear was all dressed up!  John Thomas actually ended up with two Halloween costumes this year.  I feared, after the first trial run as a silly monkey, that a two hour Boo at the Zoo costume party, might be a major meltdown.  So, I made a last minute run to Wally World for a fireman suit.  He was such a cute fireman, even without his hat.  It's obvious Chester doesn't get enough attention anymore, because he's even willing to put on a costume if it means he gets to be the center of attention --even for a second.  I think somebody needs to learn how to share the spotlight :).

 John Thomas LOVED Boo at the Zoo.  Tons of kids all dressed up, free candy, animals and at the very end, there was a huge disco tent.  I have never seen him so full of excitement and joy in my whole life.  He just danced and clapped and screamed (with a gigantic smile on his face) YAY!

 There was a whole posse of us at the Zoo. (L to R: Lola (the ladybug), Sarah, Kim, Kinsley (Raggedy Anne), Me, John Thomas (the cutest fireman ever), Caroline (Jasmine), Maggie, and Hannah (I think she was a rabbit, but ditched her costume early).

 I'm not telling which one he carved and which one I carved.  But I will say, the eyebrows are a nice touch to the pumpkin on the right :). Either way, the front porch was sufficiently festive for Monday night's trick-or-treaters.

 I was only a little apprehensive about putting John Thomas in his monkey suit, since the first attempt was only slightly disastrous.  But, he loved it!

 This was his very first time reaching for the doorbell to get his goodies.  I think I enjoyed it as much as he did!

 This silly monkey was all wound up by the end of the night.  He only ate part of one skittle and, I'm not kidding when I say, he was jumping all over the house before bedtime.

He was making his monkey noises (hoo  hoo  hee  hee) all night.  I wonder what he's going to want to be next year?   

 If Halloween wasn't treat enough, Mary and her awesome nieces (Anna Claire and Katherine) came to town for their first game at Neyland Stadium.  They are great young ladies and John Thomas and I loved having them around!  And yes, Anna Claire's overalls were the envy of our entire row! Thanks again Katherine for letting me borrow your jersey.  All these years as a UT fan (student and alum) and this was my first time sporting a jersey to the game. 

After not stepping foot in Neyland stadium for two years, Mary has somehow dragged me there twice this year.  I'm so lucky to have such an awesome friend.  Thanks girls for such a fun weekend.  Oh yeah, here are a few birthday wishes. Meredith, Jen and Cara I love you girls and hope you had/have a wonderful birthday!

Fall Break

LOVE this face!  Thanks to Fall Break, I got to spend even more quality time with him.  Two weeks ago, my parents came in again to spend some extra time with the fam.  I hope they're keeping up with their frequent flyer miles, because they'll probably be able to cash them in for a trip to Hawaii for Christmas.  As always, it was wonderful to have them in.  We ate well and my dad did all sorts of handy work around the house, including hanging a shelf in the laundry room and waterproofing the deck.  I'm sure they'd say the best part was spending time with John Thomas.

 These two really got to bond.  Now when we get to Skype, they sit there and make faces at each other and crack up.  Oh the simple pleasures in life!

 Another perk to grandparent visits is the free babysitting.  I snuck out for a Friday girl's night with some of my favorite ladies.  We are some hot momma's for sure! (If I do say so myself :))

 I must have been feeling really crazy, because I actually went to a concert on a weeknight for the first time since I was in college.  Sarah and I went to see Mat Kearney at the Bijou.  I've never been a fan of grown men in skinny jeans, but he changed my mind.  He so talented, so adorable and so entertaining!  I made the mature decision to take Thursday off so that I could rest, take John Thomas to his 18 month appointment and work on some school stuff.   John Thomas weighs 28.3 lbs., stands at 32.5 inches tall, and his head is 80 percent larger than all other kids his age.  Long story short, he is big, healthy, and extremely adorable!

 We've added a chore to his list.  He has full responsibility for telling Chester bye whenever we leave the house.  This involves getting him a treat, saying "be goodboy" and waving bye to him as we walk out of the house.  It's never too early to hand over some responsibility, right?

We are headed to Boo at the Zoo tonight.  He's going to love it, so you'll have to stay tuned for the pics on the next blog!

Momma's Boy

The best part about only blogging every two weeks is that there is usually more to blog about.  Perhaps the biggest news of the past two weeks was the dreaded, but way overdue, haircut.  Thank goodness Gramma was here to help tame the bear, I mean John Thomas, because he isn't crazy about getting his hair chopped off.  Let's be honest, I'm not sure how I'd feel if I was coming towards me with beard trimmers and almost no experience.

Here at the Kirkpatrick household I can give you any haircut you want, as long as you want it high and tight.  It was a little higher and a little tighter than usual because the trimmer gauge slipped and I had to even it out.  Thank goodness he's too young to remember any of this.  None the less, he's still looking pretty cute to me. 

Last weekend we had some friends over for the Buffalo/UT game.  As you can imagine, John Thomas loved being the only boy amongst several very cute lil ladies.  Although, he might have a thing for older women.  He seemed mesmerized by Caroline, the elementary-aged girl in black.

It might have just been the fact that his favorite lil pal, Lola, wasn't there yet.  These two are too sweet together.  Just last week, she started saying "JT."  It's only a matter of time before she learns how to say, "I think we just need to be friends."  I wonder how many more years they'll be like this before they learn about cooties?

Since the weather was amazing this weekend, John Thomas and I headed to the zoo with our neighbor and her son, Dare.  They are only two months apart, so I think these two boys will end up spending lots of time digging, exploring and running around the cul-de-sac together. 



All of the animals were feeling quite social on Saturday, especially the infant monkey, George.  George was hamming it up for his adoring fans all morning long.  He really is a silly monkey.  Hopefully John Thomas was taking notes, since he's going to be a silly monkey for Halloween.

This morning we headed to church as usual.  It is always one of our favorite things about weekends.  That and spending lots of quality time together.  This week John Thomas will be 18 months old!  He says new words everyday.  My favorite words he says are "purple," "Bible," "Go Vols," and of course "Momma."  He is such a sweet, lovable boy. 

Finally Fall!

It is impossible for me to resist the absolute adorability of my diapered babe, especially when he's being quite the ham!  He was calling, "Chestew" into the megaphone...I mean paper towel roll.  Love this boy!

In the last full week of September, Fall has finally moved in to East Tennessee.  Granted, it's supposed to be in the eighties today.  But it was the perfect weekend and the perfect weather for our first fall fire in the fire pit.  Which, of course, means the first s'mores of the season! 

You may need to get out your binoculars for this, but believe it or not, it's a fox!  I still can't figure out how to get my edited (and cropped) pictures to upload onto the blog, so if you need better proof, you'll have to stop by and see it for yourself. 

Gramma is in town again all the way from Wisconsin.  She is trying to soak up the last of the warm weather before she has to return to the tundra also known as Green Bay.  I think she's also trying to get all sorts of quality time with her "special boy."  They really are peas in a pod, and he revels in the extra attention.  John Thomas is really partial to the weather too!  I'm pretty sure we were outside for the better part of the day yesterday and he is napping with his windows open as I type.  Fall really is one of the best parts about living in East Tennessee and in just a few short weeks, the backyard will be every color of the season and I can't wait!