Mama's little helper

The other night after dinner, I began unloading the dishwasher so that I could re-load it again. All of a sudden, I turned around and saw this...

 My precious three-year-old was putting away all of the silverware by himself!

 We got the job done in half the time...thanks, sweet boy!

***And, no, Will is not wearing pants. He does NOT like wearing pants once we get home. I don't know where he picked this habit up, but he drops his drawers as soon as we walk in the door!***

Riding around in a car with boys!

Last weekend was nice weather to hang outside. The boys decided they wanted to ride around in their Mini Cooper. Will has really enjoyed driving it all around the yard and the driveway. Daniel hasn't been too sure of it.

 But, he decided to give it a try, and I think it's safe to say he liked it.

 This is too funny of them driving away!

 And then Will thought it would be fun to drive through the leaves. Yep, that idea did not work! The tires just spun and spun!

 You can just see what he's thinking..."Man, I wonder if Daddy is going to be mad, or if he is going to help us???"

 And now Daniel is thinking..."uh, oh...here comes Daddy!" Daddy rescued them and they went about their business again!

 Then cousin Kate came to play, so Will took her for a ride. What a fun day of outdoor play!

Just call me Pioneer Woman

While browsing on my new obsession, Pinterest, I found a recipe for homemade laundry soap....what??? Yeah, I started reading about it and looking at the comments from people who made it, and I thought I'd give it a try. So, I went to Walmart, and for less than $20, I brought this home...and I got to work...

 And here is the end result. This is a 2-gallon jar that was almost full of homemade detergent. It smells great, and it cleans fabulously! The woman whose recipe I used said it lasted her 9 months doing 8 loads a week. We will see how long it lasts the Rucker family. So far though, I'm very happy with it! 

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012 to everyone! The year has not started off too healthy for the Rucker family! Daniel's double ear infection returned and he also developed RSV. He was not able to go to Jackie's all of last week. Will started getting croupy and yucky at the end of last week, but he got better over the weekend. Here he is with his new hair cut on Saturday...

 My sweet little one last night...starting to get some appetite back...

And a family craft we did this weekend. I saw this on http://www.pinterest.com/ and I knew we had to do it. I bought all the materials and then hung it in my laundry room above my washing machine! It looks so good. I am obsessed with Pinterest now. Love it!!! I have been getting so many ideas and recipes from there. 2012 is the year of the family crafts. Haha!! Thank goodness I have a husband and children who put up with me!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

This year, I made sure that Will knew the true reason we celebrate Christmas...and that it is Jesus' birthday. I have been asking him for months whose birthday we would be celebrating, so he knew it was coming! It was so sweet a few weeks ago when we were in downtown Gainesville riding by the Methodist church. He saw their nativity scene and began to talk about Jesus. Then he asked me, "Mama, where does Jesus live?" I explained that Jesus lives in heaven with his father, but that he also lives in Mama's heart and Daddy's heart, and a lot of other's hearts. I told him that one day he will make a choice to invite Jesus to live in his heart. He sat there quietly for a little while, and then he told me he would like Jesus to live in his heart one day...at the new house. If you ask him where Jesus will live one day, he will tell you, "in mine heart." So precious!

Anyway, we woke up Christmas morning at our house, and we had to check out what Santa had brought...let me restate...we were finally able to play with what Santa had brought. See, Will got up at 4:30 and ran in and pulled me out of the bed to show me what he found in the den. Then he got his Daddy up. We convinced him to get back in bed until the sun came up. One of Will's gifts was this cool Santa Express. He LOVED it.

Daniel was just in awe of everything. (He fell in the driveway two days before Christmas and got a boo-boo.)
Brad and I had my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, Brad's parents, my cousin, and my aunt and uncle over for Christmas dinner that night. Here are the boys with their Aunt Abigail. Yes, they are still in Christmas pajamas...they wore them all day.

Christmas Day was actually a pretty crummy day as far as the weather goes, so the boys were not able to ride around in their big toy Nana and Granddad got them until the next day. Here they are in their BMW Mini Cooper. They are too funny riding all around in it!

2011 was a wonderful year for the Rucker family. We are looking forward to a great 2012!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Snellville to Meme and Poppi's house. They wanted a picture with all four of their grandchildren, and this is the best I could get. Not bad compared to what I got when trying to get a Christmas card shot. Haha!

Meme and Poppi gave all of us some wonderful gifts. Once all the presents were opened, each of the children had one more gift...they all got new helmets. What were those new helmets for, you might wonder??? Well, Daniel got this great truck...you can't see much of it from this shot, but boy, isn't he cute??
And my sweet Will finally got his "Yightning" McQueen bike! Fun was truly had by all!