Thursday, December 11, 2008

SPJST Christmas Party

Each year, the lodge we are members of through our life insurance, has a Christmas Party.


Most years, the Jr. Historians come and dance for entertainment. Megan just loves all the pretty fluffy dresses! They asked her to join them with the "Chicken Dance" and she was shy at first but got into it after a while!



Then Santa and Mrs. Claus came for a visit. The kids got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and I finally got pictures of them with Santa!





James' First Christmas

Isn't the pictures of James sleeping so precious! He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping! Here are some pictures of James with his "My 1st Christmas" hat! Isn't he just so precious and adorable! I'm kinda partial but most people agree with me! LOL! His smile just makes you smile! I also had to take some pictures of him under the tree! He really likes to look at the pretty lights!




Santa Field Trip

The kids had a field trip with their Pre-K class to go to the mall and visit Santa. We weren't allowed to take pictures with Santa with our personal cameras but I was able to take some of them in line. They did allow one school camera and they said that they would share them with us. I'm still waiting on them.


I finally got the picture from the kids' teachers and here it is!

Christmas 2008 Pictures

Here are some pictures I took of the kids and the tree! I'm kinda proud of them and really like taking pictures! My kids are real troopers most of the time! I hope you enjoy them!




These two are my favorites!

Getting and Decorating Our Christmas Tree



This year we changed our tradition of getting a live tree at a Christmas Tree Farm. Last year we had a very hard time finding a farm that had trees for us to cut down and we ended up buying one at Home Depot. So this year we decided to go artificial and buy a pre-lit tree! I'm excited because it's easier but disappointed because we're having to change a tradition we started over 12 years ago. In the past years, we took one whole day to go to a Christmas Tree Farm and spent time picking one out and riding on a hay ride and other activities on the farm. This year all we did was go to Wal-Mart and pick one out and then headed back home. Not much excitement but that will come as we decorate it!



Each year, we've let the kids take turns putting the angel on top. Megan is older so the first year we let her put it up and the next was Andrew's turn...even years Megan, odd years Andrew. Now we have James to add to that and so it's not going to be as easy to remember...LOL! I guess I'll have to revert back to the pictures.



I decorate the tree with the ornaments of ours. So while the kids were sleeping, I put our ornaments on and then put the kids' ornaments out for them to hang on the tree. Here are some pictures of the kids putting their ornaments on the tree.







Limo Ride & Pizza House



Here's the "big car" as the kids would say...



The kids getting out of the limo with the help of the limo driver.





Megan and Andrew eating pizza and cheese sticks at Pizza House. Thank you to all who supported my kids and helped them meet their goals so that they could ride the limo to lunch! They had a blast!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

James - First Taste of Cereal

James had his first taste of cereal this past weekend. He did very well with it and really liked it. I could not spoon it in fast enough.




Daddy says he looks like a little bird begging for more food. LOL! Isn't he just so adorable...but then again, I'm kinda partial! :0)

Here's a video of him eating...enjoy!

James - 4 months old

Here are pictures of James for his 4th month birthday.




Megan got flowers

Every year we give Megan flowers for her birthday on her birthday. We decided this when we adopted her...she has two special days each year...her birthday and her adoption day!

Here are the boys with the birthday girl...

Disney On Ice



For Megan's 5th birthday surprise from us was a trip to the show "Disney On Ice" at the HOT Fair Grounds. Megan and Andrew were so excited they couldn't hardly stand it! We had to count down the days until the show and then they didn't want to go to school that day. When they got home from school they couldn't wait until the show started. Aunt Kerri went with us and we all had a great time! The show was really good! It reminded me of Walt Disney World when my family went for one of our family vacations. I can't wait to be able to take my kids and Jimmy one day!

We got them each a program and some gold ears! That was like pulling a loan for them ears but it was well worth it! We also got some cotton candy. Everything was Disney!

The kids had such a good time that they were asleep before we got out of the parking lot!

Build-A-Bear Workshop

After we listened to Michaela sing and saw Santa and the "snow", we went to the new store called Build-a-Bear Workshop. The kids built their own bears! They each picked out a bear...Andrew got a panda and Megan got a pink and white bear. At first they each help stuff their bears with fluff!


Then they each got a heart and followed the guy's instructions like shake the heart to give it life, give it a kiss so that he will love you, put it next to your ear so you can tell her all your secrets, put it next to your heart so that he knows you love him, and then stuff it in your bear.





After the bears are stitched up, they took them to the spot to fluff them up and then they picked out some clothes and put clothes on their bears.


After that we sat down at the computer and named the bears and got birth certificates for them. Megan named her bear Daisy and Andrew named his bear Aggie. Daisy has a princess shirt and Aggie has a Dallas Cowboys shirt. We all had a great time! James got a bear too but the older kids helped get it ready for him. James' bear's name is JD and he has a "It's a Boy" shirt on. If you ever get a chance to go by this store, you need to! It's very fun and a great thing for a family outing! The kids had a blast!