Tyler's first campout

Tyler got a play-hut tent from his Aunt Tiffany, Uncle Brian and cousin Tanner for Christmas. He loves it and decided he wanted to camp out in it last night. I tried to convince him to put it on his bed, but he wanted to camp out on the floor. So I made him a little bed, gave him a flashlight and he was happy as can be. He's actually napping in it this afternoon, too. Thanks, Hauerwas family! Tyler loves his tent!

Christmas x 3

We had a very Merry Christmas in Texas this year. It was so nice to be in town already and not have to endure a long day of travel to be here with family! To start the festivities, my sister Cory and her boyfriend Derrick got into town Christmas Eve, and I had them and my parents over for lunch. I had heard a lot about Derrick and it was nice to finally meet him. We really enjoyed his company, and it is great to see Cory so happy.

We had three Christmas celebrations this weekend. First off was Christmas Eve over at Walkers'. Jeff's brother and sister came with their families, and we all had a great time together. It started snowing that afternoon and came down pretty heavily into the night. Pictured, clockwise from left: snow at Walkers', Jeff trying to figure out Tyler's transformer (hehe), cousin Mavrick, cousin Presley applying pretend lipstick to Aunt Tiffany, Princess Presley with Nana, Tyler happy as can be with his new transformer and bakugan. We also had a fun time laughing at...ahem...with each other during a game of Mad Gab. Always a fun time at the Walker house!

Christmas morning was so exciting. Tyler woke up and was ecstatic to see that Santa came and left presents under our tree. He ran into our room and told us we needed to come check it out, then scurried down the hallway as fast as he could, yelling, "come on! come look! come look!" We had to wake Colton up so we could get started with the unwrapping. Check out the before (neat and pretty) and after (disaster) pics. The boys were thrilled with everything. Jeff and I were happy and surprised with what Santa brought us too. You can see below that we also woke up to a white Christmas, which was really pretty cool!

Later Christmas morning we headed over to my parents' house for breakfast, a family Christmas celebration, and another round of present opening. Once again a fun time! The boys were really overtired, so they went home for naps in the afternoon and I came back over to mom and dad's to hang out and we played a game of pictionary man. My family can get pretty goofy, and mom and dad are really funny to play games with. Later that afternoon I went back home to get Jeff and the boys and we enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner.

Thank you, family, for making our Christmas so fun and special. We were so happy to be here to celebrate with you!

Merry Christmas from the Walkers!

Maybe the busiest, merriest weekend ever!

We just finished up what very well may have been the busiest weekend we've ever had. Well, at least the busiest we've had in awhile! It was full of family, friends and fun though, and we enjoyed every bit of it.

The first big event of the weekend was a Walker family Christmas party hosted by Jeff's Mamaw. We had fun visiting with Jeff's dad's side of the family, and we also got to meet the newest addition to the family, Austin.


After Mamaw's party everyone (but me) - Jeff, the kids, Jeff's parents, siblings and families, and my parents - went to the North Pole Express in Grapevine. They had a blast. They said there was a ton of things to do. From what I heard, Colton showed himself to the stage and put on a dancing show for everyone, and then Tyler joined him. Apparently it was a riot! The kids also played in a choo choo bounce slide, saw a Christmas show, met Frosty and Rudolph, and rode the Grapevine vintage train. I am really looking forward to experiencing this with them next year!

The reason I didn't join the family on the train ride is because the day after we bought our tickets I got an invitation for my first college roommate's wedding. I am really happy for her and am so glad I was able to be there to celebrate with her! I had such a great time catching up with college girlfriends, including some I hadn't seen since graduation!
The next morning we headed out to Jeff's Granny's farm in Ivanhoe, Texas, and enjoyed another Christmas celebration with Jeff's Mom's side of the family. The boys always have a fun time there. There's so many different things for them to see and do. They particularly love the animals and sitting ont the tractor. It was a beautiful day, and it is always wonderful to see Granny!

We were all tired after such a busy weekend, so Jeff instructed me to stay awake on the drive home from the farm so that he would stay awake too. To stay occupied since I was having trouble keeping my eyes open, I started playing with my camera and got these pictures as we were driving into the sun. I upped the shutter speed to block out light so the main light was just the sun. I think they turned out pretty cool. The picture on the bottom right is just a picture of the crazy amount of birds we saw overhead at a stoplight. I don't think I've ever seen that many birds in one place at one time!

And finally, a picture of the boys, who crashed immediately upon leaving the farm!

Tyler's school Christmas program

Tyler's preschool Christmas program was today. The kids were so excited, and we were excited to see it! First all the kids sat in front and sang some of their chapel songs and some Christmas songs. When the kids went to take their places on stage, Tyler decided he was going to stand on the riser the stable was on - about a foot higher than all the other kids. His teacher saw him and brought him back down with his class (pictured below...). After the group singing, each class got to sing their own song. Tyler's class sang a Joy to the World song (not the traditional one) and held up smiley face and manger signs. He actually sang and danced a little for this one! After the class song, the kindergarteners performed their version of the Christmas story, which was incredibly cute!

After the Christmas program, the kids were surprised to see Santa. Each kid got to sit with Santa and take a picture. Tyler was once again happy to see the man in red!

Later in the day, Tyler had his class Christmas party. I was able to go hang out with him for this. The kids had a sonic lunch, played Christmas bingo, made ornaments, and played a book exchange game. Tyler loved it all, but wasn't really into the book exchange game, where they had to pass their book to the left every time the mom reading the story said "ran." I think Tyler really wanted to hold onto the book he started with and really wasn't happy when he didn't end up with it. In the end though, after some more explaining, he was happy with the Ocean book he ended up with. It was a fun day!

Annual Santa photo

Today we took the boys to the mall for their annual photo with Santa. Tyler was so excited to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. He was quite chatty with Santa, and he filled him in on what Colton wanted too - "baby toys." They were really happy to be with Santa, and although Jeff and I weren't entirely thrilled with the photo setup, the boys took a cute picture, so it ended well. Afterwards we took them to the mall play area for a bit, and of course I took some pictures there as well - after I saw several other moms doing it, I thought it wasn't a bad idea. Here are the boys at play...

Pinch me!

A funny photo angle on Colton, but don't those cheeks just scream, "PINCH ME!!"? It's hard to imagine him without them - they're just part of who Colton is. I just love those pinch-me cheeks!

Happy birthday, Nana!

Tomorrow is my mother-in-law Vickie's birthday! Tonight we had Vickie, Max, Jeff's sister Tiffany, her husband Brian and their son Tanner over for dinner. We made smoked brisket, twice baked potatoes, acorn squash, rolls and salad. And of course topped it all off with chocolate birthday cake. It was a filling, fun night! I think Vickie enjoyed her birthday celebration and hope she has a great day tomorrow!

An important call

Just a shot of Colton making a phone call. It was very important.

Sweet dreams

No matter how hard the day is, may it always end in peace.

White elephant revisited

So our friend Rudy took pictures at his & Julie's white elephant party, so I borrowed some for my blog. First up, here's what Jeff and I look like when we have a night out on our own! We're thinking, we need to do this more often!



And next, here we are with the gifts we got to take home, which aside from the bottle of wine, were really gifts for our kids - a Bakugan bath set (for Tyler, who is obsessed with Bakugan right now...) and a stuffed monkey and blanket (for Colton). Also pictured are Luke, who was lucky enough to take home the Michael Jackson military jacket that I brought as a gift, and Patrick who ended up with the Schlotzky's sandwich (and gift card) from Jeff. Both gifts seemed to be a hit. Our hosts, Rudy & Julie, are pictured bottom right, and bottom center is Jeff with his longtime friend Jeremy and Jeremy's wife, Angie. It was a fun night!

A fun, festive weekend!

We had such a fun, festive weekend! Friday night Jeff and I were able to get a night out without the kids. We went to dinner and then to a white elephant party with friends. We had a great time, and had some good laughs with all the crazy gifts that were exchanged. The kids stayed overnight at Grandma & Grandpa's, and Jeff and I got to sleep in and even go out for breakfast the next morning. I also surprised Jeff a new wedding ring before we headed out for the evening. He had lost his when we lived in Idaho and had been wearing a temporary ever since. I shopped around and found one I thought he'd love -and he does! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures Friday night, so I don't have any to share from our party. But there definitely would have been some great photo opportunities!

Saturday night we were invited to a Christmas festival with a co-worker of Jeff's. The neighborhood brought in some snow and built a small hill for snow-tubing and snowball fights. Tyler had a blast playing in the snow. There was live music, Santa Claus, a petting zoo with a real reindeer (which Colton loved), hot chocolate, and Christmas crafts for the kids. It was very cold, but we all had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from Saturday:


Saturday night St. Nick came a filled our stockings with ornaments, candy and Christmas toys. He also left behind the elf on the shelf, which was sitting on our mantle when we woke up. I think it's going to be a really fun tradition in our family. The story says the first thing you have to do is give him a name, so after numerous suggestions, we settled on Bumble, which is one Tyler came up with. Pretty sure the elf is now named after Bumblebee from Transformers, but I think it's a good elf name, too. Here's some pics from our St. Nick's festivities. I really love this time of year!

Parade of Lights

Last night we had my parents over for dinner and then went to the Parade of Lights in Grapevine. It was FREEZING!! (About 40 degrees.) But we bundled up and enjoyed the festivities. Tyler and Colton were happy the whole time, and waved at all the passers by. They were most excited to see familiar characters like the Grinch, Charlie Brown, Frosty the Snowman, and the man himself - Santa Claus. The adults seemed to be most excited about the other man himself - Elvis! The boys were also thrilled with their light-up sword souveniers from Grandma and Grandpa that they waved around throughout the whole parade. Afterwards Tyler said the parade was "super duper fun!" It took awhile for my fingers and toes to thaw out afterward, but it was worth it for a good time.

A little mischief

Colton got into my makeup this morning and decided to make himself pretty like mommy (haha). Check out this face - doesn't this look like a kid who just loves a little mischief now and then? Can you see it in his eyes?

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

SNOW! In Texas!! We woke up this morning to HUGE fluffy snowflakes coming down really fast. The huge flakes didn't last that long, but it was fun for all of us to see it while it lasted. It's actually still flurrying right now, but it's more watery so it's not sticking anymore. The boys thought the snow was really cool, and we were able to catch some pictures before it disappears. So today our mission is to go find some good waterproof gloves and boots for the kids so that the next time it snows, we can go play in it right away! Tyler really wants to make a snowman!

We can park in the garage!

I think there may have been some bets going as to how long it would be before we'd be able to park both our cars in the garage after moving into our house in mid-October. Jeff's been working hard on the weekends to make it happen. Last weekend he hung peg board to get all his tools up and organized, and this weekend he installed some shelves his Dad gave us. Tonight he proudly pulled both cars into the garage and took some pictures to prove it. Yay - no more freezing cold cars in the morning. Good work, Jeff!

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend flew by and it was a great one! We have a lot to be thankful for, and we were especially thankful to be in Texas with family this year. Here's an overview of our weekend.

Tyler made a bobble-head turkey hat and Thanksgiving placemat during his first week of school. He wasn't feeling good, but he was a good sport and agreed to pose for some pictures for me.

We were lucky enough to enjoy two Thanksgiving feasts this year. We spent the afternoon with the Walkers and had a great time with Jeff's parents, sister Tiffany and her family, and Mamaw. The boys had a blast playing with flying balloons and "swords" outside. We spent the evening with my parents and were surprisingly ready for another Thanksgiving meal, which was delicious! After dinner we watched the A&M:UT game and swam in the hot tub, or hot pool, as Tyler calls it. The boys love swimming and are getting so confident in the water.

Of course the day after Thanksgiving we began decorating for Christmas! We got a new tree that fits better in our new home, and put up all the decorations and trimmings. The boys were excited to help and see that Christmas is coming. We were also lucky enough to be invited over to Mom & Dad's for another Thanksgiving meal. It was just as delicious the second time around. :)

Jeff was busy outside the house, too. He got our lights up, and I helped by hanging the wreaths. We are proud of our new place and think it looks pretty spiffy in lights.

Tyler's first day of preschool

Today was Tyler's first day at preschool. He was very excited to go. He picked out a transformer backpack and lunch bag, and a Bakugan thermos and couldn't wait to use them. I was excited and happy for him but also feeling a little sad (for myself...) that he is growing up so fast. He had a GREAT day! Tuesdays start with Chapel, and the parents are welcome to stay for it, so Colton and I sat with Tyler for this. Tyler was a little shy at first, but once he got to his classroom, he opened up immediately and was happy as can be. He didn't even care when I said bye and left. When I picked him up he was so excited about his day and can't wait to go back. Tyler's teacher, Miss Diane, is super nice, and I think we are all going to love this school!

The Mailbox Monster! Ah!

One of the charming, or perhaps not-so-charming things about our new house was this beast pictured below - the Mailbox Monster. Ah! Scary, huh? We were less than thrilled with this creature and finally got around to killing the beast this weekend. It was a wonderful event at our house.

Here's Jeff pursuing victory.

And voila! What do you know - there was a mailbox under there! And it even has a little red flag, just like any good mailbox should. Who would've known? We were very happy to part with our front yard creature, although it does make it a little harder to find our way home when we drive down the street now. ha!

Oh, and we can't forget - Colton was there for the ceremony as well. (Tyler was napping...)