Thanksgiving '15

 

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Texas with our favorites.

We headed in a day early to beat the ice storm and had a great "cousin day."

The day was full of playing, shopping, ice cream and giggles!

My three favorite ladies in the whole wide world! 

Jacey is growing up too fast but I love watching her mature into such a beautiful young lady {inside and out}.

 
For Thanksgiving day we went out to my sister's house.

Jacey made her 4H award winning dessert.  Trust me, this didn't last long! 

Jacey was in charge of pictures and she did a great job!  Kallahan really "worked" the camera for her. 
We LOVED that Tyler's parents came out and joined us.  So much to be thankful for.

After dinner, we took a few family photos.  Like usual, the kids boys didn't like the idea but we managed to get a few great photos.

I told Samantha, this is my favorite photo EVER.  We really captured their beauty.

Aforementioned ice storm made it's way in as predicted so our typical 12+ hour Black Friday shopping extravaganza was an hour sprint to Target and Toys"R"Us to beat the storm followed up by a Black Cold Friday spent without electricity.  In that hour, we did A LOT of shopping.  And thanks to online shopping I was able to shop while we drove home.

Luckily we had a big breakfast right before the electricty went out, prepared my aunt Samantha and her little sous chef, Kallahan.

We made the best of life without electricity.

  We played a lot of cards, did some crafting, ate way too much too often, had a dance party and snuggled up around the fire.  

I LOVE this girl!!

On Saturday, we braved out on the icy roads to visit more with Tyler's family.

Oh BOY, I'm sure glad we did.

The little cowboys had a blast with their cousins and grandparents.

I love this picture of their slumber party with Mimi, Bryon and Brody.  The Baker brothers obviously can't hang!

Cheers to cherished memories and so much to be THANKFUL for. "May the good things of life be yours in abundance, not only at Thanksgiving but throughout the coming year."

Family Photos

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

I'm still stuffed from all the delicious goodies but more importantly my heart is full from all the love that was shared.

 Our 12+ hour Black Friday shopping extravaganza was more like an hour sprint to Target and Toys"R"Us to beat an ice storm followed up by a Black Cold Friday spent without electricity.  But you know what, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  We had a blast... I'll share photos and a recap soon.

 When we first arrived in Texas {prior to the bad weather} we snuck in a little tlme to have our family pictures taken.

 Family pictures are always my favorite but for my three cowboys it's more like a nightmare.  Thanks for humoring me once again guys.

 I love my toothless, too big for his britches 7-year-old and my dutchy sweethearted 4-year-old. 

 Tuesday marks the first of December and this self-proclaimed "holiday obsessed" mama is about 99.9% done with all her Christmas shopping so it's going to be all about basking in the traditions and soaking up this magical time of year.

And word on the street is our Elf on the Shelf, Howie, is not far from arrival.

Weekend Whoas

Happy {week of} Thanksgiving!  I hope you had a great week/weekend.

We continued to gear up for the holidays by decorating the showroom at John Deere this week.  Granny brought out the little cowboys to help.  We try to make this daunting task as much fun as possible by inviting co-workers and their families to come out to decorate and then we reward them with pizza.  What's not to love?!  My boys look forward to it year after year.

A work day out of town last week also meant a little pre-Black Friday shopping for this lady.  I've been fighting a cough/sore throat so I skipped out on lunch and opted for a hot tea and Target.  I can't wait to get with my girls in a few days for our annual crazy shopping extravaganza.  I better start working on a list - and get rid of this cough! 

That being said, we had a pretty low-key weekend at home.  Keeler spent most of this time out at the farm with Tyler.

He worked all day on Saturday and even got to do a little supervised shooting.  He tried really hard to stay up past bedtime on Saturday but he was one wore out little cowboy.

Kallahan opted to stay at home with me - which I just LOVE.  We had a lazy Saturday.  We did manage to get out for a bit to attend the annual Tumbleweed Bazaar with Brittney and cousin Haylee. 

Seriously, too much cuteness for one picture.  We love our Haylee Bug!

 After a little shopping they got to visit with the big guy!  Kallahan was so excited.  He told him he wants a car.  I have no idea what kind of car the kid is thinking.  I've given the little cowboys toy catalogs to go through and Kallahan manages to circle every single item on every page.  Hopefully this means our options are wide open and NOT that he expects to get every single item :) 

 Keeler had a friend over to play on Sunday.  Kallahan was feeling a little left out {typical pesky little bro issues} so again I got to spend some one-on-one time with my little cutie. 

Keeler is getting so big too quick.  He's in a sporty stage right now... only wants to wear athletic clothes and recently asked for a skateboard.  It's quite the switcharoo from the kid that insisted on wearing cowboy boots and button-ups all last year but we're embracing it.  Whatever makes him happy :)

...and he's pretty impressive on his skateboard.

We ended the weekend attending our second annual "Friendsgiving" at the Mullen's house.  We had the best time!  The kids played great together and of course the food was fabulous.  We knew we wanted to get a group picture of the kids with the goal to take one every year.  Afterwards, we had Keeler take our picture and it's too cute to see us from his viewpoint.  
We have so much to be thankful for.  We hope that your holiday is spent with loved ones and filled with wonderful memories and moments.   From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

We're back!!!

We're back!  I did not intend to take an extended hiatus from blogging, but the past couple of months have been so filled with other to-dos that something had to give. I tend to forget how crazy life gets in the fall.   Both the little cowboys are in school, Keeler started a vision therapy program (he's rocking it), we've done some traveling, I've become a Netflix junkie and work responsibilities seem to always be increasing.  I'd like to share {for memories' sake} a few highlights with full intention of getting back into the blogging world. Late October, Tyler and I went on a cruise to Cozumel.  It was so nice to unplug and relax for a few days.  We traveled with a few business acquaintances from our area {that over the years have turned into friends}.  It was also nice to catch up and share some laughs. 

While we were away the little cowboys, rather our Texas A&M football player and Kal the cow, celebrated Halloween with their cousins and grandparents.  

And trust me, don't let this picture above fool you... Kallahan was thrilled to be a cow. 

The kid pretty much wore this costume out before Halloween playing cow every chance he got in the house and in the yard.  

We can't thank our fam bam enough for taking care of the boys while we were away.  They made some great memories... going fishing with Jim-dad, early morning donuts with Granny, trick-or-treating with cousins, the list goes on and on :) 

Right before Cozumel, my Junior Civic club held our annual fall party.  It was a blast, as usual.  

"Tell me about it, stud!"  

How handsome is my Danny?! 

Life is finally settling back down to normal.  This past weekend, Mimi came to town.  The boys did not want to leave her side.  They stayed both nights with her and Kallahan even had her sit in our Sunday school class.  We love our Mimi!  On Monday, Keeler's school hosted a special little Grandparent's Day.  Mimi and Granny were both able to attend.  Our boys are so lucky to honestly have the best grandparents in the world!  

 We also did a little decorating for Christmas.  Yes, I'm one of "those people" but I can't help it.  We're looking forward to a fabulous holiday season.  How about you?

Hope all is well for you and yours.