Christmas Fun

The kids had their group gift exchange at the Pearce's on Wednesday. They drew names this year which was helpful as the group has grown quite a bit. All of the kids were really happy with the gifts they received. If you look closely you can see the big grin on Makena's face. I was impressed that we were able to get a picture of everyone together. Little Alex and Emma are even in there!

 

The kids had hot chocolate and cookies after they opened gifts.

After the gift exchange, we went to dinner at the Scott's house. We've gotten to know them playing soccer and basketball this year. Makena and Megan love Afton and Ireland and were so excited to get to go to their house. Here are the Christmas babies, Anna and Everett.

The Scott's have some awesome dress up outfits. After dinner the kids came downstairs wearing costumes telling us they were going to put on a show. Here they are working on their show.

Neighborhood Tree Lighting, Craft Day & More

The kids and I have started trying to visit the library regularly again. And we have discovered a new library. We love the Lewisville Branch Library! It is a newer facility with newer books. There is a better selection and it's usually not very busy when we visit. And parking has never been an issue as it has been in the past for us at the Central Library. We picked a great bunch of books the last time we were there. One of the girls picked up a copy of The Little Red Hen, which we have read a few times before and may honestly have at home. But this copy was a lot of fun because in the back of the book there was The Little Red Hen's guide to making bread with a recipe. The girls and I made it and it was actually pretty good. Here are the girls at our new favorite library...

Our neighborhood had it's Christmas tree lighting last weekend. Everett and Megan were both asleep so Phil stayed home with them and I took Makena. (Megan had actually fell asleep spread eagle on the floor...I lie you not.) They asked each family to bring an item to donate to the Salvation Army and bring an ornament to hang on the tree. Everyone met in the barn for snacks and went outside for the tree lighting. Everyone held hands around the Christmas tree and sang a couple of Christmas songs before they lit the tree. Makena especially liked the countdown before they lit the tree. Here she is hanging our ornament on the tree.

 One of our neighbors took this picture of the two of us. Proof I was there!

 Makena was pretending to be a Christmas star. :)

 We brought Megan a plate of goodies from the tree lighting. She didn't feel like she had missed out at all! ;)

 In an effort to keep the kids busy during Christmas break, we invited some friends over for Christmas crafts and pizza. Makena and Megan were so excited. In addition to our advent calendar we were also doing a countdown to craft day, as they asked me everyday when their friends would be coming over.

 Silly Makena.

 Later that day, I caught Everett trying to get naked in the living room. :) He's such a funny boy.

 I could love on this boy all day long!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!!!

We are all eagerly anticipating Christmas morning! We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

 

Expect a lot of pictures after Christmas! I just had to buy more memory for the blog and I have to wait 24 hours for it to take effect. We will have plenty of Christmas pictures as well as other fun stuff to post from Christmas break.

Makena's Christmas Program

Makena had her Christmas program at preschool a couple of weeks ago. They've been working on it since before Halloween. They sent CDs home with the kids so they could practice their songs at home and we literally listened to that it pretty much everyday while we were in the car. Makena was really excited about the show (as she called it) because there would be an audience and she would be on stage. Since the program was on a Wednesday morning, both Megan and Everett were in preschool and I was able to enjoy the entire show without interruption. Both Grandpas were able to attend and Makena was really excited about that, too. We took her out to eat lunch afterward at the "caterpillar place" (Midtown Cafe and Dessertery), which was her choice. Unfortunately, the pictures aren't great but they're too cute not to share.

 This is her preschool class. She's the third from the left on the back row.

 "Has anybody seen Santa around their Christmas tree? Has anybody seen Santa? I think he forgot about me!"

 You did a great job, sweet girl! We're so proud of you!

The Adventures of Santa Claus

I took the trio to the mall for our traditional picture with Santa a few days ago. Our Santa pics usually aren't very good. This year, I was amazed at how great our picture turned out. I don't think I have taken a picture this good of the three of them. I immediately purchased one of their overpriced frames to display it in our house. I told Phil that the picture is so good I may display it all year. :)

 I made another overpriced purchase a few weeks ago.....a Santa suit for Everett. I consider it overpriced because he will only wear it a handful of times. He looks adorable in it and I have now convinced myself that it was worth the price tag. (And I have bought Santa dresses for the girls in the past, after all.) Makena and Megan have starting calling Everett Santa Baby. :) I haven't made an Ev update in a while so let me tell you what he's up to. At his 9 month check-up he weighed 20 lb. which to my surprise was only around the 42%. Makena and Megan were only 19 or 20 lb. when they turned one so obviously the scale is different for boys. He is 30 inches long, about 97%,  and his head circumference was 18 3/4 inches or about 95%. So in other words, he's tall and skinny with a big head. :) He is crawling up a storm. He is really fast! He has been pulling up for a while now and is cruising all over the place. You can't keep this kid down. If he is awake he is on the move. His MMO teacher (where he goes one morning a week) is sure he will be walking when he returns from Christmas break. Lord help me. I was banking on the rumor I had heard that boys developed slower! He is getting finicky about his baby food. Sometimes he'll eat it and sometimes he won't. He starting to love finger foods so we may just make the transition to table food. He loves Cheerios, Puffs, bread, Baby Mum Mum, chicken and Ritz crackers. I keep trying veggie and fruit bites but he usually either doesn't like them or goes for something else when it's too slippery to pick up. He can say mama, dada and nana and we're currently working on ho, ho, ho. :)

I will not deny that this boy loves his Mama. He is usually all over me. I kept trying to take his picture and he  wouldn't stay away from me long enough to get a good shot. I had quite a few pictures like this...

How do I look from this angle?

Playing the piano...

Just getting something to eat...

Perhaps I'll have some Babybel cheese. :)

Toy Story on Ice & Snow!

Last week, I took the kids to see Toy Story on Ice. We were lucky enough to win tickets from a new local mom website, Triad Moms on Main. We had to use our tickets for a Thursday show and Phil was afraid he wouldn't get off work in time to go. So my dad was brave enough to go with me to help with the munchkins. As you can see, they were really glad he was there! I took this picture of them during intermission. Megan is too busy watching the Zamboni down on the ice to look at the camera. :)

Makena and Megan love all of the Toy Story movies and they loved seeing all of their favorite characters on ice! It was a really great show!

This past Saturday, we were just lounging around the house when we looked outside and saw it snowing! Needless to say, the girls were excited! Everett and I stayed inside and finished decorating the Christmas tree while Phil and the girls played outside.

Megan's Birthday, Thanksgiving & Little Dribblers

Megan's actual birthday was the day before Thanksgiving, so the kids were out of preschool. Makena and Megan both got to help make her birthday cake from scratch. Megan chose red velvet and it was delicious! The new Disney movie, Tangled, was released in theatres on Megan's birthday so I took the girls to see it. It is such a cute movie! The girls wanted to wear their "party dresses" and plenty of dress-up jewelry. Megan also wore the Happy Birthday crown most of the day. :)

For dinner, Megan chose our favorite local restaurant (Westown Restaurant and Cafeteria) which the girls call the cafeteria. We took the birthday cake we had made to the restaurant to share with everyone. Phil's dad and brother, Zane, were also there to celebrate with her.

This year, we asked Megan's birthday party guests to bring donations for our local Ronald McDonald House instead of gifts. Megan and Everett got to go with me to drop them off. We donated a little over $200 and quite a few items from their wish list.

Phil was on call for the entire Thanksgiving weekend, Thursday-Sunday. He was able to come home to eat Thanksgiving dinner but he was very busy every day he was on call. At least he has Christmas off! We hosted this year and all of the grandparents and Phil's brother, Zane joined us. Since Phil was on call, I ordered a turkey (that would just require heating up) to save me a little time. I wasn't sure when my help would be arriving and was fearful of cooking the entire Thanksgiving meal with 3 kids running around. Other family members, and myself made the sides and desserts. We had so much food! But It wouldn't be Thanksgiving otherwise! Here are the girls at their kiddie table.

I mixed some turkey in with Everett's puffs and Cheerios. He had tried chicken before and like it but didn't really care for the turkey. He made a face every time he tasted it. :) He did look awfully cute in his sweater vest, though!

Makena and Megan decorated their gingerbread houses the day after Thanksgiving.

Last week, the girls started Little Dribblers at the YMCA. They're learning basic basketball skills and will hopefully work up to scrimmages or games at the end of the season. It will be a very interesting game if they ever do get to that point! Even though we need to really work on their skills, they are both really enjoying it. The first time they went Megan would look over at the bleachers where I was sitting and yell, "Mom, I got a basketball!" or "Hey Mom!" She thinks she's all grown up now! They're going to get basketball jerseys and medals at the end. They're going to be so cute! I'll be sure to post some pictures of them in their jerseys once we get them. They both wanted pigtails for the first day.

Here they are doing the triple threat...