37!

37.  Thirty Seven!  This guy turned 37 last week!

We met him after work at Pappasitos for some really great food and even better company.

As my dad would say, we had the whole fam damly there!

Scott, Lyndsie, Maria and Andrew all made it...

and of course we rolled deep with four kids.
The girls were really good the entire dinner, which is always a huge bonus for me.

This big boy opted to not sit at the kid's part of the table--he prefers the more adult conversations, so he sat in between Gigi and his daddy.
Pretty soon we will be celebrating his 10th birthday--my goodness.

After dinner, it was finally time to bring out the sombrero!
Happy Birthday, dear Daddy, happy birthday to YOU!

His cup runneth over with love for these kids...

and he's got such a soft spot for his favorite niece, too.

We all had fun celebrating Jared--thanks for making his birthday so special!

Fast forward a couple days to December 7th.  This little baker and I were busy making his homemade chocolate Coke Cake for his real birthday.

She loves to "help" me in the kitchen, but her favorite part is when it's time to lick the batter!  

Jared met us at PSA for Jackson's indoor soccer game.  He hasn't played since last winter, but he's shaking the rust off pretty quickly.  He scored two goals and almost got a third!  Nothing like that to put a big smile on his dad's face.

We had a late dinner and all enjoyed the Mexican Pot Roast...

then it was time for the big reveal.  Cake!  And guess what?  It was good!

He opened his gifts and then we put the kids to bed.  Well, that sounds like it's a quick process.
By 10:30 all kids were in bed!  Maybe.

This past weekend we continued the birthday fun with Emily.  We met our friends at Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck.  It's at the top of Reunion Arena and is 560 feet in the air, hence the name.  Despite  6 of us having lived here our entire life, none of us had ever been there.  It was SO cool!

Taylor and Emily sat across from me and Hayley.
Behind them, we were able to watch the Dallas skyline rotating--amazing view.

It was such a fantastic night with amazing friends.  

Lots of laughs with everyone:)

We decided that we don't need to wait for someone's birthday to try out new restaurants.
Dinner Club 2017, here we come!

Happy Birthday to all!

Elf Jr!

 The big night was finally here--Elf Jr. at the Courtyard Theater!  

We put on our Christmas best and went to dinner before the show.

Christmas shows, Santa dresses, Elfie and Reindeer pants.  I just love it all! 

Dinner was pretty dicey with that spirited one on the far left, but by showtime, she calmed down.  Such a stinker!

We sat near Lauren and her sister Lexie--there were lots and lots of school friends there to support Olivia, Brentley and Maddie.

The show was really cute!
These girls loved seeing one of their favorite dancers after the show, too.

We got to tell Brentley and Maddie they did a fantastic job!

Olivia almost stole the show, though.
 She played the mean boss lady Mrs. Greenway and was so funny!

Still, Buddy was our favorite character--he's just so cheery, you can't help but smile really big when you see him:)

It was such a treat to be able to see a fun Christmas show only 10 minutes from home.
I'll take that any night!

A little Murphy Magic!

a basketball player!  She went to practice last week, we got the girl basketball high tops on our third trip to the store, and #18 was ready!

Dancer, gymnast, soccer player, musical cast member, and now...

Since they had only had one team practice, these girls were a bit nervous.

After warm-ups, they went over the plays with one of their coaches. Pretty sure he said, "remember to dribble, and try to get close to the basket before you shoot."  Game on!

Everyone was excited to see what these girls could do. All of their big brothers even stopped playing on another court and came to watch! Now that's shocking.

So many brothers--no wonder these girls are tough!

After the first quarter, we were up 8-0.  It was time for Lila Lou to make her debut.

She started out a bit hesitant, but that only lasted a few minutes.  Then she started pressing them on defense.  Always the defender!

Before the half was over, she was stealing the ball! Go, Lila!  All of her team played so well.  By the fourth quarter, she was stealing the ball, dribbling it through lots of defenders almost the entire length of the court, and shooting! She finally made one with 16 seconds left in the game--yesssssss!

Murphy Magic won!  22-0!

Such a fantastic start to the season!  

She did it again--new sport, no problem!  She was nervous, I was nervous, but there was no need. Not sure when I'm going to learn this, but if Lila puts her mind to something, she is going to succeed. Always. I admire that about her so much.  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

There are pretty trees at church...

and we get to go, since baseball season is over!

Jackson and I met his school buddies and their moms at Target last weekend.  We all went shopping for the five angels that we adopted from the Salvation Army.  We bought ours new sheets and a new bedspread, soccer cleats and a soccer ball.  God loves a cheerful giver, and these boys were definitely that!

Later that night, we went to check out this cool house in Sachse that has just gone all-out with their lights.  It is set to a radio station and is so neat!

On December 1st, Johnny the Elf made his return to our home.  

To celebrate, the kids all got personalized elf cookies from Aunt Lyndsie.  They were almost too cute to eat, and they really wanted to just keep the sweet cookies in their boxes:)

Christmas time also means the return of basketball season.  We're thrilled that Gavin is playing on the Mavericks this season with J.  They lost a close one on Saturday, but I know they'll get the win sometime soon.

Jackson's not the only double-sport off-season player in the house anymore.
This girly just had her first basketball game too!

 

Christmas lights just make everything feel more festive--like dinner at Urban Eatz.  We enjoyed some good food before we took the kids to look at lights in Highland Park.

So many beautiful houses were decorated well, but this was one of Cami's favorites.
 My favorite was the one with at least 150 Santas! 

We decorated our tree this past weekend, too, which means I get to see the magic of Christmas when I catch them staring at their favorite ornaments.  Love her.

And finally, it wouldn't be Christmas without a slip-up from our elf.  I accidentally touched him (totally not allowed) while trying to help him sit back up on Saturday.  Unfortunately, it was enough to make him not be able to fly back to the North Pole that night.  Lila said, "that's ok, mom," while Jackson adamantly asked me, "why didn't you just leave him alone?!"  We were all very relieved to find him in a new spot this morning.  Guess that Christmas glitter I sprinkled on him did the trick!

Thankful Turkeys

 Thanksgiving 2016

Gorgeous day with my favorite people.

The girls watched some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with me and then we started baking.  We made sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and pink fluffy stuff, and then headed over to my parents' house for our first giant meal of the day. 

Papaw and Meme were there already--I'm pretty sure they get a kick out of the Fab Four, but they probably wear them out a little, too.

We had a really delicious lunch, with all of my favorites.  Everything was SO good!

Jackson and I were thankful that even though our pumpkin pie (with homemade pie crust) didn't look pretty, it still tasted good.  Score for the Mom & Son Baking Duo!

I'm even more thankful for Jared and our precious kids.

All the kids are fun-loving, energetic and athletic as all get-out.
Makes a post-lunch football game pretty exciting!

The game was close, but Jackson and I pulled out the win at the end!

While we're on the topic of thankfulness, this lady is at the top of my list.
I love my sweet mama and probably don't tell her that enough.

 

A few hours later, we were at our second celebration.
Aunt Lyndsie brought a platter of cookies for the adults...

and personalized turkeys for each of our kids.  So cute.

Cami loved hers!

Before dinner, we all had fun cheering on the Cowboys.

We watched them win (yay!)...

and then gave Poppi his birthday presents.  Happy Birthday!

These girls were running on fumes, but they found it so hard to say goodbye to Aunt Maria:)

Cami even had Uncle Andrew dancing his heart out on their make-shift living room dance floor.
A night to remember for sure!