Nativity

When we put our Little People Nativity scene up early in the season ... I set it up the traditional way, only to come right back to it and find Britton had set it up this way! He loves the "baby."

Happy 6th Anniversary!

Six years ago, we said "I do." And It's been quite the adventure since. When we got married, we thought a December 30 anniversary would fall at a great time ... down time after Christmas and we could do fun New Year's getaways together. Those were best laid plans, but it hasn't quite worked out that way! When we got married, we never imagined our firstborn's birthday would be within a week of our anniversary, not to mention our daughter's Gotcha Day around then, too. Busy times from December to early January, but so fun too. Thanks for being on this adventure with me! Can't wait to see what happens over the next six years...


He had long hair back in the day.

Merry Christmas!

Visit With Santa

We took the kiddos to see Santa this week. We didn't have high expectations of them loving Santa, which was probably a good thing. Lia Kate took one look at him and decided she wanted nothing to do with him. Britton sat down right on his knee though, but wouldn't smile. In fact, he stared at us and the "elves" and bit his bottom lip, which is a new thing he's been doing in uncertain situations.


Anyway, we got some pictures and as we were leaving, Santa handed Lia Kate and Britton little candy canes. As we walked off, Britton turned back around to Santa, held up his candy cane, and said, "It bwoke." At which point, Santa graciously gave him a new intact candy cane. Totally made his day. And Lia Kate walked off saying "I like canny canes. I like canny canes." ;o)

A Little Girl and Her Daddy

They sure have come a long way since that first day...

Happy Gotcha Day!!!

A year ago today, we met our sweet baby girl for the first time! A year ago, we met a very quiet, frightened and sad little girl. Today, she is a lively, joyful little force to be reckoned with. She has brought so, so much joy to our family. She has made our son a brother ... made us parents to the most precious little girl we could ever imagine having as a daughter ... made us a family of four. Lia Kate, we are so blessed to be your parents. I can't believe it's only been a year. It seems like you've always been here.

Christmas Tree

We went shopping for our Christmas tree earlier this month. And in typical fashion, I am just now posting about it! Anyway, we are not picky Christmas tree hunters ... which is why we usually get home and discover giant holes in our trees. Ahh well. I heard Martha Stewart refer to those open spaces as "elf shelfs" and you're supposed to put a wrapped gift in the space. I never knew that.

Back to the subject at hand, we went with the third Christmas tree we looked at. We realized we needed to get out of there quickly as it was a little chaotic with ...

...our two monkeys running around.


But we did take a moment to snap some pictures. I was trying to get a picture of them in the Christmas outfits that my mom and I made, but you can't really see the shirts.


Lia Kate was sporting her first pigtails that day!




Here is one of Britton's Christmas shirts.




As we decorated the tree, I snuck two gifts in and let Britton & Lia Kate find them under the tree. They were excited to open the bags and find some ...


...new Christmas jammies.


Here is the tree after we I decorated it. The kiddos lost interest after hanging up about two ornaments each. There's always next year, huh?


But we all celebrated with some egg nog afterward!

Looking forward to Christmas morning with these two munchkins!

Where'd He Go?

A glimpse at what our Thanksgiving with three toddlers was like:

Our Big Thanksgiving Trek

We went on a big road trip over Thanksgiving. And in many ways, I am still recovering! As are my children. But we had a wonderful time seeing family and friends.

Here are my two little turkeys right before we loaded up to head out on our 1,785-mile Thanksgiving trek through Texas. These guys had no idea what was ahead! What was ahead was 30+ hours in the car.


Our first stop was Jackson, Miss., where Britton showed his great-grandmother around an iPhone.


Lia Kate with her GrandMarna (and an iPhone).


Me and my boy the next morning before getting on the road again. We drove to Houston, Texas, to visit some good friends.


While we were there, we got to visit the LifeFlight helicopters on top of Memorial Hermann Hospital. One of Danny's fraternity brother's is the CEO.


Britton LOVED the helicopters!




Then, we went to SeaWorld in San Antonio for the day. The kids loved the shows. It was so worth it to drive there for the day to see their mouths literally fall open when Shamu first jumped out of the water. We heard lots of "whoa"s and "wow"s that day.


Britton watching the dolphins.

That night, we headed to Austin to visit the good friends we made while we were in China last December. They were there adopting their daughter, Avery, the same time we were adopting Lia Kate.


We climbed Mt. Bonnell and snapped a quick pic at the top.


Here is a picture after Avery gave Lia Kate quite a "do." It was so fun to see these girls together again! We could see so many amazing changes in Avery and they probably saw drastic changes in Lia Kate. A lot can change in year when you have a family who loves you. ;o)

After a couple of fun days (& good food) in Austin, we drove on to Dallas to spend Thanksgiving week with Danny's family.


Here are the littles. Thanksgiving was lots of fun with these three toddlers. All three were born within 13 months of each other (early July -- January -- late July).


My sweet boy. He did so well on the big trip!


Britton and Will playing the piano with Uncle Scott.


Lia Kate and Britton munching on snacks before our big Thanksgiving meal.


Lia Kate bonded with Uncle Scott. She even fell asleep in his arms! This is pretty significant for her. I'm pretty sure Danny is the only other man who can claim that.


Taking pictures of these two is not easy, but we tried to get a few.










My two turkeys ... vegging out ... with iPhones. This appears to be a recurring theme. I promise they don't play on them very often.


Britton & Cousin Will


The kid table.




We also got a visit in with my relatives who live in Dallas. Here is my cousin Julia with my two.


At the end of the week, Danny's parents threw a Meet & Greet for their friends to come meet Lia Kate and greet the boys. It was a fun party and we got to see lots of familiar faces. Then, it was back on the road for us...

...but not before these two monkeys posed for just a few more pictures.