The Water Horse

Katie and Dad took the kids and me to see "The Water Horse: Legends of the Deep" today (In case you can't tell, my family really likes to go to the movies!). It was a cute movie and the kids loved that they could get their picture taken with Caruso. Amazingly, no one needed a potty break during the movie, and Emmaline was quiet even though she was awake for over half the movie. I am also happy to announce that Regal Cinemas now serves Coca-Cola Zero...yummy!

Christmas with My Sister's Family

After Nathan, Jacob, and Gabrielle got home from his parents, our family headed to my parents' house to celebrate Christmas with my sister, Dee, and her family. We hadn't seen them since June, so it was a nice visit.

Aunt DeeBell helps Emmline unwrap her present

Emmaline really likes new gumball machine

Ellie got a doll baby that "gets sick" (Thanks Nurse Dee!)

Ellie and Colton had fun making the doll sick and then helping her feel better again.

Jacob got a Leap Pad Math game

The "boys" spent most of their time playing video games:
Andy (Dee's oldest), Colton, Ellie, Nathan, and Jacob

Ellie, Nathan, Jacob, Colton, and the other Andy (my brother!)

Christmas with Nathan's Family

Nathan, Jacob, and Gabrielle spent the afternoon with his family. They had dinner, opened presents, and enjoyed just being together.

Mema and Granddaddy

Ellie and her new baby

Papaw and Jacob enjoy dinner

Jacob and Ellie made these Christmas boxes for Nathan and me

All tuckered out

Some presents were big and didn't get assembled until after they got back to our house. Here are pics. of the kids with those:

Emmaline loves her new house

Jacob and his "T-Wrecks" Hot Wheels track

Ellie and her Dora blocks

Christmas with the Stovers

We spent Christmas afternoon with my family. After a yummy lunch, we opened presents and then celebrated my dad's birthday.

Ellie plays her new "Elefun" game

Emmaline enjoys her new stacking blocks and babydoll

Mom and Dad loved their photo album I made of our trip to Cowan Lake

Andy plays with one of Jacob's new Transformers

Jacob can't get enough of these books

Nathan reads his book from Mom & Dad

My present from Katie...I've been wanting this sunflower painting for awhile.
Mom & Dad got me the sunflower wreath on the piano bench in the background.
Now all I have to do is get the kitchen painted so I have a place to hang them.

Giving Aunt Katie some love

Helping Papaw blow out his birthday candles.

Merry CHRISTmas to all! And to all a good night!

Christmas time is here!

We always spend Christmas morning at our house. The kids have a blast opening presents and we don't feel like we have to rush through everything to go somewhere. There was plenty of time to play before we headed to my parent's house for a late lunch.

Jacob, Nathan, and Ellie with their new marshmallow guns

Ellie and her new "municorn"

Jacob and the new Light Brite cube

Emmy and her piggy bank

Nathan with his new hat and headphones from the kids. They picked these out at the "Very Veggie Christmas"

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Nathan's extended family at his aunt and uncle's house. Unfortunately, we and his parents forgot our cameras, so I can't post any pictures of the festivities there.



When we got home, the kids got to open their presents from my sister and her family in California. The kids loved what they got and Nathan and I loved our gift cards. The kids are really wound up and excited about tomorrow morning, but thankfully they went to bed without too much struggle. Now I'm off to arrange their presents in the living room and then head to bed myself.

Jacob and his "This Old Man" storytelling set

Gabrielle and her "Brown Bear" storytelling set

Emmaline and her color boxes

Where's Emmaline?

Emmy is quiet good at rolling around on the floor. She has also started to scoot herself backwards across our wood floors. I heard her fussing in the living room, so I went to check on her and found her almost completely under our loveseat. Silly girl!

Decorating Christmas Cookies

After seeing "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" with me, my sister, Katie, came over to help the kids decorate sugar cookies. They had a great time playing in the icing and adding all kinds of candies to their cookies.

Ellie decorates a star

Jacob shows off his Shepherd Snowman complete with candy cane staff

Land's End Diaper Bag Giveaway

Musings of a Housewife is giving away 4 Land's End diaper bags (2 pink w/ flowers and 2 blue w/ frogs). Head on over and enter before Christmas Eve. I'm hoping to win the pink one. With 3 kiddos, you can never have enough diaper bags.

3 Little Snowmen

Last year, someone gave us 3 really cute snowman frame ornaments, but being 7-months pregnant and totally exhausted at the time, I never got around to putting pictures in them. Now that we have 3 kiddos, I thought I would finally put the kids pictures in them so they could hang on the tree this Christmas. Here is the finished product:

Monkey-elle?

I think I gave birth to a monkey. Gabrielle has always had a sweet tooth and last night we received a small package of Esther-Price Candy. I looked into the kitchen this afternoon and found this:

Emmy's Weekly Pic.

Emmaline was all smiles this morning...hope you like her picture! Physical therapy went well this week. We are working on crawling, but Emmy isn't that interested yet. She can get on her hands and knees, but rolling is faster and gets her where she needs to go. I'll definitely post a video when she accomplishes this milestone.

Oo-Ee, Oo-Ah-Ah, Ting-Tang, Walla-Walla-Bing-Bang

In case, you can't tell by the title of this post, my parents took the kids and I to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks" today. Having watched the cartoon growing up and listened to the Christmas CD too many times to count, I was curious to see what it would be like. I am happy to announce that the movie was really cute and brought back some fond childhood memories. The kids really enjoyed the show and Emmaline slept through all but the last 15 minutes, so I was able to enjoy it too. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for a fun day!

Our Little Cameraman

Jacob got a hold of our digital camera today and I thought I'd share some of his best shots

We'll call this one
"Almost Closed Dresser Drawers"

Next we have
"Toy Chest Next to Closet Door"

Third, we see
"Fan Blades of Glory"

Lastly,
"Can You See Me Now?"

What a funny kid!

What happened to the Band-aids?

Nathan went upstairs to the bathroom and found an entire box of Nexcare waterproof band-aids (not cheap!) opened and all over the floor. Here is a picture of Jacob explaining what happened...notice the band-aids on the floor in the background!