December Fun

We've enjoyed a lot of festivities this holiday season, which is good because the 70 and 80 degree temps don't do much for my Christmas spirit!

This year we took the kids to Bass Pro Shop for pictures with Santa.  We actually went before Thanksgiving and it was still crazy busy.  I guess everyone else thought they were going to beat the crowds, too.  In any case, they were both happy to see Santa and Santa himself was pretty smitten with Emily.  When Santa asked Ethan what he wanted for Christmas, I think he got nervous because all he said was "a dinosaur."  That's even after he had been rattling off a list of 3-4 things consistently when we asked him what he was going to tell Santa.  So, we get the picture with the jolly old elf and are checking out the fish tank when Ethan remembers he did not tell Santa his entire list!  [cue sad, mopey child]  So, back to Santa's Wonderland we go.  I cut to the front of the line, explained the situation to Santa's helper who was fortunately very understanding and let us have a quick word with the big guy without having to wait in the long line again.  He got it right this time... "I want a dinosaur called Garby.  He's a garbage truck dinosaur.  And a Ty.  And a Revvit, please."  We dodged a bullet there!  I'm just glad he realized before we left the store, otherwise we would've had a meltdown for sure.

On December 1st, Santa's scout elf "Tommy" arrived at our house to visit the kids.  Ethan was so excited to have Tommy back!  He has been asking about him since last Christmas.  They are reunited and it feels so good :)

We also decorated a gingerbread house that Gabby bought.  Ethan did a great job decorating the house this year and not eating ALL the candy.  He ate some, but a lot of candy ended up on the house.  And this actually held his attention for almost an hour!  He doesn't actually like gingerbread, but every night he asks for a piece so that he can eat off the candy.

Since the weather has been nicer than it was last year, we were able to get out to the Christmas Tree farm in Elgin to cut down a tree.  We had a great time picking out a tree, watching Dad cut it down and yelling "timberrrr!" and then bringing it home to decorate it.  Ethan was excited to finally get his own tree.  We got it home and put some lights on it and then Ethan decorated it with some ornaments and candy canes.  A few days later, Ethan was "playing" in his playroom after dinner and came into the kitchen with a blue/green face.  Immediately I knew he had gotten into the (rainbow) candy canes.  I asked him if he had eaten one, to which he replied "no."  Likely story!  Upon further investigation, one candy cane wrapper was recovered inside a play tent near the Christmas tree.  It's a mystery how that wrapper got there, but we went ahead and took the remaining candy canes off the tree to prevent any more theft.

We also went to the Christmas parade in Georgetown with Gabby, Peepaw, Memaw, Papaw and Aunt Cindy earlier this month, and last week we went through the Round Rock trail of lights.  So many fun memories!

More Christmas posts to come... Tis the season!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Gabby & Peepaw's and it was so nice to just be able to drive up the road for the day and then come back home! We are so thankful to have them close by!

We attempted to play a game of Thanksgiving Day Parade BINGO which was a homemade game in which I created cards with the various float/balloon characters in the parade and we marked them with candy corns when we saw them.  Sounds fun, right?  Well, it could've been fun if there weren't umpteen thousand commercials and interviews during the "parade" (if we can even still call it that) giving one little man more than enough time to eat all his candy corns and loose interest in the game.  Next year, we will be recording it from start to finish so that we can play our bingo game in a reasonable amount of time.  Third world problems, I know! 

After the failed attempt at watching the parade we enjoyed a gigantic Thanksgiving lunch made up of all the traditional foods that make this my favorite meal of the year!  Troy could take it or leave it and I think Ethan is taking after Dad on this one.  Seriously though, how could anyone not love sweet potato casserole?!?  Its beyond me.  BUT, there is still hope... It looks like Emily is going to be a Thanksgiving fanatic like her Mama.

We gave her a turkey leg to reenact a scene that we did with Ethan on his very first Thanksgiving (granted she is about 7 months older than he was at the time,) and she seriously tried to devour that thing.  We had to pry it out of her hands after she got it to her mouth for fear of her choking on it.  We did give her a few tiny pieces of turkey to eat and she loved it.  And with as much as she loves sweet potatoes, I have a feeling sweet potato casserole will not be lost on her.

Remember this... ?

We have so much to be thankful for not just on Thanksgiving, but every single day!  These beautiful, healthy children top the list!!!

(Excuse the cherry pie "leftovers" on Ethan's face, and Emily's runny nose)

Family Pictures

We had family photos done a few weeks back and they turned out super cute... especially the ones of the kids!  Here are some of my favorites :)