Actually truth be told, my house is a little too clean everyday.  Moreover, I do not want to get out of bed because our agenda for each day is a little too open.  Where we would rather have friends coming over and community events to keep us busy. Rather my house is cleaner than it ever has been because I have lots of down time to get it done. I have had a couple bad days adjusting to all the changes and trying to be patient in the time it takes to establish new relationships.  However, the days where I do feel a little down all I can do is praise God for providing and always being there for me and this helps to pick myself back up again.

I know this; I would rather have friends than a sparkling clean house.  Although I will take both!  Miss you all and I am thankful you all are a phone call away.  Lots and lots of love…

Then onto my next project, bat masks!  This was my little homemade present for the boys.

So let the present opening begin!

Before we could finish, we had an injury.  Justice bumped his mouth with the new steel Tonka dump truck. He still had a fat lip yet today, poor thing.  We did not let that stop our fun.  This Christmas season the boys and Dad made their first snowman ever!  We hosted James work Christmas party, which was very fun.  Lastly, what makes each Christmas so special are the traditions we continue each year, such as sleeping beside the lighted Christmas tree the night before, watching Christmas movies, homemade cinnamon rolls that morning, candlelight service and a time of thanks.

Lastly, a cute picture of the boys after the church service as they watched a puppet show.

This Christmas may we all reflect on the first Christmas, the reason for the season!

With lots of love, The Adcox family

Archer has been spoiling his mother for the last 16 months of his life, but will things change with his new development?  Mommy can always count on Archer being in one room in the house playing with his toys with a big smile on his face.  He is all smiles and loves to give hugs and more recently kisses.  The baby stage can be a bit more challenging at times, but I have to admit I think it is one of my favorite stages of development.  Archer has been taking his good ol’ time growing up and I have loved every part of it.  His development compliments his personality; laid-back, easy going and one big cuddle bug.

However, I might not have been in a rush to see him walk, yet it always brings such joy to my heart when my child learns a new skill and just recently he has two new skills.  First, Archer is walking, not running, thankfully, but walking.  Currently he still crawls more than he walks, but he walks, he really walks!  The second skill he has developed only recently is using silverware.  Okay let’s be honest, his mother really did not allow him to feed himself or give him any dishes with his food until about a month ago.  Prior to this Archer was a food and dish thrower.  He would eat some, throw some, play a little to much and more food was somewhere else then where it was suppose to be.  So that only lasted a couple times, when mom decided he will just be spoon feed.  Well, somewhere along the line he has learned some table manners and so now he is given his food in a plate or bowl with silverware.  He eats about half with the silverware and half with his hands.  When he wants more or is done is says momma more and hands me his plate and/or cup.

Archer is just like any boy he loves planes, trains and automobiles.  He makes me laugh when he climbs into the middle of our bar stools and says “VROOM.”  Archer before he was one year old LOVED our family 4-wheeler rides.  So much so that even now every time he sees a 4-wheeler he will do anything to get out of your arms and on top of that 4-wheeler.   He also loves animals and is making some animal sounds such as cow and a bear.  Some of his other favorite words are happy, apple, owl, and as of yesterday the word, NO.

One thing Archer did not enjoy as a baby was books.  Every time I would sit to read with the boys, after about a 2 pages, Archer would wiggle out of my lap to the floor to play with a toy instead.  I have to admit it broke my heart a bit that he never wanted to sit through a book.  Things have taken a turn for the better.  Lately Archer hunts me down to read him a book and he says book when he wants a story read to him.  I think he has been learning a thing or two from his big brother.  Justice has always loved books and now a frequent thing at our house when I am in a the kitchen working and I don’t hear the boys in the living room they have usually made their way to their room for their own little story time.

Justice, Justice, and Justice.  Our little 2 1/2 year old isn’t so little anymore and the changes we have been seeing in him can be pretty much be summed up in one word, Independent!  He wants to undress himself, wash his hands, turn on the light, buckle himself, wipe himself and all of them except for the latter he is ready for.  Justice is very inquisitive and has begun asking why to many things.  As he grows older we enjoy watching his imagination grow.  Most days if he is not flying around the house with his superhero cape; he is a bear that is going to get us.  Some of his other favorite things to do these days include puzzles, cutting with a scissors, coloring, hiking, sledding, and then of coarse wants to play with any toy that Archer is playing with.  He enjoys singing Itsy Bitsy Spider, counts to 15, knows his colors and we are working on the alphabet.

The newest change in Justice that just seemed to happen right after the move was that he will eat almost anything and if he does not want to eat it at least he tries it!  YIPEEE!  I can not explain how overjoyed I am about this new development.   Prior to this it was pretty painful year and a half for me.  I could not get anything in his mouth.  I would finish making  a meal for the family and we would all sit down and he used to take one look at the meal and say, “Done, mommy. Done!”  This usually got the best of me and I am so proud to say those days are over and I never want to go back.  Here is a picture of him eating Salmon.  He kept saying, “yum mommy, more mommy.”  He made my day that night and every night there after.

We love you boys!

Next, get all dressed up and ready to go.

Third, map out our route.

Justice was a bear, ROAR! Little Archer was a Skunk!

Last, he could finally eat candy!

What a wonderful time of year to visit my family.  We loved being outside, as you can tell from all the pictures.  Our time was filled with their Great Grandma’s 90th birthday party, wrestling with cousins, horse ride, parks and best of all time with the whole family.  Time with family is priceless and for us since it is always too short, it is a time for the family to really get to know our boys and for James and I as Aunt and Uncles to know and play with our little nephews.

Our Godson Brock!  I LOVE this picture and I LOVED spending time with little guy as he has his own little personality now!

Justice and Mack under the tree.

Grandpa and Grandma with ALL their grand kids!

To end our time with a bang, we all spent the last weekend up by Lisa where we had the privilege of hanging out at a YMCA camp.

Okay this part probably deserves it’s own little entry, but whatever.  So if you are looking for the best fundraiser idea ever, well here it is!  We were lucky enough to be home when my hometown Rotary Club (I think) put on an event (I can not remember the name) where they had every truck, tractor, heavy equipment, race cars, safety vehicles and just everything to our local fairgrounds.  Here the kids paid and were each given a hard hat and were free to go jump into every vehicle and press buttons, blow horns, steer and anything else you can think of.  They also had special sections of dirt piles to play in, a little train to take a ride, jump house, wood working and rock painting stations and so much more.  So here are some pictures from that event!

The crew who all went on  a ride up a lift.

Believe it or not, but Justice had to move the bucket from one ladder to the other and he did it!

A local car shop fixed up this old beater as the famous Mater!

This is every boys dream come true.  Even little Archer, every time he sat in the driver’s seat he would go VROOM and jerk the steering wheel.  I am glad we were home for that. I guess you could say we were October Blessed being able to spend a month with both families.  We miss you all already and can not wait for you all to visit and see our new little place.

During our great transition from Nome to the Alaskan road system, we decided to make a pit stop down south.  First stop Texas!  Despite triple digit temps and triple digit fevers going around, as always it is fun to be home.  Justice and Archer played with their cousins as if they all lived on the same block.  We loved watching them play, wrestle and laugh together.  Other highlights of the trip included, our day trip to the Fort Worth Zoo, a hot air balloon festival, enjoyed the play “To Kill a Mocking Bird.” and a place we like to be regulars at was Tanglewood Resorts.