New Years Eve

We had a last minute New Years Eve gathering at our house with the Murphys and the Outtens.  

hhuumm!  Loved 2015 with him :)

 Obviously we all had a good time. I believe we played Psych (iphone game), there may have been a foot race, late night walk around the block, and I think we even went in the hot tub.  

It's been a tradition that we come up with a "pose" to say goodbye to the year.  This year, I believe it was Star Wars. 

Adios 2015!!

Huntsville Day 2

The next morning good friends Paul, Andrea, and their two boys Avery and Adler came to visit.  We all went on a hike together and roasted some salami.  It was wonderful to have them stop by!

The rest of the day was spent fishing, going on another hike, and just relaxing by the fire.  

Camping - Huntsville

With Tim off work and kids home from school, we decided to go camping.  It was chilly.  Highs in the low 50s and lows in the low 30s.  However it was a perfect, after Christmas, activity.

The 4runner was LOADED.  Jerry had to sit between the kiddos :o  Tim was very excited about the inaugural use of the chuck box.   

The kids read books (waiting patiently to start the fire), collected sticks for the fire, played in the fire, and enjoyed cooking hot dogs and making smores.   They never once complained about being cold!

Tim and I enjoyed the quietness and calmness.
We drank straight whiskey and talked and listened to music.  It was perfect. 

My Birthday

After all the holiday craziness, my birthday pops up :)  

And for me, it is the most wonderful excuse to do nothing, see no one, and just chill.  

The hustle and bustle of the season wears me out and by my birthday, I don't want any presents or attention or alcoholic drinks...okay, I thought I didn't want any drinks but the evening came and I was relaxing on the fireplace hearth and decide a red wine would be my cake today.

Happy birthday to me.

Thank you for all the well wishes and for letting me do nothing!

Family!

We heated the pool, which everyone enjoyed!!  

The weather was spectacular.  And I have the most amazing in-laws who cook incredible meals for everyone.    

CHEERS!

The Day After

Yesterday, although I have no picture proof, the Sanners came to visit us!!!

 I swear it looks like they play video games the whole time....we just have a no phone rule by the pool...so I don't have pics of the HOURS they spent in there!

Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Oh how this is such a memorable morning.  

The kids had lots of awesome celebrating moments.
They must have been really good!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!  A WONDERFUL day with lots of family, presents, food, drink and FUN!

Very grateful to have so much family celebrating together.

After Grandma's house it was time for notes to Santa with snacks, thanking Samuel our Elf for the PJs, and reading the Night before Christmas.  

The kids fell asleep on the floor in sleeping bags so our guests arriving tomorrow would have clean bed :)

Our Annual...

...drink hot chocolate while driving around and looking at christmas lights :)

Visiting Santa!

Unfortunately there was a little line to see Santa...so kids visited the big tree.

Loving the magic of this season!!

How Do You Sit On Your Couch?

Jerry's Friend

Jerry has his friend Cooper over for an extended sleepover.

"Looking" at cars

Daddy took the kiddos out to look at cars.  He's been doing that A LOT recently....

Oh Jerry

So the situation goes like this:

I was working, come home to hearing the smoke detector beeping letting us know low-battery (no, we don't change the batteries when we change the clocks for day light savings, I'm sure most upstanding members of our community do).

Anyways, the noise REALLY bothers Jerry.  He's having a complete fit.  I open the door to go in the garage and get a ladder...and he goes in there and REFUSES to come back out.

So I leave him there (Exhibit A) and go run my errands

Three hours later Tim gets home and sends me Exhibit B.

Oh Jerry.  Even though the noise had stopped, he refused to come in the house.....

...until it was dinnertime...

The Christmas Closet

Every season my closet is taken over by Christmas. 

Christmas Program

Definitely bittersweet.  Our last Good Shepherd Learning Center Christmas Program.

 For the past 7 years, I have gone to this performance every.single.year (and I haven't had kids in the program that long, however my friends did and the program is just so cute I wanted to go). 

Mason was an awesome shepherd.

He was very nervous walking in and elated when the program was over.

Another birthday celebration!

This time at Grandma's house!

This girl has no problem celebrating her birthday!

Yesterday

For our family celebration of Olivia's birthday, she requested that we all go ice skating.  Disclaimer:  Tim and I haven't been ice skating in DECADES!!!

Needless to say we were all anxiously excited :)

These two did great!  They only used their "walkers" a little and the rest of the time skated around either solo or with each other.

A fun 7th birthday celebration for a pretty awesome girl!

Happy 7th Birthday Olivia!

Tidbits:

*weight: 51

*height: 3'11.25"

*shoe size: 12

*wears a 7 or small

*lost 6 teeth!

*loves all stuffed animals...currently she loves beanie boos, but isn't picky!

*really enjoys reading.  I have no idea her reading level.  She is reading chapter books, but still enjoys to look at some pictures...so that limits us on some chapter books.  The books she brings home from school are level 30+ all non-fiction.  She regularly reads for 2+ HOURS at night in her bed.  We have to tell her to stop and go to sleep!!!

*because of this, the amount of sleep she gets has decreased to around 9 hours

*Related to sleep, she is NOT a  morning person and does not want to wake up for school. She used to use an alarm to get up, and now just turns it off.  On the weekends, she stays in her bed until 8/830

*still sucks her thumb.  this drives me crazy.  CRAZY.

*stays dry throughout the night.  she doesn't wake up to go pee, but can hold it for a pretty long time (when we went camping, she went to bed and didn't go to the bathroom until 11am the next day?!?!!!)

*water is still her favorite drink

*a great eater.  she understands she must eat what's on her plate.

*does not like chicken and requests an obscene amount of ketchup to accompany her bites

*girl has one hair style - ponytail.  that's it.  we are on year 2 of it.  i'm obviously over it.  but it's what she loves....she says if her hair is down it gets in the way.

*PRACTICAL

*loves to help with little kids (connor, hannah, dean [natalies little brother]....good thing Aunt Erin is having another little one!!)

*after school there are days when she just starts jumping...non-stop.  Not sure where this comes from...complete exhaustion and if she doesn't move she will sleep OR if she has so much energy and has to get it out

*we've stopped gymnastics ... mommy is sad about this, but I was getting too many grumbles about going

*a great helper and often guides Mason

According to Olivia

Favorite Color:  white*

Favorite Person to Play with: natalie

Best Place to Shop: justice

Good Place to Play: pump it up

Favorite Food: mac and cheese

Favorite Drink: lemonade

Favorite Song: shake it off (Taylor Swift)

Favorite Show: tom and jerry

Favorite Movie: Shaun the Sheep

Favorite Thing to do Outside: play traffic with car

Favorite Book: Geronimo Stilton books

Favorite Toy: DS

Favorite Thing to Sleep with: zoo elephant - Lucky (just got it) and silky

Favorite Breakfast: french toast

Favorite Lunch: lunchable

Favorite Dinner: chicken nuggets with mac and cheese*

Favorite Dessert: brownies

Do NOT Like to Eat: chicken

Favorite Game: mario cart 

Favorite Sport: soccer*

Future Occupation: veterinarian 

Mason's Sleepover!

While Olivia was having her birthday slumber party, Chris graciously invited Mason over to have a sleepover at their house!  Movies and legos and this kid hasn't stopped talking about his awesome time with his dear friend!

Olivia's Birthday Slumber Party

For her birthday, she requested a slumber party with six girls.  We compromised and ended up having three girls come over after school.

We piled in the car and took everyone to Build-A-Bear.  I was shocked when each girl picked out a different animal!!  I thought we were about to have quadruples...

Tim was such a trooper during this whole event!

For her birthday dinner, she chose Buffalo Wild Wings.   Seriously!?

The most perfect birthday dinner EVER.
The kids played on ipads the whole time, while Tim and I ate wings and drank beer.
Cheers!!!

We came home for brownies (her request), presents, and movies.
The girls were all so sweet.  

victory!  love that each of them is snuggling their new stuffed animal

It was an incredibly fun day and super easy "party".  

GASP!

LAX Time

Exploring

These two were pretty excited to find a snail family living under a rock while exploring in our yard.

Yes, she is wearing a tank top and that is my flip flop.

Gotta love December in Texas!

Monday Bath Time

Evening Lego Construction

Outten Christmas Party

I say it every year....this is definitely one of my favorite events of the season!!!  

I mean, just look at these pictures.  

Tim borrowed clothes from other people to go along with his panta clause :)

Always dapper Mr. Hertel.

Tim and Justin continued the tradition of their "I will carry you like a baby" picture.  I believe there was also arm wrestling???

This year there was DANCING.  Oh the videos I have!!  WHY WAS I TAKING VIDEOS?!

These are some of my favorite people on earth.  Love when they are all in one place.

Thank you Outtens for hosting another AMAZING Christmas Party.  

In case you were wondering, the first Saturday in December next year is the 3rd.

I've already blocked off the 3rd and 4th ;)

I-Spy

Jerry