Tori's Birthday, Thanksgiving Weekend and Christmas Decorating

We had another good Thanksgiving this year full of the 4 f's- food, family, fun, and football. We also celebrated Tori's 18th birthday. Here is a quick recap.

A GIRL ONLY TURNS 18 ONCE

Bailey with the birthday girl.

Gigi and Pa with Blake

Soaking up our time with Tara. We sure are missing her.

What birthday would be complete without a surprise dance party? The picture is of Bailey and Uncle Fun dancing. Between Robby, Tara, Luke, Bailey, and me, I think we taught those high schoolers some new dance moves- ha, ha.

FOOD

Here's Bailey at her preschool feast. Pictures are compliments of Chelsie!

Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same without my Nana's pies. They are the perfect finish to a delicious meal and probably the reason that both Luke and I are carrying around a couple more pounds than usual.

Blake and I after lunch.

FAMILY

Here's Blake with Aunt Kathy and Nana.

And the other great-grandparents, Meme and Papa with me and the kids.

The topic of conversation amongst the great-grandparents over the weekend was generational differences in husbands and helping with the kids and in the kitchen. My Nana couldn't get over the fact that the "women" were standing around in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning while the "men" were cooking (frying) the turkey. My Meme told Papa about how she saw Luke changing diapers and feeding bottles. On both occasions all I could do was smile and giggle to myself, but I am VERY thankful that Luke helps both in the kitchen and with the kids.

FUN

For some fun we took Bailey ice skating.

It was hard work!

And we played in the leaves.

And on the hay bails.

FOOTBALL

Uncle Fun was up to no good when he taught Bailey the Longhorn hand sign.

Here she is trying to do it again. The Ags got the last laugh on the football field, which was the perfect ending to the day. Oh, and here is a sneak peek at Christmas card pictures.

 

It's Christmas Time, It's Christmas Time

 Back at home it was time to do some decorating. All of our stockings hung by the chimney with care.

This is our tree for the year. I made the hard decision that our big tree couldn't withstand Blake, nor did I want to have to watch him all the time around the tree, so we simplified and just did this.

I can't believe it's already December, but according to Bailey it has been Christmas time since Black Friday. Let the craziness begin.

Busy

Busy crawling all over the place.

Busy making messes. 

Busy getting teeth in and keeping this boy fed. Check out the top two teeth.

Busy cheering on our Aggies!!!

Busy dressing up.

Busy finding new spots to hide.

Busy finding activities around the house to do when we are too sick for school. 

So busy Bailey is tired and is back to napping everyday instead of sometimes napping and sometimes having quiet time. Silly girl has taken to napping in her beanbag.

Too busy to even change out of our jammies.

And even too busy to blog much lately, but although my hands are full so is my heart. Just love these two kids even if they do keep me busy. : )

Camping

The Hill Country Camping Society (HCCS) had its first camp of 2011 this past weekend at Pace Bend. I think Ali gave a good explanation of the HCCS or just "The Society" here on her blog. Here are a few pictures of our family and some of the older kids (Ben, Emmy, Ellie, Bailey, and Owen) eating dinner. Thanks to Kyle and Ali for organizing this month's camping trip!!! Already looking forward to next month!

1st and 4th Haircuts

Today we gave both Bailey and Blake haircuts. It was Bailey's first and Blake's fourth. I think I cut off an inch for Bailey. Check out how long Bailey's hair really is!

Blake's was just a trim and our strategy was for him to be drinking a bottle, but he was so curious what we were doing that it still ended up being pretty uneven (atleast I didn't do it : )). Check out the next picture.

Switching Gears

Since Halloween is over, it was time to starting thinking about Thanksgiving. The first thing we did was let Bailey pick out a special pair of PJs, which she traded all but 3 pieces of candy for. We picked them out about a week before and talked about trading them for candy so by Halloween she knew the drill. Thanks for the idea Cheryl! Here are the new jammies being enjoyed on the bouncy house the next day. Bailey was too busy enjoying the bouncy house to stop and take an upclose picture. The jammies are a kiddy version of psychadelic.

That day we also made our Thankful Turkey. I used to make these with my 5th graders and couldn't wait to do this with my family. Last year we laminated it and I want to keep them as a reminder of what we were thankful for each year. There is one feather for each day and we write what we are thankful for. Luke and I do one day, then Bailey, then us again, repeat. So far Bailey is thankful for her new fairy costume (we found one 50% off after Halloween), for preschool and that Abby goes there, and for her movies. I think she gets the idea???

Sorry for the poor quality of pictures, but we still don't have a camera so these taken with my i-phone.

Halloween Part 2

More Halloween Pictures!!!

Blake's not so happy, but it's one of the few ones with him.

Brothers.

The Bouncy House

Almost the Whole Group. We had lost a few by that time and Franny took the picture.

 Trick or Treating