It’s time to play catch up, my friends. Let us go waaaaay back to Halloween, shall we?
Grammy and Grampy came into town to witness the arrival of the Blue-Mouth Lobster. While they were here, we made up 200 bags of candy for the trick-or-treaters. Once the night was over, we only had 7 bags left. That means we had 193 TRICK-OR-TREATERS!! Unheard of!!
They stayed for quite some time; my hunch is that they were trying to get in good with the kid. It worked!! They won him over. Thanks to Grammy and Grampy for the baby-sitting, early mornings with Jacob (shout out, again, to the ending of Daylight Savings time) and everything else that you did while you were here!!
Next, we have Grandmom. She came shortly after Grammy and Grampy, again, in my opinion, to get in good with the kid. And, again, it worked. Where Grammy and Grampy used strawberry lemonade from Chili’s, Grandmom used egg salad--neither of which Jacob gets on a regular basis. And so the spoiling begins.
Thanks to Grandmom for the baby-sitting, the cooking (yum!) and making all the arrangements that had to be made in order to make the trek out here.Whew! Now we’re up to the Lighting of the Ozarks. We hooked up with the Dean’s and Booher’s in Fayetteville to witness the glory that is the lights of the Fayetteville Square. Jacob enjoyed the parade, lights and revelry. 
Next we move to Thanksgiving. The Dean’s were nice enough, or should I say brave enough, to have us up for dinner. William and Jacob enjoyed playing with their matching carts outside, as the parents looked on. 
I remarked to Dean, “So, this is what our lives have been reduced to, huh? Watching our kids push a colorful, plastic cart in the road? Yet, I have no desire to be doing anything else but this. Funny how things change.” He muttered something sentimental and then I made fun of him for erroneously riding the short bus to school when he was a kid and he made fun of me for being fat as a kid. Relationship normalized. Status quo.
We had a great time--partly due to Christy’s great cooking!! The kids enjoyed her food, too.
Well, William did. Jacob’s going through this I-only-eat-grilled-cheese and occasionally-I'll-eat-some-Cheerios phase. So, her amazing sweet potato casserole never entered his mouth. His loss!!
And we would be remiss if we didn't have our traditional Dean/Simpson pose-for-the-camera adventure.
Then, we go next to the Simpson’s, us, one-by-one, getting sick for over a week. It started with Brian, then on to me, and then Jacob. I don’t care what you say about me, just because I'm an only child doesn't mean I don't know how to share.....welllll, ok, maybe the idea is to share things like toys and cookies...not illnesses (but they're myyyy toys and cookies!!). Anyway, Brian and I missed a day of work and Jacob missed a day of school. We’re all doing better now, finally. Thanks for asking!
Since being sick, we’ve attended the Fort Smith Christmas parade. Jacob LOVED the horses (did you read that, Aunt Jeanie? He loved them!!). Unfortunately, he's going to be too big to become a jockey. Maybe he can be a model for Jockey. Wait, that's underwear, right? Whoa...nix that!
Last night we went to the Creekmore Park lighting of the park, complete with train ride through the lights, hot chocolate and cookies. Alas, the line was waaaaaay too long for the train ride, so it will have to come at another time.
And, no, we didn't get to enjoy hot chocolate or cookies, either. It seems that they were technically free but the park was asking for donations for some crazy charity that gives Christmas presents to needy kids. Goofy idea (seriously, folks, just kidding).
Well, Brian nor I had any freakin' cash. We had about a billion dollars in pennies...but that's rude, right? So, no train, no hot chocolate, no cookies. Was it a loss? Not in the least. Jacob sure enjoyed climbing up and down (and up and down and up and down) the stairs of the slide with Brian. Not going down the slide, mind you. Just climbing the stairs that lead up to the slide and then climbing them back down again while trying to stay out of the way of approximately 2 million children who were actually wanting to slide down the slide. Novel idea, huh?
Now remember, he's only 15 months old, so he requires help maneuvering the stairs.
Brian agreed to take on this task while I stood in line. I think Brian enjoyed the time with his son, for as he returned to me in line, he asserted, “Other people's kids are *&%$-ing obnoxious!” Relax, I’m sure he wasn’t referring to your kids. Unless, of course, your kids are *&%$-ing obnoxious. Then you've got a real problem on your hands. I do know a good child therapist.....
So, that pretty sums up our past month and a half. Any questions?
