13 MInutes of Special

The kids had their Christmas program and it lasted 13 minutes from start to end. It was precious.


In walks my handsome prince with his class...


My little princess wanted to take her time down the aisle...

Cousin Brooklyn came to watch the program. I think she had the best seat in the house...

Can you spot my little weirdos?...

Elijah got to hold the "Grace" sign...he did a fabulous job...

Trying to get a group picture never goes well...

Mimi came to our program too!!

The girls were too busy with their juice and cookies to smile for the camera...

But of course Elijah wanted a picture with his best friend, Koby...

Merry Christmas

A Very Alvin Christmas

We started a new tradition 3 years ago of going to Alvin the weekend before Christmas. That year was our first holiday season after we moved from Alvin. We wanted to go back to visit our Alvin family. Aimee and I had big plans that year to have a last girls weekend before her second son would be born a few weeks later. Well, it just so happened that the afternoon before we planned to go she called and said she was in labor. This year we celebrated Grayson's 2nd birthday while we were there!


As soon as we arrived to John and Bibby's we had dinner and the kids wanted to open their presents. They wouldn't even wait long enough for me to go get my camera so I had to snap pics on my phone.

They each got an outfit, a pair of pajamas and a toy. Sadie got a Barbie princess and Elijah got the Guess Who game.

The next day we spent the whole day at the Scogin house. We had a great dinner then let the kids open their gifts.

First we tried to get a picture. They were not cooperative...shocker.

Grant 3, Elijah 5, Grayson 2, Sadie 2.

Grayson went AWOL...

Elijah got a new movie...

Sadie got a princess puzzle...

Grant got a new helmet (he doesn't know he's getting a bike for Christmas)...

Ha! At least it fits!

Grayson needed a little help opening his gift.

It was a cute box filled with all sort of goodies like blocks, puzzles and so on. There are no pics of it because as soon it was opened we had to start refereeing the kids who were all fighting over the different toys inside.

Sadie wasn't fighting. Where was she? Playing with her puzzle...she LOVES it!

While we were there we also were able to go eat our favorite Indian food with our friends, the Welches!

Merry Christmas!

Leave it to JoCarol

The kids got packages last week. They were so excited to open them, but I had to snap a picture first. Even if I didn't already know who they were from I could have easily guessed. Only JoCarol would wrap a gift so cute! We saved the the Scrabble pieces and the kids think that's part of their gift too...

The next few pics were taken with my phone (not sure why I put my camera down). My living room is a little dark...sorry.

They each got an ornament for the tree. Sadie got a Tinkerbell and Elijah got a Curious George. They were so excited to hang them on the tree that I couldn't get them to stand still and look at me for a picture...

see....

Thank you J0Carol!!!

Scroll down for another new post.

Oh Christmas Tree...

The kids were super excited to put up the Christmas tree this year. We talked Beau into pulling down everything the weekend after Thanksgiving.


Not sure why this picture is so fuzzy...


This was Sadie's first year to really be into all the decorating...

Elijah is always into decorating anything...

Except for moving some things up higher (where they weren't able to reach) I left it pretty much as they decorated it.



Elijah hung our stockings. I hadn't taken down the fall stuff yet, but he wanted me to take a picture of our stockings...

I have always tried to make my tree pretty and color coordinated, but I'm really enjoying where its going now. The older the kids get the more the ornaments change from sparkly balls and baubles to hand-made ornaments. It means so much more when I open up all the ornaments and see the sweet things the kids have made...

Merry Christmas

Some one (who by the way is horrible about updating her blog, but has no problem telling me I need to update mine) reminded me I've neglected to put something on my blog...

I have always thought "oh, I'm not going to be like those other people who don't keep up the scrapbooks or whatever for their third child...I'm going to do just as much as I did for my first." Well, now I understand why that happens. It has nothing to do with the third child not being as important at all. Its just so hard when you already have two small children at home to take care of! I totally get it now! Whew...I'm tired!

*Note to my third born who may some day read this...I love you! I have loved you from the moment I watched that second line appear. I fell in love with you even more when I saw you for the first time on November 1st. My love grew deeper when I heard your heartbeat for the first time on November 29th. My love will continue to grow every minute of every day. Though there may be fewer pictures or less intricate scrapbooks please know its not because of a lack of love...its because you're big brother and big sister have plum worn me out! Smooch smooch...Mama*

Another thing the unmentioned friend has been hounding me about has been my lack of belly shots. I just haven't taken any. The times I actually think about it are when I actually get a minute to myself and those times usually don't bode well for pictures. I have one picture I took on my phone to send to said friend so she could see the beginning of my baby bump. It is a horrible picture since I took it in the middle of cleaning. It was taken on November 2nd. The day after my first appointment. I was 9 weeks and 5 days...

Notice anything in this picture to support my claim that I hardly ever have any time to myself? I am now 15 weeks and am feeling much better than I did for the first 7-12 weeks. I have now apparently decided to attempt the record for how much food can be consumed by one person in a single day.

I am looking forward to the next 25 weeks, but am not rushing it. I'm a little nervous about having a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a newborn by myself for much of the summer. Okay...I'm a lot nervous. Fine...I'm terrified. There...I said it.

A Thankful Thanksgiving

I'm a little behind, but a few weeks ago I went to Elijah and Sadie's Thanksgiving feast at school. I apparently got there a few minutes late since Sadie's class had already come in and started eating.

Sadie gets water every day for lunch (I know...I'm so mean) and this day the school provided juice for all the kids. I couldn't even get her to look at me until she drank half the juice...


Not sure why she thinks she's so funny and has to make funny faces all the time but I think she gets it from her mom. If I ever find that woman...

A little bit later in came Elijah's class (the oldest class). Can we just take a minute to realize that Elijah will be graduating from preschool in the spring and starting kindergarten in the fall. K.I.N.D.E.R.G.A.R.T.E.N. single tear.

My sweet, rotten, wonderful weirdos...

KINDERGARTEN!! I just can't fathom this! How will I handle him being gone all day?! Just look at this face!

Elijah wanted me to take a picture of his whole class eating their feast. He is, of course, sitting next to his best bud, Koby.

The Flower girl and the Cup Bearer

A few weeks ago the kids were in their first wedding. Elijah was asked to be the ring bearer 2 years ago (yes, it was a LONG engagement) and Sadie had to step in when the other flower girl couldn't do it.

Elijah kept calling himself the Cup Bearer. Guess all those Bible stories are getting him all confused.

The rehearsal went okay. The kids were hungry and tired, but they did a good job...

Then came the rehearsal of the ceremony. Sadie was not at all interested...

Those steps are just the right size...

Luckily we were able to get Sadie to take a nap the day of the wedding (since the wedding didn't start until 7pm) but she was a grouch when she woke up. She was refusing to put her dress on and was just in a horrible mood. As soon as we got to the church building we gave her a little pick-me-up...Seven Up...

A quick shot with the bride just before the ceremony...

Aimee walked them to the aisle. As soon as Sadie saw how many people were staring at her I immediately saw her face change...

"Please don't leave me Aimee"...

We got her to drop one handful of flowers and then she came straight to me to sit down. Elijah did great. He walked all the way down the aisle and stood with the groomsmen for about 5 minutes then joined us to sit down.




The bride did great...

I think Sadie had 4 cups of punch while we waited on the new couple...

My babies are precious...red mustaches and all.

We spent the weekend being spoiled by Bibby and John. I didn't take any pictures until Sunday morning when I caught them on the porch swing. Bibby was singing their favorite song "Zippidy Doo Da" and they were just cackling. Too cute...

Their first wedding was a success!

Fun for families!!

We were invited to a Family Fall Festival at my parents' neighborhood a few weeks ago. It was great and we had a wonderful time!! The neighborhood really went all out. They are hoping to make it an annual event and I really hope they do!

The first thing Elijah saw when we got there was the giant blow-up jump house and slide. He ran right to it and that's where he stayed most of the night.

Sadie went straight to the petting zoo to feed some goats...

As soon as Elijah saw there were animals he ran right over...

View from the petting zoo...

There was also a giant tent. Inside was pumpkin painting, face painting and toddler sized play equipment...

The best part of the party (according to Sadie) was the train!

Choo choo!!

I had to pull Sadie off the train. No one was even driving it and all the kids had moved on. She rode it for at least 30-45 minutes and wanted more!

Refusing to look at the camera, but she looked so cute!

Getting her face painted...

Then it was time for dinner. Everyone that lives in the neighborhood brought stuff to have hotdogs and frito pie (and LOTS of sweets!).

Once it started getting dark the kids loaded up for the hay ride around the neighborhood...

We had a great time and really hope they do it again next year!!