Goodbye Christmas!

Every year we take pictures of the kids in the front yard in front of the lights/yard art decorations before we tear everything down (everything came down the day after Christmas this year as we are having our house painted)...it's like a family tradition and it will be neat in 10 years to compare all of the various pictures from each year. This year they each sat in front of their respective Daisy Duck and Donald Duck figures. Background story: The Donald Duck yard art all started in 1999 when Jason noticed that my parents had a Donald Duck figure in their yard as a Christmas decoration (my parents street is decorated in Disney characters for Christmas and they happened to be assigned Donald Duck some 20 or more years ago. Coincidence?) as that was his absolute favorite character growing up and still is. So, my mom had one made for us in 2001 (as a surprise gift) as we celebrated our 1st Christmas in our new home. And, as Landon and Emerson have been born my mom has added a baby Donald Duck and baby Daisy Duck to our collection so we have the whole family displayed in the yard. Of course, my mom also had a baby Donald and baby Daisy made for Easter that are holding Easter eggs. Of course it is only fitting that Landon is in love with Donald Duck too!

Day After Christmas

We headed over to Jason's parents house the day after Christmas to have our Christmas celebration. It was an eventful evening as the kids were in very interesting moods due to colds and lack of naps....it sounded like a symphony of whining, crying, and screaming. But, in the end they enjoyed opening up all of their presents and were not too cranky by nights' end. As expected, they were all spoiled rotten with gifts! I would not even know where to begin to list all of the things that Landon and Emerson received over the span of 4 days. Thank you to everyone that made their Christmas so special and memorable and for all of the fantastic gifts. They are so fortunate to have such loving and giving family!

Christmas Evening

After the kids' naps we headed to my parents house for Christmas dinner and another session of gifts galore from Santa Claus, my parents, and out of town relatives that sent the presents home from Palestine with my parents that day. Of course the kids had a blast and raked in tons of fun toys. There were so many toys that Landon didn't know what to do with himself...he even stopped for a snack and of course wanted every present open to play with before going on to the next one. Emerson was a little fussy from the lack of good naps that day, but she too enjoyed all of her new gifts, especially the tissue paper! It is always such fun to watch the excitement in the kids' faces as they open up new toys. Landon's favorite phrases this year were "cool dude" and "ohhhhh, wow". Precious!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning we opened up gifts at home from each other and Santa Claus. You should of seen the look on Landon's face (we got it on video camera as I'll have to post it once I learn how) when he saw the cookies for Santa were gone and when he turned the corner and saw his train table. It was classic and even brought tears to my eyes! He was entertained with the train table all day long (and still is!). Emerson actually attempted to unwrap some of her gifts and seemed intrigued and of course enjoyed munching on the delicious wrapping paper. The kids got tons of stuff as I have spent the last several days "re-shuffling" toys in 4 different rooms, closets, etc. Man, we seriously need a bigger house!! This year Jason got me an i-pod, an i-pod case, and a gift certificate for a massage. I got Jason a gift certificate for a couple's massage (HA HA!! Now, I get 2 massages!!), a new wallet, a personalized mouse pad with the kids pictures for his office, and some other small items. It was a lot of fun and we were able to lounge around the house all day playing with the kids and their new toys since we didn't have to rush to Chappell Hill for lunch.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Jason's dad's side of the family (we were in Houston this year for Christmas) for their annual Christmas Eve get together. The kids all had a blast playing together and getting a special visit from Santa Claus himself. Landon was hesitant at first, but then he became a "Santa Hog". Emerson enjoyed pulling on his beard just to check to see if he was real or not. Santa even arrived in the back of a pick-up truck! The kids were screaming with excitement when he arrived and were literally running circles in the front yard. It really was a lot of fun, especially watching all the kids play and chase each other as they always enjoy each other's company. Emerson got to meet her great grandma (Boo Boo) for the first time as well. We always enjoy spending time with family....too bad we don't have more time than just a few times a year to get together! We'll hopefully get to see some of them again on New Year's Eve.

Oh, Christmas Tree

Oh, Christmas tree if you were going to stay out for a few more weeks you would be beaten up and bare as my daughter (and with my son's assistance) loves to pull on you! Just wait until next year! Notice how she is several feet in front of you in order to get a picture!

Big Girl

Yes, we have already had to buy Emerson a new car seat as she outgrew her infant one. She tipped the scales yesterday at 22 lbs. 3 oz. Holy cow!! She gained 3 lbs. in 5 weeks! Wow!

Emerson loves her baby food but is picky about it. She loves all of the fruits, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and carrots but is not too fond of most of the other vegetables. Isn't that obvious by her facial expressions? It is hilarious how she shivers, shudders, and winces her face at each bite of green beans, mixed vegetables, peas, or squash. It is one of those typical reactions that you see in the America's Funniest Home Videos. We need to enter our video! It is of course had to catch with the regular camera, but I tried my best.






This is what happens when Miss Priss decides to only sleep for 1 hr. 15 min. yesterday as she refused to take her 2nd nap. She's a stubborn girl! She was out 1/2 way through the bottle and never woke up.