Christmas Traditions

The yearly gingerbread house turned out much better this year! The boys and I had a blast and they really wanted to make a "pretty home". Now we are just trying to keep it up high enough on the counter so that they can't eat it!

The boys also put their 2011 handprints on our Christmas tree mat. We started that tradition last year and hope that the boys can see how much they have grown over the years.
Christmas is such a wonderful time of traditions. The advent calendar also has 2 doors open now, and it is one of the boys favorite things to do after dinner. We open the door and read the scripture inside and get to eat the 2 pieces of chocolate inside. :)
We hope your holidays are full of fun family traditions; drawing us all together in a common joy.

Giving Thanks!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We all drove up to Dallas to spend the holiday with the Youngs in Carrollton.

Nammama, Bill, Aunt Carol, Uncle Jeff, cousins Emily, Brett and Bryce and my mother, father and brother JB, as well as my Aunt Kellye were all there to celebrate together.

When we first arrived, all the cousins were dressed up as pilgrims and Indians! I wish I would have gotten a picture of that, but they got changed into their regular clothes too fast for me to get it. All that to say, it was a wonderful welcome when they opened the door!

The boys had a blast playing with all the cousins old toys and everyone else enjoyed looking at old photos and scrapbooks and of course, watching the football games. :)

We also celebrated Grandaddy Bill's birthday together that day. So, not only did we all eat pumpkin and pecan pie, but we also had amazing birthday cake! Needless to say, we had a full day and full tummies to boot.

After the festivities died down we all piled in the car and headed back to my parents house to crash for the night. The boys were exhausted.

The holiday weekend was then spent at my parents house (MiMi and Papaw's) getting all the Christmas decorations out and preping the tree. Elijah absolutely LOVES Christmas anything, so he was so excited to decorate the tree. He kept saying, "Mommy, this makes me so happy!" (This boy going to break the mold for guys who don't express their feelings verbally, cause Elijah is all about it!)

We returned home to our house just in time to head to church on Sunday for the beginning of Advent. It truly is such a special time of family, love, traditions, and exemplary joy!

Here are some photos from the weekend:
Elijah decorating MiMi and Papaw's tree

Uncle John with his dog Issa

MiMi and the little decorators (mind you they woke up and right away wanted to start decorating the tree, hence the p.j.'s)

goofing around with MiMi

Thanksgiving day at the Young's house


J.B., Grandaddy Bill, mom, Elijah and cousin Emily around Bill's birthday cake

The boys loved running around outside with cousin Bryce.

somehow Joaquin ended up with these weird goggles on and then didn't want to take them off all day. (Bryce even ended up giving them to Joaquin and he happily wore them all the way home...falling asleep in his carseat with them still on!)

Elijah running around the cones

my dad and Bryce planning basketball with the boys trying their best at defense...

JB and Namama around the fireplace

the boys love their great Namama

Aunt Carol, Joaquin, Emily and mom reading Emily's scrapbook

Aunt Kellye and Joaquin playing

Joaquin and Em

mom working up some magic in the kitchen

and of course, the common cooking and hang out room ends up being the kitchen

Halloween

The boys had a blast walking around the neighborhood last night. We are still working on our "trick or treat" timing, though, so that they understand they have to wait till someone answers the door before they yell, "TRICK OR TREAT", at the top of their lungs. The first few houses, they just shouted at the door, but by the end of the street, they had pretty much gotten the hang of it.

Elijah, now being 3, completely understood the more houses we went to, the more candy he would get. So, he was amped to visit as many houses as he possibly could. Jaoquin, on the other hand, was pooped and ready to go back home after a few houses. Honestly, I think he was just ready to get to EAT the candy, instead of having to wait till we had been to all the houses and back home before he could dig into his pumpkin full of goodies.

Anyway, this year, Ian came up with a fun tradition for Halloween. We always struggle with what to really celebrate about Halloween without making things seem frightening for the little guys, and Ian and I really love the way Mexico celebrates and views the Day of the Dead (which is actually tomorrow). So, we decided to blend the purpose of Halloween with the view of a time to celebrate those that have died before us that we love and appreciate and want to use this time to celebrate their lives and acknowledge them. So, Ian decided we would have a little ceremony where we write the names of our loved ones that have died that we want to acknowledge and honor on a little scroll and dedicate a little prayer and celebration to them. The boys don't really get it right now, but we are excited to start a tradition that doesn't look as skulls and the like with a scary outlook, rather an honorable remembrance of loved ones.

Halloween Parade at Mother's Day Out

Yesterday the boys participated in their yearly Mother's Day out Halloween Parade. All the kids at the church line up and walk down the hallways while parents whoop and take photos of their cuties!

Not too long ago Joaquin and Elijah received a surprise package in the mail from Gamma and Gampa, and inside were the most precious little costumes! Elijah was a big time pilot and Joaquin was a hard workin fire fighter! The boys LOVED their outfits and it was difficult to keep them out of them every single day.

So, when we woke up yesterday and told them they were going to get to wear their costumes to school, they jumped up in eagerness and got dressed!

Here are a few photos from the morning parade.




Yesterday the boys participated in their yearly Mother's Day out Halloween Parade. All the kids at the church line up and walk down the hallways while parents whoop and take photos of their cuties!

Not too long ago Joaquin and Elijah received a surprise package in the mail from Gamma and Gampa, and inside were the most precious little costumes! Elijah was a big time pilot and Joaquin was a hard workin fire fighter! The boys LOVED their outfits and it was difficult to keep them out of them every single day.

So, when we woke up yesterday and told them they were going to get to wear their costumes to school, they jumped up in eagerness and got dressed!

Here are a few photos from the morning parade.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Well, we finally made it over to the pumpkin patch! This weekend Ian and I took the boys over to the church pumpkin patch and the boys had a blast crawling on the mounds of pumpkins and choosing their favorite ones to take home.

Once we were home Ian and the boys carved out the pumpkin faces. Each of our little guys had their own mini-pumkin and Ian took on the family one. Here are a few picks from the evening.

Joaquin's mini-pumpkin choice

Elijah's mini-pumpkin choice

The boys loved the pumpkins with all the weird bumps!

This is my attempt at the posed pumpkin patch pic...

sitting on the big ones!

my precious boys...

they had so much fun on these mounds!

and, daddy's freaky pumpkin face...
:)

Chris and Melanie get married!!

Sorry it has been such a long time since I have reported, but this summer has been crazy. Moving, working from home, boys out of school and at home all the time, and non-stop things "to-do"--so the blog kinda got put on the back-burner. However, I do want to try to keep up and catch up on a few things that are too important to skip.

This May, Ian's brother, Chris, got married to the wonderful, Melanie! We were so excited to be a part of the whole thing! The boys were both ring bearers and were precious in their little tuxedos! The family all gathered in Utah where Melanie's parents held the wedding in their beautiful back-yard, that was specially landscaped for the occasion!

The wedding was over-the-top gorgeous and it was so much fun to be all together with the family. The Kirkland's rented a couple houses in the neighborhood and so we were all able to stay together during the week long festivities! Here are some photos from the special union!
(My apologies ahead of time for the copyrighted mark on the proofs) The family had a blast and the wedding will be a special memory for all involved!