Pappy

We had a great visit with my dad after the holidays. He spent several days with us. The kids were spoiled rotten by the end of the week. My dad treated them to breakfast tacos each morning from"The special Taco store" across the street (aka Exxon). Along with lots of chocolate milk, tons of swinging, many hours of building with blocks, bike rides, and many experiments with Kinley's cupcake maker.

It was really fun to sit back watch him be a grandpa. He is really good at that job.I know three little people who would agree with me!


Every time, we go out to swing. Cade starts calling for Pappy, waiting for him to come push. Pappy's fan club is growing.

I can't think of a better way to end the year than spending quality time

with one of my favorite people on earth.

Christmas Morning

I love Christmas morning! Waking up at 4:00 AM with my little sister, whispering outside my parents door, sneaking into the living room for a peek at the goodies! It was kind sad when all of that ended about ten years ago! Sadly enough, I am not exaggerating.
Christamas mornings as a child are great but I think I enjoy them even more as an adult! This year my parents were here with us. They got to be a part of the Christmas morning excitement. April and Jared arrived early too! It was fun to share it together.

Maddie and Kinley were up and ready, while little Cade lingered in bed. When he finally woke up, he was burning up with a fever of 103 degrees! You can tell in his pictures, he was not feeling the Christmas Joy.

He did enjoy his little four wheeler though. It was so cute to watch him push the accelerator and then look behind him to see who was making it go!

The one thing that made him happy was his stocking. He loved looking through it. We could not get it away from him.
A little sugar always makes us feel better!

I think he enjoyed the candy more than his stack of gifts!

Kinley was thrilled with her Santa gifts! She got the much desired cupcake maker.

Along with a Cinderella Scooter.

Santa brought Maddie a Razor scooter.

Along with her pink MP3 Player

She also got a really cool keyboard from Gigi and Pappy

The girls could not wait to share the gifts they made for Gigi and Pappy. They worked really hard on painting them.

It was a great morning. By the end of the day, little Cade felt much better. But nobody was going to take that stocking away from him.

Christmas Eve

One special treat for Christmas Eve that I have started with the kids is allowing them to open their gifts to each other. Since Mommy has soooo many Free Usborne Books, guess what we all exchanged? Our favorite Usborne products! Here they are opening presents:

Kinley's favorite story of all time!

Spanish Flashcards for Maddie

A Puppies Book for Cade. He really got into opening the gifts this year.

Right before bed, the girls set out their milk and cookies for Santa along with a special note. They were so excited that it took me several attepts to get them in bed.

Christmas at the Barn

We had a wonderful Christmas this year at Mimi and Grandaddy's house. I thought I would just list a few things about this Christmas celebration that I will always treasure.

* The wonderful prayer brunch at Penny's house. The great food and the sweet prayers of all of these ladies that I dearly love.

* Mimi's words of wisdom

* Madddie's determination to pray for Reg and Andrea's baby at the brunch prior to their announcement to the family.

* OUr new Prayer box idea thanks to Erica and Penny

* Penny's wonderful hospitality extended even to the little girls.

* My boys snuggled up on Mimi's little couch

* The wonderful lunch at Mimi's house.

* Playing scrabble with the family.

* Cari's lovely hairdo created by Kinley

* The silent prayers of every family member concerning Granddaddy's health that day

* Cade's infatuation with Joel

* Joel winning the UT tickets and no one taking them from him since he was new to the family! Look out next year Joel!

* Terry's "butt" calendar

* Maddie's perfect piano performance for the whole family

* The special attention Kika and Lizzie always give my kiddos.

* Lisa and Kika watching Barbie Diamond Castle with the girls

* Reg and Andrea's announcement about their new baby due in July

* Cade's first UT hat and all of the thoughtfulness put into the gifts for the children

* Eating so much fudge that I felt like I needed a shot of insulin

* Getting to play poker while Granna chased Cade for me

* Spending time with some of my favorite people

Visit with Santa

I could not wait for our visit with Santa this year. The girls have always loved Santa and I could not wait to see Cade's reaction. He studied my Christmas Santa Claus statues all season. He talked about "Ho Ho" nonstop so I wondered how he would do.

He was really cute. He really liked Santa but what really caught his eye were the candy canes sitting next to Old St.Nick. While Maddie and Kinley were giving Santa a run down of the desires of their heart, Little Cade snuck a candy cane.

And nobody, not even Santa, was going to take that candy from this baby.

Just as we were leaving, Cade took off running back to Santa. He gave him a thank you high five. He begrudging left his sweet visit with Santa. But I am still not so sure, his protest involved Santa. I think it had a lot to do with that sweet peppermint candy that covered his body twenty minutes later.

Kinley's Christmas program

Kinley had her first Christmas program performance this year at her preschool. In the past, I have had such awful luck with capturing any of my children's performances. My video camera will either die or I am out of batteries on my digital camera. So this year, I came prepared.
I charged my camera extra early, brought extra batteries along, and made sure we got a spot right in front. Kinley looked adorable as she marched out on to the stage. There she sat in her red polka dots smiling on the front row. Just as the song starts, Kinley moves the back row.
As you know, my girl takes after me. We are not back row material. Here are the only two pictures I got of her peeking over the shoulder of the much taller child in front of her.

Oh well, I know she sung her little heart out! We had her do a repeat performance at home. We even videoed her version of " You wish me a Merry Christmas" - Kinley's own version of the song. Besides, I think my favorite performances take place here on Foothills Dr in front of the fireplace.

Tree at Granna's house

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is putting up the Christmas tree at Granna's house! Granna has a way of transforming her house into a winter wonderland. Each year, we gather together to choose the perfect live tree for her living room.

Then we head to her house for the decorating of that tree along with the tree in the den. Yes, Granna has several trees. She even has a tree for each grandchild.

Another fun tradition she has started, is getting the kids Christmas jammies. Here are all four of them showing off their polka dots! I do not know if I'll ever get Kinley to wear anything other than these since she LOVES polka dots!

We also get a special ornament for the tree along with a Christmas book.

These year Granna got me this cute Christmas decoration spelling out JOY! What could be more appropriate than these three beauties showing it of for the camera?

Another thing to be joyous about... Reg and Andrea are expecting! We are so excited! I think Cade is hoping for a boy since he is always the only one!!

We are just praying for two healthy babies! One in April for April and Jared and one in July for Reg and Andrea! Won't next Christmas be so much fun?