Christmastime 2013

I just wanted to take a minute to re-cap some of the fun things we've been blessed with this Christmastime!  The season is winding down... or climaxing... however you want to look at it!  We are celebrating Christmas with our little family & my family this Friday/Saturday and then headed out for a massive road trip!  Lord willing, we are driving to Searcy Saturday night/Sunday morning and staying for a few days then heading to Richardson for a few days after Christmas.  We're so excited to be able to see so many precious family & friends! That being said, we have enjoyed all that leads up to the celebrating :) Here's a quick look at some of the things we've done!

 Gingerbread trains with Pop-Pop & Gigi
We joined in on this tradition last year and the boys have been looking forward to it for a while now!  I'm so thankful to have grandparents who put together fun traditions for my little people.  My kids have precious memories of their great-grandparents and that is such a blessing!

 Letters to Santa
This was a bigger deal this year!  The boys knew what they wanted to ask for and spent several weeks making their final decisions :)  Westin wrote his all by himself-- just asked for the correct letters and he did a great job!  When we finished, we dropped the letters off at the adorable mailboxes at the new Bass Pro Shops just down the road from us.

Visit with Santa

Speaking of the new Bass Pro Shops... that's where we saw Santa this year as well :) Both boys were VERY excited (no apprehension whatsoever this year) and sat for some great pictures!  

Cookies and Candy with Mimi
In keeping with tradition from MY childhood, we spent an afternoon with my mom and siblings making cookies and candies!  One of these years, I'm going to make sure I copy all of the recipes we've used through the years.  Those things should really be put in a book or somewhere electronic so we don't lose any!  

The Santa Express
Something new for us this year-- we, along with my whole family, rode the Santa Express train!  It's modeled after the Polar Express... one of my boys' very favorite Christmas stories!  It was a dream come true for my little boys!  On our way to "the North Pole," we were served cookies & hot chocolate, entertained with Christmas songs, games, and stories, and the lights out the window.  When we got to the North Pole, Santa climbed aboard and talked with each of the kids & gave them a bell from his reindeer :) It was perfect! 

Christmas Outfits
Since we will be driving this Sunday, we already broke out the Christmas outfits :) I wasn't about to miss dressing up my babies because we will be driving!  I made bow-ties for them this year which was so so easy.  I was really pleased with how the outfits came together! Dressing boys can be fun too ;)

I can't wait to report back with the end of the season festivities :) Sending our love to each of you and your families and wishing you a Christmas packed full of love and memories with those who mean the most to you!
 

 

 

An Announcement from Our Family

For those of you who don't know, our family has an announcement to make!!

We are SO excited to be adding another member to our family this June! Our official due date is June 15th, 2014... but knowing our babies' track record we think it's safe to guess plus or minus 2 full weeks from then ;)

We're so very thankful for your prayers and thoughts over the next several months and glad to have you share in our excitement

fall

Fall has come and gone! We've had fun and kept busy, of course :) Highlights include:

September:
I was so blessed to be able to take a girls trip with my mom and sisters.  This is something we've talked about multiple time and never pulled the trigger on.  It was Kreg's first time flying solo with the boys and he did awesome of course.  The boys loved having Daddy home to play and he had lots of fun things planned for them while I played with the girls.  We spent three days in Las Vegas (my second trip there this year... definitely a record.) at the Wynn -- eating, shopping, and swimming and reading to our hearts content.  There was also a lot of hairspray clouds, makeup sessions, and girl talk.  Perfect.  We saw the same show Kreg & I saw in May-- Le Reve by Cirque du Soleil and it may have been even better the second time-- there's too much going on to take it all in the first time! I can't say enough how thankful I am to have a hubby who I can trust with my babies! That's what made it the most enjoyable. 

Westin played his second season of soccer this fall.  Kreg was able to help coach his team again and he had many of the same boys from the spring season on the fall team.  It was so fun to watch them all and see how far they've come since spring! He decided his favorite "position" to play is the "tail" -- aka, defense.  He very much enjoys and is also quite good at taking the ball away from potential scorers and keeping that ball out of the "no zone."  I love 4 & 5 year old soccer terminology :) Tucker is itching to play so bad.  It's tough being the little brother!

 
October:
We snuck away for a quick trip to Estes to see the fall colors, hear the elk bugle, and see my Grandparents. It's been much harder to get up there since the floods in September that washed out all the canyons that led to Estes.  We had to "go around" which added an extra hour to the trip.  The devastation was just surreal.  It's hard to imagine that water can create that much damage! 

 

I have to brag on Kreg again because he ran his first full marathon in October! We were all SO proud of him.  He had been training and pushing himself all summer so this was a very exciting accomplishment.  His Dad was able to fly out to support him and I know that meant the world to him.  

This meant the world to me! When we were running together to train for our half marathon in May, we had a "halfway kiss" tradition.  We stopped at the halfway point to cheer him on and he ran over and gave me a quick halfway kiss :) It made me feel like I was a little part of his accomplishment!

Halloween also came and went and we had the pleasure of taking The Lone Ranger & Tonto to Trunk or Treat at our church :) it was a very fun time and I think my boys looked super cute in their costumes. 

 
November: 
November has been fairly low-key so far.  Kreg spent a week hunting in Grand Lake with my Dad and the boys and I have been spending our days running between playdates, photoshoots, baby showers & birthday parties-- and that's how we like it :) We also manage to fit in time to have fun at home with our "preschool."  These are precious times to me and my boys and I'm so thankful that I get to stay home and be with them :)  

We are all VERY much looking forward to all the upcoming Holidays and all the special people we are going to be able to spend time with.  Hopefully I will be able to take a little more time to sit down and write down all of our adventures before I forget the fun little details!