our busy, barfy, sneezy, white christmas

Christmas 2012 will definitely be one that we remember. We started our 4-day celebration by welcoming the stomach bug into our home. Landon got hit hard and almost took his first trip to the ER. Thank goodness an on call nurse from our pediatric clinic advised us on how to get him back up and running. I suffered a mild, one night bug and luckily Pres & Jon were spared. Just after ridding our home of the unwelcome stomach bug, we opened the door to some kind of sinus mess that hit everyone. Runny noses, sore throats and nasty coughs spared no victims. After dealing with back-to-back illnesses, I wanted nothing more than a relaxing, lazy Christmas Day. We got up on Christmas morning and stayed in jammies for Santa's presents, stockings and our gifts for each other. After cleaning up and getting dressed, it was time to head over to Jon's parents. My parents were hosting lunch at their house so it was time to go over there around noon. I already felt like we had been running hard that morning so I was excited about getting over to my parents house and chilling for the rest of the day. Things were looking good for just that when it started sleeting. We were told to be prepared for some inclement weather but to be honest, I totally blew it off because really, when does it ever snow when it's actually predicted to snow? We decided to pack up around 3:00 and head home in case the roads started getting bad therefore cutting our visit, and my relaxing, way short. After getting home without any problems, I was still convinced that nothing was going to happen. Well, some thing DID happen. Actually, 12 inches of something happened. I couldn't believe it! Snow upon snow upon snow blanketed us. It was a white Christmas. They closed Jon's office so we were looking forward to a fun snow day to make up for our slightly sad last few days...but then I remembered we were celebrating Christmas 2012 where nothing goes as planned. Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight...at 9:15 when our power went out!

 Cookies for Santa.

 Saying bye bye to Tree Stump.

 Santa ate his cookies!

Presley: "Can I eat the rest?"

 Cooking in the kitchen.

 Landon the Tool Man Wyatt

 On the bouncy horse.

 Off the bouncy horse.

 Landon's jumbo dog!

 Getting a little icy.

 The next morning.

Merry Christmas 2012!



picture post

We have had so much going on these past few weeks. I can't seem to find the time to sit down in front of the computer and blog but I wanted to get some recent pictures posted.

 Tree Stump watching the sunrise.

 @ church the morning we lit the Advent candle.

 Landon the Elf

 Presley's Christmas wish list...too bad some of these missed Santa's submission deadline and I have to wonder what's wrong with our current Christmas tree.

 As hard as I tried, neither one of the kids took to pacifiers. We have a few in Presley's baby doll box and Landon loves to use them when he's feeling sick.

 Our sweet Landon...right before he stood up and puked all over the carpet.

Looks like someone got the stomach bug for Christmas!

They both love to take off their shirts after dinner when we are playing upstairs.

 Here's our shirtless kids mesmerized by The Grinch on TV.



ho, ho, NO

We have always taken the kids to church on Sunday morning but recently found a Sunday evening program that Presley was old enough to participate in. We started going just in time for her to start practicing for the Children's Christmas Program. The kids learned 3 songs and the director was even kind enough to include Landon and a few other littles. The director seemed a little worried about the kids performing but everyone knows they could have burned the stage down and we all would have applauded loudly. I told Presley that she had to sing loud enough for Santa to hear her and she did her best to be heard over her much more vocal friend Blake. It was really sweet to be sitting in the gym of the church I grew up in watching my children perform. I was having a little trouble getting into the holiday spirit but this little ditty definitely put the jolly right in my holly!

This is the first year Presley has wanted anything to do with Santa...Landon, maybe next year.

forget me not

Man, my poor, old, neglected blog. I thought this might happen living so close to family but I am going to try to get back in the swing of blogging. Lord knows we have a lot going on that needs to be reported. We made it through November and are wrapping up the first week in December. My calendar is packed! We have something going on every weekend until Christmas and stuff is starting to fill up our normal weeknights as well. We did a great job getting all the decorations out the Friday after Thanksgiving. We haven't used our big tree since Presley was born but thought it was about time it came out of hibernation. It looks great in our office. Poor Landon is going to think the real meaning of Christmas is "no" since we have to constantly tell him that around the tree. Tree Stump, our friendly Elf on the Shelf found our new house and has been popping up all over the place. Landon is actually pretty good at spotting him and pointing him out to his sister. I am looking forward to these next few weeks of parties and performance and am especially excited about our first non-traveling Christmas in a long, long time. 

From Thanksgiving.

 Bringing Presley donuts on his first morning back.

Landon's version of the man in the red suit.

picture post

We have already had a lot going on in the month of November. It's only the 19th and we celebrated 4 birthdays, taken a road trip to Frisco, TX, purchased a new car, and so much more. If this is what we've tackled so far, I can't imagine how much more the upcoming holidays have in store for us!!

Cousins!!

Bundled up for some outdoor play.

Our first trip to our new pediatrician.

16 months

24 pounds (35%)

31.5 inches (50%)

Bubble baths in the big tub.

Mama's new car!!

falling in love

It finally feels like fall around here and fall in Arkansas means two things, beautiful colors as the trees change and LOTS of leaves. We haven't seen trees or leaves for 6 years now and the kids got equally excited about both. One of the first things Presley said when she saw the new house was, "look at all my trees!" The trees started changing color a few weeks ago. Let me tell you, if you never experienced this process before you are truly missing out. I am amazed by the range of hues one can see on a mountainside. It's almost as if no two trees turn exactly the same color. It's one of those moments in life when you absolutely know something greater than ourselves is choreographing our world. The saddest part of this beautiful process is that once those trees start changing, they drop their leaves EVERYWHERE! The leaves had already started piling up in our driveway so I shoveled, (yes, shoveled because we don't own a rake seeing as we haven't had to use one since we moved away) them into a big pile and let the kids dive in. It warmed my heart to see them pouncing and playing together in a pile of dry, crunchy leaves. Don't worry kids, there's plenty more where these came from and I somehow think your daddy has a different opinion of leaves after spending most of last Sunday afternoon raking and bagging them.  Happy fall y'all!

color my world

After the sloppy good time I had at the Mud Run (see November 1 post), I was more than game for a dryer, yet equally as fun run. My friend Sarah told me about "The Color Run" and we signed up right away. It's a non-timed run that includes 4 color stations along a 5K route. You are encouraged to wear white clothing so you can truly appreciate the effects of the color. The race starts and around the 3/4 mile mark you are hit with your first color. We had no idea what to expect of dyed cornstarch being thrown at us and some "color throwers" were more gentle than others (see "orange" below). At the end of the race, the finishers gather together and have a color throw that involves everyone throwing a packet of color into the air. It definitely lived up to it's claim as being the "Happiest 5K on the planet"!

So fresh and so clean...for now.

PINK

BLUE

YELLOW

Sarah opted to go in solo so I could get a few action shots...

Not the best idea. All the color throwers are aiming for the same target!

ORANGE

You've got a little color right there.

The group color throw.

The only bad part, other than temporarily suffocating in a cloud of corn starch, was that all the colors mixed together and everyone turned a weird blue/brown color.