Big Boy

It was too quiet one evening while I was cooking dinner so I thought it best I check on the kids. I came around the corner and say Luke very content reading to the babies...Porcupine and Molly or Pork and Mol as Ella likes to call them. It was really sweet. Thought I would share.

Two little surprises!

When I came to get into bed the other night, I had two surprises in my bed! They were each 'reading' a book and quickly tried to hide when I came in because they knew they were supposed to be in their rooms. They have a lot of fun together these days.

December means...St. Nick's is coming!

December 6th, is St. Nicholas's Day. It is the day that St. Nick comes to pick up our Christmas lists. It is tradition to write them out and put them in our shoes on the front porch. We then anxiously wait for him to come pick them up leaving us goodies behind.

Our lists...Ella decided we all needed to use black shoes this year...why?

Ella thought she spotted Santa's sleigh and Rudolph's red nose in the sky!

About thirty minutes after we put out our lists, we heard a big knock-knock on the door. Luke immediately ran to find daddy. Ella thought we needed to wait a little while before going out to make sure we gave Santa time to leave...I thought that was a good idea..."Santa" needed that time:)
When we finally opened the door we found lots of goodies...cuties, chocolate, apples and two Christmas cups to help us celebrate the season!

Our Thanksgiving Vacation

Lyle actually had the whole week of Thanksgiving off so we spent the week in Dallas. It was our first time back since we left in the summer so we had a whole list of things we wanted to do.

First, we had to go to our favorite restaurant. Genorku's in China town. The only place the kids are perfectly quiet and still because they love the food as well!

We went to the Ice exhibit with the whole family at the Gaylord. This was quite the event....parkas and all! Lots of fun!

We got to spend some time with friends seeing new babies and I was finally able to give my very good friend a big hug...she is 5 months pregnant and I have been dying to give her a congratulations hug since I found out.

It was great seeing Mims, Pa and the whole family. And getting some wonderful food was an extra bonus!

Hosting my First Thanksgiving in our new house

We did an early Thanksgiving with my family this year. I invited the whole family to our house. It was my first time hosting Thanksgiving...or any holiday for that matter so we (or I) were pretty excited. I roasted my first turkey...I didn't hear any complaining so I am just going to assume it tasted good. And I finally got to use all my china and crystal from our wedding! It was so nice!

The kids' table...no they didn't get any of the china or crystal!

I actually have a dining room big enough to fit everyone...just need a table that does!

Thanksgiving Tree

This year to help the kids understand what Thanksgiving is about we made a Thanksgiving tree. Very easy and cheap...sweet words to a very busy mom! The kids love it (well, Ella anyways. Luke just loved scribbling on the leaves). By the time Thanksgiving got here the tree was completely full! It was fun so I think we might do it again next year.

Things I was thankful for:

And Lyle:

Ella was thankful for:
Her new friends
Her cousins
Her new school
Ponies
Cows
The Earth
Jesus
Flowers

Luke was thankful for (keep in mind that Ella helped him with this):
Pacifiers
And his great sissy!

The Burdine Running Club

I bought Ella a fleece pullover and a pair of yoga pants the other day and I never would have guessed how important they would be to her. When she saw them she said they looked like the running clothes daddy has and so began the Burdine Running Club as Ella likes to call it. Every since then, Lyle and her have been running every night...well almost everynight....Lyle has had a terrible call schedule lately:( They make a complete lap around the neighborhood and Lyle says she runs all the way...very serious about it. Ella loves it and NEVER lets Lyle forget. I asked her why she likes it so much and she said, "It's just something daddy and I like to do together." It is so funny to watch her head out the door with Lyle for their run. So grown up! Her goal is to run two laps. She tried the other night but only made one.

They always stretch after the big run. I think Luke can sense that he just missed out on something because he is always right in the middle of the stretching routine checking out whats going on. Hopefully, sissy will keep the club going until you can join in Luke...or maybe you and I can start one of our own since I am apparently not included in this one!

A walk in the mountains

It is so beautiful here this time of year. The trees are such beautiful colors. We took the kids up to the mountains yesterday which is only a five minute drive from our house.

They had fun collecting leaves and climbing the big rocks.

Luke thought this was a "BIG" jump and was so proud every time he did it. It was so funny!

Happy Halloween!

Anybody need a good laugh.....because we've got two funny clowns!

With the help of my mom (she made the clown suits, all I did was make Ella's hair), the kids had some pretty cute costumes this year.

To my surprise, Luke kept his hat on all night long!

Ella has been coming up with jokes for about the past two months in preparation for her stint as a clown. She was pretty funny!

Grandma and Papa came down to spend it with us. They manned the house handing out candy to all the kids while Lyle and I along with a neighbor and his son took the kids around the neighborhood.

Ella's loot! By the end of the night she was tilting over holding her heavy pumpkin. She couldn't believe how much she got....we are still eating it.

Had to thrown this one in there because the little guy looks so darn cute. He had PJ day at school so he wore his skeleton PJs. He really likes them in case you can't tell!

Ella's first trophy!

Last Saturday was our last soccer game this season and it was pretty exciting. Not only did Ella play extremely well and make the only goal for her team but she also got a medal and a trophy.

Getting her trophy from Coach Ben

Luke was dying to see what all the excitement was about.

We are so proud of you Ella! You definitely deserve your trophy!

The whole team. They will be together again in the spring season starting in April. It was neat to see how they all really got better at the end.

Washing the cars

It has been so long since I cleaned my car without taking it to the carwash. I remember helping my mom do it in our driveway when I was younger and wanted to show the kids that too. They had so much fun helping me. We did daddy's car too... a little surprise for his birthday.

Ella's grown up dinner party

Last week, Ella decided to wanted to throw a "grown up" dinner party....she had heard me planning for a dinner party we were having with our friends. She wanted to do everything like the grown ups.

She started by setting a fancy dinner table....she had me help her find the "perfect last touch" (exactly her words)...the flower in the middle. It was funny to see all the details she put into it. I thought the table was a pretty clever idea...her baby doll crib flipped over.



These are all her guests...including me. We are drinking wine and having  "good conversations without the kids"...again her words exactly...I felt a little guilty about that one. We discussed funny things our kids were doing, the latest movies, our crazy husbands, oh and, the Chilean miners that had been rescued the day before (they had talked about it at school). Very grown up!



Then it was time for the dinner. We had a yummy soup she had been "making all day".

What a good hostess, Ella!! It was a great party!

Fall Festivities

My parents' birthdays are at the beginning of October so we use them to kick off the fall/holiday season. This year was a lot of fun!

It started with a little pumpkin painting and jack-o-lantern carving.

Ella took this very serious and got quite detailed with her pumpkin

Luke had fun too but ending up getting more paint on himself than the pumpkin... as expected!

Then we had a great hayride.

Papa drove us out to the back fields where the kids got to play hide and seek.

We ended the night with a bonfire where we roasted hot dogs and....




told SCARY ghost stories!!!

What a great time!