Neighbor Cookie Deliveries, 2014

One of our favorite activities we do each year is baking cookies and delivering to everyone on our street. The boys didn't help much with actual cookie-making, but did a great job of playing by themselves so that we could make all the cookies. We got started as soon as we got up in the morning and by the time naps were over, we were ready to walk around and deliver them. Seth held the basket of cookies and cards and Austin delivered the card while Graham took the bag of cookies to the door. They'd knock, say "Merry Christmas!" if someone answered and then hand over the card and cookies. If no one was home (which Austin was convinced was true if no one answered the door within .4 seconds of ringing the bell!), we left the cookies and car on the door step.

In response to this delivery round, a few of our neighbors brought goodies/cards over. That's new this year and was very much appreciated. I'm hopeful that the cookie deliverings and our annual Memorial Day Block Party will continue to grow the community on our street into one that's genuinely close and that has each other's back!

melts my heart...

All done!

Journey into Christmas; 2014

Another one of the activities we did this December was attend the Journey into Christmas at Grace Bible Church. It was our first time, but definitely won't be our last! There was crafts, snacks, face painting, a live nativity, a petting zoo, and a series of scenes from the Christmas story (acted out by people, recreating Biblical scenes). The boys wanted to do face painting right away, but we stopped for the line to get tickets to go through the tour first. Once we had our tickets, we did face painting and the petting zoo before heading over to the live nativity and ending with the tour.

If you haven't been, we highly recommend it! Get there right before it actually opens so you can get your ticket for the tour right away.

I suggested that she paint them to look like Rudolphs and she did a great job!

Petting zoo:

Live Nativity:

I wanted to get one picture of them in front of the tree, but it was nearing 8pm and Graham was at his limit. (Little did we know that he would keep us up most of the night screaming!)

Got a good one of Austin!

The 12 Days of Christmas @ The Arboretum; 2014

The Dallas Arboretum had a new exhibit this year, and I was committed to us going. It seemed like such a cool idea and a fun activity to do with the boys. And though it was a fine time, I wouldn't do that again for many, many years. First of all, as members, we still had to buy tickets (which seems shady) and second of all, while the displays are magnificent, they're hard to really take in amongst the crowds and given how high off the ground they are.

There were carolers!

Here are some pictures of the displays. There were too many people to try to worry about getting a good shot (Why do people bring tripods to popular events like this which include small children?!? It's hard enough without people setting up tripods to try to get the best picture of the displays!). My pictures are solely to remember what they sorta looked like. I wasn't going for fancy photographer pictures!

Just showing some closer detail..

I thought it was hilarious/tacky to have all the cow butts facing out.

The dancing ladies were moving around the outer edge of their display.

The Leaping Lords moved around too.

So did the pipers.

and the drummers..

Farmers Branch Historic Park Lights

The first week of December, the boys both came down with various symptoms which Dr. McColm told us were different pieces of probably the same virus. Because they both had it, we cancelled our annual National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation party because we didn't want people to come over and get sick. But come Saturday, they seemed in good enough health that we could attend the Farmer's Branch event in the Historic Park. We parked a few blocks away, were taken via hayride to the park where Santa arrived via firetruck, we saw fireworks, ate funnel cake, got faces painted, and had a generally good time. We hope to add it to our list of activities for next year!

The fireworks were much bigger than we expected and we were able to get plenty close!

This is supposed to be a Christmas Lightbulb.

This is supposed to be holly berries and leaves.

The boys gave me one shot to get a picture of the three of them in front of the tree.
This is what I got.

On our way toward the exit/hayride line, we found the Poetschke clan and even got to sit with them on the hayride back to the parking lot. So thankful Rosa told me about the event in the first place (and for her friendship!)!

Cute Pic Post -- November 2014

November was a great month. We had fun despite the major cold front that blew through and everyone was healthy (little did we know that we'd spend like the first three weeks of December sick!). We finished the attic project (though not the drywall ceiling part), saw some Atlanta friends, found out Baby #3 is another boy, celebrated Thanksgiving, and got the boys some haircuts. Enjoy reliving our November!

I have officially lost sight of my feet!

A Grouchy Graham helping Daddy install a sprinkler for the bushes.

Austin's Too Cool for School.

I cannot remember what had gotten him sad,
but a great iPhone photo of the sad/tears face.

He may be four, but he still naps like a champ!

Spiderman called me into the room to show me this tower he'd built all by himself.

Awaiting our McKinney friends one morning, they couldn't not look outside!

One of Graham's new things is to climb inside the toy chest!

All three of the Spofford Women showed up to Spencer's birthday dinner wearing black and white chevron!

I'm not sure what we were watching,
but it's a great capture of his facial expression! lol

I'm basically never in these posts because I'm never in the photos,
but I took this to send to the friend who gave me the scarf,
so I figured I'd toss it in!

We're a very tight-knit/close-quarters family.

Matching shirts from Nonnie.

The Big Christmas gift arrived and required some quick thinking on my part.
I threw a tablecloth over it!

See that little blue guy under the arrow cursor?
That's Baby Boy #3!

Tim and Loren took a roadtrip which included a stop through Dallas, so they arrived at our house on a Friday evening. We ate pizza, they read bedtime stories to our boys, and had breakfast with us in the morning before heading out to see some more Dallas sights before heading back east.

It was just like old times. SO nice!

There's nothing quite like your friends reading bedtime stories to your kids. It was exactly what my soul needed.

And then, of course, Georgia Mae required some attention of her own. She can't let the boys have all the fun!

We watched Cars the next morning. Thankfully, Tim and Loren are Pixar and Pancake fans too!

I had forgotten how good Tim is on the piano!

Crazy Morning Hair.
Even Graham's was crazy, and his is normally totally fine when he gets up!

Not only are we a tight-knit/close-quarters family, but we often find that the best seats in the house are on top of someone else!

New mittens and hat!

lol

Georgia had her physical and fall haircut. She had no problems and weighed 45 pounds just like she does every year! Seth decided to have some fun with her bandana she came home with.

My oldest wanted to snuggle.
There was no way I wasn't going to take a picture of that!

A new Great Clips opened near our Tom Thumb and offered $5.99 haircuts,
so we went. The downside to having boys is all the haircut costs!