Cookies

Last night was our annual Christmas cookie night.  Brad brought this tradition from his childhood and I have come to love it!  It just wouldn’t be Christmas without making over 5 dozen sugar cookies and decorating them.  I so enjoy giving them to neighbors and sharing some of our talented cookie decorating skills.  There is definitely an art form to decorating cookies!  Anyway, Allison has enjoyed this tradition since she could walk and this year she was really into it.  She wanted lots and lots of flour to roll her dough in and always needed the rolling pin on hand.  We cut out mittens, angels, Christmas trees, gingerbread men, snowflakes and cupcakes (for Jesus’ birthday).  Allison and Will waited so patiently for the cookies to cook and cool so that they could decorate them and of course eat some.  Allison was sweet and made a cookie for most of the family members.  As the Christmas music played in the background, I tried to soak up the moment.  I love the stage Allison and Will are in and I never want to forget how special this time is.

 

The finished product!  I think we made around 8 dozen.

 

2 years ago.  Boy, Allison has changed and now we have Brother!     

Birthdays, Birthdays and more Birthdays

   In November and the first part of December, we have celebrated Allison's 4th birthday, Brad's 31st birthday and my 31st birthday.  It's a good thing our anniversary isn't until April 24th, something to celebrate in the Spring. Oh, but wait, Will's birthday is April 23rd!

Anyway,  Allison had her birthday a Pump it up.  This was the first year she was very specific as to the type of party she wanted (theme), where it was to be, and who was to be invited.  The party went great and below are some pictures from the big day.

Disney Princess theme party

Allison and Jiggs examining presents

Allison and Will have really started to love eachother.  They play very well together.  Here Allison is thanking her brother for her Snow White doll birthday gift. So sweet!

          

We gave Allison a soccer ball and net.  She was so excited!

Poor Brad's birthday fell on Thanksgiving, so all his birthday pics have a turkey in them!

Colds

Well, it has been way too long since my last post and as I was rocking Will to sleep tonight, I had a blog moment.  Like most people, when my kids are sick, I wish I could take the place for them.  Bear the 103 fevers, bear the breathing treatments, bear the bad colds.  Over the last 24 hours, Will has come down with a pretty severe cold.  He can't breathe well because he is so congested and he has a fever.  Boo hoo!  I hate this but am glad it is happening before Christmas.  Anyway, you never know when those memorable moments will strike.

As I held and rocked Will, trying to get him to relax and fall asleep he kept looking up at me talking in his own way , touching my hair and putting his fingers in my mouth (guess we know who is going to have the cold next!!!)  I love those moments when all he wants to do is snuggle.  I cherish them all knowing, that one day he will big too big to want his Mom hugging all over him.  So, he has been saying buggies (aka buggers) for awhile to describe when he has a stuffy nose, but tonight, clear as a bell, he looked up at me all congested and barely able to breathe and said in the cutest voice Bu-gars.  A pretty disgusting topic I know, but it was so cute how he said it.  I wish I could have bottled up his little voice at that moment. You can definitely tell I am crazy about my little man.  I mean only a Mommy would think their son saying buggers in a baby voice is cute and blog worthy! I sure hope my baby boy feels better soon. I can hear his congested cough all the way in the kitchen.

Happy Halloween!

 

 

Frog Prince Alex-18 months, Cinderella Sydney-almost 4, Tinkerbelle Allison-almost 4 and Thomas train conductor Will-18 months

This year, had to be our best Halloween thus far.  Allison has gotten to the age where she is really into dressing up and loves the idea that by saying “Trick or Treat” she can get candy.  Her best little buddy is Sydney and the two had so much fun being chauffeured in the chariot wagon and go house to house together.  We had a few tumbles and spills and Allison lost her Tinkerbelle light up heels more than once but it was a memorable evening.  The McMeans had us over for a wonderful Mexican dinner before heading out for trick or treating.  We went all over their neighborhood taking the children up to each house.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Will and Alex toddle their way up to the doors and reach into the bowls to get their choice of treats.  Will loved carrying his Halloween bag and I could not get over how adorable he looked.  We ended the night with ice cream cake back at the McMeans.  Fun was had by all until the clock struck 8:30 pm and our Princesses, frog prince and train conductor started to turn back into cranky,sleepy children.  I hope you had a wonderful Halloween.

Dress up and Dance!

Yesterday, Allison was able to wear her Halloween costume to dance.  Here she is pictured with her buddies. Can you guess what each girl is dressed up as??

If you guessed a cute dog, precious Cinderella, beautiful Tinkerbelle and adorable princess, you’re RIGHT!!!

Happy Halloween, hard to believe it is already here!  This Fall is flying by so fast.

Will is 18 months old

Today, Will turned 18 months old.  In a way, it makes me sad because I feel like time is flying by and I don’t want my baby to grow up.  With Allison, I anticipated each stage and looked forward to seeing her mature.  However, with Will I plain and simply do not want him to grow up.  I feel like boys eventually leave home and start their own families, calling home maybe twice a month.  On the other hand, girls tend to stay close to their moms.  I mean, I talk to my mom about 5 times a day and see her usually everyday.  My mother and I always say to Allison, “Girlfriends forever”.  I know Will is going to eventually need to man up but I am going to soak in every bit of baby for as long as I can.  I think part of the reason I baby him is because of all the health issues he has experienced.  Unfortunately, this process is not over and as of last week he started having tests run again to try and figure out what is wrong.  His growth chart is going down and he hasn’t grown since 12 months of age, in fact he is losing weight.  We will have more tests run this week.  Please pray for Will and that we can finally have some answers to Will’s GI issues.  I love you sweet boy!

           

A Day Out with Thomas 2010

Today we drove to Rusk, Texas to meet Thomas the Train.  We had a wonderful time as a family and enjoyed a train ride pulled by Thomas himself, meeting Sir Topham Hat, making bubbles, bounce houses, hayride, digging for gems, petting zoo and last but certainly not least corndogs (I had forgotten had good they really taste)! One of Will’s favorite parts was the Gift Shop.  You should have seen how he darted around saying Choo Choo at every item of Thomas memorabilia. The trip was great but was definitely a learning experience.  I have decided that driving more than two hours with two children under the age of four is very difficult.  Don’t get me wrong, they did pretty well. It was just that we had met Brad in Dallas the day before and then all drove down to Rusk together and then back to Houston. Too much driving in a 24 hour period, even I was ready to get out of the car!  Though our day was long, we enjoyed time as a family and made wonderful, lasting memories.

  

There he is, Thomas the Train!

Meeting Sir Topham Hat

Having fun on the train!

 

Meeting the conductor

 

    

 

Will shopping!

Look at my Thomas tattoo!

 

Allison and I on the hayride

Hilarious Moment of the Day

Will went potty in the potty seat.  While I am in the midst of cleaning his bottom Allison runs away yelling, “I’m allergic to baby poop!!”  That girl is a riot!  Had to blog this moment before I forgot it.

Dewberry Farms-Welcome Fall!!!

On Saturday, we took Allison and Will to Dewberry Farms.  We had so much fun and it was neat to hear Allison showing her opinion on activities she wanted to do.  They have added an awesome pumpkin display to Dewberry Farms, pictures below.  The best though was how Allison waited in line for over 30 minutes to get her face painted and was sooo patient.  Why does this not happen at home?

 

Allison was verysure that she wanted a cupcake.  So pretty!

In a huge storage barn they had over 300 pumpkins on display.  Absolutely incredible!

Both of the kiddos picked out their own pumpkins and carried them by themselves thru the pumpkin patch.

It was a great day!  I love you Brother.  I love you Sissy.