Christmasy activities

Visit with Santa

While mommy was away, the boys went to see Santa at his favorite pre-Christmas stop; Cheshire Medical Center. A little trivia: Santa is native to New England. He carries that unmistakable accent as evidenced by him addressing our youngest son "Coopa" and asking him what he wants for Christmas: a dinosaur. Jackson asked for a marble maze.

I think the Santa is pretty convincing. Cooper, however, was not impressed and wouldn't look at him the entire time.

They also made ornaments and had their faces painted by this lady.

**For more pictures of the boys' visit with Santa; click here

Holiday "Baking"

Does buying sugar cookie mix at Target and making your own "grandma Ruby" frosting count as baking? I don't bake my cookies from scratch, but we still had a great time decorating our Christmas cookies this year!

Here is Cooper getting his hands dirty (literally) rolling out some cookie dough!

Coop opening up a potential mess!!

Jackson putting the finishing touches (M&Ms) on his candy cane!


Gingerbread house

Here are the proud designers. It really is all I can do to get Jackson to smile anymore for a picture!

Cooper was enthralled with an electronic ornament that our friends had on their tree. He watched it for about 10 minutes.

For more pictures of the boys baking and decorating the house; click here

Christmas Tree 2008

The day has arrived for the Endacott family to seek out the lucky tree that will sacrifice its life for the sake of our holiday decoration. Little did the trees at Wright's Christmas Tree Farm know that one of them was going to be the jackpot winner that would grace our living room for the next month or so.

Jackson was ready to go and it was pretty cold so we were bundled up.



Cooper was very excited to go pick out a "Mih-Mus" tree, and he pointed out at least 50 of them all by himself while running around and tripping over old stumps.



In true Endacott fashion we looked at every single tree in the field before finally deciding on this specimen of yule tide cheer. Here we pose and the boys indicate that it was truly the tree for us.



And so it dies. In what is becoming a tradition, Haley takes a picture of my butt while I cut down the tree. Not that I don't see why she does it. I mean... look at that chunk of manliness. Enough said. Cooper supervises the cut job.



With our prize felled, the boys helped to haul it off to the car. Jackson actually carried the top of the tree the whole way. He's tough. Cooper, reprising his management role, mostly avoided being stepped on.



Once in the stand the application of our old school ceramic lights begins. Cooper helps to ensure that the tree remains upright while Daddy puts on the "10,000 imported Italian twinkle lights".



Jackson jumps in to put on the ornaments. Not surprisingly, about 75% of the ornaments are on the bottom 50% of the tree.



Mommy gets into the act. At this point the tree was almost done which was good because it was getting difficult to keep Cooper from taking all of the ornaments apart. Jackson decided that he needed to know the story behind all of our ornaments. Where we got them, whose ornament it was, what it was constructed of, the name of the Chinese dude that glued it together, its ecological footprint and biodegradability, basically all the standard stuff.



The tree is almost done. Daddy is gone. Football is on.



Merry X-Mas!

A couple of our friends...

As mentioned in the last post, Jackson has made a very special little friend, Kathryn. We try to get the two together weekly, so here are some pictures of them from today's playdate.

Though Jackson spent most of the time checking out her toys, he did take time to sit with her and enjoy a little "I Spy" fun. They really are very sweet together. Her daddy overheard her comforting Jackson right after I had sent him to time out (I don't remember why) and she was saying "It's okay, Jackson, sometimes parents just overdo it a little." Too funny.

Cooper also had a playdate today with his favorite girl, Brookie. This was taken during silly moment at snacktime. Normally, these two bicker constantly, but things were quiet today. Their faces just light up when they see each other.

We have been really lucky to meet so many wonderful families since we moved here. The transition has been so much easier because of all of them.

Getting ready for the cold!

We were getting ready to take Jackson to school one morning, and I just had to take a couple of pictures of the boys being goofy. It has been very very cold this week, and the mornings....just brutal.

My happy Jackson. He is really enjoying school. He comes home singing cute little songs and teaches us sign language. He loves the fact that he gets to go every day! He has a little "girlfriend" Kathryn who draws pictures for him and can't leave school without a hug and a kiss (on the lips--really?) I am asking myself when this will not be cute anymore. Hopefully I can post a few pictures of them in the next few weeks. It really is very sweet. I think Cooper has a little crush on "KaKan" too.

A rare tender moment (these days) between brothers. They are both really developing their personalities and quirks. They see everything as a contest and "mine" is a word that we hear constantly around here. They have so much energy that I am wondering how we will get through another NH winter inside. Any ideas are welcome!

Also, Coop is in full force potty-training. I keep his potty in close proximity to the playroom so he will make it in time. Of course, he waits until last minute. Must have the juice, though. He is rewarded for his pee pee in skittles, which I am glad is enough to motivate him. Its amazing how excited he gets for his 'skiyyul' after he pee pees. What a big boy!

I apologize for not keeping up with this post over the last few weeks. I have been very busy with school and Jason has been out of town(with the camera), so every spare moment has gone to either studying or sleeping. I was talking to a friend about this blog the other day and I told her that it actually forces me to sit down and take time to essentially journal about our family. The time that this takes helps me to truly appreciate the miracle of family and how proud I am of all my men. I am truly thankful that I have been blessed with family and friends here and far away. Thank you all for your support. Have a happy Thanksgiving. We will be thinking of you.

Pumpkin fest and Halloween in Keene.

Pumpkin Fest 2008
The boys taking out the pumpkin guts.....

The final pumpkin fest entry by the Endacotts.....

The large pumpkin scaffold down by main street. The picture came out a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Happy Halloween!!
The boys and a few friends in their costumes.

Spongebob and Thomas the Train

Fall in NH!

Here are a few pictures of the boys playing in the leaves in the backyard. It was fun for awhile....

Then.......

Cooper was messing up the leaf piles. Jackson could take no more!
Mom: Jackson are you even having fun anymore?
Jackson: YES! I'M HAVING FUN. WAAAA

Oh the joys of autumn.
Click here for more pictures of Jackson's Birthday and leaf frolicking

Jackson Celebrates Bein' 5!

Jackson turned 5 on October 5th.

It has become a tradition (well, more like an expectation) for the birthday boy to wake up to this on his birthday:

We had a nice, quiet celebration at home with MeMah and BeeBee who were in town for the occasion.

Watching a movie in our new jammies.


The next weekend.....the REAL party. Jackson had a Karate party at the Martial Arts School. He invited his closest buddies and they had a blast!

Some of the action....(insert karate sound effects here)

Jackson's First Soccer Game

Move over David Beckham because Jackson has discovered soccer!

We signed Jax up for a micro-soccer league this fall. It is called micro-soccer partly because the little dudes and dudettes that play it are diminutive, but also because they only play 4 players for each team at a time. The goal is to avoid the "beehive" that forms when 20 little people all chase the same ball at the same time. Now there are only 8 little people chasing the ball at the same time which, incidentally, makes it much easier to take pictures.

Lacing up for the big game.


Cooper wants to use the camera. Ummmm.... no.


Jackson's intensity is palpable.


Here the team gathers for some words of wisdom from the coach. Attention deficit seems to be an issue the coach needs to address through some punitive conditioning.


So here we go. The coach chose Jackson to "start" the game which I found to be hilarious because Jackson appeared to be more interested in picking grass up and throwing it in the air. Jackson is the biggest kid on the team though so he was probably on the field for the intimidation factor. Playing the role of "enforcer" is right up Jackson's alley. Here he displays his game face.


Jackson is on team "Bolivia" which tells you all you need to know about soccer. The game started out a bit.... haltingly. Check out this clip of the beginning of the game. They put the kids into a "T" formation and the little girl in the middle is supposed to pass the ball to somebody on the wing to start the game. All of the kiddos were a bit confused about this, but once Jax figured it out he took control...





Yes, I am the one laughing like a complete douche in the background. As you can tell, my amusement sometimes kept me from focusing on my job as cameraman. These little dudes were just too cute though.

Cooper was stoked to gobble some goldfish and watch Bubby play soccer while old men and fat guys look on.



Later into the game the kids really got the hang of it. The little guy in the blue shorts was a darn good little player. Jackson's particular area of expertise was taking out the other team. He didn't do this on purpose of course, but since he was the biggest kid on the field and fell down about 40 times during the game, collateral damage was unavoidable. In this clip Jackson shows how he employs this strategy to perfection.



On the sidelines Jax waits to go in and dominate the competition.



Eventually, the allure of cartwheels, spinning, and post-game snacks was too much for the micro-warriors to ignore. I took this picture of Jackson as the game was raging about 20 feet behind him. And when I say "raging" I mean "struggling mightily". Interest had waned, but hey, they're only 4!

All in all, we had a great time. Jackson thinks he scored two goals, or maybe one, but it is tough to tell when 3 or 4 little feet are kicking the ball at the same time.

Click HERE to see all the pictures and videos of Jackson's first soccer game.

Here's a pic of the leaves that are starting to change around here. Our visitors to NH are going to be in for a pretty cool sight.