Wake Up! Wake Up!

Any time you WANT the kids to wake up early, they don't. We had to wake up those sleepy heads to let the fun begin!

I love turning on the tree and letting the soft glow light the whole house. No lights necessary when you have a twinkling tree!

Looks like Santa came! He didn't quite polish off the cookies though-- those Nutter Butters can be rich!

Santa left Chloe a grand surprise: a roller coaster of her very own! Peyton was rather spoiled by Santa... he left Peyton a cell phone. I heard through the grapevine that Mrs. Claus wasn't too keen on the idea but that Santa convinced her that it would be just right for our little guy. Here the kiddo's gifts wait to be discovered!

                                         The children were nestled all snug in their beds...

 Peyton's Zoolander "Why did you wake me up" pose

                                                  Come on guys, it's CHRISTMAS!!! :)

 

                                                           Going through the stash!

Chloe was very slow and methodical about going through her stocking. At one point, Peyton "helped" her by taking things out so he could see what she got too. We rounded out a morning of wrapper tearing fun with a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls. It sure was a wonderful day!

Christmas Eve, Can You Believe?!

There's a palpatation of excitement and jubilation the moment you announce that it's Christmas Eve. The kids are like live wires; static that's constantly crackling with electricity and power. Once they get their pajama packages, they are giddy like nobody's business!

Chloe finally got the hang of opening gifts on her own!

A Christmas Eve perennial favorite: pajamas and a story before bed.

We've been taking Xmas Eve shots of the two monkeys ever since Chloe's first Christmas. It's been fun to see her grow over the years. Like I said, this was the first Christmas, followed by her second Christmas, and her most recent one below. I love Peyton's facial expressions!

Looks like the boy-child has been sampling the egg nog. :)

Feast your eyes on these! We love to visit Gigi's Cupcakes, especially when they have rockin' cool cupcakes like these! Yum, yum!

Up On the Rooftop

I love to watch my little guy perform, and his preschool Christmas program was no different. Peyton jammed along with his other friends singing about Santa and reindeer, Jingle Bells, and other holiday favorites.

At the end of singing the song "Must Be Santa", Santa Claus himself made an appearance!

Merry Making

Yes, I realize it is June, and that there are sprinklers whirling around the yard and bees lazily strumming the flowers, but it is time to play catch up and take you back once more to December. Notice the chap stick in the foreground? Yep. I don't travel far without it. :)

After dinner one evening Peyton requested to make a batch of cookies, so I told him to pull up a chair and I plugged the Kitchen Aid mixer into the island, got all of the ingredients to make sugar cookies out and arranged on the counter, and then had us both don aprons for the task ahead.

I measured everything out, and talked to Peyton about measurements; which cups or spoons we'd need to measure each ingredient, and when to add it to the bowl.

Once it was all mixed up, he and Daddy rolled out the dough and cut out stars and trees and placed them on a cookie sheet to bake in the oven. I had two little faces pressed against the oven, watching the dough rise and bake.

Peyton was mighty proud of his effort and enjoyed the first of many cookies that holiday season. Here he is giving us his best "cheese" smile. :)

Chloe was pretty mellow, but it didn't take her long to dig into her cookie and request another shortly thereafter. One of these days, these two munchkins will be making cookies unassisted by me!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

There is a quiet beauty when decorating a Christmas tree. Everything seems hushed and unhurried--you can simply take your time and decorate as your heart desires. Every ornament and light is strung with care and planning until the end result shines before you and lights up the holidays.

The boys took care of the decorating of the tree this year and I am so happy they did. In the end, we had a magnificent tree that Peyton was proud to have helped set up.

I loved catching Troy and Peyton in action looking for the next perfect spot to hang an ornament. Peyton was very methodical in his approach and did pretty well once he knew to spread out his baubles evenly!

All Hallow's Eve

'Tis the night - the night

Of the grave's delight,

And the warlocks are at their play;

Ye think that without

The wild winds shout,

But no, it is they - it is they.

~Arthur Cleveland Coxe

So, I failed as a Mom last Halloween in the picture department-- these are the only shots I got. In my defense, I really wasn't feeling all that great at the beginning of the night and so I just tarried along behind my little trick or' treating family while they had a blast. This was the closest we got to getting Peyton to smile for the pictures-- he just wanted to go and have a great time!

His costume last year was the easiest to find out of the whole family. He literally just walked into the costume store and within two minutes, had decided that this was what he was going to be--a Disney Car's pit crewman. He couldn't be swayed by anything else, so there you go! :)

Peyton is obviously practicing his evil eye. Are you scared yet?

 I love that Chloe is looking in her treat bucket like 'What did they just put in there?!'

Lylah (dressed as an angel) has a really cute expression on her face too.

Troy decided to dress up as a person who didn't have time to get a costume.

{More sad than scary, really.}

Chloe managed to unwrap about six lollipops before I noticed--here she is enjoying yet another sucker. Sneaky girl! Chloe also happened to be the winner of a 'Sweetest Costume' prize at one house where she got an extra bag of goodies in addition to her treat.

Even though Halloween has long been over, every day Chloe asks to be "Snow White!" In fact, she calls her red sparkly shoes--her "Snow White's" since those were the shoes she was wearing with her costume that night. :)

Pumpkin-Palooza!

Last year was the second year in a row that we've been to the Dallas Arboretum to see their pumpkin display in the month of October. Looks like it's becoming a fun, yearly tradition! 

This last year, a few friends and I packed a picnic lunch and headed out on one of the days that the arboretum offered a story time, music hour, face painting and a petting zoo for the younger set. 

But the main reason we went, of course, was to see the oodles of pumpkins that sprout up in every nook and cranny of those large, spacious grounds.

Chloe was mesmerized by the assortment of pumpkins everywhere. When I gave her a little pumpkin to hold for the pictures, she just beamed!

 There's my sassafrass!

 It was killing Chloe to sit still-- she was just itching to get up and hug every pumpkin!

 There are literally thousands of pumpkins displayed each October at the Dallas Arboretum. I have never seen so many pumpkins in one place in my entire life until I visited this arboretum. 

 There was a fun hay maze last year-- but the girls thought it would be more fun to use it as a balance beam. I guess gymnastics class must have been rubbing off on them!

 Last year, the theme for the grounds was different fairytales involving pumpkins. But they mainly focused on the story of Cinderella. Here we are in her fancy carriage!

 We were being pulled by two stately, leafy horses!

 'What are you?'

 'I think you must be friendly-- let me pet you again to be sure.'

 Chloe loved ♥LOVED♥ loved the petting zoo.

She wanted to hold and pet everything there. They had a pony, two rabbits, several goats, a sheep and a few clucking chickens for good measure!

 So soft!

I can't wait until October to visit the pumpkin patch again!

Will you come with us this time?