Christmas 2011

We had an amazing Christmas this year! It was a long, crazy and wonderful two days of non-stop family, presents, food, and sweets. We started at 9:30am Christmas Eve morning and didn't stop until about 6:00pm Christmas night! By the time we were done, the kids were expecting dessert after every meal, candy for snacks and presents around the clock! We are just barely all coming down from our holiday hangover!

all my favorite girls in matching jammies

I think this is my favorite picture from the whole holiday! They LOVE to be super heros!

I can't believe it is all over! I miss Christmas already!

Merry Christmas!

a letter from SANTA!!

A few days before Christmas, this was sitting in our mailbox mixed in with a bunch of holiday cards and bills...

As soon as I saw it I knew who it was from. I was almost in tears. I'm sure there is a small part of everyone that wants to always believe that Santa exists, I definitely do! Now I have proof, he is real! Colin was excited but he figured most kids that send a letter to Santa get one back so he wasn't as extatic as I was. I don't know how they do it or who does it for that matter. The only thing Colin wrote on his envelope to Santa was

To: Santa

North Pole

From: Colin

And we (yes, we. I was seriously so excited I decided the letter was to me too) got a hand addressed letter with a post mark from the North Pole! It was even signed by the man himself!

So THANK YOU whoever you are! I wish I could help do this for other kids or be a part of it in some way. It is so awesome and I'm sure makes so many kids (and their parents :) happy!

Rollin'

Rolling over already!

4 months old!

12/21/11

Dear Santa...

Colin wrote his letter to Santa and we put it in the mail the other day. He Asked for a dinosaur and mentioned that Parker wants a Superman and Olivia wants a princess. We'll see what happens! He couldn't wait for the mailman to come take his letter!

my smiley girl

Seriously, I know she is my baby so I have to think she is adorable, but she is the cutest thing ever!! I can't get enough of her smiles. And now she is starting to actually laugh. Olivia loves when people talk to her. She smiles so big and pulls her shoulders up like she knows how cute she is. Usually when she is laughing, it is at her brothers. They are always making faces and being silly with her. The day after Olivia turned three months, she started taking a binkie. She seems to like it but not as much as her fingers :). If she could, she would get her fingers in there with her binkie!

She is kicking and squirming a lot these days and had recently discovered her feet. Well, actually her socks (since they are usually pretty colors and ruffly). She has also started moving around a lot. Sometimes when I get her out of her crib, she is totally turned the other way. And she is getting pretty good at rolling all the way onto her left side. I'm sure it is just a matter of time until she is rolling onto her tummy :) We are all getting really excited for the next couple of weeks. Olivia's first Christmas and first trip to the snow!

Bubble the Elf

Bubble is our Elf on the Shelf! He surprised the kids with a North Pole breakfast complete with reindeer doughnuts and hot chocolate! They were so excited to see their table set and have breakfast with Bubble. He even wrote them a little note :). I loved seeing their sweet sleepy faces light up. I can't wait to have an elf breakfast every year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

3 Months

Olivia is definitely not a newborn any more. She is very alert and awake more during the day and she kicks and coos and smiles at us like crazy! Just the other day she started to roll onto her left side. Her cheeks and her thighs are getting chubbier (my favorite :) and she is still eating and sleeping great!

Olivia got her first bling this month too...I got her ears pierced! She looks so pretty with her sweet little diamond earrings. She did great and only cried for a couple minutes. Brave girl :)

My Grandpa blessed Olivia on November 6th. It was such a beautiful blessing and we are so grateful that he was able to do that for us. Olivia looked like a sweet little angel and she was so good the whole day! It was such a nice day with our family.

Boo!

Wolverine, Spiderman and a little Ballerina

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It is so much more fun when you have kids that get excited about it too! Colin has been pumped all month long. We started decorating the house on October 1st and all month added cute art projects that Colin made at school. Colin asked if he could do a Halloween "projeck" almost every day!

We had some family over to see the kids in their costumes and had a yummy dinner of brains and eyeballs (spaghetti and meatballs :), then we went trick-or-treating! This was our first year really trick-or-treating! Our neighborhood is great for it. The boys LOVED every minute! We only did a little loop around our block but it was perfect. Parker and Colin were running almost the whole way. Every time they rang a doorbell, Colin would say "trick-or-treat" pretty quietly and then shyly say thank you. Parker would run to the door, yell "TRICK-OR-TREAT, THANK YOU!, HAPPY HALLOWEEN" all at once, at the top of his lungs. It was the cutest thing. Luckily, our little 10 year old neighbor girl from across the street came with us to show the boys how it was done :). She was really sweet holding their hands and helping them.

All their loot!

Can't wait until next year! Colin is already planning his costume :)

Escape Artist

Parker learned how to do this on Friday. All weekend he wouldn't stay in his bed to take naps and bedtime was a struggle so we decided to put him in a toddler bed! We are having a little bit hard time getting used to it but hopefully we will be back to sweet dreams soon :)

Grab your boots and saddle up!

Parker had a Cowboy party this year. Thanks to my Mom and Aunt Diane, we pulled off another great party! Those two are so talented and creative. I don't think I would want to do a party without them! After I thought of the theme I knew we had to have it out at the Ranch, it was perfect! We had a few games, delicious food and a yummy desert table. It was such a fun night and I know Parker loved having all his friends and family there to help him celebrate turning TWO!!

The invitation:

Parker with Cowboy Parker :). Isn't that little guy the cutest??!! My Mom found this clipart on Etsy and we thought it was so perfect!

Cowboy Up!

We had hats, bandanas, and sherif badges for everyone to put on

The Games:

I love the way this banner turned out. I think it is my favorite one yet!

The party would be complete without some wanted posters!

mmmm mmmm good!

Dessert Table

We had cupcakes, licorice, cowboy cookies, cow pies (no bakes), and S'mores pops

Love my little Cowboy!