Christmastime fun

Since I have not posted in a while, this will be a "all things Christmastime" post (sorry for the delay Janet and Grandma A. :)).

Last week, Tay had her Christmas program for preschool. She has been about it talking non-stop since they stared practice over a month ago. She could not wait to get up on stage and sing her heart out. When the night finally came, she was so excited. Grandparents and cousins were in tow for the show and it was sort of a big deal. But then she got on stage, could not find us, and realized there were alot of people staring at her. She was on the verge of breakdown, but thankfully her teacher came to the rescue and all was good. And once she got to stand by her bestie Kylie (on left), she was golden.

Friday night we decorated cookies with cousins. There were 4 of us who each made about 5 dozen cookies, so it was quite the production. The night ended watching dancing Christmas lights (Noah was pant-less, of course).

And then we come to our 3rd Annual Neighborhood Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I love our neighbors for numerous reasons, but one being that everyone wears a sweater. No one is above the ugliness.
We also made sure to throw in a few games, my favorite being "jingle box". The object is the get the balls out of a tissue box by dancing or moving around...good times.

And to wrap up the Christmastime fun, Tay and Mark went to the Nutcracker. She absolutely loved it and I know it helped that her favorite 2 cousins were along for the show. Can I please just freeze time and keep these kids little?

Christmas 2013

Every year my mom makes a calender for us. I love it because we never know what pictures to expect, except for the one in December. We always take the kids' picture in their pj's by our tree.

Let me just say that this was the best out of 74. And no, that is not an exaggeration.

A couple of my favorite not so calender worthy pictures...

I just love these kids.

Christmastime…Part II

We just got back from Ohio where we visited with Mark’s side of the fam.

The kids got WAY spoiled

We went for our annual trip to the local indoor pool

My favorite 2 pictures!

Mark and I even had a little adult time (thanks Dick and Janet)

at the School House Winery...

on New Year's Eve. and yes that is a garage door behind us. that's just how we roll on NYE

Good times were had by all. The second one is for you Chad. I know you are proud :)

Happy New Year!!

I love Christmastime.

Here are our past few days in pictures…

First, celebrating Christmas at my parent’s house. Do you see the amount of matching clothing going on here? This was not even the full extent of it.
Oh, and I have to give acknowledgement for the "waiting for you sign" in the last picture. I meant to on a previous post and totally forgot. I cannot take credit for the sign, I kind of stole it from Pitter Patter Art. The author of that blog is much more crafty and creative than me and when I saw this idea I just loved it. I am REALLY hoping this is our last Christmas as a family of 4!

I really cannot get enough of this kid. Don’t you just want to squeeze him? I know I do. 

The many faces of Taylor. She was SUPER excited. I like to think it was becasue we were celebrating Jesus' birthday, but we all know the truth. Girl was just excited about her new toys.

Noah went from this, to this in a matter of seconds. We decided he only likes his tractor when it's in the garage.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ~Isaiah 9:6

 I hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior!

birthday, Christmas Cookie decorations and dancing lights

This past Monday, I turned to BIG 30. I thought it might bug me, but it did not really seem any different than 29.
I mainly just want to brag on Mark. Everyday, for 30 days before my birthday, I found a note. The note gave me clue as to where I would find the next note and a clue as to what he was going to give me for my birthday. On Monday, I found out he is taking me to the Biltmore. He’s a keeper, that’s for sure!

Last night was family Christmas cookie decorating night. Mark grew up decorating cookies so he was pretty excited and the kids got to eat them, so of course they were thrilled.

My sister-in-law and her sister don’t mess around when it comes time to cookie making. They EACH made 12 dozen cookies. You do the math, 24 dozen cookies to decorate and split among 3 families. Anyone need any cookies?

Somebody should teach this girl some manners...where is her Daddy?

First we let the kids decorate…

Then the adults had their turn…

I am not sure who made the bigger mess and whose cookies looked the best. I will let you be the judge.

And then we went to a house that has the Christmas lights set to music. It was AH-mazing!

2nd Annual Neighborhood Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Have I told you before how much we love our neighbors? Well, we REALLY love our neighbors. In fact, I have forbid any of them to ever leave the neighborhood unless we can all go together. I don’t think that is too much to ask…right?

Last night was our “2^nd Annual Neighborhood Ugly Christmas Sweater Party”. Thanks to Pinterest, we had some pretty rockin’ games to play. The highlight was Christmas Minute to Win It. My personal favorites were “Can-you-get-the-red-pompom-on-a-string-up-on-your-Vaseline-covered-nose-in-a-minute game?” and “Can-you-get-the-cookie-from-your-forehead-into-your-mouth-without-using-your-hands-in-a-minute game?”

Oh and all the pictures are blurry because I still don’t quite know how to use the camera at night or inside :)

The nut stacker game winner! Do you see the motivation on his face?

I don't have to tell you who won the red pom pom on your nose game. Do you see the amount of Vaseline on his nose? Amye, I know you are so proud!

I gave it a whirl too. I even pulled my hair back….that’s how serious it was.

The only one to get the cookie into his mouth with no hands. We were all pretty excited. It's the little things in life, you know?

And these guys just had some pretty awesome facial expressions so I thought I should probably share these too (you're welcome Matt and Amye)

It’s Santa…nope it's just Eddie with a phone. Isn’t it crazy how kids just know when someone breaks out a phone and then they all gravitate to it?

Not sure why Luke decided to put himself in timeout, but he did. And the kids played "Pin the nose on Rudolph"

One minute they are loving on each other and the next they are belly bumping. I know it is fuzzy, but if you look close you can see the look of anticipation on Ben’s face and that Tay is about to fall down from the belly bump. It was pretty awesome. 

Now everyone has to practice up for next year because you know we are going to play some serious games! And I will also be nominating either Diane or Tiffany to take pictures :)

Oh Christmas Tree

We had big plans to go to a Christmas tree farm and do this…

FYI, that is not us. Although they are rockin’ some pretty awesome attire.

But it was rainy and cold, so we did this…don't you see the excitement on the kids faces?

Yep, that’s Lowes. I figure the kids don’t know the difference, at least this year. Besides, they had so much fun looking at all of the blow up lawn decorations. If it were up to Mark, we would have at least 3 of those in our 1/100th of an acre front yard. 

Here is a fun tip I learned last year, instead of going around your Christmas tree with lights, go up and down in a zigzag pattern. It is easier, takes less time, and, in my opinion, looks much better. 

And just in case we ever need a photo to embarrass Noah.

What? He wanted to dress up too. Note to self…must buy super hero costumes for Noah to play “dress up”.

Christmas Craziness!!

We just got home from 2 weeks of Christmas vacation. It was so great to see family and friends, but it was also nice to come home to our own beds! We started our vacation in Cookeville, then went to Ohio, then back to Cookeville. It was alot of traveling, but thankfully we had plenty of time in both places, so it did not feel like we were on the road the entire time. There are lots of pictures to share because Mark was there to take them :) They are not in any order, so bare with me.

These first few are actually from before Christmas. We had a friend take family pictures for our Christmas card. I wanted to wait to share them until we mailed out the card. She did a great job and I am glad that we got them!










Santa come to the hardware store down the road from us. Both the kids did great and Taylor loved the candy cane Santa gave her.


Noah just wanted to pull his beard (I think he knew it was fake :))




When we were in Ohio, we went to an indoor pool. Taylor had a great time, but Noah took a while to warm up to the water. He finally started having a good time right before we were about to leave.


Taylor went down this slide over and over and over. She spent most of the time on it.


Taylor had a good time with her cousin Brooke. They played well together and Taylor liked to color with her.


Noah actually left these on while we were opening presents. He did not really get the hang of opening presents this Christmas...maybe next year.


Noah's got his first haircut while we were in Cookeville! He was not a huge fan, but overall he did pretty good. It has already grown back, so I think I am going to have to buy some clippers!


Noah is CLOSE to walking. He has already taken a couple of steps, but he is still a little wobbly. I would not be surprised if he was up and going in the next month or so.


Tacky Christmas sweater party...


Taylor and Noah opened their presents from us at my parents house. Taylor liked her books more than anything else.




We always read "The Night Before Christmas" at my Grandma's before we open gifts. Taylor wanted to help.


My mom bought all the grandkids matching outfits. Here are the boys in one of there's.


Taylor was Addie's shadow. She did EVERYTHING that Addie did. It was pretty cute.


Not sure is Noah is happy of mad here, but we will go with happy.


When Tay would open gifts, if it was clothes she would hold it up to her chest and say "cute". We are in trouble :)




The 4 grandkids and their matching pj's.






I think this kid is always smiling. I love it!


Taylor and her 6 month old cousin. She wanted to "hold" him. Not sure how well it worked considering he weighs almost as much as she does.


Grandma and Noah...what a sweet picture.


Uncle Chad had an ice cream cone, so Tay went and found a pretend one and "ate" it with her uncle.


Again...smiling :)


Taylor always wants to line everything up. We think she might be a bit OCD.


Taylor got several dress up outfits this Christmas. She loved her green sparkly shoes and wore them all day.


More Christmas pictures...




THE END!