I love you to the Moon and Back, to Infinity and Beyond, Forever and Ever.

I wanted to take a minute to talk about the boys newest love, Toy Story.  Since it's the subject of most conversations in our household these days, I always want to remember their exhuberance and excitement because it is definitely overflowing with the simple joys of childhood. Someday they'll look back and say, Oh, those were the days.....

The Toy Story guys that have taken up permanent residence at our house.

Buzz, Woody and Squishy Alien aka McKay, Tanner and Grant

Toy Story Bikes, The best Christmas presents ever, thanks Santa!!

My boys love Toy Story. Love, Love, Love it!! Ever since they were Buzz, Woody and the Squishy Alien for Halloween, not a day goes by that I don't hear one phrase or another from one of the Toy Story movies. "Reach for the Sky", "To Infinity and Beyond" (that one generally gets used right before they launch themselves off of my furniture...scary but true) "So, we meet again, Buzz Lightya,(that's how McKay says it) for the last time.....NOT today Zurg"", "You can do it, you just have to belieeeevve in yourselllllf"and so on. They both got Buzz Lightyear bikes for Christmas, and McKay loves to ride it up and down the hallway, since it's too cold outside.  For some reason, he rides it with the handlebars backwards and although we assure him it's turned the wrong way, he's unconcerned, so we'll stop him, turn the handlebars around and then when we're not looking he turns them back the other way and goes on his merry way.  He is slightly stubborn if you haven't noticed....(Hmmm...I wonder who he gets that from??) Tanner has a big Woody that has a pull string....He loves to throw him down on our wood lamanite floor so his voice box works periodically.  Poor Woody!!  (He also has a hat that goes missing all the time...you'd think the makers of the toy would have attached the hat to his head, since it's a little kids toy, obviously a mother didn't get input when that toy was being made) McKay has a big Buzz Lightyear.  Buzz has also had a few unfortunate flying accidents and now has a wing that hangs at an odd angle, but looks fine when Mama fixes him in his pre-flight checks.  Poor Buzz!!  They also have a big Zurg, which has been missing for a few days, and every 2-3 hours I get reminded he's missing, I'm sure we'll find him in some random place. We have a "Buzz bear" and a "Woody bear", (at least that's what McKay calls them) big soft ones that came with blankets that get taken on car rides and are mandatory for bedtime. For Christmas, McKay got these cute figurines...We have Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Zurg, Mr. Spell, Ham, Weezy, Bo Peep and her Sheep, Binoculars, RC, Bullseye, Stinky Pete Prospector, Rex, Zurg's Robot, Crazy Critters, Slinky Dog, etc. He is just like a parent with them, I swear.  He'll wake up in the middle of the night asking randomly for one of the characters and if I can't find it, he isn't a happy camper.  During the day if one's lost, he wants me to stop what I'm doing and search for it until it's found.  He carries them around everywhere in a silver "Diet Coke" lunchbox (courtesy of Papa). Papa told McKay that  not many 4 year olds are lucky enough to have a Diet Coke lunchbox, so he feels extremely honored to carry it around. They get so excited to go to the store and see the new toys, we look on a regular basis but only buy once in a while so then they're extra excited when we get one. They really love Jessie, they were fighting over her all the time (fighting over a girl at 2 and 4...I hope this isn't a glimpse of things to come) so we had to get one for Tanner.  (McKay's Jessie had an unfortunate accident and lost a hand so we know which one is which) We had it 1 whole day when I caught Jada, my mom's daschund with Tanner's Jessie in her mouth.  Needless to say, she got to take a trip to the nearest garbage can, and 10 minutes later, we went to Walmart to get a new one to ensure we had peace the rest of the night.  Sadly, McKay was playing with Tanners Jessie #2 and accidently popped her head off....that girl just doesn't get a break, I swear.  So next on the agenda is getting Tanner a brand new Jessie, I hope the third time's the charm.  Also, McKay now loves to say , "I love you to the moon and back, to infinity and beyond, forever and ever".  I love it.  It is so cute, not only referencing Toy Story but the way I truly feel about them. Because I definitely love them to the moon and back, to infinity and beyond, forever and ever.  They are the light of my life and I'm so grateful for the priviledge of being their mother.