Easter Baskets

What do you all do for your kids on Easter? I'm going tonight to get the boys stuff for their Easter Baskets. I want to avoid getting too much candy...we still have leftovers from Christmas and Valentines Day. I've got a few ideas, but wanted to check with all my blog moms to get some even better ideas!

What do you put in your kids Easter Baskets?

Do you have any fun Easter traditions?

Goodbye Christmas

Goodbye Christmas tree that made my Living Room so cozy.
Goodbye Snowmen that make me smile.
Goodbye Christmas music that lifts my spirits.
Goodbye outside house lights that make the neighborhood and city look so festive.
Goodbye Christmas books that remind us why we celebrate Christmas to begin with.
Goodbye Christmas cards that made getting the mail fun.
Goodbye yummy Christmas candy and food.
Goodbye excitement and anticipation of Christmas Day and presents.
Goodbye Christmas ornaments that hold such special meanings.
Goodbye Neal's week and a half off.

Everything is back in it's boxes, in storage, for another year. Now it's back to real life.

Goodbye Christmas blog template.

I got Photoshop Elements for Christmas this year, so once I figure out how to make a new fun blog header, we are just sticking to plain and boring! Stay tuned!

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

My parents flew in from Houston the day after Christmas to spend a few days with us. I always love getting to hang out with my parents. We did alot of just hanging out and had a few mean games of Phase 10 and Spades. The boys always love playing with them and having all that extra attention. On Thursday, Neal and I left around 2 for a day and night out on the town while my parents stayed with the boys. We went to the mall, Barnes and Noble for coffee, and then to our favorite restaurant in Nashville. For the past 3 years, we have gone to F. Scotts to celebrate our anniversary. It's a fancy restaurant, but we never feel bad treating ourselves to a super nice meal, at least once a year! It's one of those places that I've come to trust, so I'll really just order anything on the menu and know that it's going to be fabulous. There is always at least one thing Neal and I get that we will talk about all year. This year, my Tenderloin and Neal's dessert were the winners. Neal got this AMAZING Dark Chocolate Mousse thing that was like eating the inside of the best chocolate truffle you have ever put in your mouth. Then it had this wonderful cinnamony cream sauce on top of it. If we hadn't been in such a nice place, I would have seriously been licking the bowl. Yum! It was so nice to spend all that time with Neal outside of the house, just enjoying each others company, laughing, talking about serious stuff and NOT talking about the boys! I just really like being with him and hearing what he has to say, he is so interesting! I love him so much. So, thanks Mom and Dad for our wonderful day/night out...we really needed it.

It always makes me so sad when my parents leave, but this time it wasn't as hard, knowing that they will be back in just a few short weeks to be here when Luke is born. My mom will stay 2 whole weeks with me, I'm so excited to have her here for all that time. There is nothing like having your mom around to help out when you really need it! I love you Mom and Dad!

Christmas Day

We had a lovely Christmas day, complete with all our favorite traditions and lots of being lazy. I took 2 naps! The boys had so much fun opening gifts and then playing with everything...Neal did too! :)

We hope your Christmas was blessed!

Merry Christmas Eve Day!

I hope all of you out there in blogger land have a wonderful Christmas with your families. Ours has already been so nice, I love having Neal home for a full week, not having to go into the office every day. We've been enjoying time with our little family these past few days, hibernating in the house, watching movies and being lazy. The boys are excited for Santa to come tonight, although they say that they don't want to see him and they want to be asleep when he comes. They have already decorated and picked out the cookies they are leaving for him. Neal and I have a busy night tonight! I love the magic of Christmas and seeing it all over my boys faces. My parents are coming in from Houston on Wednesday to spend a few days and I can't wait to see them! It's been a long time. I'm excited for them to see all the new stuff we have done to the house and to have my mom help me out with some last minute things to prepare for Luke's arrival. Hopefully, we will finish in the nursery this week and I will post some pictures of the finished room. The timing of this pregnancy has been great because I'm at my biggest and most tired at a time where we are having tons of family come in to occupy the boys and help out with them a little bit, so that's been nice. The first week or so of January will be a tough when company is gone, Neal is back to work and the boys are out of school. I'm sure there will be lots of TV watching that week!

Anyway...Merry Christmas!

Poppy

Neal's dad was in town for a few days to celebrate Christmas with us. The boys had a blast playing with Poppy and having him around for 2 days. They always love to have a willing participant to help them get the bad guys and to have someone to "fight" with. He was really brave and took both of them to Cracker Barrel Friday morning...I think they were all exhausted after that excursion! When we were talking about who would be going to Cracker Barrel, Sam told us that he wanted alone time with his brother and his Poppy! Thanks for coming Poppy! We love you!

Christmas Program

I know you are all dying to hear about the boys Christmas Program today at school. I love watching my boys up on stage, standing there, staring out at all the parents occasionally singing a verse or two of the song their class is doing. The are adorable up there and I think they are for sure the cutest in their classes. I have to say, that watching all the other parents runs a close second to watching my cuties. I can't remember what movie, but I remember a scene at a school program with all the parents watching through their cameras and video cameras. That's what it was today. I turned around at some point and just had to laugh at all the cameras running and clicking away. Obviously, I was right there in the midst of them. I EVEN left my seat to go to the front of the aisle to get a better shot of Gabe, so I was laughing at myself as well. I have to say Gabe looked mighty cute in his Rudolph get up and Sam did a great job in his part of the 12 Days of Christmas. He held up the sign for 11 Pipers Piping and did a wonderful job! :) The last picture is of the priceless look on Sam's face when he finally spotted Neal and I in the audience. It sure does make my heart want to burst to see him so happy to see us!

Decorating the tree

We got the tree up and decorated last weekend and I am just now getting around to posting pictures. The boys were anxious to help, after a few broken ornaments and a couple of time outs, we finally got it done. The loaded all their ornaments on the same few branches, right at their level. I had to go back and re-distribute them later that day! Here are some pictures...

 

 

 

Christmas Getting to Know You

Carly posted this on her blog and put me down as the person most likely to respond to this, so now I have to! Actually, I love these things too.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper...there is something so satisfying about tearing into that paper!

2. Real tree or Artificial? We've done both. Last year, my friend Nicole gave us a 7 foot artificial tree that they didn't need anymore and it's beautiful. I think it looks real, and it's not messy at all! It's nice to not have to fork out the money every year for a real tree, but I'm sure we will do it every once in a while...you can't beat that smell.

3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend. I would do it earlier, but it just doesn't seem right!

4. When do you take the tree down the tree? Usually around New Years, although this year it will probably be soon after Christmas, so the house will be back to normal when Luke gets here.

5. Do you like egg nog? No, but Neal loves it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I got my very own phone line for my room when I was in high school...that was an awesome gift.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, my mother-in-law gave us a beautiful one a few years ago and I love it. The boys also have the Little People one that I would highly reccommend getting if you have kids.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad and father-in-law.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Sam and my sis-in-law, Laura.

10.Mail or email Christmas cards? mail

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Yikes, I guess stuff I can't use? I don't know, thats a hard one.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story, Frosty the Snowman, all the animated shows that come out. We've been watching Shreck the Halls and the old school Grinch. I also love Polar Express and Elf.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yes

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Peppermint Crescent Cookies, fudge, cracker candy, Amish Friendship bread.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear

16. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We used to go to Houston every year, but now we make sure to be in Nashville for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We usually try to make it to Houston sometime in December, but are sticking close to home this year. No sitting in the car or airplane for hours for this pregnant Mommy! Everyone is coming to us this year!

18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeers? "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Doner and Blitzen...but do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, etc. etc. I just kept Carly's answer on this one! I'll admit I'm a cheater, but I have no idea!

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open one on Christmas Eve, usually pj's and then the rest on Christmas morning.

20. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Traffic and crowds

21. Favorite ornament theme or color? Every year since I was born, my Granny would give us an ornament. When I got married, my mom boxed them up for me. I LOVE getting out the tree box and going through all those ornaments. I have some absolute favorites that always have a special place on the tree. It's very nostalgic. I'm also a big fan of anything red, so this year I did red and silver balls with red ribbon. I have to admit, I don't think I'm a great tree decorater. Decorating a tree does not come natrually to me!

22. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Spiced Tea, green bean casserole.

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? I wanted wood floors in my kitchen, my house painted, a new room upstairs for the boys and Luke's room done. Santa granted me all those things early this year! I also want a new set of pots and pans...fun huh?

24. Who is most likely to respond to this? Carrie (you have to do it now!)

25. Who is least likely to respond to this? I never answer this one, like Carly said, I don't like to set up someone to be an under-acheiver!

Now it's your turn!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was a little different this year than it usually is. Some of our friends had a Thanksgiving Breakfast that we went to and had a blast spending time with friends and meeting some new ones. Then we came home celebrated with our little family and Neal and I cooked a turkey for the first time ever. I will give all the credit to Neal, he was the one who really did all the work, I just supported his decissions and made the easy stuff! Before we ate, the four of us held hands, and said a prayer telling Jesus what we were most thankful for. Sam said Superheros and Gabe said Tucker and Skyler (two of Sam's best friends, but Gabe would say they are his best friends too!) We had a great day cooking, being lazy and enjoying being together.

I'm happy to welcome the month of December this year. Sam's birthday is on the 3rd and I really can't believe that my little baby will be 5. I'm looking forward to all of our families coming in at some point in December to celebrate Christmas with us. We always enjoy having company and I've already gotten my menu planned out and Christmas decorations on their way up. I'm also looking forward to December bringing Luke's arrivial a little closer. I can't wait to hold this baby who will finally complete our family, who has been prayed over by so many people, and who is making it really hard for me to breath!

I'm off to make turkey sandwiches for dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving...

Halloween

Here are some pictures of my Dynamic Duo and their fabulous friends. We went trick or treating with some of the families in our Community Group at our leaders house. There were a ton of kids running around and it was complete mayhem. It was the guys turn this year to take the kids out trick or treating, so during that time, us girls had a little peace and quiet. The guys didn't last as long as us girls did last year. Sam kept telling Neal that his legs hurt and he couldn't walk anymore. Gabe kept telling everyone "I look awesome in my costume...I'm strong" (with him flexing his muscles) It's so fun to see them having so much fun and getting so excited. It's ridiculous the amount of candy we have in this house. I know we will never eat it all, I'm already sick of it. After we put them to bed, both boys came out of their room about 5 times each saying their tummies hurt.

Happy Halloween!

Back to Christmas...

Great gift ideas? Anyone? See my Christmas post below...

Christmas

It might seem a little bit early to start thinking about Christmas, but I am such a planner and am always anxious to get my Christmas Snowman Friends out as early as possible to enjoy them as long as I can. I also like to get as much of my Christmas shopping done, as early as I can. That way we aren't totally strapped for money the month of December. My mother-in-law was thinking the same thing, I guess, when she asked what the boys might want this year for Christmas. Last year was such a toy frenzy, I'm hoping this year we can knock it down a notch. I was trying to come up with some great ideas for them, but am coming up short. Sam's pretty easy, Gabe is the one that is a little more challenging. I'll probably have to take him to Toys R Us one of these days and just let him loose to see what he really likes, without Sam's influence.

Do any of you have any great toy ideas? Something your kids love? Some magical, amazing toy that keeps them occupied for hours on end that none of us can live without?