Christmas 2011

Our Christmas through pictures. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a Happy New Year!

 My little brother, Kris holding Peyton.

 Mimi and Peyton. My mom and Kris came up the week before Christmas since he was off for Christmas break and it helped my dad plan a wonderful surprise for my mom while she was gone.

 We took the kids and my mom & Kris to the Gaylord Texan for the Shrek Ice Exhibit, but this was the only picture I took. I spent the rest of the time holding Peyton, since I forgot my Baby Bjorn.

 One morning we made and decorated Gingerbread cookies. This is Taylor showing off her cookies.

 Mason tolerated me taking a picture. All he wanted to do was eat them as soon as they were iced.

 Taylor didn't care for the cookies as much as she did the icing.

Mason ate both of this cookies and this is how his mouth looked afterwards.

 Before we drove down to Houston for Christmas, the kids exchanged their gifts to each other. This is Taylor & Peyton waiting for Mason.

Mason loved his gifts from his sisters and gave each of them a kiss.

 Adam's sister Laura with Peyton on Christmas Eve.

 Adam's mom got Gingerbread houses for the older grandkids to decorate at her house. Mason was very intentional in every piece of candy he placed on his house.

Taylor on the otherhand was very intentional that every piece of candy ended up in her mouth.

 Peyton's 1st Christmas.

 Love that smile and that round little belly.

 The grandkids listening to my dad tell the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas day.

 Taylor twirling in her tutu that my sister made her.

 Peyton wearing the tutu Aunt Christina made her.

 Mason & Connor, cousins and best friends.

 Connor & Taylor. I absolutely love this picture.

 Peyon making one of her silly faces. She spent a lot of time in the car seat the last several days with all the traveling we did.

 We saved Santa presents for when we returned from Houston. We did have a tree topper, but it broke and I haven't found something I like to replace it.

 Taylor opening her presents.

Mason was beyond thrilled with his telescope.

 Santa brought Taylor her own beauty station. This little girl has spent all of her time there since.

 Mason getting ready to try out his new scooter.

This is Christmas present. I can't wait to use it.

Videos of Mason & Taylor's Performances

Preschool Christmas Program

Last Thursday Mason & Taylor had their very first preschool Christmas program. They had been talking about it for a couple of weeks and I think they were just as excited as Adam & I. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from either of them. Taylor's age group went first and the minute her class walked in, I could tell she was already crying. We believe she was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people in the audience and the fact that she didn't know what to expect. I was shocked because she is our little entertainer at home and isn't normally shy at all. They asked if I wanted to join her on stage, so I sat her in my lap hoping that would help. She cried throughout her whole performance, but her class was still so cute.

Can you see Taylor's face? She was already upset walking in because she couldn't find us, even though we were sitting in the front row.

She finally found us, but wouldn't stop crying because she didn't understand what was happening or why she couldn't come down and sit with us.

They asked if I wanted to sit with her and I was sure that would help calm her down, but no such luck.

At the end of them singing their songs, she clapped her hands with everyone else. I'm sure it was because she was happy it was over with.After her class sang their songs, Mason's age group was next. They sang about three songs. He didn't miss a beat and had so much fun on stage.

Mason was so excited to perform. He was showing me his bells.

Singing "Come on Ring Those Bells" and he knew all the words and did all of the motions to every song.

At the end of the program, they had refreshments in The Cafe for the families and teachers.

Hot Chocolate, Movies and a Nasty Cough

Even though we are in the tale end of the fall, it feels more like winter in the DFW area. We got our first real cold front this past weekend. We had big plans scheduled but quickly had to change them thanks to the weather and a sick little boy.

Friday evening, I had to pick up a few things at Target and made a stop at the Starbucks inside of Target for a warm refreshment. The kids have never really had hot chocolate. Mason attempted to drink some last year, but quickly changed his mind before he ever took a sip. Since one of his favorite Christmas movies happens to be The Polar Express and he mentions the hot chocolate scene all the time, I thought it would be a great night to have some hot chocolate.

Starbucks has spectacular marketing, because I look forward to their red cups every holiday season. It worked on the kids too, because they loved drinking from their own red cup. Thankfully, they understand kids and make warm hot chocolate for the little ones, instead of it being scolding hot. Because I wasn't sure how they would do sipping it or if they would even enjoy it, I opted to have them drink it from a straw. They didn't find it too weird, since I do this with my coffee every now and again. It was a huge success and they loved it. A family that drinks hot chocolate together, stays together. Peyton enjoyed some as well, just a little later.

We had planned to look at Christmas lights after our outing but the kids were extremely tired and weren't in the mood to look at lights, so we headed home. After getting the kids down to bed, Adam & I watched one of our favorite holiday movies, Love Actually.

Saturday we had planned on driving down to Waco for the Baylor vs Texas football game, but that changed quickly when Mason woke up with a nasty cough and it was raining and cold outside. The weather wasn't exactly great for our family to sit through a game for 3 hours and we didn't want to risk Mason getting worse or anyone else getting sick. So we stayed home. Since we weren't going to the game, that meant Taylor could go to her best friend, Emma's birthday party. This was her very first birthday party to get invited to from a friend in her class. Taylor was so excited to go to the party and see all of her friends.

We watched the Baylor game from the comfort of our couches and cheered them on as they beat Texas two years in a row. It was a great ending to a thrilling season for the Baylor Bears. RG3, the quarterback has also been nominated for the Heisman.

After the game was over, Adam went out to pick up some food for he and I to eat when Mason's woke up coughing. When I went in to check on him, he was burning up and had a 102 temperature. His entire face was red, so I brought him downstairs to lie on the couch so that Adam & I could keep a better eye on him.

Despite not feeling well at all, he still tried to smile for the camera. Being the concerned mom that I am, I opted to have him sleep in our room that night. I knew it was going to be a long night with him coughing and feeling awful and the fact that I would be up nursing Miss Peyton. Thankfully, he was so tired and the medicine did it's job and he slept through the night without coughing.

Sunday morning, Mason still had a low grade fever so I had him lay on the couch all day. He was only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom. With a very young baby and a busy Christmas season ahead of us, I didn't want to run the risk of anyone else getting sick. We spent the day watching movies and cuddling. It wasn't the weekend I had expected, but it was relaxing for the most part which is what our family needed.

Do Life

I've been a little backed up on my reading as of lately. I subscribe to a handful of magazines thanks to my OnePass Miles. I had two or so Runner's World issues to read that I finally got around to yesterday. The most recent issue is the "Special Reader's Issue." This is by far my favorite issue of Runner's World thus far.

One of the featured readers they interviewed was Ben Davis. He has a blog called Ben Does Life. After reading the article, I decided that I needed to watch the youtube video called 120lb Journey. I recommend that after you watch the video, you go to his blog and read more about his story.