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!