Christmas with my Folks!

Any time we are at my parents house, we always break out the camera so that we can get lots of pictures with everyone and also so that we can get family pictures all together. however, it usually takes a ton of pictures and a lot of convincing to get one that everyone is happy with.

Here is my cousin Katie holding Ayla.

And then started the attempts at a family picture. Well I will just post what I thought were the best ones.

yep...closed eyes, hands on face, heads in every direction...next

well at least most of us are looking in the right general direction.

just our family busting out some funny faces...well pretty much just cullan, briea and myself.

ahh a some what nice one of garran and myself.

sweet b playing with some ribbon

my mom and i. (note to self. do not take pictures with your hair pulled back. not attractive ;0)

my folks with all their grand kids and grand pups. again there were a lot of takes.

myself, my sister sara, and my mom

and then a big hit with the kids...their pillow pets!

cullan got a puppy

kael got a pig

bug got a lady bug!

2 months

Guess who turned two months old during all the hustle and bustle of Christmas??

That's right. Our Sweet Ayla. She is full of smiles now and as sweet as ever!

christmas cuteness

of course we always have a lot of cuteness at our house but as i was going through my camera tonight, these two popped out as being extra cute! so here you go...

 Cullan the Elf!

Briea...just cute!

Grandpa Jeff & Pump It Up!

During the holidays we took some time to visit with my dad. He had not had a chance to meet Ayla yet and so we wanted to get that done. We spent the day at Grandpa's house and out playing. Here are the kids hanging out with Grandpa at his place.

 After we had visited for a while, Grandpa took everyone to a place called "Pump It Up". It was a lot of fun. They had these huge inflatable slides and play things. The kids could bounce all over the place. They loved it. What was really cool was that the adults could play too. Let me just say. For the first time ever....I think I really felt like I was 30 when I got out of those things!

 Kael coming down the slide with Cullan.

 Grandpa and Briea coming down the slide.

 Garran, Kael, and Briea having some fun. At one point the boys went up on this 20 foot inflatable slide. you were only supposed to go down one at a time (even though the width of the slide was huge). Anyways the boys were both at the top together and they totally had a Thelma and Louise moment. i laughed so hard. cullan told kael to lay on his stomach like him. kael did. then cullan grabbed kael's hand and down they went together, holding hands on this massive slide. even though they were being a little naughty, I could not help but laugh at their expressions.

After pump it up we went home and got cleaned up to go to a family dinner with my dad's side of the family. It was really good to get to see everyone and the kids had fun playing with cousins that they do not get to see very often.

 here is Briea with her fourth cousin Kimber (i think, i am not sure exactly what they are, but they are related and born only one day apart)

 here is Briea with her third cousin Trevor. she really loved Trevor. She followed him around all night, holding his hand and hugging him.

 here we all are with my grandmother. we were really lucky that she was able to come. she had recently broke her hip and had had surgery. she is staying a nursing home while undergoing therapy and so we did not think she would be there. however, they were able to work it out and she was in attendance!!

we had a lot of fun visiting with everyone and being able to catch up.

Festival of Lights

The other night we went through the Festival of Lights with my parents and the kids. We always go when we are visiting them. The kids really love it. Kael said the other day that we went through the "magical Christmas light tunnel with grandma and grandpa!". it was really funny the way that he said it. Anyways i took a few pictures of some of the kids favorite lights.

 of course they liked the train lights.

 Santa's elves.

 A snowman kicking a field goal. (this one was cool because it looked like he kicked it right over your car)

 a tractor...of course.. we are in the Midwest.

 yet another train. the boys really love trains!

at the end they have a big tree all lit up and it says when you leave the park..."and to all a good night". very cute. i think one of my favorite things about this is that all of the proceeds go to the Make A Wish foundation. I really love that!!

B's First Hair Cut

Today I did something that I am pretty sure was more emotional for me than for anyone else. My Mom and I took Miss B to get her first haircut. I have been dreading it for a long time now, but it was time. Her hair was hanging in her face and we needed to do something about that. So I waited to go to the place where I got my first haircut. It's called the Lollipop. It is the best place ever to get your kids hair cut. The whole place is decorated just for kids and they get a lollipop while they get their hair cut. The people there are awesome and afterwards you get a certificate if it is your first time. So now Briea and I have matching certificates that each have a little lock of hair with them!

Here we are getting ready to leave with wild hair!

 Here is Miss B. She picked out which chair she wanted to sit in. She was so excited.

 I was amazed at how well she did. She loved having the lady brush and cut her hair. She sat so still and I kept asking if she was having fun. She would just shake her little head YES!

 Here she is with her new bangs!

 And then Maggie, the girl that cut her hair, put some pretty curls in it for her. I loved that and so did B.

 The back of her hair while she was curling it!

 Almost done!! She looks so much older to me right now.

It was the perfect place to take her for her first hair cut. She was so excited to go home and show off her hair to daddy and grandpa!

Bass Pro Shop Fun!

The kids went to Bass Pro shop today with Garran, Sara and Grandpa George while Grandma, Ayla and myself went to get pedicures!! I asked Garran to take some pictures of the kids having fun. They even got a picture of the kids with Santa, but I can't scan it right now so I will have to add it later.

 the kids in front of a wonderful Christmas tree.

 cullan playing some shooting games.

 looks like briea enjoys the big ol fish!

 don't they look cute together! they just love each other.

 i think she means business. what do you think?

 of course my kids found the trains. they LOVE trains.

oh yeah. she definitely means business! a lady with a gun and a look like that, i don't think anyone is going to mess with here.

just the beginning...

this is only the beginning and she is still working on it, but i am in love with her smiles!!

isn't she just so super cute!

pj's

Christmas pj's are SO MUCH FUN!

she knows!

has the funniest kids ever! Kael was sitting in time out for breaking a toy. Garran had put him there and I was in the living room. Kael yells out to me to tell me that he had broke a toy and that he was in time out. All of a sudden Cullan interrupts Kael and says "She knows Kael....She ALWAYS KNOWS!"

and the winner is.....

going to look at Christmas lights has always been a favorite thing of mine to do at Christmas. unfortunately it seems like more and more people do not put up lights. i don't know if people are not in the spirit or if it is just to much work. who knows, but i really appreciate the people that still go all out. every year we drive around and look at Christmas lights. i think at first garran just did it because he knew how much i loved it, but now that we have kids, we all really enjoy it. this year we decided to add a little spin to our tradition and hopefully spread some holiday cheer.

this year we decided that we would hand out a prize of sorts to whoever we thought had the best decorations. nothing big, but just a little surprise left in their mailbox to let them know we appreciate their effort.  now we don't always go for the prettiest house, we kind of lean towards the one that is the most fun! 

this year, this was our pick. we liked how everything was coordinated but this house also had lights synchronized to music!! we took a vote in the car and it was a definite winner!

the boys were so excited to leave this little gift in their mailbox. like i said, nothing big. hopefully they will enjoy their surprise when they check their mail tomorrow. this is the first year we have handed out awards, but i think we will continue to do it. it was so much fun and i was surprised how much the boys got into it.

I made this little tag to put on the box of candy and tried to dress it up with a bow! the tag says:

With Christmas Lights 

Done Up Right

Our Family Wanted to Say, 

You are the winner this Year

of the 

Finest Holiday Display!

Merry Christmas!

After that i just put a little note explaining that it was a holiday tradition and that we appreciated their lights! it was such a fun night and i can't wait till next year already!