New Year's Eve

The kids and I made the trip home from Oklahoma Thursday and Friday, arriving home around 4:30pm on New Year's Eve. We were so excited to be home after 2 weeks away, and we were all super excited to see Jon again. We didn't have any big plans, and I was tired from driving, so we decided to have another Family Game Night.

We played Cars Dominoes, Bingo, Candyland, and Mancala. Then we worked on some puzzles, and played with Lawson's new train tracks for his train set. Jon even played Barbies with Jordan! Before we knew it, we were waiting for the ball to drop...
The kids and I had talked about New Year's Eve a little bit on the trip, and they were super excited to stay up and ring in the new year with us. We had so much fun with just our own little family, and it was nice to put them right to bed after midnight and get a good night's sleep!

Happy New Year!!

The rest of our Oklahoma trip

Here are some pictures of the less Christmas-specific events during our visit to Oklahoma. The kids and I drove in Fri and Sat (the 17-18th) and Jon's parents picked up Maddison and CJ the 18th, so for the first whole week all four of the grandkids were there. They had such a fun time playing and watching movies. Kathy and I put up the Christmas tree then let the kids decorate all the ornaments, which they loved. This is a picture of them holding hands and singing silly songs around the tree...Monday the 20th we had a really warm day, so the kids played outside in the yard and I put up their lighted deer and trees in the yard. We also had a grocery list that we had planned on buying to make dinner, but I was so excited when Kathy said we could go eat at Chili's instead!
One night the kids spent forever sitting in the same chair giggling their heads off and being so silly. I had so much fun taking a ton of pictures...here are some of my favorites....

This is the big kids showing me their 'hangey balls' in the back of their throats!
CJ roaming around the house. He parked himself under the high chair...
The kids eating the ice cream sundaes that we made at home...
Jenny and Corey came in Thursday afternoon, and Jon flew in Friday morning. We spent the weekend celebrating Christmas and worshiping together. Jenny and Corey left Monday morning and CJ went home with them, so for the second week it was just the big kids. Monday night we went to see Tangled and eat at Red Robin. Tuesday night the kids played all day and then we went to eat at Rib Crib. Wednesday Jon flew home.

Jordan and Maddison in their matching jammies...
Lawson, Jordan, Maddison
The kids being silly in Papa's lap. I came to take a picture and he told them, "Quick! Everyone fall asleep!"
Our last morning...we have just gotten the cars all loaded up and are ready to get into the cars, but we need one last picture, of course!
And now, Nana and Papa with the kids. This is proof that they survived 2 weeks with a ton of loud, crazy company! I am sure that they were looking forward to having a quiet night of watching the shows they wanted after we were all gone!
We had such a wonderful visit and are so glad that we got to spend time with Papa, Nana, Maddison, CJ, Aunt Jenny and Uncle Corey!!

The Sunday after Christmas

Nana wanted to get the kids matching outfits to wear since they'd all be at church the Sunday after Christmas. The girls' outfits came with matching outfits for their baby dolls, which they loved...
The stairstep grandkids...CJ--21 months, Jordan--4 1/2, Lawson--6, Maddison--7

Christmas Day

Can you see the excitement? They can't wait to go around that corner and see what might have been left under the tree!! The adults were all happy that no one even woke up until about 8am! I can handle that!
Santa came! Santa came!Pillow pets for all the kids from Santa, plus lots of goodies from Papa and Nana! The kids all had a blast seeing their pillow pets, digging stuff out of their stockings and opening their presents.
Nana and Lawson
Nana and Jordan
Nana and Maddison
Nana and CJWhat a mess!!!
Papa with CJ and Jordan and the gifts Ms. Becky helped them make for Nana and Papa.
Jordan showing Papa her handprint wreath.
Lawson and Jon playing with Lawson's How to Train your Dragon dragons from Papa and Nana
Mommy and Jordan brushing Rapunzel's long hair
Time for breakfast! How many cooks in the kitchen?
And the kids retired to Papa and Nana's bed for the rest of the day to lay on their pillow pets and watch their new movies! It was nice for the adults--we got a break from watching Christmas movies!

Santa's Cookies

We spent a couple weeks in Oklahoma over Christmas visiting Jon's family, and we made lots of memories--There will be several posts about our time in OK.

On Christmas Eve I helped the kids make Santa's cookies. They were super excited to help, and besides the measuring they did it all, pretty much. They took turns dumping the ingredients, doing the mixer and stirring.My silly kids started singing O Christmas Tree into the whisk...
and their cousin Maddison joined in too!
Mixing...
and dumping...
and watching Polar Express while waiting...
Each kid got to choose a cookie cutter shape to cut out for Santa...
And they all had something to carry...
and set out for Santa!
Then, of course, they wanted a taste too! So they got to have a small square of cookie. Yum! Smile!
Now make silly faces!!!
Now it's time for bed! Tomorrow is Christmas!!!

Toothless. The Awesome Disaster.

For Lawson's birthday this year, he went through several different kinds of cakes he wanted before he decided on How to Train your Dragon. I thought and thought about what I could make, and talked to him about just having a Toothless cake (the main dragon in the movie). He thought that was a great idea. I thought I had a great idea to make an awesome cake. I've said it before--they do it on Cake Boss, how hard can it be? :)I started by making a 3-layer 9x13 chocolate cake. Then I made Rice Krispie Treats and shaped them into Toothless. My idea was to use wooden sticks to prop the dragon form in the air so it would look like it was flying over the clouds...
It was a decent idea, but there were a few problems...I did it way too early, I needed more support than wooden sticks, and I didn't anticipate the weight of the frosting. Before we even left for the party Toothless had slid down the sticks considerably:
When we arrived at Cicis and I started icing him, his whole body started sliding down the sticks quickly, endangering the rest of the cake. Jon helped me rescue the cake (as much as possible) and we decided to just take the sticks out and lay him across the cake.

At that point Lawson came up and told me it was an awesome cake that looked just like Toothless. That was good enough for me! That's the only reason I try to make an awesome cake--I want my kids to love it!
It lasted that way a while, until his head started drooping, the wing started falling off, the tail spun off and broke and then the head finally came off. It really was a disaster...but Lawson loved it so that's all that matters!
Happy Birthday Bud!

Pizza Party!

This year for Lawson's birthday party we had a pizza party at Cici's Pizza. We were getting ready to go to Oklahoma in a couple days for Christmas, so we had the party on Lawson's real birthday, the 14th. The kids all had a great time playing in the arcade, being silly with each other, and eating lots of pizza and cake! It was a super easy but super fun party!!

Cheese!!!

Six is so big...

It is amazing to me that I have a six-year-old. Six is so much bigger than a baby or a toddler or a pre-schooler. I am grateful to God daily for the growth and health of this sweet boy. I am thankful for the support that our family and friends provide as we try to raise him to love the Lord. I know this kid's got a bright future. I can't wait to see it! :)

Happy 6th Birthday Lawson!