Twas Two Nights Before Christmas

and we went to visit Papaw at his new residence.  He was happy to see all the kids, and we were excited to give out the first presents of the holiday season.

After helping him open his gifts, these four rascals entertained him with some dance moves on the local dance floor.  They increased the energy level of his independent living place exponentially!

 

A few hours later, we were celebrating once again, with the Squiers Family.  It was a really great night, filled with yummy lasagna, Caesar salad and garlic toast.  The food was good, but the company was even better. We always have so much fun with them!  After dinner, the kids were stoked to get to decorate and eat sugar cookies.

 

Jackson said he made 6 and ate 2, Lila made 4 and almost ate 3 of them!

I think Miss Julie's cookies were a huge hit.

Then it was time for the kids to exchange gifts. They were so cute about it--so thankful that Cole came up with this idea.  We enjoyed it very much.

Any night when you leave with a new Barbie and toy box is a big hit in their book.  And the boys had lots of fun, too, but that was mostly upstairs playing Madden 15 (one of J's most coveted requests from Santa this year!).

Happy Birthday, Memaw!

Memaw's birthday was yesterday and we met the whole Hays fam at Campisi's in Dallas.  Such delicious food and a great time was had by all.  We stayed almost three hours and the kids did awesome!  Everyone was enjoying themselves so much-- there was no crying, all three kids had taken naps, so the stars had aligned!

Lila got the primo seat next to the Birthday Girl.

 

Cami held court at her end of the table...telling everyone that she loved cheesy garlic toast, penne pasta, and her bottle.

We ordered three desserts for the table--5 layer chocolate cake, Italian crème cake and this fabulous tiramisu, which they put a candle in just for Shelley.  We sand her Happy Birthday and she blew out her candle, then we all shared the yummy desserts.

After a few appetizers, some salads, pizza and dessert sampling, this crew was fat and happy.

Both girls loved hanging out with their aunts and uncles.  Baby Cami was thrilled to sit in all four of their laps.

 

A new thing for one of our babies!  Aunt Lyndsie was so happy that Cami was willing to hang out with all of them, and it was a good break for me, too.

Shelley, who would have thought that you would end up with this many girls in your family?! 
 I hope you had fun last night--we enjoyed celebrating you!

Snapshots of December

When we're not doing something holiday related, we are still plenty busy.

 

The Bumblebees are off to a great start and have won 2 out of their first 3 games.

 

I think they all really like the indoor setting--the ball never goes way out of bounds and keeps their attention the whole time.

 

 

The Mavericks are also off to an amazing start.  They won their first game 45-6 and won the second one, too, although it wasn't as much of a blowout.  They are the team to beat!

 

Jackson scored 11 points during the first game, including this free throw.  Go #7!

 

 

Our oldest has also made a return to soccer and played in his first game this week.  It's been two years since he last played, and he's playing with all third graders, but he held his own just fine.  No goals for his first game, but I predict at least a handful before the season is over.

 

And while little sister can't quite play soccer or basketball yet, she's doing her best to keep up.  She's pulling up and standing for long periods of time...



but she really prefers socializing with her peeps.  She loved having Baby Dylan over for a visit earlier this week.

2 months old and 11 months old--such a difference!

Before long, Dylan will be crawling around after her:)

I hope they'll grow up being sweet friends, just like me and his mama.

Class Christmas Parties

Friday was a super-exciting day.  Two class Christmas parties and one musical performance.

 

We started out the day with Jackson at his class party.  He made a snowman ornament...

decorated a reindeer cupcake...

and did the Penguin Snowball relay.  Funny fact: the girls beat the boys 6 times in a row! 
I think J's head almost exploded, especially when I told the girls to tell the boys, "Girls Rule! Boys Drool!"  Hehe:)

Goofiness was in full effect at his party, too! 

As you can see, he wasn't the only nutty kid, though!

 

 

Nothing says, "Merry Christmas!" quite like picking up your friend.

After taking Jackson home from his party, we were at Lila's school a few hours later. This girl had taken a nap, eaten lunch and was good to go.  She even brought her jingle bells--such a prepared little girl!  We found Poppi, Memaw, Daddy, Boom Pa and Gigi.

Jackson even got to sit by his friend Ben, too.  Bonus!

A few minutes later, Madison, Cami and I were ready for the show to begin.

 

Showtime!  They sang Joy to the World and I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (Lila's fave!)

Lila did all of the motions and sang all the words that she could remember.

They ended with Away in a Manger.  So very sweet, and she did great. 
Then it was on to her class party.

Lila and the Shubzda girls liked their treats...

but my favorite were their juice boxes that had been wrapped to look like
Santa's red coat and black belt.  Very cute.

They made a craft and then went to take a picture in front of this pretty tree.  Mandy took the pics with her polaroid camera and then slid them into ornaments for the kids to take home. 
 It was the perfect party favor!

How have these two baby sisters gotten so big, so fast?  Something tells me they will grow up as friends, just like their big sisters.

And I just bet they'll be looking up to all of these older girls, too! 

Christmas is so close, we can almost taste it.  Only 4 more days!!!

Ruby the Red Fairy

Madison was made for the stage.  She has always been our entertainer, so were thrilled when she started acting classes a few months ago.  She was in her first play this week and did so good.

Taking a bow with all of the other fairies.  Go Ruby!

I might be wrong, but I think she loved having a big audience.

Boom Pa and Gigi brought her some red roses...

and her sweet babysitter, Miss Presley, even came too.

I made it with our three munchkins and everyone had a great time watching Maddie Mae. 
We are so proud of you, Missy!

An added bonus--we might have found a babysitter for Cami!  She let Presley hold her for a long time and was so happy about it.  Sweet girls.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Only 5 more days until Christmas!  This crew is ready. 

 We've been to look at amazing Christmas lights at Deerfield...

put together and decorated our gingerbread house.

 

Not Martha Stewart worthy, but not too shabby, either!

 

The kids have LOVED running downstairs every morning and looking for Johnny the Elf.  He's been in our tree...

taking a nap on a marshmallow bed...





and even found the Team Elf jersey we bought and set out for him!

 



Lila was so elated about this that she wrote him a note. 
It says, "I love you Johnny.  From Lila"

 

We've been to watch Memaw sing in her Christmas Choir Concert at First Baptist.  It was an excellent show and these three were so excited to see her sitting on the front row.

 

I went to our annual holiday Girls Night Out with my good friends. It's so crazy, but it's been a whole YEAR since we did this.  As in, the last GNO was last December.  I guess that just goes to show you how busy our lives have gotten.  We vowed not to let that happen again!

 

Oh yes, Christmas is almost here!