The Brooks Family

Disney Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

2012-02-19T21:33:00.000-06:00

On Valentine's morning we woke up super early because we had a 7:20 am reservation for breakfast at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort. Hunter definitely warmed up to the characters at this breakfast...just as he'd promised the night before while we were dining with Cinderella's family. He did great, and I was proud of him for overcoming his fear.

The first character to stop by our table was Goofy...

Then Mickey...

Donald...

Minnie...

And finally Pluto, who put the autograph book on his nose to sign!

After finishing up a yummy breakfast (with the best hashbrown casserole I've ever had - I totally got seconds), we made our way to Magic Kingdom. We saw the opening ceremony again, and then headed over to Tomorrow Land. The first stop was the Tomorrowland Speedway...

I drove and Charlotte was my passenger while Hunter drove with James behind us...

After the slowest race ever, we headed to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin...

This was another family favorite. You shoot your gun at the Z's (for Zurg) all throughout the ride and try to get the most points possible. You can even spin your own spaceship as fast as you want all throughout the ride.

I knew we wouldn't get a chance to meet Rapunzel at any of our character meals, so we headed over to her home in Magic Kingdom. The line didn't look bad at all, so we hopped in, hoping to be up to the front in about 10 minutes. Ten minutes later, we hadn't moved from our original spot in line...

What I didn't realize was that they took a large group of about 10 families into her little area at a time. After all of those people met Rapunzel, then the outside line would move up as a new group would get to go in. Since it was taking so long, James and Hunter went to Fantasy Land to ride the carousel and teacups one more time and to get a Fastpass for Peter Pan.

Fastpass is a service Disney provides where you can insert your Key to the World (park ticket, room key, meal plan card all in one) into one of the machines set in front of popular attractions and retrieve a pass to come back later (usually at least an hour, depending on how many Fastpasses have been distributed up to that point). When you return, you get into a special line set aside for Fastpass holders, which is super short. The Fastpass basically holds your place in line. They give an hour time period for you to return during (for example 10:25 - 11:25), but historically they have let you use the Fastpass even if the time has passed (our return time for Peter Pan was around 12:00 - 1:00, but we didn't return to ride it until that night), but I've heard starting at the end of February they aren't going to allow you to do that anymore. So you'll have to return only in the time period stated on the Fastpass.

It was amazing to me that people would wait in 60+ minute lines for a ride that had Fastpass availability. We never waited longer than about 10 minutes for a ride while at Disney World, with 1 exception (but we were there during a slower season, so you should expect to wait longer during more crowded times).

Forty-five minutes from the time we lined up to meet Rapunzel (the longest wait for anything we did at Disney), James and Hunter came back just in time to see Charlotte meet Rapunzel...

She and Charlotte had a sweet little conversation, and then posed for a picture...

It was definitely worth the wait!

After that long time standing in line, we wanted to sit down and rest for a little bit, so we headed over to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor...

I didn't have very high hopes for this attraction, but it ended up being my favorite thing up to that point in the day. They interact with the audience and it is hysterical. We were all rolling.
Next we headed over to the Move it! Shake it! Celebrate it! Street Party. They have a little mini parade with 4-5 floats, and then they invite guests to come out in the street and dance with the characters!

When they invited everyone out into the street, Charlotte jumped right out there...

Right after that video Frozone came up and started dancing with her. I wish I would've videoed that, but she was a little hesitant to dance with him so I had to dance along with them. Then one of the street dancers on stilts came up and danced with her. He had to bend all the way over, and I was so worried he was going to fall! Luckily, he didn't...I'm sure he's done that countless times, so there was no need for me to worry.

After the street party it was time for our lunch reservation at The Crystal Palace where we would meet Winnie the Pooh and friends. James and I loved the food and both kids loved meeting all of the characters!

First we met Piglet...

Then Eeyore...

And Tigger...

And finally, Pooh...

After lunch, we headed back to the resort for naptime. When we came back, we rode the WDW Railroad over to Frontier Land...

We hopped off and walked to Fantasy Land to use our Fastpass for Peter Pan. After that we headed over to Tomorrow Land for dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. The kids had so much fun dancing with each other before and after dinner...

When the were dancing outside after we ate, we heard another street party starting, so we walked over and Charlotte and I danced for a couple of minutes. Then we found this sweet couple to take our picture with the castle...

...or at least part of it.

We headed over to ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover, and honestly, I thought this was going to be really lame, but it turned out to be such a cool attraction! It took you through every ride in Tomorrow Land...

Hunter and Charlotte were both really scared when we went into Space Mountain because it was so dark (and Hunter kept thinking we were going to have to ride Space Mountain everytime the man on the speaker talked about it). It was pitch black in there, but I thought I'd take a picture just to see what Hunter's face looked like...

Looks like James was a little scared, too:)

Then we rode Buzz's Space Ranger spin one more time with a Fastpass we'd picked up earlier and headed over to Adventure Land to check out the Swiss Family Treehouse...

My advice would be not to visit this attraction unless your kids are big fans of Swiss Family Robinson or stairs. Actually, my kids both love stairs and they were not too keen on this "treehouse". You climb a TON of stairs and you get to look in different rooms that have been set up to look just like Swiss Family Robinson, but you can't go in or touch anything inside. I had gotten it confused with Tom Sawyer Island and told Hunter he would get to play once we got to the top. You can imagine what he thought when we got to the top and just turned around to go back down.

So we quickly headed over to Frontier Land to see Tom Sawyer Island. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that it closed at sunset, so we weren't able to go. Nothing a Mickey Pretzel, Churros, and a Sprite couldn't fix, though! So we shared a snack, and then headed back to Tomorrow Land.

I hadn't planned on riding Astro Orbiter because I thought it would be too scary for the kids, but when Hunter saw it during our People Mover ride, he asked if we could go on it, so we got in line. This was the 1 exception to our short wait time. We had to wait for 30 minutes, and Char had some interesting ways of entertaining herself during our wait...

Finally it was our turn, so we loaded our spaceships and we were off...

I took literally 5 self-portraits of us with Char's eyes like this...

...before I got this one...

It went pretty fast, but both kids loved it! It was so cool to be able to look out at Tomorrow Land and the castle all lit up at night. (You have to take an elevator up to the ride, so it's elevated over the rest of the attractions.)

We found a spot in Tomorrow Land to watch Wishes. Charlotte handled the fireworks a little better this time...

And Hunter loved them just as much as the night before.

James and I were both a little sad as we walked out of the park that night, because we knew we wouldn't be back to Magic Kingdom this trip...but we knew we'd be back one day, so that helped a little:)

Our favorites from Day 2 at Magic Kingdom:

James - Astro Orbiter

Carole - Street Party

Hunter - Astro Orbiter

Charlotte - dancing at the Street Party

Disney Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

2012-02-19T11:16:00.005-06:00

On Monday we woke up bright and early so that we could get to Magic Kingdom in time for rope drop, which is basically just an opening ceremony. The park opens at 9, and the goal was to get there by 8:30. I can't remember exactly when we got there, but I think it was around 8:40, which is really good if you know me!

I was really surprised how many people were there that early...I was hoping at a chance to be the family of the day, but could see as soon as we walked up that there was no way that was happening. There were way too many people in front of us. (Every morning at the Magic Kingdom, they pick a family to be the family of the day, and they get to help open the park with Mickey and friends by riding the train in with them and being a part of the opening ceremony.)

Look how crowded it is waiting for rope drop!

They have a little musical show and then several characters come in on a train and join the singers. It really is so magical!

Snow White and Chip and Dale were part of the opening the first morning we went to MK...

The kids loved the show almost as much as I did;) Charlotte waved bye to all the characters as we headed into the park...

We fought through the crowds and finally we could see the castle...

It's so beautiful!

We headed straight back to Fantasy Land behind the castle and went to Peter Pan's Flight...

It really feels like you're flying through Neverland. It was a favorite of all of ours!

We also rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh...

Not as cool as Peter Pan's Flight, but it was cute, and it was a favorite of Charlotte's. It's definitely a great ride for kids her age.

Of course we had to take a spin on the Mad Tea Party. Charlotte had been talking about the teacups since we first told her about our trip. She couldn't wait! And as you can see, they did not disappoint...

I always tell people that I still feel really young. I think it's crazy when people turn 30 and say that they feel old. Thirty is SO young. But y'all. The teacups. They will definitely change your view on what young is...I was so dizzy after it was over that I couldn't walk straight!

After my vestibular system normalized, we went over to the Prince Charming Regal Carousel...

The one ride that I wasn't a fan of in Fantasy Land was It's a Small World. It was looooong and sloooowwwww...

I guess it was a nice rest from all of that running around, though.

We had been running around like crazy so that we could squeeze in as many attractions as possible before the crowds got too heavy. Our fast pace had paid off because we had already seen 5 attractions in less than an hour. We kept it up, took a deep breath, and headed to our last attration in Fantasy Land, Mickey's Philharmagic...

Another 3D movie, but as you can see, either Charlotte forgot the terror of yesterday's 3D experience or she doesn't realize what's about to happen. This attraction was AH-MAZING, y'all. It's not just a 3D movie, but you feel water and wind and smell the smells that coordinate with the movie. I loved it! It was definitely my favorite up to that point in the day. Charlotte, on the other hand, was once again terrified and ended up in my lap with her little hands covering her face. Luckily, it ended just in time (for her), and we headed over to Adventure Land.

From one scary attraction to another...

I tried really hard to keep all of the possible scary rides or shows out of our itinterary. Obviously I couldn't predict the fear of 3D, and I didn't think they'd be that scared of Pirates of the Caribbean. But, sigh, they were. The boy in front of us making scary voodoo noises and the woman behind us with the witch's laugh definitely didn't help the situation either. Here are James and Hunter pre-ride, before it all fell apart...

After convincing the kids that there wouldn't be anymore scary rides, we got in line for The Magic Carpets of Aladdin...

And since we'd made such good time, we squeezed in a fairy meet and greet before lunch...

Charlotte loves Tinkerbell, but she still hadn't warmed up completely to the characters, so she wouldn't take a picture without me. Tinkerbell was probably the most like the real character of all the ones we met. Her voice sounded exactly like Tink's in the movie and she was just as peppy.

After a quick lunch, we headed back to the hotel for our afternoon nap...and we definitely needed it after all of that running around!

When we got to our room, I realized I hadn't taken any hotel pictures yet, so I snapped one of the view from our front door...

We were on the 4th (top) floor, which ended up being really nice, because the pool got pretty loud, especially in the middle of the day when we took our naps.

I had heard great things about mousekeeping online and was so excited to walk in to this...

So cute! They made different things like that each day. The next day was Valentine's Day so they made a huge heart with towels on the bed and put little towel animals and Char's lovey (like above) in the middle.

We had a 5:10 pm reservation at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian to dine with Cinderella and family, so we set the alarm to make sure we had time to get ready and head over. Charlotte was so excited to wear her Cinderella dress. After she was ready, she walked up to Hunter and said, "Let's get married." Since getting home, she's constantly wearing her crowns and princess shoes and either asking one of us to marry her or asking to dance like a princess. I love it!

1900 Park Fare was probably my favorite character dining. The step sisters and step mother cracked. me. up. They did such a great job of staying in character.

Anastasia walked up and asked what was wrong with us because we were too quiet. Then she showed Charlotte how to pose just like her...

Precious.

Then Cinderella came and was so sweet and charming, just like in the movie...

After that, Cinderella and Prince Charming went to the middle of the restaurant and danced together (while Anastasia, Drizella, and Lady Tremaine made faces and rolled their eyes...hysterical). Then the prince and princess separated and each started dancing with little girls. Charlotte was over the moon that she got to dance with Prince Charming...

And then he came right to our table to meet all of us. He was a great Prince Charming...so well mannered;)

Next Drizella stopped by and taught Charlotte how to pose her way...

Love it!

Hunter could see Lady Tremaine making her way through the dining room and kept asking about her. He had refused to take a picture with anyone else at the dinner up to that point, but he seemed so excited about Lady Tremaine, that I thought he may actually pose with her.

But when she came up, he refused once again. When I told Lady Tremaine that she was Hunter's favorite, she said, "Well of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" in a very serious, straight-faced way. This chick never broke character...

Here's Hunter hiding to avoid pictures with characters...

Finally he said, "How bout this. How bout tomorrow I take a picture with Donald at breakfast." Sounds good to me buddy...

After dinner we raced over to the Magic Kingdom to line up for the Main Street Electrical Parade. I thought we had a great seat, but when James took Hunter to the bathroom some Europeans (I couldn't really tell what language they were speaking) came and stood right in front of me. I had to try extremely hard not to let that ruin my night.

So my pictures of the parade are not great. In fact, most of them have a little European kid's hand sticking in the middle of them. I'm not bitter, though.

Mickey and Minnie's float...

Alice in Wonderland...

That weird smoking worm-thing from Alice in Wonderland...

Cinderella and her fairy godmother...

Snow White and Grumpy...

Pinocchio...

The fireworks were scheduled after the parade, but we planned to watch them on the other side of the park from where we were. I hadn't planned for the mass chaos that would ensue after the fireworks. There were people EVERYWHERE. Poor James was having to navigate through it all with our double stroller which is next to impossible to steer. After standing in gridlock forever, we decided to just watch from the hub area right in front of the castle where thousands of other people were. It turned out to be just as good of a viewing spot...

Hunter was so excited about the fireworks, mostly because they sounded like gunfire. Here he is shooting his imaginary guns...

Charlotte covered her eyes through most of it...

But later she kept saying that the fireworks were "so pretty" because that's what I kept telling her during the show. Sadly, I'm not a skilled photographer, so this is the best shot I got of the finale...

That picture doesn't do it justice...it was beautiful!

The fireworks were at 9:00, but the park didn't close until 11:00 that night, so we decided to go ride a couple of rides before heading back to the hotel. First we tried the jungle cruise, which was enjoyable, but not my favorite. The driver tells lots of cheesy jokes throughout the cruise...

Charlotte and I couldn't get it together...

The kids were a little frightened because it was at night and I guess it wasn't as clear to them that the animals and tribal people weren't real.

After that we headed back to Fantasy Land to ride the teacups again. Hunter's first choice was Peter Pan's Flight, but the line was like 60 minutes or something, so we settled for option number 2, which was just as fun!

We had an early breakfast reservation the next day (for Valentine's!) so we headed back to the hotel after our thrilling teacup ride. We had such a fun first day at Magic Kingdom...we couldn't wait to return tomorrow for round 2!

Favorites of the day:

James - Pirates of the Caribbean
Carole - 1900 Park Fare dinner
Hunter - Peter Pan's Flight
Charlotte - Dancing with Prince Charming (at 1900 Park Fare)

Disney Day 1 - Hollywood Studios

2012-02-18T16:04:00.006-06:00

We had been counting down for 20 days, and finally it was time to leave for Disney World!! For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to book a 6:15 am flight, so we had to wake the kids up around 4:30. We put them straight in the car (in their jammies) and excitedly headed for the airport. Once we got to the airport, Hunter loved looking out the window at the airplanes as we waited to board.

After we did board, we had some time to get settled before the plane took off...

We were blessed to have an open seat on both of our aisles, which came in really handy when Charlotte decided to throw her screaming fit. Luckily I was prepared with a backpack full of fun Disney stickers, crayons, coloring books, DVDs and puzzles.

When you stay at a Disney resort, they provide free transportation to and from the airport on the Magical Express. We couldn't contain our excitement during our ride on the Magical Express!

Our bus driver on the way to the resort was a trip! I wish I would have recorded him...he was cracking James and I up.

We arrived at our resort around 11am and were greeted by the longest. line. ever. for check in. Luckily I had checked in online so we got to go to the short online check in line. The cast member behind the counter told me that it wasn't usually that crowded, but that there were a lot of people checking in that day, particularly from South America because it was their summer. It turns out there were more foreigners than Americans at Disney World during our trip...I had so many great conversations with people from England, India, and Canada on bus rides and waiting for the fireworks during our trip. And we heard a ton of different languages all around us...I never would've guessed our Disney trip would be such a cultural experience for the kids:)

Even though it was only 11 am, our room was ready, so we went up and unloaded our carry on bags. (Disney has another great service where they pick up the bags you check at baggage claim, and then bring them to your room later in the day, so you don't even have to deal with it.) We gave the kids the option of taking a nap or going to the park, and they chose the park (I know you're shocked.), so we headed down to Everything Pop (the food court area in our resort) and had lunch. It was really overwhelming the first time we ordered. No one really explains it to you, and there are so many different lines to go through and some things are snack credits and some things are meal credits and when you are on the dining plan, you get a dessert with lunch and dinner and a bottled drink, but they also give you this refillable mug. See? Really confusing. After figuring it out, we sat down to a yummy lunch and then got in line for the bus to Hollywood Studios...

So exciting!

Of course we had to take some pictures during our first ride on the bus to the park...

Although I had a touring plan typed out for each day, Hollywood Studios was really overwhelming when we got there. It was really crowded, which threw me because the crowd calendars I'd been following had led me to believe that this would be our least crowded day. (It turns out that it was more crowded because it was the weekend...we got there on a Sunday.) Also, I'm not good at reading maps, and that park has a confusing layout to me. We finally decided to go to the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. I didn't originally have this on our itinerary, but James convinced me to add it for Hunter. I'm really glad he did because it ended up being Hunter's favorite thing from the entire trip.

I got separated from James and the kids during this show and the stadium seats 5,000 people. I tried to find them, but not surprisingly, I couldn't. So we didn't get any pictures because I spent most of the show walking around looking for James and the kids or waiting by the stroller for them.

After the show, we tried to go to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set which is basically just a play area for kids, but it was swarming with people. We actually lost Hunter at one point and I freaked. out. After we found him, we quickly left so I wouldn't have a nervous breakdown from the possibility of losing our kids again.

Next, the plan was to head to the Monsters Inc. meet and greet, but Hunter wasn't ready for character interaction quite yet, so he and James went to hold our place for the parade while Char and I went to meet Mike Wazowski and Sully...

As you can see, she was a little wary of them at first.

All throughout the different parks, there are cast members blowing bubbles for the kids with bubble machines. I thought it was a great little touch, and Charlotte had so much fun chasing the bubbles after our photo session with Mike and Sully...

We met James and Hunter about 10 minutes before the parade started, so we gave the kids a snack to make the wait a little easier...

Finally the parade started and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! I loved all of the parades we saw at Disney, but this may have been my very favorite. We saw so many fun characters, and they blast the music to get everyone in the mood for fun!

Elastigirl and Frozone...

Mr. Incredible...

Flik...

Here's Hunter's expression up to this point...

Not too impressed.

Sully...

Some Up characters...

Mr. Potato Head...

Jessie and Bullseye...

Once Hunter saw the Toy Story characters, he yelled, "Toy Story!" and we finally saw some excitement from him...

He even waved at Buzz and Woody...

And they waved back!

After the parade, we went to the Toy Story meet and greet to meet Hunter's favorite Disney characters, Buzz and Woody. I think the fatigue was catching up with him, though because he was adament through the entire 30 minute wait that he wasn't going to meet Buzz or Woody...

They were really great with him, though, and once we got up there, he let them sign his book and took a picture with them...

After that long wait, we decided to go relax and watch Voyage of the Little Mermaid. It was a really good show for the most part, but Prince Eric really cheesed me out at the end. Charlotte and Hunter didn't seem to notice, though:)

Then we went to Jim Hensen's Muppet Vision 3D, which I was going to just skip because we were all getting so tired, but I'm so glad we didn't because it was SO good...

The 3D effects were awesome, but they really terrified Charlotte. There was this little bird that got right in your face - or seemingly at least - and Char would jump and pull her fisted little hands up to her mouth any time he'd get close. I eventually picked her up and put her in my lap, but she was still terrified throughout the show.

After it was over we went to eat dinner at Pizza Planet! So exciting! The food was just okay, but the kids loved playing the games...

Every night I asked everyone what their favorite thing of the day was so I could record it and always remember. Here are the favorites from Hollywood Studios:

James - Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show
Carole - Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun! parade
Hunter - Pizza Planet (This is what he told me that night, but when the vacation was over he told me his favorite of the whole trip was the car stunt show because "guess what, mommy! there was a motorcycle and it slid through FIRE!")
Charlotte - Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Since it had been such an early morning, we left the park early and headed back to the hotel for baths and rest because we had a busy, magical day the next day!

10 things I learned at Disney World

2012-02-17T18:16:00.004-06:00

1. Charlotte LOVES characters...

2. Hunter, not so much...

...unless it's Buzz, Woody, Lady Tremaine, or Donald. He might consider a picture with them. And he may even make eye contact with them if he's in a really good mood.

3. Hunter LOVES fireworks...

That kid is all boy...anything that sounds like a gun is cool to him!

4. Charlotte is terrified of fireworks...and 3D movies...

5. A giraffe eats for 18 (eighteen!) hours per day, but only sleeps for 5 - 30 minutes...

6. Disney has the BEST PARADES EVER!!!

7. The dining plan gives you more food than you could ever possibly finish...

8. My kids are crazy dancing fools...

9. All of that planning was definitely worth it! We wouldn't have been able to do nearly as much if it wasn't for the touring plans we had...

10. It really is the most magical place on Earth! And I couldn't have dreamed up a better family to go with...

Just like her brother

2012-01-22T20:28:00.000-06:00

Remember this?

About a month ago, she started it too. Every day she will bring things out of her room and line them up in the hallway or our bedroom or the living room. She usually brings her dollhouse furniture or play food or baby accessories, but this day, she mainly chose crayons...

And a random measuring cup.

I so love watching them learn and grow.

Houston, we have a problem.

2012-01-18T15:01:00.002-06:00

Not really. I just really wanted to use that title.

The girls (aka - mom, kate, me, Char, and Vanesa) plus Hunter and Zack traveled down to Houston this weekend to visit Aunt Courtney. In one car, y'all. Yes, we did. Seven of us humans drove all the way to Houston in one car. Luckily I rode in the front seat the majority of the time and didn't have to sit in the middle of all that ~~yelling~~ talking.

Courtney and Nathan took us to several yummy restaurants, that of course I don't remember the name of, but I do have some pictures. The first one had such a cool atmosphere...the walls didn't all connect so it was like you were outside. Probably because, you really were outside...

After church on Sunday we went to have barbecue...

It was no bakers, but the mac and cheese was good.

After naps that day, we went to see Aunt Courtney's school. The kids were so excited that we were there all alone...

Hanging out in her classroom...

I guess math isn't Hunter's subject. He seems a little bored...

After setting off the school alarm - a very exciting experience for the kids! - we went to Cici's and then back to the hotel to rest for the night.

We had a fun little road trip, but were excited to come home to see James. He was at work when we got here, but I walked in to a clean house and found this in the kitchen...

The kids were thrilled to see the brownies, and I felt so thankful to have such a romantic husband...yes a clean house is definitely a romantic gesture in my book! One of the best, actually! I love that he still reminds me why I'm so blessed to have him:)

Can't wait for our next trip to DISNEY WORLD!!! 25 days!

Best of 2011

2012-01-01T22:01:00.002-06:00

Some of my favorites...

JANUARY:
It snowed, and the kids had so much fun making a snowman and throwing snow balls at each other...

FEBRUARY:

We had a family Valentine party where we made Valentine cards for friends and made Valentine cookies for us:)...

MARCH:

Hunter turned FOUR!! We had an awesome Dr Seuss party to celebrate...

(Please excuse my TERRIBLE hair...it was such a rat's nest!)

APRIL:

James and I ran our first (and hopefully not last!) half marathon, and Hunter came to cheer us on at the finish line...

MAY:

We had a small Wilkinson family reunion in Oklahoma...

JUNE:

Charlotte got her first hair cut...

And Hunter went to his first Rangers game...

JULY:

Charlotte turned TWO!! She had a Wizard of Oz party with snow cones and a horse of a different color!

AUGUST:

The kids got to see the beach for the very first time...

SEPTEMBER:
Apparently September was our most boring month, because I only have these 2 pictures from the entire month. A random day at Chuck E Cheese...

And I have such a terrible memory, there's no way I'm going to be able to isolate a memory from that month...probably because it really was kind of boring:)

OCTOBER:

We definitely made up for it in Ocotober, because this month was FULL of family fun! It was hard to pick just one thing, but I think the fair was everyone's favorite activity...

NOVEMBER:

In November we went to the Dallas Zoo where Hunter gave my favorite quote of his from the entire year when he said, "What's that smell? It smells like stinky animals." as soon as we got out of the car...

I'm totally still laughing.

DECEMBER:

December was filled with daily activities as we celebrated the advent season, preparing for the birth of Jesus...

This morning during the sermon, our guest speaker quoted Jeremiah 33:3 (one of my favorite verses), which states, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

I remember in college, one of my dear friends and I would fret over the circumstances of our love lives...either with loser boyfriends or completely boyfriend-less. I remember we'd often say, I wish we could just fast forward our lives to take a peek into the future, just to know everything would turn out okay. That was before I had really met the Risen Lord. We have both since found Him, and now I can clearly see that the attitude I had was from a complete lack of faith in God. I love Jeremiah 33:3 because it reminds me that God has a plan for me, and He will reveal it to me when I pray intently to Him. This morning as I listened to the sermon, I was so excited to think that God has great things planned for my family and I in 2012, and He already knows what they are. I can't wait for all of us to find out, too...in His perfect timing.

Happy New Year, friends!

Christmas

2011-12-25T23:16:00.005-06:00

Charlotte woke up early this morning, so James put her in bed with us and we all went back to sleep. My kids are early risers, usually waking up by 6:15 or 6:30, so I was really surprised when Hunter didn't come in to wake us all up until 7:15. He asked if he could climb in bed with the 3 of us, and I thought he must've forgotten it was Christmas. But then as he was climbing under the covers, he said, "I have to tell you something. When we get out of bed and go in the living room, we'll get to see my big nerf gun." So I said, "Well let's go see it!" I wish I would've videoed their entrance instead of just taking still pictures, because he was jumping around screaming this long monologue of excitement that really didn't make any sense at all. It was priceless...

You can kind of see him screaming here...

Charlotte hugging her Cinderella baby...

My dad got her an Ariel baby just like that last year, and she loves it. It actually kind of creeped me out at first because they seem a little weird. But when we were looking at the toys at Target recently, she kept going to all of the different princess baby dolls. I was going to get her a "real" Cinderella doll instead of the baby one, but she loves babies so much, I had to go for the baby version...even with the creep factor. That was definitely the right choice because Char loves her. Now she walks around carrying Ariel in one hand and Cinderella in the other.

And drumroll.....the big nerf gun!

Both kids were thrilled with the candy in their stockings...

Char got Tangled and H got Finding Nemo...

Coloring book...

Bubble tape!

They've each had about 6 pieces of bubble tape today!

Char wanted to try her dress on...

Beautiful princess!

After church our family came over for lunch and we took several family pictures...

We missed you Courtney!

Our verses tonight were John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

The truth is I was wrestling with God for a while there. I actually think I may have written about it on here early on. Our God is complex, and there are so many things to learn and understand about Him...more than our human minds can possibly take in. And I got to a point in my journey of learning about him where I had begun to think too much of myself and not enough of Him. I didn't revere him the way he deserved. I thought too highly of myself to see that he deserved my revereance if only because of his character and his history...what he's done for us.

But here's the truth: He is God and I am not. He is God. What god comes down off of his thrown to live the life of a servant? Mine does. And why would he do that? Because he loves me. Me, who thinks way too much of myself at times.

God humbled me just when I needed it. I'm so thankful for this Christmas season. To be able to relish in the sacrifice of the true God of the universe, who had his redemptive plan set before time began. A redemptive plan that started with a baby in a manger...a baby that changed everything.

Advent - Day 24

2011-12-24T22:40:00.001-06:00

Happy Christmas Eve, y'all! We spent the day at my sister's house, celebrating with my mom and dad and grandparents and us sisters and our families. We had such a good time together! After eating lunch, the first gifts were stockings from Nana...

My mom always does the best stockings.

Then we started in on the gift opening frenzy. It was so chaotic...as always! Hunter and Char opened clothes first...

Hunter pulled that hat and mitten set out, said "Clothes!" excitedly, and then moved on to the next gift. He didn't even look at the tons of other clothes in there, but what do you expect from a 4 year old!

Then H opened his remote control Mater from Grandpa...

And Char opened her Belle dress...

and Belle accessories from Nana...

Hunter is really into guns right now. All he wants for Christmas is a "big nerf gun like Zack's". He got 4 guns tonight, but still broke into tears when it was all over because he didn't get his "big nerf gun like Zack's". I finally ended up basically telling him he'd be getting it from us tomorrow. That seemed to soothe the pain a little, and he was able to enjoy his four other guns...

Charlotte loves to take her own diapers and put them on her baby dolls, so Kate made her these adorable hand-made diapers and wipes! That is a wipe in my hand and the wipe holder in my lap...

I'll have to take pictures of the diapers later...they are precious!

Grandpa also got Hunter a light saber...

And he got Char a rocking bassinet for her babies...

After we were done opening gifts, Zack, Charlotte and Hunter went into Vanesa's room, turned out the lights and played with their light sabers (Zack's and Hunter's)...

I think Char's Cinderella shoes go great, don't y'all? (She got a 4 pack of princess shoes...Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, and Tiana.)

Our verses tonight were Galatians 4:4-5 "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship."

I have chills reading that. What an amazing gift.

Hunter was telling me on the drive home that he hates Christmas. (He's really into making extreme statements like that lately...I hate Christmas...I don't want to go to heaven...I don't like God. My BFF, Laura, assures me that he's just learned the power of his own words and he has to work it out, but it still distresses me.) So I was explaining to him that Heaven is the most amazing, fun, beautiful place...better than we could ever imagine! And Jesus chose to leave that wonderful place to come here to a painful, hurting world and die a painful, horrific death all so that we could go be with him in heaven one day. (Of course he responded to this by telling me that heaven was boring and you do boring things there, so he really doesn't think he wants to go...I'm holding out hope that he'll turn that around sooner rather than later.)

As for me, I am so humbled by the thought of Christ's act of love for us. My words are not eloquent enough to explain the depth of my feelings about this holiday. But that's no surprise, really. Who are we, compared to the soverign, holy Lord that we serve? We are nothing.

God amazes me continually. And as an example of that, when we got home and opened the Christmas cards we'd received today, there was one from this sweet elderly couple at our church, and her final sentence in her hand-written note said this, "We also pray for your sweet children as they grow in the knowledge of the Lord and His Word and that their hearts will be open to receiving Christ as Savior (in His timing)." After I read that, and now, I felt the lump rise in my throat. God knew my worry over Hunter's comments, and he reassured me. I hear your prayers, Carole. Keep praying to me. Cast your cares on me. I hold your children in the palm of my hand, and I work everything out for good in my timing.

Looking forward to the joyous celebration of our Lord's birth tomorrow...

Advent - Day 23

2011-12-23T22:24:00.001-06:00

The plan for today was to visit the Arboretum, and because - like Sally Albright from one of my top 5 movies - I'm completely rigid and structured, there was no way we were swaying from that plan even with the 20 degree drop in temperature from yesterday. Apparently, we were the only ones crazy enough to venture out when it was 39 degrees...

Seriously, it was that empty. The kids thought it was so fun that we were the only guests there. We made a game out of seeing who could spot the other visitors the fastest (on the rare occasion that we saw one).

Since we basically had the entire Arboretum to ourselves, we were able to explore all of the fairy tale houses without having to share our space:)

First we found Aladdin's house...

And then The Little Mermaid...

And a couple of others until we got to my favorite part...

Cinderella's Carriage!

Cinderella had left a sign that said to limit rides to 3 minutes, but we lingered a little longer since there was no one else waiting. The kids had so much fun goofing off in the carriage...

Then Hunter took a picture of James and I (I was making our photo album from 2011 and realized we never take pictures with just the 2 of us anymore!). I think H did a pretty good job...

I love this one...

See...

Totally empty.

And again...

It's shocking...

The cold wind started to get to the kids, and Hunter asked if we could go home, so we took one more picture and headed to the car...

Our verse for tonight was Matthew 2:12, "And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route."

So the Magi didn't go back to that sneaky King Herod because God is in control, and His redemptive plan was just beginning. I'm so excited for Christmas, and even more excited that we get to go to church to worship together on that very morning. It's getting close!

Advent - Day 22

2011-12-22T22:39:00.001-06:00

Tonight we went to dinner with Grandee and Poppy and exchanged presents! The kids were giddy with excitement!

The kids dove in first. Char got her very first doll house and Hunter's first gift was a Toy Story Mania video game...

Then Hunter opened his Cars 2 race track...

And Char opened several presents that were furniture for different rooms in her house...

Grandee and Poppy got both kids these cool remote control cars that light up and rotate...

Here's the car in action...

Hunter LOVED it! He was screaming with delight:)

Char's last gift as a new baby and stroller. The baby says "mama" and "dada" and snores, cries, slurps her bottle and even burps...

The first time I made the baby cry, Charlotte had the most concerned look on her face. She's such a good mommy...

After Grandee and Poppy left, we put the race track together and the kids had several races...

But a girl can only take so much of that, so Char escaped to her room for some quiet doll play...

We are so blessed by such loving, giving parents and grandparents. I am so thankful for them, and I know the kids are too!

Our verse today was Matthew 2:11, which finally told the part of the story that the wise men are known for..."On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."

Kind of appropriate for the day that our gift giving started...I truly am grateful for all the Lord has provided for us and our children, but as I try to remind them, even without that, we have already been given the best gift we could ever receive in Jesus himself.

Advent - Day 21

2011-12-21T22:01:00.002-06:00

This morning James got up with Hunter (at 6:15!) and they sat down to watch The Polar Express right after breakfast...we tivoed it the other day after realizing how much he loved it. After it was over, we told the kids they could look behind door 21 on our advent house, and when I read to Hunter that we were going to the North Pole Express, he freaked. I seriously have never seen him so excited about something. He jumped around screaming for about 2 straight minutes before falling on top of me in a heap of giggles, heart racing.

When we got to Grapevine and parked, there was already a long line and we were still 20 minutes out from our train time. Hunter did not love the waiting as you can see...

...not giving me much hope for Disney!

Char didn't love the waiting either. She kept needing to be held:)...

Finally it was time to go inside the tent for the "pre-show". We waited and waited and waited until the show started, and I say this in the most positive light possible, but it was cheesy to the point where I was a little uncomfortable for the performers. Hunter agreed...

After the show, we went outside and headed for the train. It didn't show up well in this picture, but they had foam machines blowing out "snow" as we walked through the pine trees to board the train...

Ready to board...

We were finally on the train and ready to go!

The conductor came through and punched our tickets, and Charlotte kept saying it was her "money"...

Then Santa came on and handed out these bells...

I made the mistake of telling Charlotte that Santa had treats as he was walking toward us, so when he handed her the bell, she was a little more than slightly disappointed. She kept digging in her bell and saying, "I want candy!" with the most disturbed look on her face...

That girl does love her some sweets. Every time I ask her what she wants for Christmas, she says "cookies". Today I pushed her a little and asked what else she wanted to which she responded, "cake." Of course.

The kids definitely had fun on the train, but I won't be paying $72 for that ever again. And I wouldn't recommend that you do either. And of course I say that in the most positive way possible:)

Our verses tonight were Matthew 2:9-10, "After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed."

We read the story of the Magi in Hunter's Bible, which explained in a perfect kid-friendly way that after the census was taken, the people left Bethlehem to go back home and that Mary and Joseph went home and moved into a new house, which is where the Wise Men visited.

Excited for tomorrow! (I'm just going to make that my official sign off from now on.)

Advent - Days 19 and 20

2011-12-20T21:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Hunter, Charlotte, Zack, Vanesa, and I went to see Chipwrecked, and I am so thankful that Vanesa was there to sit with Hunter while I took Charlotte out for breaks every once in a while. I know that it wouldn't have gone over well if I had to take Hunter out with Char...he was too busy dancing to the music or adding to the movie with his own volcano "bomb" explosions as the volcano erupted. I only got one picture with my phone...

My phone doesn't have a flash. Or talk to me. I'm sooo 2010.

Today Char, H and I went to Northpark for story time with Santa. We had to wait. And wait. And wait for Santa. By the time he came, the kids were pretty much over it, so we had to get up and leave half way through.

So we walked around for a little bit, and then headed to the food court for pizza...

Then we had so much fun in the Disney store (except when Char shoved that little boy in the little tv area for no apparent reason) and looking at the sweet puppies from the SPCA. I even thought I might want to get one for about .7 seconds.

Remember on Sunday night we read that Herod asked the Magi where it had been prophesied that the Christ would be born. Our verses over the last 2 nights were Matthew 2:5-8, "'In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written: "But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel." Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.'"

Another cliffhanger! As I told Hunter tonight, Herod's being tricky! Stay tuned for more of the story and our most exciting outing yet!

Advent - Day 18

2011-12-18T21:36:00.001-06:00

Hunter is obsessed with fires and fire trucks and fire fighters right now. Anytime he hears a siren, he stops and hushes everyone and looks around for the fire truck or "ambliance". He also loves to make his own siren noises (especially in the car), and I have to say, he can make a very realistic siren. It's ear piercing:) He's also requested a fire truck birthday party this year and loves to play with his fire trucks and police cars at home. So tonight when we went to Safety Town in Frisco, Hunter was in awe. He was amazed at all of the fire trucks, and then we walked in to this...

He was definitely in his element! It was the best feeling to watch him as he excitedly moved around the fire truck so joyfully.

I told Char there would be face painting when we were driving out there, so she was so excited when we found the room for it. She was a little timid when we got up to the chair, though, but quietly picked the candy canes and watched the artist out of the corner of her eye the whole time...

Hunter opted not to get his face painted, but sat down to color some Christmas sheets...

We just noticed today that he's getting really good at staying in the lines when coloring. I can't believe how grown up he seems!

After coloring, we headed outside to the little "town", and at the first house, there was a real live fire fighter putting on Christmas tattoos. I didn't get a picture of H getting his because I was just taking in his delight to be so close to a real fireman! We told the fire fighter all about Hunter's upcoming (well, in March;)) fire party...

Since I didn't get one inside, I asked Hunter to show me his tattoo once we got outside, and he held it up and said, "Pshhh! There's fire shooting out of it!"...

Hysterical.

We found this digger (another one of Hunter's favorite vehicles), so of course we had to pose for a picture...

One of the last houses we went in was this school...

Char didn't want to color again, but H made a picture where he practiced making 6's and wrote his name. You can see it on the top right (He's working on the r)...

We had such a good time at Safety Town! We'll definitely be back next year!

Our verses for tonight were Matthew 2:3-4 "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born."

Dum dum dum! Such a cliff hanger...stay tuned to see what happens next;)

Advent - Days 16 and 17

2011-12-17T23:33:00.001-06:00

Last night we went to Highland Park to look at Christmas lights. I was super excited because I had read great things about it online, so we loaded the sippy cups with hot chocolate and piled in the car. Sweet Vanesa came along because she babysat the kids afterward so James and I could go on a date...

Since I kept cutting Char's face out of the picture, I turned to get a good one of just her...

Sweet, happy, chocolate-all-over-her-face-and-hair girl.

The traffic was terrible, so after a long drive out to HP, we were all pretty disappointed. I'd say Hunter summed it up pretty well with, "This isn't very exciting." I hear ya buddy.

The houses were gorgeous, but not that many had lights put up, and the ones that were only had white lights, which I actually prefer, but to a kid you can definitely understand how that's "not very exciting".

Then tonight we went to my sister's cookie exchange party where I took zero pictures because I was in a tv trance watching The Polar Express. I'd never seen it before, and when we started it one of the girls' brother said his sister didn't want to watch it because it scared her. I thought that was kind of weird until we got about a half hour in. Y'all. That movie is totally scary! Hunter loves it, though. He actually freaked out when we got home tonight because we didn't have it readily available for him to watch.

After the cookie exchange we went to the Hays' Christmas party where Santa and Mrs. Claus made their usual appearance. We all went outside to greet him and both of my children held onto my legs with a death grip. We all came in and Santa read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to all the kids. My kids were still holding on tight to their parents, which is totally fine with me. I'll take snuggles anyway I can get them.

After nearly every family had taken a turn with Santa, Hunter decided he was ready. And since Char pretty much does anything her big brother does, she decided she was ready too. (I swear she wouldn't even have been scared of Santa, if that wasn't the reaction she saw in her brother.) Even though they sat on his lap, you can see they were still a little cautious of him...

Thanks Kate and Crystal! We had a great time at the parties, and are so thankful to be included!

Our verse on Friday night was Luke 2:21, which says "On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived."

Now I am the queen of giving way more information than required to my inquisitive son, and this was a prime example of that recurrent mistake. I was explaining circumcision to Hunter and explained that it's when you cut a boy's penis. But I took it a bit too far and told him that we circumcised him when he was a baby. OMGoodness y'all. He was horrified. Luckily, he's still at the age where I can easily push him along to the next topic as long as I make it exciting enough. And you know I used my most! exciting! voice! ever! when I shifted into talking about the Christmas cards we got that day. "Hunter! Look at this card! It's Jackson! and Maddie! and Lila! Oh! and look at sweet Tatum! and Nolan!" The pictures helped. A visual is always important in times like these.

Tonight we read Matthew 2:1-2, "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'"

Tonight was the best, y'all. After I read the verses, Hunter said, "Are the magi bad guys?" (He's REALLY into good guys vs bad guys these days. In every play situation you are assigned to be either the good or bad guy. Obviously, I always hope to be a good guy...and that H chooses to be a good guy. Basically I want everyone to just be good...much like in real life.) So I explained that they were good guys, coming to worship the baby King, and Hunter said, "But Herod is the king." So we got to have a good little talk about how Jesus is the KING of Kings! And then Hunter said, "You know what mommy? Jesus is God." Oh it makes my heart swell right now thinking of it:)

And then. Even better than that, I said, "Hunter, it was so exciting seeing Santa at the party and watching the Polar Express today about Santa, but is that what Christmas is about?" And that sweet boy said, "No, it's about Jesus!" So I said, "Why do we celebrate Christmas?" And of course, he said "Because Jesus was born!"

My heart is so full...Thank you Lord for this season and for your ultimate gift to us.

Advent - Days 13, 14 and 15

2011-12-15T21:16:00.002-06:00

I'm a little behind, but 2 days ago we delivered our treats to all of the grandparents and great-grandparents. Somehow I only got pictures at my dad's shop...

Dad made the kids paper airplanes and they had so much fun throwing them around the office!

Then last night we read Christmas books. Or that was the plan at least, but since I had stayed up until 1:30 the night before and was exhuasted, my amazing husband did the advent activity and verses and bathtime and bedtime ALL BY HIMSELF!!! Husband of the year, y'all. I did get a quick picture of the books before snuggling under my slanket and snoozing...

We had such a big variety that I thought next year we should incorporate them in every other night or couple of nights with our activities.

Tonight we all went to Target so that Hunter and Charlotte could pick out gifts for each other. We split up and J took C, while H and I looked around. As soon as we finished picking out Char's gift, I realized that Hunter thought he was getting his present tonight. So I figured we'd start a new tradition and they could give the gifts to each other right away. H opted to not wrap the gifts, but just pull them straight out of the Target bags. Shocking, I know.

Hunter picked out a Tinkerbell jewelry box with jewerly for Charlotte...

And Charlotte picked a police car with sirens for Hunter...

It turned out to be a good opportunity for a lesson in thankfulness because as Hunter and I were walking to the register to pay he said, "I can't wait to get my nerf gun from Charlotte!!" I told him that Charlotte may not have picked out a nerf gun, but that he needed to be thankful for the gift that she did get for him because she chose it just for him. He seemed fine with that until we got in the car and Charlotte told him she got him a car (the element of surprise hasn't quite caught on with that one yet). When he started complaining that he wanted a nerf gun, we went over thankfulness again, and by the time he opened the gift at home, Hunter was thrilled with the gift. He kept saying, "I love my car, Charlotte! Thank you so much!" in the sweetest voice. They were both super excited about their new toys.

After getting all of her new and old jewelry out, Char asked me to put her Snow White crown on and come watch her "dance like a princess" in the living room. I have no idea why my brain didn't think to get a video camera at that point. I did get some poses with the gifts, though...

Our verses over the past 3 nights have been Luke 2:15-20 "When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.' So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."

The kids have really enjoyed reading the story from their own Bibles after reading the verses from my Bible. I actually really love reading the story in their Bible, too. It often gives me insight into something that I hadn't noticed before in the verses.

I'm super excited for tomorrow night!! Stay tuned:)

Advent - Day 12

2011-12-12T20:27:00.000-06:00

Today we made Christmas treats for the grandparents and great grandparents. Charlotte and Hunter really helped me with the whole process...I was impressed! Their favorite part was clearly doing quality control (as their father would put it). Char even licked the spoon for us...

Last night we read that the angels told the shepherds that the Savior of the world had been born and that they would find him lying in a manger. Our verses tonight were Luke 2:13-14, "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.'"

I explained that the angels came to praise God because it was a very special day, to which Hunter proudly responded that he knew why it was special...because Jesus was born!

Advent - Day 10

2011-12-10T23:50:00.000-06:00

After much confusion about dates and ticket prices and purchases, we ultimately ended up at Santa's Village tonight. It wasn't the original plan, but it all worked out and we had fun despite the 48 degree weather.

When we left our house at 5:54, we thought we were so on top of things, and we just knew we'd beat the crowds that weren't as clued in as us. We're so with it. But, shockingly, we didn't get parked until about 6:20 because of the mobs of people waiting to get in (we live about 5-7 minutes from Santa's Village...which opens at 6pm). It looks like next year, we'll be leaving our house at 4:54.

We finally parked and unloaded, and after passing about 8 houses, we found several that had decent waits, so we got in line.

First stop was Santa's bank where the kids were given an ATM-type card to withdraw cash so they could pay for a dum dum. Works for me. And for Char...

She immediately popped that thing in her mouth and held onto it during the entire wait for our next house, the police station...

The sugar coma is starting to set in...

Luckily she finished just in time and snapped out of her trance...

As we got closer to the police house, Hunter saw a man dressed as McGruff the dog inside and quickly cowered behind me, grabbed tightly to my leg, and exclaimed, "I don't want to go in there!" We told him he could just take a picture with the police men and not McGruff. Luckily, McGruff decided to take a break with only 2 families in front of us and we didn't have to deal with him.

Finally, it's our turn!

Even in McGruff's absence, Hunter decided not to try on the police get up. Or speak to the police officer. But if you look closely, you can see Hunter smiling at him in the background.

Charlotte did agree to wear the jacket, which was layered on top of a tshirt, zipped jacket and coat. Hence her balance issues here...

Well, sort of smiling...

Hunter did take a sticker badge and proudly wore it on his coat. His first choice would definitely be a fireman, but policemen are pretty cool, too, since their vehicles also have sirens. The boy loves sirens.

The last house was Dr Seuss. Thing 1 and Thing 2 greeted us outside, but I wasn't at a good angle for picture taking. Still recovering from the sight of McGruff (and probably life size Thing 1 and Thing 2 characters who touched his hand), Hunter decided to sit this one out also...

And Charlotte had her balance back without that extra layer.

Tonight we read Luke 2:8-9, which states "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified."

We always pray for our friends and family that send us Christmas cards that day, and today we received James's parents' card, which was a picture of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the shepherds in the barn. No wise men...very Biblically correct. It was the perfect picture to go along with our verses for the day!

Advent - Day 9

2011-12-10T10:45:00.000-06:00

Last night we went to the trains at Northpark. Both Hunter and Charlotte seemed to enjoy it so much this year. Their favorite part was finding the buttons that you can push to make things in the scenery move.

The last button we found didn't make anything move. Hunter was a little perplexed by this...

Afterward we went to eat at the food court and there were several show choirs performing down stairs. I was surprised at how much Hunter enjoyed watching them...it was hard to tear him away so we could go eat!

Our verses over the past two nights have been from Luke 2:3-7 "And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them."

Advent - Day 7

2011-12-07T22:02:00.000-06:00

So we really have been doing our verses and activities everyday, but once again I've failed to blog it. I've turned into such a slacker blogger. Disney planning consumes all of my spare time:)

Today's activity was making Christmas cookies, and they were yummy!

We have a ton left and now I'm making cookies for my Secret Santa at work tomorrow. And y'all, the recipe makes SEVEN DOZEN. I used to be so good at reading ahead, but who has time for that now? Shame on me for not reading all of the directions first...shocking that this is actually a strategy I teach my neuro kids at work. My excuse is that I've only had feeders recently:)

Anyway.

Come to our house for a cookie frenzy!

So far we've read Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-2, which tell about Mary being impregnated by the Holy Spirit and an angel of the Lord coming to Joseph to tell him not to divorce her because the child within her is from God, and that he should be given the name Jesus because he will save the people from their sins. We also read that Caesar Augustus declared that a census be taken.

Then tonight we read Micah 5:2, which says " “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

I expained to Hunter that the prophecy was about Jesus and was made long, long before his birth. I'm pretty sure that went right over his head, but we'll keep trying:)

Advent - Day 2

2011-12-02T22:13:00.000-06:00

Tonight we went to ride the neighborhood train. This sweet retired man in our neighborhood builds a train in his backyard and gives free rides every night from Thanksgiving through New Year's. We had several friends join us for s'mores before caravaning out to the train.

I tried to capture a photo of the chaos in the backyard, but this photo comes nowhere close to indicating the noise level out there tonight. The other 20 kids must've been behind me at this point:)...

I'm sure our neighbors love us now:)

Here's our car full on the way to the train...

The engineer in front (or would he be the conductor?) is the owner...

I tried to get photos of everyone, but there were several families I missed because as Hunter said, "that train goes so fast!"...

Our verses tonight were Matthew 1:19-20 "Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."

I can't imagine what Joseph and Mary must have been thinking when they first realized the miracle that they were playing such an integral role in, and how it must have felt to be that close to the Savior of the world. I rejoice in the thought that now, we all can be that close to Him, if only we accept the gift that His birth, and death, brought to us.

Advent - Day 1

2011-12-01T21:05:00.000-06:00

I know Advent officially started in late November, but we started our verses and activities tonight. Christmastime truly is my favorite time of year...and I think it's the kids' favorite too. So, Hunter and Charlotte were super excited to open door number 1 this afternoon...

And the first activity was (drumrollllllllll)...

Make Christmas cards!! Clearly I've been slacking with documenting life lately...as evidenced by my lone post for the entire month of November. And y'all, those are the only pictures I took the entire month. The entire month!! So today during our card making, I completely forgot the camera, and after the kids went to bed, I even stooped so low as to take pictures with my iphone (hence the crookedness above). But we defnitely had fun!

The kids picked 3 or 4 friends each to send cards to and we put them in the mail (except for Char's 2 friends above whose addresses we're waiting on).

Our verse tonight was Matthew 1:18, which says, "This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit."

We are so excited for this season of Advent to celebrate the coming King!

"What's that smell?"

2011-11-12T20:32:00.001-06:00

We went to the zoo this morning, and as soon as we stepped out of the car, Hunter said, "What's that smell? It smells like stinky animals." Yes it does, H. Yes it does.

Luckily, the animals inside the zoo were much less stinky than the donkeys that were methodically gated inside a little hilly corner of the parking lot. Poor donkeys...forced outside of the zoo because of their stink.

After gagging down that stench, we made it inside and were ready to see the animals...

First we went to the Giants of the Savannah section to see the elephants, giraffes, lions, zebras, and their lone ostrich friend. We bought some lettuce to feed the giraffes, but as soon as the giraffe saw our lettuce and headed our way, Hunter threw his piece at James...

Hunter gave the giraffe his second piece like a champ, though...

Like her brother, Charlotte was a little freaked out when that giant giraffe mouth came at her hand...

Even though it was a little intimidating, we all thought it was pretty cool to feed them.

Then kids had fun playing around in all of the safari decor...

Hunter opted out of posing on the elephants...

I know you're shocked.

BUT. In some sort of freaky Friday turn of events, my children seemed to switch personalities once we got to the children's zoo. Hunter was running around all over like a maniac while Charlotte timidly played around the slide...demanding that I hold her hand the whole time.

Hunter jumped and climbed all over this spider web...

I coaxed Char over there, and she spent most of the time looking like this...

After lunch, the kids rode the slide together...

They have started bickering a little, but for the most part they are the best siblings. They are so loving and sweet with each other.
Next we went over and fed the fish...

And saw the rest of the farm animals in the children's zoo. Hutner also opted out of posing on these play horses...

Back to himself again:)

Mine and James's favorite part of the day was watching a ginormous python shed his skin. It was soooo cool. Hunter says his favorite part was looking at the lions and the monkeys. He loved watching the monkeys swing across their habitat. Charlotte says she loved the elephants and the lions. We had so much fun! Can't wait to go back!

Fright Fest

2011-10-31T22:37:00.002-05:00

After a teeny bit of costume drama, H and C finally settled on Woody and Snow White. And I'm pretty sure they were the cutest cowboy and princess you've ever seen...

So Sunday night we got all dressed up and headed to my sisters' church's trunk or treat. We actually beat them there, but saw H and C's friends, Miley and Zoey...

It was a little sunny from that angle, so we tried again...

Halloween is definitely not Hunter's favorite holiday. He becomes increasingly terrified with each semi-frightening thing or person we encounter. So he was really reluctant to play with the other kids when we got there. He had to examine all of the costumes first...

Char ran straight for the playground, though...

During dinner, some kids in zombie-like costumes got there. You know H was thrilled with that. He did manage to eat his dinner, though, and eventually walked over with Aunt Katie to set up her car.

When it was time to start trick or treating, Hunter stood with me at the front of the line repeatedly telling me that he didn't want to go to the first 2 cars because they were scary. To his defense, the decorations on the first car were a little creepy. I reassured him multiple times that I'd hold his hand and we'd skip the scary ones. He seemed okay with that answer for about.8 seconds and then he'd once again tell me that he didn't want to go to the scary cars and I'd once again assure him we'd skip them. This went on until it was time to start walking toward the cars.

Once we did start walking, he freaked. out. I eventually knelt down in front of my hysterical, screaming 4 year old, and when I realized there was no way I could reason with him while he was in that state, I picked up his terrified, screaming self and carried him to the third car. He was able to walk through the rest of the way without any more screaming, although we did skip a couple of cars because they were "scary". By the end of it, though, he was exclaiming to everyone that he "got so much candy!"

Tonight we met up with my sisters again to go trick or treating in their neighborhood. The experience was really similar. Both kids were thrilled to get candy, but Hunter had his moments of terror. He and I decided to end a little earlier than everyone because he had gotten to the point where he didn't want to go up to any of the houses anymore because of how scared he was. When we came to a house with a single spider decoration and Hunter began telling us in the most dramatic, speedy way ever (wonder who he got that from?) that he refused to go because he was frustrated with how scary everything was, I realized it was time to head back.

Before any of that, though we all met at Nanny and Grandad's house...

The kids were being so goofy in the yard...

After a little while, we headed over to V and Z's neighborhood...

Here Hunter is pointing out a particularly scary item to James...

I really do love every eccentricity that Hunter has. I'm thankful that he knows what he wants, and he's content to be who he is without worrying what others think. Oh how I pray that he'll hold tight to that. And although I don't want him to be afraid of things, I'd much rather have this than have him wanting to wear the scary masks. Hopefully the day will never come when he's the one who wants to wear those gory or scary costumes!

Backyard Campout

2011-10-23T20:46:00.000-05:00

In case you somehow missed it, I'm no outdoor girl. There has been one time in my life that I can recall sleeping in the woods in a tent, and I use the term "sleeping" very loosely. It was during a sisterhood retreat in college and about 1/2 of my sorority drove back to our apartments in Denton around midnight. You know I was in that group that drove back home. I will say, though, that I spent several nights in my dad's deer lease as a young girl. And I can specifically recall being directed to pee on a tree in the woods. I think we can all agree that peeing on a tree should definitely be included in the camping category. So at least I have that on my list of roughing it activities.

Now I can add one more to that list because this weekend we had our own little family backyard camp out. And y'all, it was my idea.

I'll pause for dramatic effect.

Not only was it my idea, but I totally helped James put the tent up, which was a huge feat in itself if you ask me. Putting the tent up was a little overwhelming, so we decided to forgo that rain cover thing...I know, I'm so technical with my camping terminology...luckily our camp out was on Friday night which was the night before the giant hail storm of 2011, so we didn't need that rain cover anyway. Not that it would've done much good to protect us from the ginormous hail that rained down on Richardson and scraped TONS of paint off of my french doors. I'm not bitter, though.

The kids loved running around in the tent once it was up. They were so excited...

James grilled hot dogs, and we decided to eat them in the tent since they loved it so much in there...

After our hot dogs, we made s'mores, which Hunter had been so excited about, but in the end he wasn't a fan of the melted marshmallow...

James and the kids stayed in the tent all night. I made it until 10, but to my defense, I was sick. I had left work early that day, and then gone to lecture at UNT, which killed me...I was so feverish and achy when I got home. Luckily the advil helped me push through our night. Also, I'm a priss. There, I said it. I have no shame, people.

On top of being prissy, I'm a worrying mother, so I was up a lot during the night worrying that someone would sneak in the back yard and hurt my family, so I ended up going out there at 6 am to hang in the tent for a little while.

We really did have a great time, so maybe we'll make it a fall family tradition. And maybe next year I can sleep in the tent all night...or at least a couple of hours longer:)

Boo!

2011-10-19T15:12:00.000-05:00

The kids and I decided to make a Halloween craft on Monday, so I started searching online and we settled on this ghost. We gathered our supplies - and let me tell y'all, cutting a branch off a tree is a lot harder than I anticipated it would be - and got to work!

It was a really easy craft, and about 15 minutes later, we had this...

Of course the minute I picked it up to go put it outside, the buttons came sliding off the trashbag, but I thought he was still pretty cute...

And Charlotte thought he was spoooooky...

Can you tell she's frightened?!

More Pumpkins

2011-10-11T22:38:00.000-05:00

When I told Hunter we were going to the pumpkin patch today (in my most! excited! voice! ever!), he responded with, "We've already done that." This is his new thing, to be the party pooper at all times. He even often says, "I don't want to do anything fun!" while emphasizing every single word in the most stacatto, bratty tone ever. Not that he's a brat...I mean, he's definitely no Caillou.

(Which by the way, I happened to say, "Caillou is such a brat." one day while Hunter was watching the show, and now that's his favorite thing to say. Well that and, "If you don't love God, then you'll go to Hell where Satan lives." Yes, we've got some superb parenting going on over here. Someday, my brain will have full control over stopping my mouth from spewing out words that I'll later regret.)

Anyway.

The pumpkin patch. So we went. Hunter didn't have a great attitude about it. We took lots of pictures. They weren't good. That pretty much sums it up. Here's the proof...

As you can see, he warmed up to it a lot after we'd been there a while. So much that he actually didn't want to leave when it was time to go. Both kids were really interested in the golf, but since I spent $27 on pumpkins (yes I did), I couldn't spare any more for putt putt. We'll be sure to budget that in for next year;)

Spooky Cake Pops

2011-10-10T20:56:00.000-05:00

Tonight we made spooky cake pops. I found the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens magazine from last month and thought they were adorable. I don't know if that's how you'd describe ours...

But Hunter was proud anyway...

And more importantly we had so! much! fun! making them:)

Just in case you want to see how cute they were in the picture...

Cinderella's Pumpkin Village

2011-10-08T21:09:00.000-05:00

I love fall at the Arboretum. It's for sure my favorite time of year to go, so today we headed out with the Brooks 4, Nana and Nanny. My Nanny turned 83 yesterday, so we were so glad to have her come along with us to celebrate her birthday!

We had tons of fun, and I really tried to get good pictures. Sadly, though, I'm still not the best photographer...and my children grow weary of posing really quickly (as you'll soon see).

When we first got there, Hunter was so interested in all of the different pumpkins. I loved hearing his running commentary on it. Char didn't really get excited until we actually entered Cindrella's Pumpkin Village...

I loved the theme this year, especially Cinderella's carriage that you could pose in - the line was totally long, though, and there was no way I was waiting in it when I knew my kids would much rather explore than pose in a carriage. Especially my son, who about 3/4 of the way through the arboretum adamently declared, "NO MORE PICTURES!!" and threw himself on the concrete steps. Okay, okay. We get it. But before he got to that point, he loved looking inside the different houses...

This was Cindrella's house...

All of the pumpkins were white or gray and her slipper was sitting in that chair that got cut off by my excellent picture taking ability.

I love this picture...

...even though Hunter is starting to grow weary of the camera in his face:)

He perks up here, though, mostly because he gets to climb on the pile of little pumpkins...

That house behind Charlotte is the step-sister's house. I thought it was so cool!

This was our attempt at a picture with the carriage...Ha!...

And the sea of pumpkins...

The kids had fun learning the names of all of the different kinds of pumpkins. Clearly, it was much too exciting to sit still for...

Hunter's favorite part of the arboretum is the fish and these toads...

He loved running under the water.

Just us girls...

Four generations!

When we got to the area with all of the flat pools of water, Hunter exclaimed, "A pool!". They both had so much fun putting their hands in the water and throwing money in...

We had such a fun day! I'm hoping to go back in December for the reindeer!

I can hear Big Tex callin'...

2011-10-03T21:00:00.004-05:00

Today was fair day for Zack and Vanesa, so James and I took off work, and the whole family went to the fair together...minus dad:( He couldn't come with us because he's still having trouble walking around since his accident. We sure did miss him!

Hunter and Charlotte couldn't wait to get to the fair! Hunter has been asking us to go almost everyday since early September.

We piled up into 2 separate cars and headed out to the fair grounds...cousin Zack rode with us. The kids decided to watch Cars on the way out there, so Char is a little distracted in our car shot...

Right when we went through the gates, we decided to look at the horses and then came upon a dog show...

Charlotte had a hard time staying still for this, but luckily she has Aunt Katie who spoils her rotten...well, luckily for her I guess!

James and Nana went to get some coupons for lunch and the rest of us looked at the baby pigs, kittens, puppies, rabbits, and chicks...

After lunch we headed to the exhibit hall to let our food digest a little. Charlotte loved putting her hand in the spas...

Finally it was time for rides, and Charlotte was giddy. She actually started saying "I so excited! I so excited! Teacups!" when we pulled up to the fair.

(I must have smudged my camera lens sometime after lunch because the rest of the pictures are really streaky or cloudy.)

Hunter was talking a big game on the way to the rides, saying he was going to ride EVERYTHING, but he took a little while to warm up to the process. I love that I feel like I've finally gotten to the point in my parenting that I can know and appreciate the person he is and adjust accordingly. He sat quitely for at least 30 minutes, watching Charlotte ride before deciding he'd take a turn.

Charlotte's first ride was the flying elephants. She LOVED this and was very upset when we didn't get right back in line after it was over.

It was really sunny today:)

Charlotte loves the swings anytime we go to the playground, so I couldn't wait to take her to these swings. She got upset, though, when I left her alone in there and kept this face on the entire ride...

It was so sad, but I was so proud of her for walking out to us all on her own...

Next we went to this bubble/sea ride...

...and let me tell y'all, I felt my age on that one. You'd never know it by looking, but it was extremely rough. My body was hurting after it was over.

Char was begging to go back to the "eh-fants" again, so this time James rode with her...

Since Char kept asking for the teacups, I took her on the spinning bears (the fair's version of the teacups)...

That boy that rode with us was so talkative and sweet, but boy did he spin us fast! This one was also a good reminder of my age:(

We found the animal train from two years ago, so Hunter decided it was time to take his turn...

And that's all it took. After that, every ride we went to was for him. The very next ride was the race cars that he rode all by himself...

He was pretty serious about his driving.

Then James took him on the monster trucks...

And the bumper cars...

After the bumper cars, Zack and Vanesa rejoined us, so all of the cousins took a turn in the spinning bears...

We were sunburned and exhausted by this point, so we went inside the car shows to cool off and relax...

Hunter wanted to go to the petting zoo, but we stopped to get some drinks and snacks to use up the rest of our coupons, and this is how my kids looked...

So we decided to head home. We had a great day! Can't wait for Six Flags in December!

Fall Fun

2011-10-01T22:55:00.001-05:00

Somehow an entire month has gone by with no posts...no idea what happened there. Oh wait, yes I do. Our life got real crazy, and then, our camera broke. (sigh.)

Now y'all know, I can't bring myself to post something without pictures, so I just opted to let the month of September go by with that one lame post on Chuck E Cheese. I do anticipate so many fun posts for the next several months, though. Mostly because of this...

I copied so many of my good mommy friends and decided to make a fall family fun list. Hunter has been so excited about it, and asks nearly everyday if we can do something off of the list. Today was the day we had time to kick it off with....

wait for it....

football in the backyard! And you'll never guess which parent participated in this one. Me! Shocking, I know. I'll wait while you pick your jaw up off the floor.

It took a while for the kids to stop freaking out that they couldn't have the ball thrown to them every single time...sharing is a bit of a struggle righ now....or should I say sharing still hasn't stopped being a struggle. Finally though, Hunter shouted out some game plays and we had a little football game for 3...with our own rules.

Can't wait for Monday when we get to check off Hunter's favorite activity on our fall list!

CEC

2011-09-05T20:02:00.000-05:00

Whenever we ask Hunter where he wants to go for dinner, he always says Chuck E Cheese. Now, I'm not sure how often y'all frequent good ole CEC's, but the major selling point isn't the cuisine. So sadly, Hunter's choice often gets vetoed because if we're going to spend $35 on dinner, the food better be good.

Well today was Hunter's lucky day because we decided to spend our Labor Day celebration at his favorite place. Both kids had a blast...except for when Charlotte got stuck in the playscape and I had to climb up there to shove her down the slide. Amazingly she stopped herself halfway down so I had to send her brother in to ride the rest of the way with her. Poor baby. Her face was completely tear stained as she and her brother turned the corner to escape the slide.

Other than that moment of hysteria, we had a great time. And the pizza really wasn't as bad as I had remembered it either...

Port A

2011-08-17T21:52:00.004-05:00

We had so much fun on our summer trip to the beach! Neither of the kids had either seen the ocean, so we couldn't wait to watch them play in it. Hunter loved to jump in the waves, and Charlotte loved to sit in the shallow water in my lap or walk along the beach. And they both loved playing with their friends, Ethan and Ronnie. (We were able to go with our friends, the Satterfields, and the kids loved having playmates everyday.)

Char sitting pretty our first day at the beach...

Carrie brought several soaker toys, and I think Hunter had one in his hands at all times...

Hunter, Ronnie and Ethan working on their first sand castle...

Charlotte has always been a mama's girl, but lately she is obsessed. She always wants mama to hold her and requests a hug at least once an hour. She actually just screamed my name hysterically from her bed, and when I walked in and asked what the heck was wrong, she said, "hug" in the most pi.ti.ful voice ever. Good thing I love her so dang much or I might go a little crazy...

One of the few smiling pictures with daddy (because she only wanted her mama!)...

Silly boys by the pool...

Our beach house had these fun hammocks, so we all took a break to relax one afternoon...

I forgot my camera on day 2 at the beach, but took lots of pictures on our 3rd day. This is one of my favorites..

As soon as we got to the beach that day, Hunter ran over to us and said, "I found an octopus!!" We expected him to show us a jellyfish or something, but he really did find an ocotopus...

Hunter playing in the waves with daddy and Ethan...

Char exploring the beach...

She looks so tall to me here...

Oh, wait. There's my 2 year old...

It was like a switch went off in her brain the second she turned two, telling her that she needs to start throwing crazy tantrums every day. Do all 2 year old girls have a biological tantrum clock? This girl sure does.

Some cuddles with mommy helped to cheer her up, though...

I loved wathing Hunter play in the waves. It was pure joy for him...

This is what happened when I peeled our daughter off of me and forced her into James's hands...

So I took her for a walk so she'd forgive me...

After she calmed down, we got a family picture...

And a self-portrait...

I wrote her name in the sand, and she loved it...

I bet you can guess who took this picture...

Hunter didn't want his name in the sand...he can't be bothered by silly things like that when there are waves to be played in. So when Char and I were done with her name, I wrote James a love note...

That night we went into town to look around and shop. I'm not sure if the kids had more fun at the candy store or this shark's mouth...

After dinner we came back to the beach for family photos. I had to include this to prove that sweet Char loves to hug daddy too...

Other than my wind-blown mom hair, I think our picture turned out pretty good...

Carrie bought glow sticks for the kids, so when we got home we went up to their bunk room to see them glowing in the dark...

We had so much fun at the beach! It was even worth the screaming car rides:) Can't wait for our next vacation...where we get to ride a plane!

You're Two

2011-08-01T21:48:00.001-05:00

My sweet Charlotte,

As I was looking back at the story and pictures of the day of your birth, I began to think of your life over the past two years...the rocking and cuddling, playing and giggling, struggling and praying. My continuous prayer for you since you were born has been that you would feel confident in the girl you are. That you would love yourself just because God made you. That you would see yourself as I see you and love yourself as God loves you. Sweet girl, God's love for you is unfathomable, indescribable, unbelieveable! He loves you so much, and he made you so perfectly. He created your inmost being...He knows every fiber of your soul...and he loves it. As do I.

Right now at 2 years, 1 day old, here are just a few of the reasons I love you so deeply...

Because God made you perfectly and entrusted your sweet soul to your daddy and I.

Because your love for me and your brother and your daddy is so obvious to anyone who sees us together.

Because your giggles make my heart melt.

Because you are full of sass and laughter with those who know you well, but you are cautious and shy with those who don't.

Because you love your babies and Elmo.

Because you so want to be completely independent in all that you do, but still come running to me for hugs and cuddles multiple times a day.

Because you sing and dance like a rock star.

Because you are already so talkative...at least with our little family of 4.

Because you are a girly girl.

Because you are the queen of hugs...and you hold on so tight with each one.

Because fashion's already important to you.

Because even at two years old, you are sensitive to others' feelings.

Because you are you! And I'm so thankful that you are...

Welcome to Oz!

2011-07-31T01:00:00.005-05:00

As soon as Hunter's birthday was over, I chose The Wizard of Oz as the theme for Charlotte's party. I bought the movie for inspiration, and Hunter quickly became addicted. He loves singing all of the songs...but watch out, because if he catches you singing them, he'll demand that you stop. I used to think my voice was decent, but my son is starting to make me second guess that thought:)

I was so excited about our yellow brick road and the balloon rainbow, but both ended up causing us a little pre-party stress. I ran out of sidewalk paint last night, so by the time I got back from Target with more, it was dark out. I attempted to keep painting in the dark, but couldn't see ANYTHING, so James eventually brought a lamp and extension cord out. Oh, and most importantly himself. He immediately started helping me paint while I'm sure in his head he was cursing me for my party planning shenanigans...although, you'd never know it. Husband of the Year, y'all. Husband. of. the. year.

I picked up the balloons this morning, and they started popping about 5 minutes after James and I began to tie them down. By the time we were finished putting up all 24 balloons, 6 had popped. And by the end of the party, we had 4 left. The wind was a little crazy today! Which was a great blessing with the relief it gave from the heat. Or maybe it was the wind-heat combo that caused all that popping?

I decided to do snow cones so that people could cool off while they waited for their pony ride...

Hunter loved his snow cone(s). Aren't you loving his red-stained face?...

Char loved hers too!...

It took a little coaxing, but she was willing to give it up to hold hands with her BFF, Evelyn...

For a few seconds at least:)

She also took a second to snuggle with Grandee while enjoying her cherry ice...

We had the same company that did Hunter's cowboy party, bring a pony for rides on a "horse of a different color"...

Charlotte (and Hunter) were so excited when they first saw the pony, but whenever I'd walk close to it, she'd grip onto me so tightly...

After petting it several times, I decided to gently ~~sit~~ force her on it...

And she loved it! She rode 3 more times after that!

Hunter had no interest in even petting the pony, but no one's really surprised by that, right?:)

The only other kid I got a picture of on the pony was our neighbor, Brayden...

So sweet! (I really missed my sister, Courtney's picture taking at this party! She's always so good at getting pictures of a lot of the kids...as opposed to me who evidently only cares about getting pictures of my own kids. Yikes.)

This was probably my favorite detail...

More decor...

That one says, "Grab a lollipop before you leave Oz! - The Lollipop Guild"

Melted Witch Punch...

Food table...

Charlotte wanted a ding dong and ate it first thing. We figured it was her party, so we would let her, but someone was able to coax her into eventually taking an apple. As you can see, she preferred the ding dong...

Finally it was time to have cake, and sweet Charlotte was pretty shy with everyone singing to her. You'd never have known she'd been talking about her cake for the entire week...

I found directions for a rainbow cake on a party blog, and loved the idea...

Charlotte took one bite of her cake and was ready for presents...not really suprising since she'd already had a snow cone and a ding dong!

After everyone left, she grabbed a sucker, asked to play with her new baby gear, wear the cape from Carrie and the princess jewelry set from Trish...

Charlotte loved all of her presents and had so much fun with her friends and family!

Thanks to everyone who helped make her day so special!

BFFAOT

2011-07-24T21:10:00.000-05:00

In college, we used to jokingly say that to each other. "Best friends forever, apart or together."

This past week I got to spend time with my BFFAOT from way back. I wasn't the greatest at picture taking because our time together is so limited that I just wanted to enjoy it! Here's what I did get...

I had so much fun with you girls and can't wait until our next get together!

Big Little Fish

2011-07-15T22:10:00.003-05:00

Hunter's never been a lover of the water. He's always hated splash parks. And the bucket at Hawaiian Falls. And sprinklers. Heck, he even hates when he gets splashed by his sister in the bathtub. Until he turned 4, that is. Four has been the year of change for our sweet boy. He is slowly but surely outgrowing (some of) his timid ways and becoming much more rough and tumble. Well maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration. He's definitely not tackling kids in the park or anything, but you can see a sliver of rough and tumble in him.

So now that he's a big 4 year old, he tolerates the water much better, and although he still won't play in a splash park, he'll let us hold him in the pool and actually have fun. And we even get the added bonus of not having to feel his little fingernails clawing into our shoulders as we walk him around the pool. He holds on to us a little more loosely now...much less like a death grip.

Although I have seen these changes over the past several months, I was still a little nervous as we loaded the car to drive to his first ever swim lesson last week, especially when I heard his little voice say, "I don't want to put my face in the water." from the back seat.

The first session was rough, y'all. Who am I kidding? The first 6 (of 8) sessions were rough. There were lots and lots of tears. This is pretty much the face I got every time I told him to hop in the pool...

Well that or eyes welling with tears in a look of sheer terror. He always begged me to walk him to the pool, which of course I did, and he would just sit in the same spot waiting for his turn while the other kids would swim and jump and frolic around him in between theirs. That really didn't bother me at all, though. Quite the opposite really, I love his sweet, thoughtful nature. The painful part was to sit there and do nothing as his lip began to quiver when his name was called or when he'd beg me to take him home while Ms. Patti was working with him.

It did get better as the days went on, and by the sixth day he was swimming. And with minimal tears. It was unbelievable, and definitely assured me that I made the right decision not to pull him out after the first day. Which you know took ever fiber of my soft-hearted mommy being.

Here's Hunter on his kick board on day 6...

And day 7...

And to our amazement, he was swimming on day 7...

Here's some super short videos of him on day 7...

James and I have watched those countless times. We are so impressed with Ms. Patti and SO proud of Hunter. My heart would swell everyday when I would watch him take his mini-dive into the water. I know that took so much courage for him!

Look for us at the pool. We'll be the ones crazily cheering on our 4 year old as he swims across the water!

So I won't forget...

2011-07-13T22:09:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I was sitting on the couch with Hunter and I heard Charlotte call out for me from her crib. I went in to get her from her nap, and when I set her down on the floor, she slowly made her way to the living room where her brother was waiting. I heard him sweetly say, "Hi Charlotte! Do you want to sit by me?" When I walked in to the living room a couple of minutes later, this is what I saw...

I know. You're crying, right? How could you not be? Sweetest thing ever.

My heart is overflowing...

Independence

2011-07-08T21:26:00.005-05:00

Sadly I didn't pay much attention to history and government in high school. Don't get me wrong, I always crammed for tests so that I could at least get a decent grade, but I just didn't really care all that much about it. So I didn't let it sink in, but quickly forgot most of the details the minute that test was over. And don't even get me started on economics and political science in college. Not a clue. Zero percent interested. But, since becoming a parent (or maybe it's just that I'm officially a "grown up" now), I've found that I care a little more and am regretful of my past flippant attitude. So this year as we celebrated the birth of our free country, I was so thankful to be a citizen in a land where there is so much great history to learn.

We celebrated the 4th at my dad's house, and the kids had tons of outdoor fun. Charlotte loved dad's 4 wheeler....

And Hunter and Zack had tons of fun with these poppers...

And while I was distracted by the ringing in my ears from the 8000 decibel popping, Charlotte ran over and climbed back up on the four wheeler...

Luckily we caught her before she started to drive it off, but it didn't take much time before she found something else to climb...

After we ate dinner, dad decided to light some smokers (those colored smoke thingys), but sweet Charlotte was more excited about the rocks...

She loves rocks. She will exclaim, "Ock! Ock!" with glee anytime she can get her hands on them.

Hunter was much more excited by the colored smoke...

Personally, I think it's a bit anti-climactic, but better than rocks I guess!

Soon after the smoke disappeared, Char ran over to this pile of dirt to start collecting more rocks...

And some more...

She finally had to stop gathering when her little arms couldn't hold anymore...

The kids also loved picking vegetables from my dad's vegetable garden...

And the grand finale was a ride on the tractor...

Hunter is a teeny bit obsessed with construction-type vehicles, so this was a great way to end his day. Who needs fireworks when you get to ride a tractor!! Twice!

Happy Independence, y'all!

Rio

2011-07-06T20:25:00.002-05:00

Sunday was my birthday, and we had a great day hanging out as a family. My favorite thing is for the 4 of us to spend time together, doing whatever, even doing nothing at all (aka, family cuddle time!), so it was a perfect day for me!

Hunter has been wanting to go see a movie lately, so I thought we'd go as a family and risk taking our not quite two year old for her first trip to the movies. Hey, it's my party and I'll do what I want to. Even if that means making an entire theater of people hate me. Of course that would never happen, though, because James can't stand it long enough for our kids to disrupt anyone else. The public should bless that man for making their lives so pleasant.

Anyway.

We decided to go to the dollar theater so that we didn't waste too much money on a ticket for Char just in case she couldn't make it past the previews. She made us proud, though, and lasted an entire hour before James had to take her out.

Right after we bought our tickets, I took the kids to get our seats while James went to get our snacks. Being the loving wife that I am, I thought I'd spare him the embarrassment of papparazzi movie mommy and take the pictures before he got in there...

I asked Hunter to take a pic of me and Char...

It wasn't so successful, so I thought I'd try to do a self-portait...

I was starting to embarrass myself at this point, so I just gave up.

Gave up on pictures with me in them, that is...

We always let Hunter get Coke and popcorn and candy at the movies. If it makes it any better, we generally put the candy in the popcorn...and we share the Coke. Stop judging me.

Well Char couldn't get enough of the Coke. She would suck and suck until she couldn't breathe anymore, and then she'd leave the straw in her mouth during her breathing breaks. We finally had to hide it. And to try to distract her from yelling, "Coke! Coke!", we let her sit in the seat with Hunter...

After that bite of popcorn, she said, "Yucky!" and asked for the Coke again. It's a sad thing when you realize your child is going to have the same vices as you. Coke is my weakness...we have a love-hate relationship. It looks like Char's heading for that same relationship....although, probably more weighted on the love side, than the hate I'm thinking.

Even though I may have to deal with toddler Coke withdrawal symptoms for a week, it was a great way to spend my birthday! Oh how I love those three...

Dorothy

2011-06-30T21:13:00.002-05:00

It's no secret that I love planning parties. Like really love it, y'all...it might be my favorite hobby. Go ahead and make fun of me...I've been teased about my meticulous party planning enough that I'm immune to your taunting.

Charlotte turns 2 on July 31st, and I've basically been working on her party since March 21st...the day after Hunter's Dr Seuss bash. This has been my favorite party to plan so far. Can y'all guess what the theme is?

We're all so excited, especially Hunter who is incessantly singing, "Bing Bong the Witch is Dead!" More to come on July 30th...

Go Rangers!

2011-06-23T21:19:00.000-05:00

Last night Hunter went to his first Rangers game with James, James's parents, and Aunt Melanie and her 2 little ones. And y'all, they didn't get home until almost midnight. No need for a double take, you read that right. Hunter's never stayed up that late in his entire life, but you wouldn't have known it when he got home. He was so giddy and wide eyed and went on and on at a super fast speed telling me all of the details. And James did a great job of taking pictures for me so I totally feel like I was there myself...

Hunter, Cousin Brooke, Aunt Melanie and Cousin Carson

James and Hunter

Despite the fake smile, he really was so excited to be at the game:)

This is kind of gross, but I had to document the ballpark food...

Hunter told me that Cousin Brooke and Cousin Carson shared their cotton candy with him...such sweet cousins!

Hunter was pretty grumpy today because even though he stayed up into the wee small hours, he still woke up at 6 am. He even told us this afternoon, "I'm grumpy today because I'm tired." Ha! So I think we'll be waiting a little while before we do another game that will keep him out that late. Go Rangers!

Lessons

2011-06-19T20:37:00.002-05:00

I love James for many reasons, one of the most important being that I know my children have an excellent father in him. I am so thankful to know that Hunter will grow up with a dad who will teach him what a real man is...what is important to a man seeking to serve God and how he lives that out everyday. And I am so thankful that Charlotte will have a father who will teach her what to look for in a man...that he loves and cherishes his God and his family above anything else.

Happy Father's Day, James! We are so blessed to have you as the head of our home!

Flow it, Show it

2011-06-15T21:45:00.002-05:00

Char's hair was looking more and more like a mullet, so I decided to take her with me to my hair appointment this afternoon to get her first cut. Once we got there, Hunter proudly told Dana that he goes to Barber James to get his hair cut and that Barber James has suckers. Hint hint. Charlotte quickly joined in her brothers antics and sweetly said, "sucker?" Poor Dana didn't know what she had coming.

The whole experience was yet another reminder of how polar opposite my children can be. Although Char did give Dana the eye before the hair cut started...

...she sat completely calm throughout the entire thing. I think Nick Jr on the plasma tv helped a little...

Dana may have been out of suckers, but who needs candy when you have Dora?! And on a big screen!

I kept trying to get Charlotte to look at me, but she either wanted to watch Dana or watch Dora, so whenever I did get a picture, it was of this pleasant face...

Just a small glimpse of what's to come in her teenage years. Thrilling.

After Dana was finished, I was trying to get a good, posed, smiley picture, but Charlotte couldn't tear her eyes away from the tv...

And even though Dana did such a good job and shared her tv...that actually played cable shows, Char still shot her that same look after it was all over...

She looks much less like a 34 year old redneck and much more like a cute little (almost) 2 year old now...

108

2011-06-14T21:54:00.001-05:00

That's what my car's thermostat read today. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT, PEOPLE!! And even though I know that's not the accurate temperature outside, it sure feels like it's at least that hot. It's too hot to do anything. Even blog. But at least the kids are having fun...

Flour Anyone? Anyone?

2011-05-31T22:42:00.001-05:00

Charlotte has been really into hugs for about 2 months now. She constantly asks for hugs throughout the day, particularly when I leave for work in the morning or when she has any sort of run in with the floor or wall or her brother...no matter how minor...she is so her mother's daughter. We are already deep into the drama. Here she is hugging Hunter the other night while we were waiting for our friends to arrive for dinner...

She also loves to try to help me out in the kitchen, usually while I'm cooking, but this same night she was more into the potholders than anything else...

She does so many cute, sweet things, and I adore her for all of it.

But y'all, today Charlotte's "help" in the kitchen was...how do I describe it? Messy? Constant? Comical? I'll let you choose.

I was having a sink disaster so I called my dad for insight and while I was on the phone, I heard Hunter say, "uh oh." I turned around to this...

I quickly grabbed the bag of flour and set it on the kitchen table because clearly I was too focused on my other kitchen disaster to have the foresight to imagine that this would happen the second I turned my back...

Throughout the rest of the phone call with my dad, Charlotte walked through that pile of flour about 24 times and tracked it all over our house. Then she decided she'd do some damage with the entertainment center...

When I got off the phone, we got to work cleaning up...

At least she helped!

When James called to say he was coming home, I turned my back again to talk to him (when will I learn), and I turned around to this...

Safe.

After we sat down to catch our breath of course she requested a "hug!", so I figured I might as well take a picture of that too...

It's my parental obligation to show the sweet side as well as the sassy.

Hunter begged for a hug, too...

And insisted we take a picture of it:)

At least we had fun making our mess! Or at least they did:)

Jenny

2011-05-24T22:50:00.000-05:00

Hunter has always had a vivid imagination. I love this about him. One of my favorite things to do is to stand outside his door and listen to him play. The dialogue that he creates is wildly imaginative and often hysterical.

Recently I've started to notice that Hunter talks a lot about someone named Jenny during his play time. At first I thought he must have a new kid in his class at school, and he was just pretending like he was playing with her in his room, but whenever I'd ask about kids at school, Jenny's name would never come up. So after some ~~eavesdropping~~ loving parent observation during playtime and some probing, I've come to realize that Jenny is not a classmate of Hunter's, but his imaginary friend. Oh, and Jenny's a boy...told you he had a vivid imagination.

I have mixed feelings about Jenny. I think imaginary friends are kind of cute, but the extremist in me is tempted to google early signs of Schizophrenia online so I can see if there's a link between the two. It just kind of creeps me out to think that he has a friend that he plays with and talks to (and according to Katie, often yells at in the morning while he's playing in his room alone). So my plan for now is to ignore Jenny's existence and hope that he goes away...and hope that we're not in for years of mishaps at the hands of Drop Dead Fred....er, I mean Jenny.

For now, I'm thankful for the real friendships that Hunter has...

Here's to fostering relationships with actual, living humans. That's my parenting mantra for the week...human friends are good. Let's have more of them.

Fruit of the Spirit

2011-05-19T14:28:00.000-05:00

Hunter has loved his first year of preschool. Next Thursday is his last day, but we signed him up for several different days of the summer program, and I know he'll have so much fun. Tuesday was the spring program, and the 3 year old classes sang several songs, and let me tell y'all, Hunter was SO expressive. I just know that kid is going to be some sort of musician when he gets older.

Unfortunately my camera was not cooperating, and believe me when I tell you that the pictures below are actually good quality considering what I had to choose from. If I had included the really fuzzy ones, you'd see that Hunter was serious about the choreography and lyrics. He was leading the pack!

After all of the songs, they all recited Galatians 5:22-23a "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Hunter was serious about that too. He has been reciting it at home for us for months.

I surprised myself and got a little emotional during his performance. As I sat there watching that lean, tall boy, I felt like his life was speeding by already...like it was getting away from me. I know he's only 4, but I can't believe it's been over 4 years since he was born. FOUR years, seriously? I don't know how that happened so quickly. He is my pride and joy...

...and I can't wait to see what God has in store for his sweet heart!