Let the Christmas Festivities Begin!!!

We had a very busy weekend with Christmas festivities, and we aren't even done yet! The kids were really excited about Christmas this year, so there were a lot of things on our To Do List to make sure that everything was perfect!

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Geisler family Christmas at Grandma Nina's house. It was nice to catch up with everyone there on my dad's side of the family. Once we finished up at Grandma Nina's, we headed home to finish preparing for Santa.

Earlier in the day we made gingerbread cookies and decorated them for Santa.


We spread reindeer food on the front lawn so that the reindeer could find their way and have a little snack while Santa delivered the presents.


It was snowing on Christmas Eve and the kids (and Stephen and I too) were pretty pumped about having a White Christmas! While we were spreading the reindeer food on the lawn, we discovered a package on the front porch. Buddy the Elf left the kids a new book A Charlie Brown Christmas. Buddy the Elf has found our house every year since Addison was just a baby. It is always a lot of fun to see what Buddy has left for us!

The kids picked out the perfect cookies for Santa and placed a glass of milk next to them on the table. Kennedy was having a hard time keeping her hands off of the cookies, but in the end I think only a few M&M's were missing :^)


After the kids were in bed and we knew that Santa had come and gone, Stephen took a picture of everything that Santa left for the kids.


Lincoln was the first one to wake up on Christmas morning and he tiptoed into our room and said "I think Santa was here, there are new toys out there!" We decided that we would wait on Addison to wake up before we ventured out to the living room to check out the goods! Once she came downstairs she ran into our room and made us get up to come see what Santa had left behind. Here are a few of our favorites from Christmas morning:



Later that night, we went to my mom and dad's to celebrate with mom, dad and Justin. The kids were really excited that Uncle Justin was in town. Addison and Lincoln wouldn't leave him alone! As always, mamaw and papaw went a little bit crazy and the kids got lots of really great presents! Stephen and I didn't do so bad either......

Here are a few favorites from Mamaw and Papaw's house:


Here is my favorite picture from the whole weekend...


There will be more Christmas festivities to share in the coming week. We will head over to Stephen's mom and dad's house on Tuesday to celebrate Christmas with them. I'm sure the kids won't get spoiled over there either :^)

Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at Pam's house. Stephen's family traveled up to Middlebury to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa Sheets. Maybe next year we will make the journey north! Although we missed spending Thanksgiving with Stephen's mom and dad, it was nice to go to my family's thanksgiving without being overstuffed from the first round :^)

I dusted off my sewing machine this year to make outfits for the girls that included skirts and matching turkey shirts. Lincoln felt a little left out so I made him a neck tie shirt the night before thanksgiving.

The kids always love getting together with all of their cousins. This always causes lots of squealing, giggling and running through the halls! The day after Thanksgiving, mom, Pam and I ventured to the movie theater with the big kids to watch Tangled. At one point I took 5 of the kids to the bathroom by myself (not sure what I was thinking)! We had a great time and the movie was really cute.

That night all of the big kids came to my house for a pretend slumber party (that just means that their mommies came to get them around 9) I'm not sure that I would have survived the night if they stayed :^)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for. On Saturday after Thanksgiving we celebrated Christmas with mom's extended family. I blew it because I forgot to take the camera with us. This is most unfortunate because the kids have a new baby cousin, Hudson and you desperately need to see him because he's beautiful! It was nice getting to see everyone, maybe next year I'll remember my camera :^)

Now we are in the home stretch to Christmas. As I type this blog, I'm not sure which list my kids will end up on. If Santa is listening to them bicker with each other right now, they're is sure to be a lump of coal in someone's stocking!

Kennedy after too much turkey!

Better Late than Never!

I decided today that a blog update is necessary, never-mind that it has been almost a year since I last blogged!

Lets do a quick year in review:

Kennedy Turned One! Since we call her our little bumbler, it was only right to have a bumble bee party.
Addison Turned 5! She requested a unicorn and rainbow party :^)
We went on our yearly trip to Hilton Head and had a wonderful time as usual.
Lincoln started preschool at Dupont Baptist Academy and he's loving every minute of it. In fact, he gets really ticked on the days that he doesn't go to school!
Addison started Kindergarten at Anderson Elementary and she loves it too! She is in Ms. Asher's class and she amazes us everyday with all of the new things she is learning.
In September Kennedy was put in the hospital overnight for a bad run-in with croup. She hated staying there, and I did too, but we were glad that Dr. Holly was able to fix her right up so she could get back home!
In November, Lincoln turned 4! We celebrated with a monster truck party.
That doesn't even touch the amount of fun stuff we've done this year, so let's see if I can remember everything:
2 trips to the Louisville Zoo
2 slumber parties at our house
Planted and took care of our first vegetable garden
Went to see Monster Jam at Freedom Hall
Watched as Kennedy learned to walk and talk and turn into an adorable little girl
Lots of afternoons in our blowup swimming pool
Visited Cornucopeia Farms to pick out our pumpkins
Lots of bike rides and walks
Movie nights on the living room floor
and I know I'm forgetting a lot more....

Maybe my 2011 new year's resolution will be to update the blog more often!!

and I'll close with a few of my favorite pics from the past year:

A Very Important Lesson.....

...on how to properly blow a bubble with bubble gum! Addy and Lincoln really want to be able to blow bubbles with their gum just like daddy, so earlier this week lesson #1 took place. Addy gets very frustrated with the process and Lincoln just laughs a lot. They'll get the hang of it sooner or later!

Play Date!

On Sunday, Stephen took the big kids sledding with Gabe and his son Clinton. Since it was so cold, I volunteered to stay home and watch Gabe and Holly's little one Raeanna so that Kennedy and Raeanna could play. The girls had a great time and I'm pretty sure that Raeanna is the most easy going baby on the planet. She didn't fuss at all while her daddy was gone. Enjoy a few pictures from their play date...I'm sure there will be many more to come because we really enjoy the time we spend with the Hearne family!

Snow Day

It has snowed a lot over the past few days and the kids have really enjoyed playing outside in it. I for one cannot stand to get blasted in the face with freezing rain/snow/sleet, but Addison and Lincoln didn't mind at all. Stephen helped the kids make a snow fort in the backyard that ended up looking a lot like an igloo. The kids loved crawling inside and playing, but I think Stephen loved it even more. He's just a giant kid at heart. Stephen tried to keep the fort blocked off from the dogs so that the kids could play with it again the next day, but he was outsmarted! Addison requested a snow fort in the front yard as well so that the dogs couldn't destroy it, so daddy complied :^)

Howdy Partner

A couple of wild cowboys visited our house last night. Who would of thought a little eyeliner could be so much fun! It gets pretty crazy around our house on Friday nights :^)

Kennedy Update

This week Kennedy went to the doctor for her 9 month well check. She's actually 10 months old, but since we love Dr. Holly so much, we had to wait a little longer to get in. Kennedy is doing great developmentally and she was healthy as a horse. We weren't surprised to find that she is a tiny little thing since she's still wearing all of her 3-6 month clothes. Miss Kennedy weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs 6 oz which is less than the 5th percentile for her age and she was 27.5 inches tall which is 10-25th percentile. She's a great eater, we just think she's gonna be a little one!

In other Kennedy news, she has become quite proficient in repeating "Da-da, da-da, da-da" much to my dismay. We've tried and tried, but mama is just not coming out of her mouth. Lincoln has been practicing with her, so maybe she'll have more luck this week! I hate to admit it, but she has become quite the little daddy's girl too.....this must be stopped!

So many presents to choose from and this is what they choose........

Cardboard boxes are so much fun! And they're way cheaper.....maybe next year we will remember this fun fact before we spend money on toys....