Christmas Carols

Today was a very big day in the life of J and M.  It was their much anticipated Christmas program! 

They both got to perform in it this year and were so excited all week about it.

Jackson's class went first, followed by Maddie's.  Both of them did great--too bad the music director was completely blocking Madison the entire time!  I finally moved to the aisle and got some video footage.  C'mon, music lady, can't you direct while standing on your knees?!

All four of the grandparents were in attendance today.  These are seriously lucky kids:)  After their performance, they had class parties.  Boom Pa visited with Maddie...

while Memaw made crafts with Jackson.  I floated back and forth. 

They both came home with lots of candy and treats, including this cute little Marshmallow Man! 
He's almost too cute to eat. 

Manicures with Maddie

Last weekend the hubby and I had two Christmas parties to attend.  I haven't had my nails painted in forever and Maddie has never been to a nail salon, so I thought, "why not?"

When I told her that we were going to get our nails painted she was so excited!

She paid very close attention to the nail tech and loved, loved, loved her light pink polish with silver glitter. Gotta love a fun girls afternoon:)

Getting up there!

This past weekend we celebrated Jared's birthday with the fam.  Yesterday was his actual birthday, so he is now officially 32 years of age.  Wow.  That is starting to sound old! 

Good thing we had lots of family there to keep the old man smiling!

Last night, the kids and I made lasagna and chocolate cake...there were smiles all around!  Lila literally had marinara sauce from ear to ear.  The girl loves her some meatsauce!



Happy Birthday, Dad!  Hope your day was great--we sure love you.

Lila told her daddy "Happy!" about 22 times last night.   (Sometimes she would make an attempt at "birthday") After that cake was served, though, she was the happy one!  She would say, "cake!," take a bite and say, "mmmm!"  She is loving her daddy these days--just don't ask her to choose between him and some cake:)

Smores and more

Tonight we went over to our friends house, The Brooks, for some good old family fun.  The kids loved playing on the swingset...

all three loved this swing...

 but only Maddie took me up on trying a smore.  She loved it!  And really, what's not to love?  Chocolate, graham crackers and a toasty, warm marshmallow holding it all together.  Yum!

After we enjoyed the smores and the kids ran around like rascals, it was time to head over to this awesome neighborhood train. 

J and I went last year and loved it, so we were excited to take the girls this year.  Maddie grinned from ear to ear the whole time and Lila just had a look of pure awe on her face.  Too cute.

We are taking family pictures tomorrow.  You think they're going to smile this nicely for them?  I sure hope so:)

Lila, on the other hand, is a total wild card.  If the mood does not strike her right, there's no hope for a sweet smile.  In this case, she could not be bothered to smile or even look at me.  Let's hope tomorrow morning she is feeling a little more generous!



Murphy Christmas Festival

Last night was the Murphy Christmas Festival.  Since it was nice weather and we love any fun community get together, we decided to go. 

The first attraction was the reindeer.  Two really cool reindeer.

I'm pretty sure that this was Prancer.



Then we thought we'd see what we look like as snowmen. 



Then we wrote a letter to Santa Claus.  It was the very last one they had, though, so Jackson and Maddie had to share.  We're pretty sure that Santa won't mind!  They both asked for new bicycles this year--Maddie wants a Princess one and Jackson wants a Batman one.  Let's hope that Santa can come through!

We asked Gigi to come along with us and she agreed, even though it was last minute.  We're so glad she did, though.

After we wrote our letter to Santa, it was almost time for the fireworks show to begin.  We found us a good spot on the lawn and got ready.

While we were talking about the fireworks, Maddie told Jackson that she might be scared.  He put his arm around her and said, "I'll take care of you, Maddie."  He's still sweet when he wants to be.

Afew seconds later the show began with a bang!  Since this tree was in our way, though, we quickly found another spot.

The show was great!  And very loud!  It was the closest that I have ever been to a fireworks show and I was afraid that Lila was going to be scared.  She loved watching it, though, and so did the rest of us.  What a fun way to kick off the holiday season!

Turkey Day

Turkey Day 2011

 In preparation for Thanksgiving Day this year, the kids and I made some desserts.  Our first one was a pumpkin pecan cheesecake and oh my, was it good! Chippy helped make the second one, a bananas foster upside down cake...

 and the kids even let him lick the batter off the beaters.  Guess they were really in the giving spirit!

 After we finished all of our desserts, we packed up the car and drove over to Gigi and Boom's for Thanksgiving lunch. This scene makes me smile.  The love that these kids have for their grandparents if just precious.

 Maddie inspecting the turkey--she said, "Boom, that's a big bird you got there!"  Think she's got a little country in her?

 After we had a delicious lunch, complete with Meme's sweet potato casserole (my fave!), the girls sang and played the piano for us.

 Jackson challenged Aunt Colleen to a game of Checkers...

and then the big kids did the "Turkey Tango," along with two other songs.

 They were too cute.

 After their performance, it was time to play Wii with Daddo.  Jackson was the pitcher, while Daddy tried to hit the ball.  J was trying so hard to strike him out that he started sweating!

 Then they called dear old mom upstairs and much to my surprise it was because my husband, yes, you read that right, was challenging me to a dance off!  Thank goodness I won, but not my much!

 After our dance off, it was time to go to Fort Worth to see all of the Hays Fam.  When we got there the girls immediately went to see Jerry Lewis, Aunt Carolyn's pet bird.

 Jackson set up another game of Checkers, with Pa Hays as his opponent this time.  Daddo said that Pa Hays used to beat him at Checkers when he was little.  Guess he's softened in his old age because Jackson won all three games.  Either that, or J is a genius child:)

 The kids loved hanging out with Memaw and Poppi...

 and also loved playing football outside with Uncle Scott and Daddo.

 Daddy was on double-duty--he would toss the ball to Jackson and then have to toss Lila Lou in the air.  Whew!  Guess he worked off a few more calories before we ate dinner.

 Cousin Amy came in her police officer uniform because she had to go straight to work after dinner.  The kids thought her uniform was super cool--the big kids (aka Jared, Andrew and Scott thought her taser gun was especially intriguing!).

 Before she left, she played Twister with Jackson.  After that, he got Daddy and Aunt Lyndsie to play with him, too.  It was a bit of a challenge because little sister would decide to forward roll sometimes in the middle of the game...

 but he was all smiles most of the time...

 that is, until he ended up like this!  The kids is mighty flexible, but he could only hold out so long! 

We had a wonderful day with all of our family.  We are thankful for all of them and especially for these three little turkeys.

Thankful Turkeys

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.  That being said, I totally stole two craft ideas from my mommy friends, Hayley and Monica.  I hope that you girls don't mind, I just thought these turkey crafts were too cute to pass up!

First we made the Thankful Turkey.  Jackson's class mascot, Chippy, is getting to spend the week with us, so he got in on the fun, too.  We cute out all the feathers first, and then the kids came up with things that they are thankful for.  I love this idea.  Having a grateful heart is so important and this really drives home that point.  It's also a fabulous reminder of how lucky we all are--just look at how many feathers there are and we could have gone on for much longer!



After doing our turkey, we went outside and J chose a pumpkin to make our next craft with (Thanks, Monica!).  This is now our kitchen table centerpiece and we love it!