Traditions

We always spend the 23rd at our house, Santa makes his first stop on the 24th and we head to Van. This year the kids were both old enough to really get into tradition. We ordered pizza and watched the Grinch, decorated our gingerbread house, made and decorated cookies for Santa, mixed up the reindeer food and got the celery ready for Rudolph. Chloe and I actually heard Santa's bells outside the window when she was sleeping in our bed...Craig missed them again this year ;)The excitement and magic filled the air!

A Trip to Mimi and Bopaw's House

For some reason this year we have caught every bug there is to catch, me ending the joyous season with Strep...so it was Mimi and Bopaw to the rescue. They came and took the kids for the week which was a delight to all :) Chloe had so much on the agenda for them to do! They of course had to do the traditional Houses with the dancing lights in Tyler, a trip to the lake for some quick fishing. This time Chloe learned to cast and made her Daddy and Bopaw VERY proud! As my dad put it, Hayden's attention span barely allowed him to real it in completely :) They made a trip to the Local Candy Maker, ate at Pizza Inn 100 times and even allowed Mimi to do a little Christmas shopping. They had popcorn til they popped and made more memories they'll never forget. We ended the weekend with a special surprise in our backyard from Mimi and Bopaw, Nawna and Papa :)

Preschool Program...Hayden's debut

Chloe and Hayden had their Christmas program on Tuesday. Hayden wasn't sure what was going on but he sure had fun jumping on the stage. Chloe looked half asleep during most of it :) They sang lots of songs and had fun with their friends.

Will Jesus make me pancakes?

Tonight when I was tucking Chloe in she asked me to tell her a story, which is nothing unusual. I told her the Christmas story again and stressed how we are so thankful that God sent us His son Jesus. I told her how important it is for us to believe in Jesus so that we can live with Him in heaven one day. One question lead to another and we were talking about my Bobba Faye and Craig's granddad who are in heaven. She said she wanted to go one day. We talked about how wonderful heaven is and how great it will be to go there one day...She asked a few questions and just when I thought we were really getting deep she asked if there was breakfast there...I told her probably so. She asked, "Will Jesus make me pancakes or waffles?" I told her I was sure he'd make pancakes!

We Love our Nawna

Thanksgiving was different this year. Our Nawna wasn't feeling well so we spent lots of time visiting her in the hospital. Chloe and Hayden drew her pictures and took roses. Chloe brought books and read to her. We saw our cousins from Michigan, Tyler and Dyllan and had fun playing with them. Chloe is praying every night that Nawna will feel better soon.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

ICE!

We went to the Gaylord ICE Exhibit a few weeks ago and it was so neat. The kids loved it...may be the only snow and ice they see! It was super cold but we ended the tour by watching Polar Express and drinking hot chocolate!

My Little Pony Pajama Party

Well, after asking "is it 4 o'clock?" about a million times...IT WAS 4:00! We headed to Moonjumpers for party #5! Her 2 favorite things are jammies and ponies so Chloe requested a My Little Pony pajama party and even though the cake lady almost gave me a heart attack, the cake was precious, all our friends and family came and it was a great time. All Chloe wanted was to stay up as late as she wanted tonight and she was snoring in our bed at 10:45!!!

My Baby is 5!

I absolutely cannot believe that my baby girl turned 5 today...it just seems like yesterday...

It just doesn't seem possible that we're already at birthday #5. She has grown up so fast and so much this last year. The biggest change this year has been our volume, she used to be so quiet and timid :) She loves preschool and all her friends and teachers and loves her brother so much (most of the time). Let's just say nobody else better pick on him....that's her job! On the positive...they fuss so well. She loves to color and LOVES to do anything on the computer. She's very creative and dramatic and she colors as well as I do. She reads us a book every night, sometimes the right words, sometimes she'll say..."I think I'll do my own words tonight". She loves to be told stories about when she was born and stories about My Bobba Faye and Craig's granddads who have passed on. She sings all of the time and of course adds her own music with all her little instruments noises she makes (her daddy's child). She's such a blessing in our lives and we are so thankful for her!

Thanksgiving Feast

We had Preschool Thanksgiving Feast yesterday and the kids had a great time...I made chicken spaghetti for an army but all turned out great!

Pow Pow!!

We spent the weekend in Van with Craig's family. Chloe and Hayden haven't gotten to see their cousins in while and have been begging for them...let's just say they weren't disappointed! For the first time they really played together, Hayden thought he was 10 and Chloe...even older. They started the day in the leaf pile. Then Hayden discovered Caleb's nerf guns and Hayden had a blast! He ran around with his pow pow and had an absolute meltdown when it was time to go to bed without it ( I gave in finally and he slept holding his pow pow tight!). Chloe and Kenzie played barbies and had "girl talk". Now we have another set of Nations' on the way...how fun!!!! (not me...2 nieces on the way :)