Let the Christmas Festivities Begin! Dec 2012

Warning: This post is REALLY long!

 

First the tree!

 

For the first time, we let the kids stand on a stepstool to put ornaments on the tree, so ornaments went higher this year!

 

 

Then the other tree!

 

That’s Reagan, by the way

 

Take a break to go to a birthday party

 

Jonathan and Caleb, a friend from kindergarten

 

Put lights on the house (no children required for this step)

 

The house looked so pretty with the Christmas lights and the accent lights Jim added the month before.

 

Go have breakfast with Santa

 

Thomas ran a fever the day before, and we probably shouldn't have taken him even though he was not running a fever that morning.  We just couldn't bring ourselves not to when he seemed fine!  Of course, when the fever came back that afternoon, we felt bad.

 

This was just a small portion of the medical events of our winter!  It started with Reagan and strep in Nov, followed by strep for Zachary and Thomas, then an ear infection for Zachary that wouldn't go away, then a return of strep for Reagan.  All three boys tested positive for strep in January even though they had no symptoms!  We pretty much spent 2 whole months with at least one kid and often two on an antibiotic!

 

This was the first year we didn’t go see Santa at the Bass Pro Shops.  Do you think he missed us?

 

Get new belt loops at the Cub Scout Banquet

 

Jim was still sporting his No shave-November beard

 

Then beat up Dad afterwards

 

 

Celebrate at school

 

Thank you, Gina, for this picture of Jonathan and Thomas!

 

Not sure why I didn’t get a picture of Zachary.  Probably because he didn’t stay in the outfit long enough!  Imagine him in a giant reindeer shirt with a headpiece like Reagan’s since they were in the same class.

 

Leave cookies for Santa

 

 

Get presents!

 

Presents from Santa

Presents from everybody else!  This year we let the kids draw each other’s names from a hat and buy a present for one of their siblings.  It was really interesting to see what they picked and hear the reasoning behind their choices!

 

 

The aftermath!  Present highlights from this year’s Christmas: Reagan’s first American Girl doll and Skylanders for the boys.

 

Go to Memphis!

 

(l to r) Zachary, Jonathan, Reagan, Thomas, Graham, Kinley, Kallen

 

Look!  He shaved!

 

Woohoo!  Money from Uncle George and Aunt Nancy!

 

Apparently the Star Wars Squinkies are a big hit!

 

Aunt Jojo and Baby Graham

 

 

Bring it on, 2013!

Being Thankful 2012

We had a big Thanksgiving this year full of friends and family, mostly family.  So full, we took no good pictures of the actual dinner.  Figures.  Nevertheless, we were blessed to have Uncle Clay and Aunt Carey, Cousins Tyler, Avery, and Ainsley, Gammy, and our good friend and cookie-giver David as guests at our table!

It was especially nice to meet Ainsley, our newest little cousin!



We were also able to make a trip to Jasper and see Granny Kat.

 

A few random shots from the visit

 

We also made some time to take some formal pictures in hopes of a good shot for the Christmas card.

All the standing cousins: (l to r) Reagan, Tyler, Thomas, Zachary, Jonathan, Avery

 

So much to be thankful for!

Learning to Ride a Bike: November 2012 (minus Thanksgiving)

The most monumental thing about November was the kids all learning to ride their bikes.  Woohoo!

Our good friends Josh and Cris had shown us the trainer bike they had gotten for their kids.  It’s basically a bike with no pedals.  It allows the child to just practice getting balance.  So Jim took one of our kids’ bikes and removed the pedals to make our own trainer bike. (Note: in case you decide to do this to your kid’s bike, in removing the pedals, Jim made it impossible to reattach them, so that bike was permanently pedal-less)

This is not our bike, but you get the idea!

 

Boy, was that kid not happy! But the others were pretty nice about taking turns with it, especially the boys, and it wasn’t long before they were coasting easily down the street, their feet poised inches above the ground, balancing like pros!

So one day Thomas looked at Jim and said, “Take the training wheels off my bike!” So Jim did, and Thomas hopped on, and in almost no time, he was riding his bike!  Zachary said, “Me too!” and in one day we had two kids riding bikes!  On day 2, Jonathan was riding his too! (His was the one Jim removed the pedals from, so we had to buy him a new one)

Reagan was not happy about the boys taking off and gaining this skill without her, so she put some extra effort into the trainer bike, and within a week, she was pedaling off with the boys too!

I took video of all the kids riding their bikes, but I took it with my phone, and now it’s all sideways.  Nobody wants to look at that, so you’ll just have to use your imagination!

In addition to riding a bike, the kids also went to their first UT basketball game!  Super fun and a lot less expensive than football games!



Go Vols!  So glad Josh, Cris, Carter, and Kennedy invited us on this outing!  It was lots of fun, although I think the kids’ favorite part was riding the bus from the parking lot to the stadium!

Another treat this month was getting to sit it on one of Reagan's ballet classes.  Look at her go!

Halloween 2012

This was a sad, sad Halloween for me.

For the first time since the kids were born, their costumes did not all match.  Alas.

We were close!  If we could have found a Black Widow outfit to fit Reagan, they would have all been Avengers!

But it was not to be.  And then Reagan fell in love with a Cinderella dress.  Sigh.

Oh, well.  They were still cute!

Cinderella

 

Thor (I wish the costume had come with a wig!)

 

Captain America

 

Hawkeye (Not a very exciting costume, but what 7yo boy doesn’t want a bow and arrow set?)

 

We continued our Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating with Carter and Kennedy!  Happily, this created two coordinated sets!

 

The Avengers

 

The Princesses

 

Happy belated Halloween everyone!

October 2012 (minus Halloween)

also known as Reagan is SO CUTE, Did I Mention the Boys are in Cub Scouts?, and A Visit from Bud and KK!

Reagan started a ballet/tap class!  She’s been saying she wants to be a ballerina when she grows up for the last three years.  We decided it was time to give her a chance to either let that dream come true or decide on a new one!

 

Halloween cuteness!

 

Cub Scout Hike

If I were a good mom who blogged when things actually happened, I could tell you where this hike was, but of cour5se I no longer remember.  Sorry.  Jim could tell you. 

 

Group shot! Including the mascots, also known as the girls!  Reagan was a hoot on the hike because she kept making her way to the very front of the line!

Marshmallow guns!  The boys made them at a cub scout meeting and were so proud to show them off when they got home.  I just wish I had taken the picture before 2 of them had shed their uniforms!

We love Bud and KayKay!