Christmas Party

Sunday night we had a Christmas party with our home bible study group. The kids drew names and exchanged gifts and the parents did a white elephant gift card exchange. We ate lots of yummy appetizers and desserts. We had a great time celebrating the season with everyone.

Present Time!

Gracyn tried out all of Gabriella's baby things. She was quite the ham for pictures that night.

Julie, Sammy, Kylee, Addison and Reagan having dinner.

Gracyn ate her dinner in the Bumbo.

Gracyn got this musical sea horse, which she calls, "Sea Neigh-Neigh".

More Presents!

She really did try EVERY baby toy.

Joe and Wendy

Brian and Dawn

Sarah and Ryan

Tommy and I

The Mommies

The Daddies

Tired, jammied kiddos ready to go. Our girls were sound asleep as soon as we got in the car.

Gracyn's Neigh-Neigh

On our last trip to Texas, Gracyn fell in love with the horses and has been a little horse crazy ever since! Saturday Christmas packages arrived from Pappy's house. The big girls got cameras that they love. They have been snapping away pictures since they arrived. Gracyn got an American Girl horse that she is head-over-heels in love with.

Peeking in the box. At this point, the sisters have a better idea of what is in there.

Now she knows.

Love at first sight. She calls it Tony....the name of the horse they ride at my Dad's.

Stepping away from her sisters. Claiming her prize.

She carries it all day and sleeps with it at night.

Love.

Santa

Saturday afternoon, we had an invitation from our realtors, to come meet Santa at their office. We made plans to meet some friends for lunch, visit Santa, and then head over to a nearby ice skating rink, for a first skating experience. We had to bail on the skating, because it was freezing outside! But, Santa was fun for the girls.

Gracyn's first visit with Santa, was last month in Texas. She sat in his lap, looked right at him and ripped his hat off! She has talked about it since, always saying, "Santa Hat!!!" and laughing. She was a little surprised with this Santa....he had no hat. That kept her out of trouble, I guess.

20 Month Favorites

~Gracyn calls orange juice "Ernie". Don't know why. Every morning I fill cups for her and Reagan. She then points to each cup and says, "Mine Ernie, right. Rea-Rea Ernie, right." She will then drink her entire cup in just a few minutes and tell me, "More, Ernie!".

~We left Maggie the Lab at my parent's house in Texas, while we are working on the moving process. They will put her on a plane to Ohio once we get settled there. In the meantime, Gracyn misses her terribly. She says daily, "Mannie-Dog Pappy's house.". She also tells us about Pappy's "Neigh-neighs" and all their carrots and apples and about their fishy who she always says is "Night Night".

~Making sure we have our steady dose of girl drama around here, she cries daily, usually for about 5 minutes over having her finger nicked by Pappy's horse. Hank the horse just barely grazed her finger with his teeth, while she was feeding him a carrot (2 weeks ago). She didn't shed a tear at the time, but tells us everyday since that "Neigh-niegh, bite, finger (funger), band-aid!". She will get upset about it and just cry and cry until we can distract her with something.

~Anytime she is about to do something she shouldn't and we see her and tell her no, she will stop the behavior, smile ever so sweetly and say, "Hi Mommy!".

~She loves baby dolls and her plastic horses, which she calls by name according to the one's they look like at Pappy's house.

~She still has the endearing habit of saying the same thing over and over AND OVER again, until she gets the response she is looking for.

~She loves to sing favs include I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee and Pat-A-Cake. She sings different songs, but she always intertwines every song with the words from I Had a Little Turtle. She also yodels like Jesse in Toy Story 3. She learned that from Reagan.

~If I tell her no about something, she goes and asks Addison.

~She loves fish and Elmo.

~She is just as cute as can be and growing up way to quickly!!!

Thanksgiving Day

Our Thanksgiving day started off a little rough with what should have been a 2 hour drive back into the Dallas area from Tommy's parents. Unfortunately, due to a train de-railing the night before, the freeway into Dallas had been shut down. We sat in traffic forever and then were forced onto another freeway and had no idea where we were. A grand total of 4 hours later, we arrived at my aunt and uncles house. I promise you if we hadn't left some of our stuff at my dad's we probably would have just changed the destination in the GPS and came all the way back to Denver! Fortunately after we arrived, our drive was quickly forgotten and we had a great day eating tons of food, playing Wii, doing crafts and visiting with family.

Addison, Brylee and Ashton playing with dinosaurs. Reagan had a blast with Ashton. They were very serious about their game. Ashton is a living miracle, many of you Texas bible study girls prayed for him several years ago. He had cancer in his leg as a baby and had to have his leg amputated. He is cancer free and a healthy 4 year old now. He has a prosthetic leg, but he is not a fan and can't be convinced to wear it very often. No need though, he gets around just as fast as any other kid without it.

Sweet Austin playing with Gracyn.
Reagan helping Brylee ride her new horse.

My girls and Pappy.

Sweet cousins in unplanned, matching Gymboree outfits. How cute is that?

After spending the afternoon with my family, we headed to Tommy's aunts house. There we ate more food, watched the Cowboy game, played with cousins and had a great time catching up with everyone. I took no pictures there, or for the last few days of our trip. I think maybe 9 days of travel, unpacking and repacking for 4 different locations and keeping up with the girls had us too busy and tired for picture taking. We are thankful for a great trip, for safe travels, for our family and for God's love and provisions.

Puppies, Smores and a Sleepover

After visiting at Tommy's parents house, we headed to visit his youngest brother Steve and his wife Dannea. They recently moved to Kileen for her first teaching job. The girls were so excited about the visit to their house and had been planning a sleepover.....without mom.....for months. The girls had a blast at their house. They were delighted to meet Major Winter and Oliver, Steve and Dannea's 4 month old puppies. The girls wore those puppies out quick and then spent the rest of the night snuggling them. The puppies retreated under the couch several times, but it never lasted long, before the girls drug them back out and into their laps. Addison even hesitated to open Christmas presents, because she didn't want to put Oliver down....her curiosity eventually won out and we had a great time opening gifts.

Gracyn is not about to share her Cheeze-Its with Steve. Smart girl....does he look like the kind of guy you would want to share food with?

Reagan claimed Major and Addison claimed Oliver. They stuck with the same dog the entire night.
Gracyn is trying to coax a puppy out from under the couch.

Reagan and Major all snuggled under the covers. She was just sure he needed a blanket.

Addison and Oliver

Steve had smores for dessert on his newly acquired fire pit. The girls were thrilled.

Reagan lit a few marshmallows on fire.

Precious Gracyn loved playing drums with Steve.

At the end of the night, I went way out of my comfort zone and said good-bye to my girls. They were in good hands and thrilled to get to spend the night with their aunt and uncle, I am just not used to leaving them! Steve built them a tent to sleep in, they stayed up way late, and they had a fun morning of crafts with Dannea the next day. She also took them to visit Steve at his work and to see her classroom. Mommy survived the night and was happy to reunite with my girls the next day. Steve and Dannea.....get ready, next year Gracyn will want to stay too.

Temple, Texas

Tuesday morning we loaded up from our hotel and drove yet another 2 1/2 hours south to Tommy's parents in Temple. Grandma and Grandpa were ready and waiting with a Christmas tree that needed decorating and lots of presents underneath it.

If you are noticing a trend here.....yes, with most of our family, the girls open their Christmas presents at Thanksgiving. It is just more fun doing it together, than sending them in the mail. However, if I keep pulling my girls out of school for Thanksgiving and bringing them to Texas to open Christmas presents, they may never learn about Pilgrims and Indians or the story of Thanksgiving.

Lexi dog, or Lucky dog as Gracyn calls her is always a big hit at Grandma and Pampa's house. The girls even have their own small pink leash to walk her with. Pampa just hooks her up to both her regular leash, which he holds and the pink one, which they hold. Not sure Lexi dog loves the set up, but you can imagine how much the girls like it.

Addison was even big enough this year to hold the main leash.

Big girl Gracyn taking her dog walking very seriously.

We had a great time at their house. We made a trip to Steve and Dannea's new house, shopped at the mall, ate lots of yummy food and just had a good time visiting.

The Next Day

Monday morning we said good-bye (for a few days) to all the barn animals and headed into town to meet my mom. She met us at the mall and took the kids shopping. They each picked out a Christmas present from her and visited with Santa. We had to beg and plead with Austin to get him in the Santa picture....but he finally agreed and we got a decent picture. When it was time to leave the mall we headed to Spring Creek Barbecue (a must have Texas stop for us). My Aunt Trish drove up from East Texas with my grandmother to spend the day with us. It was great having everyone together. And, I loved seeing the joy my grandmother got from being with all the kids. After lunch we headed to our hotel, so that we could all just spend time together and visit.

Mimi had more Christmas presents and so did Gangy. The girls had a blast opening all the new toys and spent the afternoon happily playing.

Gangy and Baby Gracyn

Gangy and Addison. Addison had really been looking forward to seeing her, and had even made a note for her at school that said, "I am thankful for Granny!". We were happy to give that to her.

My crew and Granny.

My nephew, in what is apparently his favorite Green-Martian shirt, and Gangy.

My cousin Miranda came by with her baby Kendall. Granny was happy to meet this great-great grand baby. Kendall and Gracyn had fun playing together.

Aunt Trish and my mom.

After Granny and Trish had to leave, we took the kids out to the hot tub. Since it was a balmy 85 degrees, they even braved the pool a few times.

Poor Gracyn.....not much napping on trips and she was a tired girl. See the 1/2 of my sister that made it into this picture. She was with us most of the day, but apparently hides from the camera!!! After the pool, we went to eat yummy Mexican food and then headed back to the hotel to put tired kids to bed.