Christmas Morning

We woke up about 6:30 on Christmas morning with both kids excitedly whispering to each other in our bed. They waited so patiently while I made sure my cameras were ready before they went to see what Santa brought them! Guitars and stick horses were the main attraction this year along with other goodies! And of course, toy reindeer from Santa, too!

Christmas in Frisco

Last weekend, we went to visit Tim's family. We squeezed in a trip to the lights in the square,

Lots of family

And lots of presents!

The kids waited so patiently until everyone arrived for lunch so we could open presents and of course it took about 5 minutes to rip open every package!

It was a great trip, and it was good to see all of Tim's grandparents again, especially! We all had a great time! 

(I will post about the rest of Christmas soon...)

Santa Time

We were at the mall the other night on our way to Sears to pick up our new Christmas tree... The kids spotted Santa's chair and decided they were ready to tell him what they wanted for Christmas (toy reindeer). He was on a break, so the kids excited talked about what he was doing (eating cookies in the food court, of course!) Santa came back shortly after and we were second in line. I was pleased at the pleasant experience for this year, no tears!!

Cupcake

What!?! That's not how you're supposed to eat a cupcake? Lol

Thanksgiving

We have spent our thanksgiving holiday here at home with my family. Blake and Easton were so excited waiting for their cousins to get here. Blake kept asking if we could see them everyday they are here! We soaked up all the playtime we could get. 

The kids rode horses, the four-wheeler and the mule... They jumped on the neighbor's trampoline and played with pretty much every toy at grandma and poppa's! 

I only took pictures of the kids, but we had a nice time with everyone...

They waited so patiently while Poppa warmed up the horses... 

And Blake wanted a picture of Kennedy's first horse ride!

The things they say...

Tim is out of town for work, so we had a slumber party last night. The kids always sleep in my bed when daddy's gone! They requested to have their pictures taken... They look so big!

Now for the cute things they say:

The other day Blake was sitting beside me as I read on my Kindle. She kept looking at me and finally asked, "momma, how can you read that without talking?" I had to explain how you can read in your head to yourself! (Age 4.5)

We were getting out of the car and Easton stopped to get both his and Blake's jackets. I told him thank you for helping and he said "that's just what gentlemen do, momma!" (Age 2.5)

Happy Halloween!

Blake and Easton are so excited to go trick-or-treating tonight. And they look adorable in shirts made by Grandma! As I'm writing this, they are wrestling and chasing each other around the house, screaming and giggling. It's going to be a long day for them to wait until it's time to trick-or-treat...

Silly!

Halloween Fun

This weekend started our Halloween festivities for the year. The kids were excited to carve our pumpkin. They helped scoop the pumpkin "guts" out, but Easton didn't like it... too squishy, he said! Then they each drew an eye, and Blake drew the nose and they both helped with the mouth. I carved out the face they drew and Blake named it Chloe! She's currently on the front porch "scaring people!" ha ha.

St. Ann's had its' annual Monster Mash last night and Grandma and I took the kids. There were bounce houses and trunk-or-treating, but we left before the dance and costume contest (for bigger kids!) The kids were excited to wear their costumes and trick-or-treat! (Easton also gets to trick-or-treat at school and Blake gets to enjoy costume day at ballet this week, plus trick-or-treating on Halloween!)

Here is the inspiration for their costumes: Jake and Izzy from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" on Disney Junior.

and here's my Jake and Izzy!

The costumes were a hit at the Monster Mash, nobody else was dressed as Izzy or Jake, and lots of kids pointed them out "Look there's Jake! Hi Izzy!" very cute! Easton loved his hair that we spiked up like Jake's. He kept asking if we loved his "pirate hair" and he was upset with me when I messed it up putting on his pi's at night.

West Virginia

Last weekend, Tim and I traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia. We met up with some friends, who recently moved to Richmond, Virginia, for the Texas Tech game.

It was so beautiful there! The hills, the leaves starting to change for fall, the river... gorgeous!

It was a chilly, kinda rainy day, but Tech won! We were thankful for how gracious and hospitable the West Virginia fans were after hearing about their horrible reputation. We did lots of walking, especially after the game (4 miles back to the hotel), and had lots of fun!
Sunday took an interesting turn when our first plane (a 36 seater that was the only plane at the tiny Morgantown airport) was delayed trying to balance the passengers and baggage, so we missed our connection from D.C. to Houston. Instead we traveled 4 hours on a flight to Denver, had a 5 hour layover, to get home at 1 A.M. I've never been so ready to get home!

Two and a Half

Easton is changing so much these days and is growing up (Fast!) right before my eyes. Everyday he says new words, bigger words, longer sentences, and amazes me. He has a sweet heart and will spontaneously say "I love you, momma," or do something sweet or helpful without being asked. He has a temper and gets MAD when he's mad. He plays a little too rough sometimes, loves to read, puzzles, play "kickball" or catch with daddy, or play barn. Easton loves to help pick out his clothes, loves his boots (always wants to wear them) and is now potty-trained! He finally decided he was ready and wanted to wear his "chonies" (which he loves to call them like his cousin Santiago). He's only had one accident this week, and I'm anxious to hear how he did at school today in them. Also, big change - he didn't cry at drop off today! He pouted a little before, but once we walked in and he put his stuff away, he told me bye and walked over to play with play-doh with the others. Hopefully soon, he'll go in excitedly!

At 2.5, Easton is becoming more independent in some ways, although he wants to be held a lot, and he comes into our bed all the time!

Memorable Moments

Can you tell he's not happy? He was just beginning to pout about something, which he does a lot of these days!!! and I wanted to catch it on camera.

This sweet shot was taken as the kids were riding horses one cool morning last weekend. Blake was loving on Gunsmoke and had climbed up on the fence to reach him and talk to him. 

Destin 2013

Well I've been waiting to write about our trip to Destin, Florida until I had everyone's pictures... but I will just go ahead with what I have so far before I forget too much. The whole family stayed in one big condo at the beach for a week following Labor Day! I was so glad to be able to spend time and be together with everyone.

At the airport in Houston, eating breakfast... we left Midland at 6:30 AM, yikes! Thankfully the excitement of going kept the kids in high spirits. We met up with Katie and her kids and Travis at the Houston airport and we all flew into Florida on the same flight.

"Is that our airplane, mama?" "Look another Southwest airplane!"

Most days were spent eating breakfast together, going down to the beach, playing, digging in the sand, swimming, eating lunch, napping, going back to the beach, playing, digging, swimming... 

It was just so beautiful and so relaxing!

cousin love!

watching the sunset before dinner at "the Back Porch" one night

Easton hit his wall so we could not get a family picture...

as evidenced by this lovely shot

looking at the fish at Bass Pro Shops... Easton did not want to take his eyes off them to look at me

catching hermit crabs

all the big cousins!

playing miniature golf

It was a great trip! We ate great food (seafood, fried fish Hector, Travis and Poppa caught and a restaurant cooked for us, Ruth's Chris steak!), spent lots of time together, Blake practiced swimming without her floats in the pool thanks to watching Santi, Poppa, Grandma and Blake got stung by jellyfish (we think), and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

School Updates

All is well lately and we are settling into the school year routine... Blake goes to Pre-K on MWF and needs several hugs before going into school (her teachers take the kids out of the cars at drop-off so they walk away from us and don't feel like they are being "left"). She does well, but always tells me several times how much she missed me at school, and prefers "mommy days" to "school days."

She goes to speech once a week (she originally qualified for a whole calendar year, so she'll go through Feb.) But she is doing so well that we'll probably switch to every other week, and or stop altogether. yay!!

Blake also started ballet this fall, once a week, and enjoys it. She loves being a ballerina. The other day I received a phone call from the director saying that she was "too advanced" for her class and could be moved up a class. It was nice to hear and made us so proud (even if it's just out of the 3 & 4 year olds!) so now she'll be taking ballet and tap. 

Easton still cries every time I drop him off at school. His teachers are good about greeting him and being prepared to take him from me and occupy him quickly. He goes twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays and will stick out his bottom lip, start to pout, and tell me he wants to stay with me whenever school is mentioned. But he always does really well after I leave and he gets involved playing. His teachers say he is a very well behaved little boy (Grammy told me he would be, just like his daddy!) so I know drop off will get better and better.

First Day of Mother's Day Out

This little boy has been excitedly talking about going to school for months now... MDO started last week, but today was Easton's first day since we just got back from Florida. Blake's school starts at 8 and MDO doesn't start until 9, so we had a little time to kill in between. He even cried a couple times when he would ask "slush now momma?" and didn't like my answer that no, it wasn't time yet. (He picked to get a Sonic slush after school as his first day of school treat... he didn't understand why he had to wait until after school)

It was a cloudy, windy day so picture time was a little hard with the sign...

We walked in and put his stuff in his cubby and he excitedly ran to play with the toys that were out, while I spoke to his teacher. We hugged and kissed goodbye (still happy) and as I was walking out the door, I heard "momma!" being screamed as he ran up and grabbed onto me. He was crying and screaming for me so loud... (broke my heart) but his teacher quickly pulled him off me, as I said bye again. I, of course, cried once I got in the car, and was nervous all day as I wondered how he was doing.

Thankfully, his teacher said he had a great day and stopped crying as soon as they went out to play, and stayed happy the rest of the day. Once he saw me, he immediately made his sad face (which is what Blake always did, she didn't cry at drop off, but would immediately be on the verge of tears when she saw me at pick up), but we started talking about all the fun things he did and side-stepped the tears that were coming. Here's hoping for a good year!