New Years Eve

sooo...for the second time in a month, we've had to cancel a camping trip due to cold/rainy weather.  Originally it was planned for a group of us to celebrate the New Year while camping; however, that didn't work out so the Johnson's invited us over to "camp out" at their house.

WOW.  it was a good night.  

Although this picture doesn't look like it, the kids had a BLAST.  

Which included fireworks

They played from 7pm-1am...at which point we put on a movie and turned it off at 1:30am, 10 minutes later this was the media room ;)  8 sleeping children.

The adults ALSO had a blast :)

Even though we weren't camping, we still had a fire.

There may have been a firework injury....yikes! 

Tiffini provided me with a pair of 2015 glasses that I obviously loved. 

And there was a lot of time spent finding the perfect 10 seconds of a song to dance too

we closed 2014 with a picture reenacting a particular image of a girl that broke the internet and involved champagne.... 

Goodbye 2014, HELLO 2015!

Boo Boo Butt

Kids received lots of books for Christmas...with their favorite being The Book with No Pictures. Yes, this book has no pictures, but it's soooo funny, thus grabbing the readers' attention and kiddos unknowingly learn a little.  If you don't have this book, buy it today.

I was putting Mason to bed and he starts cracking up and pointing to his little chair.  Meanwhile, his sister in the other room is also laughing. 

 She came upstairs prior to us and surprised Mason by setting up the book on their favorite page.

aaahhh...yes, my children, this is one of the many joys of reading.  

Clean Up

Kids helped doing some post-Christmas cleaning...and did it without complaining.  

The secret???

"Robot Claws"

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

I'm 35!!  

SAY WHAT?!!?

Took exactly one picture on my special day:

We arrived back home after an awesome Christmas and did exactly what I wanted to......

N.O.T.H.I.N.G.

I talked to no one, I sat on the couch, I requested ordering in delicious pizza and wings, drank much needed water. and serial watched Sons of Anarchy with my hubby.

And yes, it was seriously AWESOME.

White Elephant

The adults participated in a secret santa gift exchange and a fun white elephant gift swap.  We all had different opinions on "white elephant" gifts...so that was exciting.

 Obviously the unicorn (nicknamed Harold) provided plenty of photo ops.

 Other pictures from the day:

Highlights:

*grady took me to the mall and professionally fitted me for the perfect pair of sunglasses

 (THANK YOU!)

*kids had plenty of tv/movie/video game time...but also squeezed in lego creations and music listening

*poor Hannah was diagnosed with an ear infection (which meant a trip to the drs and no pictures taken of her) 

*ate the most amazing ribs!!! 

Dallas...Christmas #3!

The next morning we were up and out of the house to visit the Hertel's in Dallas!!!  And even though I had my phone and big camera, we still didn't take one group photo...gasp!

The kids were absolutely spoiled this Christmas!!!  And we all loved it ;)

Later that evening we enjoyed an excellent dinner and the kiddos had some down time.

Once the kiddos were down, we played:

WOW...now that's a game that puts it all on the table!!

Merry Christmas!

Santa Came!!

Our Christmas morning was perfect.  

After we I napped and played with everything new, we headed over to my moms for Christmas #2.

 OH MY GOODNESS!!

And the day ended with a lovely dinner and some caroling.

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

It all started with baking Santa some cookies.

 

And then family came over.

We played games.

Ate a lasagna meal (it only took us three tries to get it right, but we can now make it!) and then watched a Mickey Mouse sing-a-long movie.

After everyone left the kiddos opened a gift the our elf brought early.

And lastly wrote letters to Santa and set out our cookies, milk, and carrots.

We are ALL excited about tomorrow!

Visiting Santa

It's one of my favorite things to do in December. 

 I love seeing them write their letters, watching their faces when they are with Santa, and hearing their stories afterwards.  

Beautiful.

LOVE this picture!

Afterwards the kiddos enjoyed their first beverage from Starbucks.  We all agreed it wasn't our favorite drink, but enjoyed sipping it while looking at all the Christmas lights in the area.

Christmas Cone Trees

We headed to Aunt Erin's house for a visit and to do a little craft...

The three pictures represent the beginning, middle, and end.

Logan showed everyone how to use the sprinkles...HUGE hit ;) 

 The Final Product!

The Holidays Just Take It Out of You

Not since Mason was an infant and Olivia a toddler have I driven around the area just because I had two sleeping kiddos.  

Gingerbread Houses!

Mason & Daddy  versus  Olivia & Mommy

I'll let you pick who "won" our family contest

Foto Friday

It was a happy day.  Last day of school before winter break.  And I kept reminding the kiddos that if it was about 30 degrees colder, all this rain would be snow...so we did a lot of pretending we were playing in snow ;)

Prevacid

In other news:  this guy has had a cough since the beginning of SEPTEMBER!!! We went to the doctor once in October (dx a virus) and once in November (dx a bacterial infection prescribed an antibiotic).  Both times I explained that he wasn't sick, he just had this constant wet cough.  Sometimes he would have a coughing fit at night and we would be up for 90 minutes trying to calm him down and get him back to sleep.  Finally two weeks ago I took Mason back in.  

We needed a solution.

DX: Acid Reflux, prescribed Prevacid....it decreases the amount of acid in the stomach.  

Two doses later, Mason for the first time in over 3 months finally did not cough.  Seriously was amazing.  We are to continue the meds for the rest of the month.  

Kites

Parents, if you would like your child to burn some energy, buy a $2 plastic kite from walmart.  Allow the kite to have no more than 4 ft. of string.  Instruct kid to start running.  Remind them that the faster they run the more likely their kite will stay up...

If they get tired, they will find a way to "recover" by jumping on their bikes.

2 hours and countless miles later....the 2 dollar kites hit the trash.  

6 going on 16

Our Christmas Train

He plays with it all. the. time.

Our Elf (Samuel) mentioned that the kiddos were being SO good that Santa told him he only needed to occasionally pop in.... and thus has not been around much this year.  However he did visit the other night and brought a new locomotive.  

Her Present

Part of Olivia's birthday present was the chance to ride horses.  Mason was also encouraged to participate, but he didn't want to...maybe next time :)

To say that Olivia enjoyed this would be an understatement.  I cannot say enough positive things about Edgebrook Equestrian Center.  The lady who worked with us was excellent.  She taught us about horse safety and how to brush the horse, saddle the horse, mount, stop, start, and turn our horse independently.  Olivia was a little shy at first, but after brushing the horse became a lot more comfortable. 

(in this top picture, you can see her sitting back, saying woah, and stopping her horse.  in the pictures below that she is working on turning her horse)

(loooove this bottom picture, her top lip is almost completely curled under)

Happy Sixth Birthday Olivia!

Happy 6th Birthday Olivia!!!

We celebrated last night with a small gathering of family (and our friends that are now our family).

We played some "minute to win it" games, 

ate cake, and had a great celebrating our girl!!

Olivia through the Year 

(January - Today)

Tidbits:

*height: 3'9" (45 inches)

*weight: 49 lb

*wears size 6 and small

*shoe size 10.5-11 

*has finally been forced (full day kindergarten) to completely give up her nap 

*sleeps 11+ hours a night.  Generally 8pm-7am.  (in the evenings she loves to read by the light of her glow worm, in the mornings we have to wake her up for school)

*WILL STILL SUCK HER THUMB!!! (we put gloves on her hands every night with zip ties around the wrist...sounds cruel, I know...however she agrees that without the gloves, she will suck her thumb)

*Does not stay dry throughout the night.  We generally take her to the bathroom before we go to bed to prevent an accident.  We've also started to limit the amount of water she has in the evening.

*prefers to drink water and drinks A LOT of it (does not really care for juice)

*generally speaking a decent eater - she is not a huge sweet eater and will frequently choose a salty snack over a sweet item.  Does not like white chicken, but will eat dark meat from a rotisserie chicken (she calls this the "good chicken").  When hungry, will eat A LOT of food (3+ slices of pizza, 6 nuggets and extras).  Loves a salad with ranch, cheese, grape tomatoes and croutons (with a scattering of lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, peppers, shredded carrots)

*active - she loves to run, bike, swim, jump, skate, etc

*concerned about what other people say about her...especially if it relates to what she is wearing

*soo has strong opinions about what she is wearing...she loooves to wear jeans and a long sleeve shirt with her hair in a ponytail and sneakers (we have wasted over $60 in shoes this year and the only one she wants to wear are her tennis shoes).  Do not ask her to wear a skirt.

*did I mention ponytail!?!  She will put her own hair in a pony tail EVERY DAY.  

*Her hair has lost some of the curl

*will torture us almost every single night because she DOESN'T want to go to bed...oh the unpleasantness

*loves all things animals (jaguar - car, dolphins - nfl sports team, etc)
*really into horses right now

*does not really want to play with dolls or barbies

*holy moly her reading!!  she has taken off...I'm not exactly sure what her exact current level is but it's definitely above a F/10... She has such a dramatic reading voice and is a pleasure to listen to.  She gets into characters and will pause to contemplate characters and situations.  

*We are reading chapter books aloud to her (currently on Charlotte's Web)

*loves to play and play and play

*pretty good at video games (mario on the wii)

*still sensitive to smells (especially bad smells) and is vocal about it

*adores and likes to help with babies/toddlers (thank you hannah and connor)

*competitive & STRONG - in gymnastics she frequently wins any endurance strength contest (holding bridge, holding a chin-up, etc)

*related to school: has really taken off...excellent behavior and great helper...definitely excelling 

*allergies, sneezing, watering eyes, allegra, clearing her throat...ugh.  It's constant!  She takes allegra twice a day and without it is MISERABLE.  Within 2 hours of not taking her next dose, she will be a hot mess.

*asthma type cough happens every so often and we start up qvar and have a couple of other meds (singulair & flonase) to use if qvar doesn't kick it  

*a leader - likes to tell others what to do and to get everyone to do her "thing"

*gravitates towards older girls 

*has a beautiful excited happy smile where the upper lip gets tucked under and disappears

*a serious child

*wants positive rewards/words of affirmation

*NOT very touchy feely or affectionate (would prefer not to give a hug..except below)

*If in trouble, wants reassurance with a hug

*creature of habit...enjoys consistency and routines

*likes football and Texans 

*independent - definitely loves doing things herself!!!

*starting to prefer realistic movies over animation

*loud and hyper ... I honestly don't know how she contains this at school

*bossy - loves to tell her brother what to do

*does a great job cleaning up and doesn't like her room to be a mess

*will still throw an impressive fit

*loooooves and neeeeeds quiet down time (especially evident after school...wants to play alone.  sometimes at a birthday party she is overwhelmed and would prefer to go somewhere without a lot of kids)

*lost her two bottom center teeth (and the adult teeth are already coming in)
*artistic...loves crafty projects
*not a tomboy, but not girlie girl either

According to Olivia

Favorite Color: turquoise and white

Favorite Person to Play with: rachel a

Best Place to Shop: heb...because of the cookies

Good Place to Play: at the park

Favorite Food: chicken nuggets

Favorite Drink: water and chocolate milk

Favorite Song: hakuna matata

Favorite Show: go tell it on the mountain (unsure of this)

Favorite Movie: another Cinderella story (just tivoed this and don't think it's necessarily appropriate for her and I've told her that....which is maybe why she likes it??)

Favorite Thing to do Outside: play dragons

Favorite Book: horse books

Favorite Toy: horses

Favorite Thing to Sleep with: Rudolf

Favorite Breakfast: pancakes

Favorite Lunch: pb and jelly

Favorite Dinner: chicken nuggets and mac and cheese

Favorite Dessert: candy canes

Do NOT Like to Eat: salmon

Favorite Game: uno (we haven't played this yet, but just received it as a gift)

Favorite Sport: soccer

Future Occupation: horse trainer