December 2012!

 

It's been a busy few months at our house with the move and the holidays.  We have settled in nicely and are enjoying the new home.  I'll do my best to catch everyone up with what we've been up to.

We started December with a visit from good friends for our annual Christmas get together.

The kids before the book exchange.



We took the kids to visit Santa at Katherine's church and we all got a kick out of Ryan's look.  He had the funniest expression and seemed so confused by the whole experience.  He would not sit on Santa's lap either.  This picture just makes me smile.

Our small group had an outing to downtown Grapevine and I couldn't resit posting this video of Jackson dancing in the gazebo.  He usually stays away from things like this so it gave me SO much joy to watch him twirling around and doing his break dancing moves like no one was watching.   It really is worth the watch.  So sweet.

Jackson had his Christmas program at school and did really well.  We were pleasantly surprised that he didn't start taking off clothes, spitting at friends, etc.  It was really sweet and we were proud of him.

 

 

Fun in the leaves in the new backyard! 

We had a visit from my sister and her kids and my mom.  

Alex, Jackson, and Ryan helping make biscuits.

The boys at the park and Kate in the background.

Ryan and Alex.

My mom and sister watched the kids while we went to a wedding.




CHRISTMAS EVE!

Helping mommy make the chocolate pie for Christmas.

Making the reindeer food.  Jackson looked in his book and saw that deer like to eat leaves so we added some leaves and then some treats (oats, carrots, and sprinkles.)

 

Mmmm...delicious!

Before bed on Christmas Eve we loaded up the car with drinks and popcorn and went for a drive to see Christmas lights.

Somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of our cookies for Santa but we did have them, only Santa got shorted because we found Jackson in the laundry room eating some of them right before bed!  I'm sure Santa understood.

CHRISTMAS DAY!

Santa came!

Coming down the stairs to see what Santa brought.

Jackson loved his castle.

And Ryan liked his car obstacle course.

Opening presents from mommy and daddy and other family.

G and Dada joined us for Christmas lunch.

What a special treat to have snow on Christmas day.  It was gorgeous.  I am thankful to have a husband who loves the snow so I was able to stay inside most of the time while he played with the boys.

 SNOW

Jackson and daddy enjoyed a snowball fight.

Jackson loved shoveling  the snow.

After nap time Ryan joined them outside. He didn't have good shoes so he used plastic bags

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First snow fall at the new house!



Ryan came in and daddy and Jackson built a snowman.  Excuse the red marker all over Jackson's face.

Laine was literally asleep on the couch by 7:30 Christmas night.  We were both in bed with lights out by 9:00.  It was an exhausting but fun day!


We will do Christmas with Laine's family this weekend and have a visit from my dad and family next week!

Wrapping Up October



We've had a busy month.  I'm so behind on blogging so I'm just going to do one long post!

 

We ended October with Jackson's party at school and some trick or treating with Colton and Caden.

 



bean bag throw

Jackson's class.

Spiderman!

Best picture I could get of all four of them. 

Ryan looking at the scary kitty.

 

Trick or Treat
 

Jackson and his buddy Colton

 

Now for the rest of the pictures from this month...

 

Ryan loves to put Elmo night night.



 

Ryan has been pulling his drawer out and climbing up on top of his dresser.  I caught him having fun with the diaper cream.

Every once in a while there are sweet moments at our house.

Fun at the park.

Jackson and Colton building the great wall.

Love this picture of the boys in boots.

The boys and I went on a "nature walk" through the woods behind our house.  Jackson was in Heaven.

Then we played in the dirt and Jackson declared it "the best day ever."  He really is easy to please. 

 

 

Laine went on his annual guys camp out for four days last week.  The boys and I had fun but it's an understatement to say that I had my hands full.  For some reason it seems that everything that could possibly go wrong did.  Ryan cut and bruised his eye, got a bad cut on his toe and fell through the bleachers at Jackson soccer game and chipped 2 teeth and bruised up his mouth pretty well. 

 

The worst thing that happened (twice) is that Ryan snuck out of the house without Jackson or I knowing.  The first time I realized I didn't know where he was so we looked in the usual places (closets, bathrooms, etc.) and couldn't find him.  I of course panicked and then remembered that he had figured out how to open the front door.  I looked and saw it unlocked.  I ran outside and found him down the street in the intersection of the street that crosses ours with his lawnmower.  Thankfully, no cars were in sight.  The second time it happened I had put the boys out back to play while I unloaded the car.  They play really well out back so I was picking up around the house.  All of the sudden I noticed the front door was open so I ran outside frantically and couldn't see him.  I ran to the end of the street (we are only 2 houses from the end) and turned the corner and found him down that street, again with his lawnmower.  He had passed over an alley and crossed a street.  I guess he made it all that way without any cars going by or if they did no one stopped because they saw a toddler walking alone down the street.  Needless to say, we now have a special lock on our door and we've had no more escapes.  I'm just so thankful that he was safe both times.

 



Jackson decided to cut his  hair during all of the chaos of the weekend.

Ryan and his little black eye.

Ryan's chipped teeth.  :-(