Christmas....

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are alive and well and enjoying our Christmas vacation in the mountains!! The kids are having fun playing with their cousins and Santa was good this year! This morning we woke up to a nice surprise----a beautiful blanket of snow outside!!! So we spent the morning sledding, throwing snowballs and enjoying it all! Will hopefully get to post pics soon and maybe even a video. I got a FLIP camera for Christmas so videos will be a new addition to the blog!! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!

Pre-K Christmas Program

Jacob had his first Christmas program and birthday party for Jesus at school. Craig, Olivia, and I were able to go and join in on the festivities. The program was cute and entertaining! Jacob was standing on the end of the row and therefore had lots of "wiggle room". We were unsure how he would do since this was his first real program where he had to sing. He had expressed some apprehensions with remembering all the words to the songs and I had tried practicing with him in the car on the way to school! However, he impressed us with remembering the words and doing the hand motions when necessary. His favorite song they did was Away in a Manger. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the show, but Craig did get it on video. Here are some shots taken afterwards and a few from his party with his class. They played musical chairs, had a book exchange and decorated cookies!

Toddler Christmas Party

On Monday, Olivia had her Christmas party at Emma's house. Jacob got to tag along too, since it was not a school day for him. He hung in there pretty well considering all the kids were ages 2 and under! He was a good sport (for the most part)! The kids played for a while, had yummy snacks, made a Christmas ornament, and exchanged gifts. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, and tried uploading the pictures that my friends sent me, but they are not working. And today is Jacob's Christmas program and party so I don't have time to try and figure it out! So, for times sake, I am sending you here to view Sandy's pictures on her blog! Thanks Sandy!!!

Has it really been a year?

I cannot believe it has already been a YEAR since I started this blog!!! My, how the past year has flown by! When I first started, I really had no clue what I was doing and didn't realize how much I would grow to love this! In honor of our "first anniversary" (hee hee) here is a link to my very first post! Back then, I was preparing the kids and myself for a 2 week trip to Arizona! Here I am a year later and I am preparing for another trip! On Saturday,we are packing up and heading out for our Christmas road trip! At least Craig gets to go with us this year!! More on the trip later...here is the latest on the homefront.

Did you know that the Tasmanian Devil lives at our house?

Or at least we think so....here is proof!

Has anyone seen Olivia?

She's not here...

Or here...

I can tell she's been here, but where is she now?

Not in the playroom...

Ohhhhhh, there she is! Emptying the contents of her diaper bag and making ANOTHER mess for Mommy to clean up!

Do you see why she is nicknamed the Tasmanian Devil? She makes messes all over the house! Good thing she is cute:)

Santa Claus

Yesterday I braved the mall by myself and took the kids to see Santa. It was our only day open to go and Craig was tied up with work so yours truly got the job alone this year. Luckily, the line wasn't too bad and neither one of the kids cried. However, as my sister put it...Olivia looks freaked out and Jacob looks like he needs to go potty! Gotta love Santa pics :)

SNOW!!!!!

I had to blog about it because otherwise a lot of folks reading this would not believe me when I say it SNOWED in HOUSTON today!!!! This DOES NOT HAPPEN, EVER!!!! I mean, we are only an hour from the coast! Needless to say it was a very pleasant surprise and the kids (and adults alike) had to run outside just to see for themselves! It started out as sleet, then it was some sleet mixed with rain and then finally big snowflakes just started falling! Granted, it was only about half an inch BUT it was enough to make every kid on the block squeal and run outside! Seeing is believing so here are some pics for those skeptics out there :)
*As I began the blog, it started snowing again really hard! So, you will see a progression in the pics from this afternoon until this evening. Still in disbelief!*

When it first started....I know its hard to tell, but I promise it WAS coming down!

catching snowflakes on his tongue

sooooo excited!

These next few shots were taken just a few minutes ago. Jacob, Craig, and I ran outside in our PJs to sneak a peek! We thought it would have stopped by now, but it is still coming down!

making snowballs off the back of the car

front yard

back porch

It was fun, but this is nothing compared to what we are going to see in a few weeks! We are headed to the mountains in New Mexico for Christmas!! Can't wait!!!!!

Outtakes

The other day I got the kids dressed and attempted to take their picture for our Christmas card this year. It took several attempts and a few different locations, but eventually I was able to finally get one that would work. Just thought I would share a few outtakes from our sessions. Yes, that was plural. You didn't think I could get it done in just one shoot did you? I have a new respect for photographers! Especially when trying to photograph a 15 month old. As evidence below will show, she was NOT easy to work with! And getting both kids to look and smile at the camera simultaneously was more challenging than I thought!!!

What's on the Menu

Jacob has been learning about nutrition at school. The other day he brought home an activity that he had done and I just HAD to laugh out loud! They had to cut out pictures from magazines of healthy choices for each meal of the day. Well, clearly my son has been eating at someone else's house because we NEVER serve things like this. I don't know where he got these ideas from! I mean in our house, it's ALL nutrition, ALL organic, and 100% healthy ALL the time! Or.....maybe not! Here is what he chose for breakfast...

It's something resembling cranberry nut bread. Oh yes! Of course it looks like the fresh bread I bake every morning!

And now for lunch...

Some cheese (good for dairy), crescent rolls, oatmeal (he won't even eat it), orange juice (he has never had it) and then some toothpaste?!

On to Dinner-now we do sit down together every night as a family and eat dinner. So I am holding out hope that he will find something remotely resembling our Rachel Ray type spreads we have (ok not really but I TRY)! And this is what he comes up with...

Frozen pizza, fried shrimp, cake, ice cream and oh wait..what is it...could it be FRESH FRUIT? Maybe I am doing something right after all.

Good thing he added the toothpaste on there because he is going to need it after eating all that cake and ice cream!!!

Ornament Exchange Party

Last night I hosted my first ever Ornament Exchange Party! We had LOTS of food, tasty wine and good friends! What more do you need?! We drew numbers to see who would go first and yours truly got #1! Which meant that at the end of the game, I got to steal an ornament from someone else if I wanted to....and I did! I ended up with a beautiful red snowflake that matches my house perfectly! Here is the table before everyone and the rest of the food arrived! I should have taken a picture later because the table ended up being full of yummy treats!

Here are some shots of the ladies before we got started...

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Kristi showing off her ornament

Caught ya-no texting during the party allowed!

Nice pose

Not so nice pose!

Thanks ladies for a fun time! Looking forward to next year already!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRAIG!

Whew! What a crazy week it has been! We started the week with me and the kids getting sick! We all three had the horrible tummy bug that has been going around on top of the kids having colds. Craig was the only one who was well so he got the job of taking care of us because I was out of commission, to put it nicely. THANKFULLY we all are better now and hopefully done with being sick for a good long while!
Today was Craig's birthday, so Jacob and I made him his favorite cake~strawberry cake with pink icing! Yes, that is a totally pink cake! And I am sure he will be thrilled to learn that all of cyberspace now knows this :)

Jacob has really gotten into helping in the kitchen lately, especially when it involves things like cake! His favorite part was licking the spatula!

My boys!

Enjoying her piece of cake...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!