Christmas Village

The first year that we were married, Shane gave me my first Christmas village piece and every year since, he gives me another piece. I cheated a little a couple of years ago and bought some extra trees and little park pieces, but everything else has been added on every year. I have always loved the village, but each year the kids seem to like it more and more. This year, they could hardly wait to put it up and Gibson and Hayden have climbed up on chairs to look at it every day. Gibson also makes sure to  turn on all of the little lights every day and is very proud of himself. I appreciate it because it reminds me of how much my husband loves me.

This is Gibson's favorite piece.

This was this year's new addition. The kids love that she skates by herself.

Here are the boys checking out the village...

Blessing in Disguise

Because of our work schedules, it is not easy for our family to take a vacation. So, for Christmas break, Shane took off extra time and we had planned a trip to Ruidoso for a family vacation. We were going to leave Christmas day and spend 3 days in the mountains. Two days before Christmas, Shane came down with some horrible flu virus and it quickly began spreading to the kids. At first we were all a little disappointed, but the cancelled trip turned out to be a blessing in disguise. For the first time in a very long time, we have stayed home and enjoyed each other's company and just relaxed! Besides the throwing up and frequent visits to the toilet by various members of the family, it really has been pretty great.

My poor babies! Look at those little, flushed cheeks :(

Merry Christmas!

I hope that everyone had a merry Christmas! I know that we did! On Christmas Eve, we always go to Mimi's house to open gifts with Shane's side of the family that all live in Fort Worth. This year was no different and we headed over to her house in the early evening. Three hours later, we finished up and headed home. I have no pictures, so imagine lots of loud relatives and even louder children running around and trying to outdo each other in the noise level... My kids knocked over three FULL drinks onto the carpet, (Landry poured one of them all down her front and ran around naked because the last time that she had an accident, I forgot to put a new shirt in the bag), choked on some chips and spilled cracker crumbs everywhere! It was a time to remember!:) Thank you Mimi for your hospitality.

When we finished with all of that excitement we headed back to the house and started all of our Christmas Eve traditions. We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, decorated our Santa cookies, put out the milk (with a green straw from Gibson), made sure the reindeer had their carrots and then headed off to bed. Thankfully, with all of the excitement, by this time it was pretty late and the kids went straight to sleep.

Decorating our cookies...

The delectable treats left for Santa...

The next morning, Grace was the first out of bed and the rest tumbled after her pretty quickly. Grace got a bike from Santa and she told us later that as she was running through the living room to our room that she saw it and started to cry! Hayden got a tricycle from Santa, Landry was brought a rocking horse that she couldn't be less impressed with and Gibson got the Legos that he had asked for. Gibson, I think, was half shocked that he got anything. He told us later that their were, "no rocks!" (One of the little girls in his class at school told him that he was going to get a rock for Christmas and I think that he thought that she had a direct line to Santa.) 

Gibson with his Legos, just like Uncle Tom!

 

Here's the bike and the rest of the loot!

 

Hayden could hardly wait to jump on his new tricycle!

After we opened our family gifts, Shane's brother and sisters, parents and their kids came to our house and we had a huge Christmas again! Our extended family is getting huge! The cousins all had a great time playing together.

Jaimi with Pampa and Memaw from San Antonio.

Terry and Kelly

Landry talked on the phone the whole time

Grace with Cole and Corbin

I couldn't get all of them in the picture. Landry wasn't cooperating. Look how cute Hayden and Gibson look together!

SHE made me do it!!

I sent my older two children to lie down for their nap. They were both really quiet and everything seemed normal. As I walked into the room to check on them, Gibson looked at me from the bed with a horrified look on his face. Grace refused eye contact. They were watching TV! I said, "What are you doing?!" Grace tried to be nonchalant, "What?" I looked at Gibson and said, "You know what I'm talking about, don't you?" He nodded his head and then violently pointed at Grace and said, "This was her idea! She did it!" So much for closing ranks and defending each other. Maybe they will learn that one later...

Blisters Part II

Well, I have had several requests to finish off this story with Shane's response, so here goes:

G: Do you have any blisters, Dad?

S: Sure, I have some blisters. Go ask your mom to show you her blisters!

(Then in honor of Meet The Parents)

S: I have nipples, Jack, can you milk me?

Blisters

Gibson came in just a few minutes ago, right before bed. He was fresh from his bath and had on underwear, but not a shirt. The conversation with Dad went like this:

(Touching his chest and looking down)

G: Dad I think that I have a blister.

D: Really? Where is it?

G: (Touching his nipples) Well, I think that there is one here and one here... Do you have any blisters?

Merry Christmas!

I was going to send out a photo card with our family picture. Obviously, none of you have received one, so pretend that this is it! Merry Christmas!

Trip to San Antonio

We made a very quick trip to San Antonio last weekend. We had a good time seeing family that we haven't seen since last February. Grace played an enormous amount of UNO and wore everyone else out with it as well. Kelly and Adam were both really good sports.

There is a tree in the backyard that the kids played on for the majority of the time that we were there. Gibson ripped a shirt and pair of pants that couldn't be repaired. He is all boy, isn't he? Notice the black eye in all of it's glory... As it was healing, the blood draining blacked the other one as well.

Pampaw had a really good time with the boys. I think that book was read around 100 times.

Gracie got her turn in the tree, too.

Great friends

We have such great friends! A while back I called Ashley and told here that I needed my carpets shampooed. Then of course we planned a day for her and the girls to come from Stephenville and bring her carpet cleaner. Shane, of course, thought that we were both crazy, and Ashley even more than me, since she would drive all the way to Fort Worth to shampoo carpets. That's what I call a great friend! Our kids had a great time playing while we talked and worked.

June trying to get on the trampoline.

The big kids: Gibson, Grace and Blair

What a month!

I have been on a long hiatus. This time of the year for a music teacher is VERY hectic! In addition to Thanksgiving, I have put together and presented 4 programs with one more on the way, one extremely huge fundraiser, Gracie's science fair project and have tried to keep up with the rest of our family this month. It's been busy!

Thanksgiving week was terrific! We got a WHOLE week off from school and we had a blast! We headed to the farm on Monday and spent the whole day and night with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids had so much fun! In fact, Gibson came in just a few minutes ago asking when we were going to the farm again. 

The first stop was to see the chickens. Gibson and Hayden got a huge kick out of chasing the chickens around the pen. (I don't remember Mom and Dad ever letting us do that!:)

They rode goats... Hayden kept saying, "Whoa! Whoa!"

Landry had someone tote her around at all times. Grandpa was happy to oblige.

Grace followed Aunt Judith everywhere. I think that she was happy to see us go:)

The kids climbed all over the tractor. Landry could only get as high as the bottom of the wheel without help. She was a little disappointed. She spent the whole time chasing the big kids wanting to do everything they were doing.

Grandma and Grandpa planned a craft. The kids made gourd bird houses. Grandpa cut holes in the front of the gourds for the door and the kids had lots of fun and big messes painting them.

Landry finally found something that she could do. We turned around and she had emptied an entire box of Kleenex.

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and the kids can hardly wait to head back out to the farm.

After Cisco, we headed to Brownwood to see Memaw Mize. We had a good visit. Late Tuesday afternoon, we took the kids to the park that is around the corner from Memaw's house. Gibson was on the merry-go-round and decided that he wanted off. Instead of saying, "Please let me off," he just let go. This was the result.

It immediately looked like this. We (keep in mind that I was freaking out, more like Shane) checked to make sure that his vision was not damaged, the bones around the eye were in place, he didn't have a concussion, and fluid was not coming from the eye. (The pediatrician said that was all we could do, along with motrin.) He cried more about the ice pack that we were trying to put on his eye than he did about the injury. He was back on the playground 15 minutes later. I asked him, "Gibson does it hurt?" He answered in his most macho voice, "It only hurts when I smile..."

By the next morning, his eye was completely swollen shut. At first, (because he is the most vain child I know) he wouldn't let me take his picture until I told him that he looked like a pirate. Then he was happy to pose!

Doesn't he look fierce?! He was most excited about going to school to show all of his friends.

After Brownwood, we headed back to our house for Thanksgiving day. Aunt Miriam came and stayed through Saturday. Shane had gotten tickets to the Cowboys/Seahawks game Thanksgiving day so we were here this year for the holiday. We had a great meal and were joined by Aunt Miriam, Uncle Noah, and Aunt Esther. The next morning we girls (including Grace) got up at 4 am and headed out for our traditional Black Friday shopping. It really was a fantastic week!