Christmas 2009- The Year of the DSi

We had a wonderful Christmas!! I had Christmas Eve off for the first time in years so we went to see Grandma in Stephenville and it snowed the whole way there and the whole way back and the whole day once we were back. We stayed in Aledo to open presents with my parents and then spent a LOT of time trying to get home. Christmas Eve night we had Angelo's BBQ at Don and Sally's (great choice I might add) and opened presents with them. Christmas morning John and I got up REALLY early to start breakfast and shower and all before everyone came over. Fun was had by all!! New Year's was completely uneventful and I was asleep before the kids at 10:30!! Being a mom made me lame (really just tired!!).

Christmas morning at our house

Charlie was trying to blow out the candles. Notice the white snow outside the window.
Jake got a DSi the previous day at the farm.

Charlie with his flashing glasses, pirate hat, raindeer nose, firefighter jacket, and Superman shirt. All new..... he was really excited about all of it

WHAT!! TOY STORY ALARM CLOCK!!!!

(we haven't used it yet)

Buzz Lightyear robe

The kids got camera's from daddy! They were really excited!!

Mommy, the Genius, got each kid a harmonica!!

They love them!

Sally and Grandy joined us for breakfast before we opened presents. It was killing Jake that we were making him wait to open. Notice how excited he looks.

We got a pogo stick for Charlie, who doesn't weigh enough to use it but..... (brace yourselves)

John can use it!! No trip to the ER either!!

JAKE IS EIGHT!!!!!

Saturday we had Jake's birthday party. We had a lady from Zooniversity come and show some animals and had a face painter as well. It was a really good time!!

All Jake's friends came to the farm for cake and fun!!

Grandpa's friend M-ARGH-ty came too. (I totally stole that from Kelly but it was just too good not to steal!!)

Spiderman made an apperance. We know Uncle Bradley was really jealous that he couldn't be here after seeing this shot of John! :)

Here's a shot of all the kids. The boys were too cool to get their faces painted but the girls LOVED it, as did some of the adults!

Here are Gwen, Riley, Lauren, and Emma. Some of the princesses in Jake's class.

Jake was not about to touch the hedgehog. For anyone looking for party ideas check out http://www.zooniversity.com/

They did a great job and the kids and grownups loved it!!

Lauren and Elise as a cat and dog. I thought the tongue really made the puppy!!

My little tiger!!! He kept this paint on from 10am on Saturday morning until about 7pm Sunday night. He loved being a tiger!!!

Horses and such....

We went to Layton and Lauren's birthday party on Sunday. It was at a local stable and Charlie rode a horse for the first time. He was so excited that he HAD to find his boots to wear. We actually had a birthday party directly afterward and Charlie had so much fun at the first one we didn't make it to the second. No energy left!! Also, no, I wasn't avoiding Jake, he was too cool to have his picture taken by his mom. Yes, we are there.

Here's Charlie with the goats. He wasn't too sure but warmed up to them with some prompting.
Charlie and the goats.

Jake on the horse.

Charlie thought he was too cool!!

He had a blast. Poor girl leading him though, he never stopped talking.

Very excited!!

Trying on the helment.
The reason we didn't make it to party number two. :(

Thanksgiving '09

We have had some excitment the last week or so. Auntie Em and Uncle Bradley were here from NC with our most perfect neice/ cousin, Claire. We all had a blast!! We can't wait for our summer vacation with them!!

Charlie

Auntie Em, Claire, and Charlie
She was laughing out loud!! Can you tell?! So cute!!

Smiley Claire

Claire, Charlie, and me

Ember and Bradley having tons of fun

Bradley, John, and mom cooking

Jake and mom (Charlie, Photographer)

Charlie and mom (Jake, Photographer)

Nana and Charlie cooking. Charlie LOVES this apron. It's got John Deer tractors on it.

Galveston

We went to Galveston for the weekend. It was a really short trip but I think a fun time was had by all.

We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner on Saturday night. They make balloon animals and characters. It was really cool!

Don and Sally

The boys had slushies that came in these froggy cups. Yea for more cups!!

Charlie and his froggy cup

John and SallyJake, in his Brad Pitt hat, and I

The kids at the beach

Charlie took to bodysurfing. He LOVES it.

Charlie with his "surfboard".

Showing mom how it's done

Summer 2009.... so far

We have had a very busy summer so far..... here's a bit of the adventures we've had.

John's cousins came to visit. This is Ted. Charlie was the photographer. He loves taking pictures!

Cheese!!

Jake kickin' it in the pool. He posed and told me to take the picture!

John and Jake

Charlie's self poitrait

Jake goofing off at Charlie's end of the year program!

Jake LOVES taking pictures!! This means that everyone gets to see more of me on the blog for now. This is at Charlie's end of the year program.

The kids and I went to see Up in 3D and they thought we needed pictures in the 3D glasses.

Gommy, John's grandmother turned 100 a few weeks ago and there was a BIG party and people came from all over! She was so excited and couldn't believe that everyone was there JUST for her.