Breakfast with Santa

This was our best attempt at a holiday picture isn't that sad! Ha

My multiples club host a Breakfast with Santa each year for the kids and this year it happened to fall on the exact same day as the Parade of Lights. I could have easily said forget Santa I am too tired for that but if you are going to do the Santa thing with young children it is better to do it in a non hostile environment. The kids were a little too young to have any objections to Santa last year but this year might be a different story.

The club uses one of the member's churches and everyone brings a goodie to share for breakfast. Last year most of the kids were dressed up in church clothes for pictures but you can wear whatever you want to. Last year Dallas was working and I had to bring the kids by myself so they were in onsies. This year I dressed them in their Christmas outfits and was determined to get my ONLY attempt at Santa out of the way for 2008.

We arrived very close to on time which is a Christmas miracle in itself!
The kids sat down and had breakfast while everyone waited for Santa.


Santa arrived and my kids could have cared less.


After they finished eating the only thing they wanted to do was run!!! RUN, RUN, RUN! I was in a large area filled with twins and what do you know mine were the only two running like mad children! I constantly heard comments on how much energy my kids have and what a handful they must be. "Wow they sure are fast," as they fly by someone on their way to the next object of interest. I used to hope it was a phase but I think that hope has dwindled.


Deciding where to run first... Quinn Speers- just had to share he is so dang cute!

Notice we are the only ones in the hall running crazy!


Yes I know my daughter does not have any shoes on. I bought some but her fat feet wouldn't fit in them and I didn't try them on until we were on the way. Oops...


Attempted to get a good picture of them together but Paige wouldn't allow it.


I wasn't really in a hurry so we let the kids run and play while everyone took pictures with Santa. Neither Ethan nor Paige was scared of Santa this year but a decent picture was still impossible. Ethan kept starring at Santa and wouldn't look at the camera. He was a little confused because Melissa's dad was Santa this year and Ethan knows him. He probably thought why is he wearing all this stuff and whats on his face? Paige would not be still for two seconds! She didn't want anyone to hold her or keep her from running. Santa soon gave up and they were off again. I swear, we were the only couple sweating when we left that morning. We finally buckled the kids in their seats, plopped in the car, looked at each other and decided we both needed a nap now! No time for a nap the day had just begun.

Watch out Santa Paige has a mean left hook!


At least they weren't screaming too!

Float from Hell

December is always a very busy month for everyone but this year it seemed to be worse than ever. I spent the entire 1st week of December in my garage freezing my butt off! This past October my moms club had elections for board positions. Melissa my friend and the kids sitter was easily swayed into doing the parades position and somehow I got talked into helping her. After all how bad could it be since it was only twice a year, Christmas and July 4th. It was only about a month later that Melissa once again got talked into holding yet another board position, Ways and Means. According to the oh so sacred rules of the club you can't hold two board positions at the same time. Wait a minute how will that work out? "Ta Da" I was in charge of parades! SHIT!

I wasn't able to get the trailer until the Saturday before the Parade of Lights which was on December 6th. I am pretty crafty and creative but honestly I didn't know what I was doing or where to even begin. I had to borrow my neighbor and his truck to even get the damn thing to my house. I decided to put the trailer in the garage so I wouldn't have to deal with weather while trying to work on it. We barely fit the trailer in the garage with maybe 3/4 of an inch leeway.

Mom had mentioned using foil to make the lights show up brighter on the float and I ran with it. I decided to cover cardboard with foil and tack it up behind icicle lights. My neighbor, Steve, had a bunch of extra boards that he was about to throw away so he let me have them for the float. He even cut them all to fit and secured them to the float for me! I had gotten a tree from a member and decided to throw that up on the front end of the float. Steve offered to make a large pedestal to attach the tree to and it worked out beautifully. I found some old gum drops that the club had made another year and decided to use the idea. I made a bunch of new gum drops and turned the float into a red and green candy float. I covered everything in red, green, and silver tinsel to make it really shine and sparkle.

I had been working everyday after work until late in the evening when I realized that the only lights I had been given to put on the float didn't all work nor were there enough of them. I started to panic! I spent the Wednesday night before the parade in my attic with a flashlight looking for lights. Of course everyone has a pre-lit tree now and most of our lights have been thrown away or sold. We didn't have our Christmas decorations down yet because there was a 20 ft trailer in our way!!! Sorry still a tad bitter. :)

I really had no idea what I was going to do and the members of the group hadn't been any help with donating items for the float. The boxes of stuff I picked up from the old parade coordinator were pretty much just crap. I was starting to see spots and it wasn't looking hopeful that I was going to find anything. I came to the absolute last tub in the far corner of the attic and pulled it over to me. I opened it and inside... LIGHTS, ICICLE LIGHTS! Woo Hoo! I looked even closer and they were red and green! No way, I could not believe it! It was a Christmas miracle if I have ever witnessed one.

I dragged the tub down from the attic and took them inside. I now needed to see if any of them worked. They all worked and I just could not believe how perfect it was going to work out. I had never seen these particular lights before in my life. We have had icicle lights in the past but they were clear and blue. I figured I must have gotten these from my Mom since I had never seen them before. I ask my Mom later and she had never seen them before either. I swear to you, God blessed me with miracle red and green icicle lights that fateful night!

I was highly disappointed in the amount of help I received from the club member to construct the float. I pretty much did the entire float by myself with the help of Dallas and Steve my neighbor. A job like that should be a group effort and I am not even going to get started about my feelings on that subject.

Regardless the float turned out great! I had told my sob story to the lady in charge of the Parade of Lights and managed to get us a number 8 spot in the lineup. We were the first round of people to go and it was a must for all the cranky, cold kids. Dallas made sure he was not even remotely late to this parade since he almost missed the last one on July 4th. Grammie, Nana, and Grand Daddy stayed at the house with him and they all attended the parade. It was nice having all of them there to share in the experience and to have extra hands. I love that my kids are so blessed with such amazing families!

The kids did really well on the float and I think everyone had fun. Ethan was so exhausted that he pretty much slept through the actual parade. After the parade was over the kids went back home with the grandparents and Dallas and I headed to Debbie's Christmas party. Thank goodness the holidays only come around once a year!

The kids were so excited to play on the empty trailer before everyone else arrived.

Grandmas and Ethan before the parade. Addi and Landon ready to go.

It was a very festive float if I do say so myself. :)



My boys were so tired!

Coloring Days

Just thought I would share pictures of the kids coloring at Melissa's house. On this day Landon was the coloring master. He was concentrated, focused and busy. Addison was almost as interested as Landon but she made time for the camera. Paige found it more interesting to feel the marks she had made on the paper with her hand than anything. Ethan wanted nothing more than to eat his and everyone else's crayons that day! Can you imagine spending all day, five days a week with this group!

Look at my son eating his crayon!

Paige also liked to crinkle the paper.

Addi was the only one who even noticed the camera.

Paige did not understand why she could see the marks but couldn't feel them.


Happy Addi and Landon- Paige was on a mission go figure...


Everyone had a great time and surprisingly the colors all stayed on the paper... that day anyway!

Big boy hair cut

It is official- my little boy is a big boy now!

Ethan's hair had been looking very shabby for quite some time but I didn't want to get his first hair cut without his Daddy. We finally found time after the Thanksgiving holiday to all go together. We went to Cool Cuts for Kids by the mall and luckily there was only one other person there. I knew I would make a fool of myself getting all excited over my baby's first hair cut and I didn't want too many witnesses. Ha!

He loved sitting in the car chair and pretending to drive. He was plenty distracted by cartoons on either side of him. He was such a good boy as usual and did not cry once! He wasn't fond of being sprayed with water but he forgave the lady quickly. We of course had to put Paige in a chair to keep her contained while brother got his hair cut. We won't be cutting her hair for a while. It has taken us so long to get hair I would never dream of cutting hers!

The lady who cut his hair was very good. You could tell she had done this for a while by the quick movements she made to get the job done. They gave us a card with a Polaroid picture of our little man and his first locks of hair. What a milestone!






The blow dryer caught him off guard.

All Done! What a handsome young man!

Thanksgiving

I know I have been such a bad blogger lately! Work has been so busy and not only is my home computer taken apart but also AT&T recently turned off our internet by accident and has yet to turn it back on. I am going to skip all that and just try to update everyone...

Thanksgiving with my family was held at our house this year and we had the traditional turkey and dressing meal. We tried something a little different this year since all the kids nap at lunch time we decided to meet earlier around 10 something, hang out, eat, and then end the gathering for nap time. This was a superb plan however I did not put the food in the oven early enough and we ended up not eating until almost 1pm. Oops!

Everyone was is great spirits and the kids were so dang cute I could barely stand it. I absolutely LOVE getting all four of the cousins together. Especially since they have all gotten old enough to interact with one another. I could just sit and watch them play all day long...

What a group!

Group pictures are so impossible now!

Us and my brothers family

My grandparents with all the grand kids and great grand kids.


Kids playing...



Even Great Granny and Pap Paw got in the action.


Miss Abby and Uncle D are best friends! Just too cute!

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day at the Cowboys game this year since it was the last Thanksgiving game ever at Texas Stadium. We tailgated with a traditional Thanksgiving meal fried turkey, dressing, and all the fixings! It was a great experience!