More Christmas Fun

Isn't December a fun month? Christmas activity after Christmas activity. Busy yet fun!

Jacob had a little Christmas program at his school last week. Here he is with his little friend Roshan before taking the stage.


These were all the 3's and 4's.


He's on the back row in the red and black sweater.


They had their Christmas party following the program. Craft time.


They got to decorate sugar cookies for their snack. And of course Lukie wasn't going to be left out. He is sitting on the end. Good thing I was in charge of the cookies so I could make sure and bring extras for the siblings! haha! Funny thing is, sweet Luke was in a mood that day and demanded 2 cookies to decorate. I had to give in to that request in order to avoid a complete meltdown. Could you imagine?


Our dear friends, Lauri and Jeff from Houston came up for the weekend. We had a great visit and I enjoyed my time with the girls! A pedicure and a blizzard with the girls along with good conversation was just what I was needing!


We took the kiddos to the mall earlier in the day to play and were able to get this sweet picture of them all! From left to right- Sarah, Connor, Jacob, Luke, Jackson, Kaitlynn and Ryan.


Jackson and Luke- best buds


Jacob and Ryan (Dana's little boy)


We made Christmas cookies and the boys had lots of fun, messy fun! They decorated Nutter Butters to look like Santa.


And then we spread the Christmas cheer to the neighbors.


I walked into the room and found Jacob looking at his Bible along with his rosary. He said he got his Bible and rosary out of his night stand because Jesus is coming. How sweet is that!


We met Dana and boys at the mall one day last week and both Sarah and Ryan were awake and we were able to snap this sweet picture. Sarah is 13 days older!


And of course I have a few sweet pictures of Sarah to post.
Baby, it's cold outside!


Sarah's Godparents brought this sleeper back from Alaska. Bearly Awake!


Sarah has officially mastered the hand to mouth coordination. She puts EVERYTHING she can in her mouth. Oh and she now has TWO yes TWO teeth. She got her first tooth last Wednesday, Dec 8 and the second one on Friday, Dec 10. Four months and six days and boom the first tooth appears. I've got some early teethers!

Christmas Traditions

One of my favorite things about Christmas time are the family traditions that come along with the season. I have such fond memories of Christmas with my family and the traditions that I grew up with. I love being able to pass along and create some new traditions with our little family. We have a few so far and I look forward to adding more year after year as the kids get older.

Our Elf on the Shelf reappeared this year. He first visited last year and Jacob named him, Elvis the Elf. He has appeared in such places as a candle stick and Santa's sleigh. The boys LOVE finding him each morning.





We light the candles on our Advent Wreath every night at dinner time. Advent is a season of looking forward and waiting for Christ's birth, and for the time when Christ will come again. It is a great reminder of what Christmas is really about.



I saw an idea on a kids Christmas website about having everyone state a good deed of the day or something they are thankful for and writing that on a piece of hay to incorporate into a manager scene. And it just so happened that Jacob brought this manager scene home that he made at school. So we are able to add our strips of "hay" to it. This is our first year to do this and I think it will be fun to add hay year after year and be able to look back at the years past.


Something new we did this year was prepared and waited for St. Nicholas to visit us. The tradition is to put your shoes in front of the fireplace on the night of December 5. (Dec 6 is the feast day of St. Nicholas) St. Nicholas will come and put something in your shoes. Jacob happily gathered shoes for all of them and placed them in front of the fireplace. St. Nick is the patron Saint of children and helping the poor. So, we decided that St. Nick would bring our kiddos money. Not to be used for them but for others.


So we gathered our money and headed to the Angel tree at the mall. We chose 2 angels and then headed to the toy store to shop. Now, they weren't too keen on the idea of picking out these cool toys and not keeping them. Of course the two angels we picked wanted Hot Wheel toys and the other Diego. So as you can imagine it was hard for them to part with these toys but understood what we were doing.

Posing with the toys they hated to part with!


Turning them into the Angel Tree


And what would a post be without posting a picture of our Santa baby.


And of course baby girl has to have some Christmas pajamas!

Santa Success

Well, we did it! All 3 kids in the picture with Santa. No tears. No screams. All smiles. Well almost all smiles. I knew we probably wouldn't get a smile out of Sarah but I'm ok with that.

We went back to Lewisville so we could get our picture with the same Santa since Jacob was a baby. He is the BEST Santa. So authentic looking. So gentle and soft spoken with the kids. Little Luke was hesitant at first but was happy to tell Santa that he wants a "horsie" for Christmas. He even gave Santa a high five after the picture. Thankfully, Sarah was indifferent to the whole thing. And Jacob was more than thrilled. He said he wanted to go back and talk to Santa some more. And believe it or not, it was Jacob and Luke's idea to wear their Santa hats.

2010


And I just have to post the years past pictures! Oh how these boys are growing up!
2009


2008


2006- heartbreaking I know! This is why we don't have a picture from 2007!!


2005

'Tis the Season

Sarah would like to tell you what we've been up to lately...

This is me on my first Thanksgiving.


My bros and my cousin Emily watching a movie at Papa Jim and G-Lana's house on Tgiving day.


Jacob is not only a good big brother but a good cousin to Emily!


We had a fun night with our good friends Jackson and Ryan. We went to the McKinney square and enjoyed a festive night complete with a horse carriage ride, bounce house and dinner.






Mom thought it would be fun to go cut down a tree from a real tree farm. There aren't too many around here but she and Daddy found one in Denison which was about 45minutes away.


We had to find just the right one.




I like my new ride that Mom got for us. She got a great deal on it on Black Friday.






I was worn out from all this tree farm fun. Gotta love that fresh country air!


Mommy and Daddy thought it would be fun to get a bigger tree than usual since we have more room for it this year. It's big all right!


I got front row seating while everyone else decorated the tree.


Mommy thought it would be fun to get the boys a little tree for their room. They love it!




And of course the boys had to decorate a gingerbread house.




And lately when the boys hear Christmas music they stop what they are doing and start dancing like this. Such silly brothers I have! But I can't wait until I'm big enough to join in on the fun.


And my doctor recently told my Mom that I could practice sitting up. So here I am. But I don't think I'm quite ready for this milestone. I kept falling forward.


And speaking of the doctor, I went for my 4 month well check on December 2 and I weigh 16 pounds and am 25.5 long, 95th and 97th percent. I'm a big girl! We are thankful that I am doing everything I'm supposed to be doing. Here are a few more things I've been doing...

* I have learned to roll over. From my belly to my back that is. Everyone was so excited. I rolled over my right side first. Then mommy rolled me back to my tummy and I then decided to roll over to my left side. I was putting on quite the show for the fam.
* I have found that my voice can go really high. I like to squeal when I'm really happy!
* I also can laugh now. Mommy does some silly things that make me giggle. She always looks so happy when I laugh. Jacob can also make me laugh.
* I am trying to reach for things now. It's not always easy to get what I'm after but I'm sure working at it.
* Mommy thinks I'm teething because I am constantly chewing on my fingers and I soak through about 3 or more bibs a day. I'm one droolin' girl!
* Today at the store, Mommy bought size 3 diapers.

I'm looking forward to celebrating my first Christmas. Mommy tells me that we are going to see Santa next week so be on the lookout for that picture. I sure hope Luke will be in the picture with us. He sure seems scared of the big guy! Hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season so far! Love to all!