The first of our many Christmas celebrations!

A couple of weeks ago our family celebrated Christmas with 4 other close friends and their families. The kids had drawn names and bought gifts for one another and the adults participated in a white elephant! However the best part of the evening was the slide show that Stacy so graciously put together for us! Each family gave her MANY pictures of their family and she put them all together with music. We had some great pictures of all of our kids, together, over the years, which were precious. It was such a great idea and made the night so memorable!

Here are all of the kids, waiting to open... less Jack who is MIA... and Emma who was sick!

The girls

Olivia was super pumped about her doorbell!

Macy and Olivia

Jack found the Little People Nativity

Jack spent a good deal of time in his pack and play in the family room with us. This little one is quite the explorer and destroyer! He broke one of Carey's ornaments and I felt awful, so off to baby prison he went! :)

Jake was sweet enough to come and visit!

One SLEEPY little guy

Awwww!

It was so much fun and Carey and Bob were the ultimate hosts once again! We can't wait to do it again next year and really look forward to another slide show!

My Little Texas Tornado

I don't know if any of you know that song by Tracy Lawrence, but it is definitely fitting for Jack! He makes a mess everywhere he goes! If there is something that can be dumped out, poured out, or spread on the floor he'll find it and do it! And just like a real tornado it takes him about 5 seconds to cause the damage and then he's moved on, while I spend the next half hour cleaning it up...

Christmas Parade

We made the trek into Dallas again this year for their annual Christmas Parade! It is such a fun tradition for our family. Although, getting there and settled, sharing a small hotel room with 2 kids (both of which ended up in my bed), and everything leading up to the actual parade can sometimes make you question, "Why are we doing this again?" But then the parade starts and even though it feels like 20 below zero outside we all have a great time!


After we got all checked in and settled we headed out to dinner with 2 groups of friends who were also there and staying at the same hotel as us! I wish I had thought to get a picture of us all at dinner. Afterwards we went back to the hotel for milk and cookies provided by the hotel!

Yea, a picture of our 2 kids! Not the best though huh?

Jack was on the MOVE!

He had a great time running around the lobby, we did not have a great time chasing him.

And of course going up and down the stairs.

I managed to click a quick pic of Olivia and Sawyer in front of the tree while awaiting the milk and cookies!

And the morning of the parade! Did I mention it was COLD?

Our little snow bunny!

The big kids anxiously awaiting and trying to stay warm!

Part of the group - Our family, Ava, Allison and Beck.

At long last....

Jack was awesome! He kept completely quiet, except for an occasional ooohhhh when something would pass by. And he didn't even try to move, probably because he had 20 layers on and couldn't move! The hat is hiding a nice bruise on his forehead from hitting the ground while his jacket was being installed! He was a tad top heavy!

Here are some of Liv's favs.... Wubbzy

Cinderella

Olivia

Hello Kitty

Max from Max and Ruby

And Denny's favorite, Josh Hamilton

And everyone's favorite, Santa Claus!

We had one sleepy bubba on our hands on the ride home. Notice that he fell asleep mid-snack!

And Olivia enjoyed watching a video! It was a nice, quiet ride home! :)

The parade really got me in the Christmas spirit which has been a hard task this year! I guess between all the floats, carols and cold weather I had no choice but get excited for this magical time of year!

Jack's New BFF

Jack has suddenly taken a sweet interest in his little sister Sophie! He will go up to her and "pet" her now rather than pull or pinch her. It's so cute!

The other day I walked in and found them here!

Not only is she in his lap but he is holding her!!!!

Of course big sis wanted to share the spotlight!

And here are Jack and Sophie playing together!

Hi five Sophie!

Who needs a third child when you have a dog!

Jack's Video

My sweet little boy is already 16 months old, seriously, how did that happen? I can't believe that he is almost a year and a half! In the last week he has seriously started talking. He still does his "Jack" language, but he is also speaking English quite well. Of course his favorite is STILL "hi"! And he now says, bye-bye, baby, puppy, please, thank you, shoe, ball, duck, and Olivia all the time! And all appropriately! The way he says Olivia is hysterical, as is thank you, I hope to get those on film next. He is also copying alot of what we say and how we say it, like he'll whisper back if we whisper to him, it is so cute and fun! If I ask him a question every now and then he will respond by shaking his head either up and down or side to side. When he shakes it up and down he also says "yeah". He has such a funny personality, he definitely keeps us laughing around here! I really think my favorite age is from around 18 months to 3 years as they learn how to talk and communicate, it is precious!

Little Miss Muffet

A couple of weeks ago the kindergarten classes at Olivia's school participated in an annual Nursery Rhyme Hoedown. They were celebrating all the nursery rhymes they had learned the following month. They were told to dress-up as a character from their favorite nursery rhyme and there would be fun activities awaiting them at school.

Olivia chose the nursery rhyme, Little Miss Muffet! Shame on me for not getting on top of this before Halloween when there were actually costumes still left, but I did not! So thankfully a dear friend let us borrow her daughter's costume. The dress is adorable and all we had to do was attach a spider and we were set!

There were some really cute costumes and I got some great ideas for Jack in 5 years when he goes to school! ;) The first year is such a learning experience... I can't wait to have at least one year under my belt! But I digress.... The kids seemed to have a great time and Olivia loved wearing that dress all day! I was so glad when she came home and it was all in one piece!

And here is just a random picture of Jack I thought I would include! He is in a trance because Neighborhood Animals is playing!

He is also mixing tea and playing with a Thumbelina brush. Poor boy! I hope Santa brings some rough and tough presents for this little one for Christmas!

Boosterthon Fun Run

I am really digging back in the archives for this post! Way back in the beginning of October Olivia's school did their annual Boosterthon Fun Run to raise money for the school. Each child was asked to raise pledges in the form of dollars per lap. They said the average child runs 25 laps, with 35 being the most. So I was just praying that she wouldn't be the last to cross the finish line, or the one with the least amount of laps!

Olivia with her friend Payton - they even held hands at one point, it was so cute!
Jack being silly and trying to escape the dreaded stroller!

Olivia is not really what I would consider an athlete, much less a runner. However, she ran 33 laps! I will say that most of her class ran the full 35 and then some, but I was super impressed and very proud of her. I think she ran all but one of those laps. And it was really so much fun! I look forward to this yearly event and so does she! When I picked her up from school that afternoon, the first thing she asked me was, "Mommy, when is the next Boosterthon?"

Finishing up Halloween

Before the next holiday approaches I figured I had better wrap up the last one. I realize it was two weeks ago and by this point no one really cares about Halloween anymore, but I just felt the need to post!

A week before Halloween we went up to our church's annual Fall Festival. Of course Kennedy and Olivia were stuck together like glue and had a lot of fun!

As Jack watched from his stroller!

On Halloween some women from our street, including myself, although I did not contribute much, threw a Halloween bash at a neighbor's house! It was so much fun! There were tons of activities for the kids including a haunted house, hay maze, hay ride, crafts, games, etc... We played, had dinner and then hit the streets for the trick-or-treating!

Here are the "Witches of Waycross"

(I have no idea why the picture is so small...)

Here is our little mouse, Gus!

And two beautiful Cinderellas!

I am so ashamed that I did not get one picture of our kids together considering I planned their costumes to go together! Bad mommy!

It was a late night and someone was worn out! But I loved every minute of that little mouse snuzzling up on me!