Christmas 2011

I feel so bad for not posting more Christmas pictures...it's because I didn't take many Christmas pictures! The season was wonderful and memorable, I just didn't capture digitally as I would have liked to. However, here are the pictures we did get and hopefully they'll spur memories for years to come.

We had Luke's preschool Christmas program. He did much better singing this year, and even added a little choeography, when there wasn't any. It made him much easier to pick out of the crowd. He's the one with his hands raised.

"Put your hands in the air and wave 'em like you just don't care!"

We kept putting off visiting Santa and then when we tried at Santa's Village it was over a 90 minute wait. No thanks! We ended up visiting him right by our house at Watters Creek. We walked in, said hi, took pictures with our own camera and walked out with our candy canes. It was the easiest Santa visit ever! And the kiddos loved getting to see his "reindeer" mobile that he uses while the reindeer are resting up.

Sweets

Was so happy to tell Santa he wanted a Batman castle, a football helmet and submarine for Christmas.

Reid not so much a Santa fan. :) (Mom annoyed she's sitting on some old guys lap).

We went to the Soup Mobile's "Celebrate Jesus" party at the Hyatt downtown and helped welcome our homeless friends to their hotel for the night. It was a good night for them to be inside, because it was coooold and wet! Luke had a great time high-fiving all the dudes and it was a great experience for him letting him know how we were trying to help others less fortunate.

We went to a beautiful Christmas Eve service at church. It was my favorite so far. The music was wonderful and the message perfect. It's always my favorite part of Christmas. Afterwards, we all went home to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and play games. Miss Martha and Mr. Jim came over, which we loved getting to share the evening with them.

Batman undies to open wished for Batman castle!

So many presents (see Batman costume that was promptly put on to play with the new castle).

Christmas was a blur of presents and excited kiddos and lots of family and food! Good times were had, but we can truly say it's a good thing Christmas only comes once a year, because it took us two weeks to recover! Bring on the new year!

Christmas Pictures

By REM

In an attempt to get the perfect Christmas card picture, we rounded up the boys and took them to the train depot in old Plano. It's such a great park, even without the train! There are awesome playgrounds and a beautiful pond and gazebo there. However, there was a wedding that afternoon, so we had to keep the giggles to a minimum as we were shooting...trying to get smiles. It was a little difficult. However, fun was had and some cute pictures were taken! I highly recommend you check out this park on a pretty day, it's awesome!

All aboard!

One last look for any latecomers.

Checking out what brother is up to.

My sweet fellas.

The way brothers show they love each other.

Taking a break.

Let's play!

Contemplative

The End.

We are Thankful!

I love how they had rugby shirts when they came to America on the Mayflower.

We are thankful for so, so many things. One of them being Daddy's opportunity to go to Honduras this year (I should let him guest post that trip), and Gigi coming to stay with us for 7 days to help out while he was gone. She was a LIFESAVER! And a lot of fun! :)

Not only does Gigi want to cook, iron, watch boys, sleep in Luke's room with him...she also went to Luke's Thanksgiving parade at school. He was a handsome pilgrim this year. They had a wonderful little parade and then a feast with their class.

What a way to celebrate things we are thankful for!

Luke placemat he made (of course with the Star Wars lunch box).

Dining with friends.
Here come the turkeys! I loved their costumes!
Pretty pilgrim.
Pierce the pilgrim.

Ghoulish Fun for Halloween 2011

Best of 987 pictures taken

Since summer, Luke has known who he was going to be for Halloween. His favorite villain (we're so into bad guys right now)...Captain Hook! Nana found a fantastic costume at the Disney store and he has worn that thing everyday since it arrived. I wanted Reid to "coordinate", but since Luke had already been Peter Pan, we decided to go with Hook's nemesis...The Crocodile! Plus, this will probably be the last year I get to pick Reid's costume, so I went with it. He was the cutest little croc, and Luke a perfect Hook. We took advantage of the church's Fall Festival, and Luke went on several bounce houses which was a first this year. Reid road the choo-choo (of course), and they got lots of candy (good candy...hee, hee!).

"Where's the candy mom?"

Cutest pirate I've ever soon. But don't tell him that!

Pumpkin seeds...slimy!

Carving the great pumpkin!

Then on Halloween night we invited our tried and true fellow trick or treators the Widmers and Reddings over for some candy hunting! The big kids had a blast and the littles were too cute following along. It was a successful evening and we all ate ourselves silly on sugar. Or maybe that was just me after the boys were in bed. :)