The Night Before Christmas

Christmas seemed stressful this year... probably because I'm a procrastinator and didn't get my shopping, decorating or anthing done before school was out. The few days before Christmas I was busy shopping, sewing and wrapping like crazy.  On Christmas Eve we stopped, went to church to remind us of what all the hustle was actually about...

Then we all made Santa cookies at Grandmas...

 Tucker was done after about 2 minutes as usual... and then it was just the girls. 



What a mess blast! 

Roasting Smellows

Grandma's are the best.  And Reese, Tucker and Rylan have literally the best Grandmas in the world!  They do crafts with them, take them for walks, host Cousin Camp, let them stay up late, play games with them, make them things, surprise them with treats on holidays and sometimes for no reason at all, and... the list goes on and on. 

They are so blessed to have Grandmas close by that they can grow up knowing so well.  Grandmas just make everything more fun.

This plain ol' Friday night turned into a smellow roastin' blast....

 Reese looks like an 80's punk rocker with her rooster tail hairdo. love it.

Some of the smellows weren't edible as you can imagine... but they sure had fun burning them. 

Thomas and Friends

Grammy and Grandpa gave the kids a ride on Thomas the Train for their birthday.  This weekend we met the whole family in Rusk, TX to play and ride on Thomas.  The kids were so excited... a slumber party in a hotel on Friday night and then a whole day of fun including a train ride on Saturday. 

They all got little engineer caps to wear... blue for the boys and of course, pink for the girls.  Too cute!

The kids had a blast on the train... dancing and clapping and being together.

In addition to the train ride, they had a day full of other fun stuff.  They played with trains...

They colored and legoed it up...

They pet horses, rabbits, donkeys, etc. at the petting zoo.  Well, some just looked instead of petting.  Hmm... wonder who I'm talking about??

They enjoyed music and story time with Hobo Joe.  

And they had fun just spending time with their cousins Kaylie, Andrew and Emmy.  Surprisingly, we didn't have too many meltdowns. You never know what you'll get when you take 5 toddlers out for 6 hours of fun. 

Thanks for such a fun birthday present... what a treat! The kids were totally spoiled... snow cones, hats, whistles, and a super fun-filled day!   Reese and Tucker had a blast and were asleep before we left the parking lot.  

Thanks again. We love you Grammy and Grandpa!

One Last Ounce of Summer

Grammy and Grandpa came in town last weekend so we headed to the lake.  We hadn't been to Granbury beach in over a year and it was really fun to see how much more they enjoyed it this time.  Even Ms. Priss wasn't afraid to get a little wet this year.

Tucker was literally swimming like a fish.  He's fearless and sometimes it makes me a nervous wreck.  He was all over the place and loved every minute of it. 

Grammy was a great sport... the kids got her soakin' wet! We were originally planning to spend the afternoon on the boat so not everyone came prepared to swim.  Thanks for playing with us in the water Grammy!

Reese was really in rare form all weekend.  She was really excited to have Grammy and Grandpa here... she was eating up every minute of attention.  I was afraid we were going to have to put the girl on Ritalin or something.  She had so much fun!

After playing at the beach we went to Granbury square for some ice cream and shopping...

Tucker ate this whole apple... literally core and all.  I think there's some law against that or something.  It was a good thing Chris noticed how he was eating it so he could get rid of the seeds.  That boy loves apples.  It's so funny b/c Reese literally won't touch them. 

Grandbury is a girl kind of town.  The boys rode out to the land after ice cream so the ladies could shop for a while.  I know I've mentioned it before, but I love small Texas towns.  It would be fun to open a boutique in a town square someday.  A girl can dream.

It was a great weekend and we were all sad to see Grammy and Grandpa go.  The kids are looking forward to riding Thomas the Train with them in a few weeks.  Thanks for a fun weekend!! See you soon!



No Pink Things After Dark

While Chris and I were out of town last weekend, my parents took the kids to Six Flags.  Talk about spoiled...

Games, prizes, "pink things" at 9:30 at night.  It's official... there are no rules when they go with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids have to go through detox from all the Koo-laid and CocaLella when they get home, but its worth it to hear about all the fun they had. 

It's official... they had a blast.  Mom said they were up until midnight... hmmm, probably due to the pink things.

Thanks for watching the kids all weekend and for spoiling them like crazy.  They had so much fun and were asking for you for days! 

Grand Camp 2010

The kids spent last week in Houston with their grandparents.  It was hopefully the first of many "Grand Camps" to come.  They had a blast and got to spend some quality time with Grammy, Grandpa and their cousins.

They swam, played in the sprinkler, had Popsicles... anything to stay cool in the Houston heat.

They went to a petting zoo. And yes, that's Reese feeding the animals.  I'm not sure what's happened to this girl but she's talking to strangers, jumping into the pool at my parents, and all kinds of crazy things.  I guess Tucker is rubbing off on her. 

They played with their cousins.  They don't get to see them very much so it was great that they had this week to play and get into all sorts of trouble. 

And they went to Kaylie and Drew's 3rd birthday party.  Cake, ice cream, swimming, swinging, bubbles, and a pinata.  They so much fun.

Thanks Grammy and Grandpa.  Grand camp was a blast this year!! 

Frizzy Hair and Mosquito Bites

The two things I can usually count on when we go to Houston are frizzy hair and mosquito bites. I got really lucky last weekend though and didn't have to deal with either one. I was really excited. It's the little things in life, right? Anyway... the kids love to play and swing in Grammy and Grandpa's backyard and this time we didn't have to bust out the mosquito repellent.

They love this swing... they'd twirl around for hours if we'd let them. I don't know what's happened to me, but I get horrible motion sickness now. I used to love roller coasters and now I get sick to my stomach just looking at a swing. What in the world??

Reese is wearing my first attempt at a dress. Not too shabby for my first semi-major sewing project.

Look at Tucker with his arm around his sister. Sometimes he's pushing her down in the dirt and other times he's lovin' on her. You just never know.

Tucker's diggin' for the treats that Grandpa hid in his pocket.

"More puffs please." We were bribing them with food. It didn't quite work out the way I planned. Instead of them being content and happy to take a few pictures, they were restless and just wanted more. I think they were reaching for more food in just about every picture we took!

The kids would rather be outside right now than anywhere else. So, it was good that we didn't need a mosquito net last weekend. Thanks for a fun weekend Grammy and Grandpa!