A Merry Christmas Card Photo Shoot

It was that time of year again, when I realize I don't have any recent professional-ish photos of the kids, my Dad is in another state, and it's too late to get an appointment for a photo session for Christmas cards. So to the back yard we go for what I know will result in maybe a handful of "acceptable"- at BEST pictures after many tries, tears, fights, stained articles of clothing, attempts at bribery, and threats- for our annual Christmas card.

So here are the results. There were, like I expected, just a couple that could even qualify as "acceptable", definitely not great, but it is what it is.................

YES, that was one of the good ones.

The majority of them looked something like this.......

I did manage to get a decent one of each of the kids individually. Why is it that getting one of the three of them together is WAY more than 3 times more difficult?

Hollace Claire- 8 years, 2 months

Rhett Brown- 5 years, 4 months

and Thad Aaron- 2 years, 11 months

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

End of the Year Catch Up: Part IV-Bubble Bath in the New House

The first night in our new house (Yes, back in AUGUST!) the kids were dying to try out the new jacuzzi tub. It was late and we were tired and getting three baths done at once sounded like a good idea to Brent and I too. We poured in some bubbles with the nice warm water and tossed in the kids. When the tub was full we turned on the jets and OH MY!! The bubble just seemed to multiply a thousand times! The kids thought it was great!! I thought it was a great picture opportunity. The pictures don't really do justice to how many bubbles there were, over flowing the tub. Here are some of the blog appropriated pics I got that were blog appropriate.

(I thought this one was funny b/c Hollace and Rhett seem to be doing the same thing, though I 'm not sure what. I think maybe they were making tails.)

End of the Year Catch Up: Part III- Thanksgiving '11

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year. We had 17 people here (including our family) and they all stayed the night! It was a full house and felt a little like a hotel at times, but it was fun and I think everyone enjoyed it.

My sister helped me get the dining table center piece set up. I thought it turned out cute

It seems to be tradition for Scott and Rick to carve the turkey.

Everyone helped with the cooking and cleaning. This is one time when two ovens would be really nice.

Look at that- Brent doing dishes. I knew he was a good catch!

Finally everything was ready and it was time to feast!

The "Kids Table"

The "Grown Ups Table"

After the traditional YUMMY meal, we all did the traditional sitting around and complaining about how full we were.

That night some of us went out to do some Black Friday shopping. Actually we mostly drove around and decided there were way too many crazy people out and that there wasn't much that we needed THAT bad, and went back home. All the girls did go out for a bit the next day after the crowds had died down a bit.

Everyone but the grandparents went to see the Muppetts one night and the rest of the time we mostly sat around a visited. I think we are pretty lucky that both sides of our families get together and actually like each other!

Thad thought he was pretty big stuff holding his baby cousin Maggie.

Nana reading to some of the little ones.

Funny how a real baby can make your "baby" seem SOOO big.

The three girl cousins.

We had a great Thanksgiving and are truly grateful for all of our blessings!!

End of the Year Catch Up: Part II- Visit to Oklahoma

In October we made our first trip to Oklahoma.....from Texas. Much more fun than the drive from Nashville!

Our family has several birthdays in October, so we did a little celebrating while we were there.

Hollace and Aunt Juana playing Just Dance at Uncle Scott's. Send your wall covering suggestions to Scott at 555-........ Just kidding Scott- the dry wall and wall paper glue looks GREAT!!

The birthday boy opening some of his loot.

Hollace modeling one of her gifts.......

Grammy had bought Toy Story birthday plates that were 3-D. So we all had to wear these glasses while we ate cake.

We watched some football (go ahead and post your OU comments- we can take it).

and tried to take a little impromptu family picture. This is as good as it got.

I think Papa Rick was responsible for these gems. They did provide a few good laughs.

End of the Year Catch-Up: Part I- T-Ball

I am going to try really hard to get my blog caught up by the end of the year. Here's the first of the "should have been posted a long time ago" segments. Hopefully there will be several more to follow.

This fall Rhett played t-ball for the first time. He did pretty well, but did not instantly love it. The practices and games were so funny to watch. The kids were all basically clueless. I'm sure you've all seen an example of what I mean. The kid hits the ball then chases it into the field, or runs the wrong way around the bases. So cute!

Thad LOVED to go watch and wanted to play SO BADLY! He stood by Brent when he was out in the field helping or by the bases when he was acting as a base coach. He will be so excited when he can play next year.

Kicking off the game - with one extra short guy.

GOOOOO TEAM!!

He slid into home plate. It was pretty funny. His coach told him not to do that until he was getting paid for it. Ha!

Here is our little baller in the "Ready" position.

I think this is why he wasn't "sold" on t-ball. He spent a lot of time just like this and didn't get to touch the ball much. I think he'll like it better as he get's older and the games move a little faster. (I have to agree though that baseball is not the most exciting sport).

This little guy on the other hand, seemed to think t-ball was GREAT!!

After the last game the coach presented each of the players with a trophy. Rhett's face when his name was called was so cute. So proud and a little embarrassed.

He was really excited about the trophy and I think it made all that time just standing in the "ready" position, worth it.

So proud of my handsome little T-Ball Star!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all have a TERRIFIC Turkey Day!

An American Girl Adventure

Hollace has been wanting to go to the American Girl Doll Store for a long time now. There are only a few in the country and when we were in Nashville, Atlanta was the closest and we just never made it. When we found out we were moving to Dallas I had a feeling this would be one of the first things we would do. One of her BFFs, Brynn, had also been saving up and wanting to go, so we thought it would be a great chance for her family to come stay with us and go to the store. Hollace had saved up her birthday money and was counting down the days. Finally the big day was here in early November, and it did not disappoint.

The girls in front of the huge store. They each took 2 AG dolls and 1 AG Bitty Baby. The "girls" were in the stroller and the "babies" got carried.

Oh my, they were excited. It was pretty amazing! So many dolls and accessories, and outfits, and...........

The girls in front of one of the many things they wanted. I should have counted how many times I heard "Oh mom, I want this!"

After a little shopping we stopped at the Bistro for a little lunch. There were high chairs for all the dolls. It was quite a sight, seeing all the dolls at all the tables.

The girls and Brynn's big sister, Bryleigh.

Remember the stroller full of dolls? Poor Bryleigh ended up pushing it around all day. She was a trooper.

There were even little dishes for the dolls.

After lunch there was time for more shopping. This little baking set was so cute and after seeing everything it was still her favorite so it ended up going home with us.

A photo op with AG of the year Kanani from Hawaii.

It was quite the adventure. I'm sure we will be back someday, but someone has some more saving up to do first.