christmas part 2

as usual, christmas was filled with family...and some jumping around in between...we started on christmas day at the vanderveers...but i don't have any pictures cuz linda took all our phones. :) 

the next day we were at mom's for our crazy time there...aubren brought her karaoke microphone, so there was  a lot of dancing and singing...i finally got to hold my hattie since i was not sick (at the moment). 

friday night was kevin and taylor deals wedding....that was really fun to be a part of...and there were a lot of faith bible represented....so extra fun hang time!

our christmas present from ana and papaw was season passes to 6Flags! on saturday, the whole family went together! super fun....we were going to go again, but monday i came down with the flu...kyle and joey took the boys a second time, but i was sick, and andy wasn't feeling great, so we stayed home. i was pretty miserable, and just wanted to be home, so sadly, we came home two days early and had to miss several things we had planned with friends. :( so tired of illness ruining my christmas! but before the illness struck, we had a lot of fun! we had some big news in the vanderveers too! kyle and joey are having a GIRL...which is huge! and adam is engaged to yvette!! congrats to both of them!

christmas part 1

we did our family christmas on christmas eve morning this year. since we were leaving for dfw on christmas day, we wanted to have time with the boys without being rushed. we had a typical christmas morning...but then went out to SAMS for lunch and then to see the movie "frozen"...it was really low key and fun to just hang out all day!!

family pictures

family picture time!!  one of my favorite times of the year...though i'm quite positive i am alone there... as the boys get older...they understand a little more that the more they complain and act grumpy or silly...the LONGER it takes!!  this year...they did AMAZING. thanks to my amazing mom who captures our family so well! we are so blessed.

thanksgiving

we love thanksgiving!!!  now that we are out of town...it's a fast-paced trip, but always fun! we drove in on wednesday so we could get family pictures taken (in a later post)...and literally on the drive there i began to get sick. by thursday i felt horrible, and spent most of the day on the couch under my electric blanket. it was still fun to catch up with everyone...but i was super upset that i didn't get to hold hattie at all. :( i always seem to be sick when there's a new baby!!! happened last year when grant was tiny. i was really happy to see lots of game playing this year...electronics can take over and while that's fun sometimes, i love to see cousins actually playing together!! thursday evening (with the help of some meds) carleigh, mom, sam and i ventured out to find some early black friday sales... it was fun, despite not feeling great.

the yearly family picture!! kenzie inspired the second shot where we all covered our faces...:)

we headed over for our vanderveer time on friday morning. i still felt pretty rotten on friday....poor andy had to really keep up with all the boys...very thankful for him!! the boys are really into chess right now...so we borrowed granny's game so they could keep playing. tysen totally made up his own rules, so his version was called "tysen's chess". after having leftovers for dinner, we got a good game of ultimate charades in...and of course lots of pictures!!

TEN

our newly converted aggie is now 10. a decade. he is such a responsible kid...we are so blessed with him. andy laughs all the time about how his personality is so much like mine...he can totally handle things on his own. super independent. and stubborn. but awesome. 

this year, he wanted to go to grand station....video arcade/laser tag place...so we took his best friend, james...and they played a game of laser tag and then got cards for the video games...

a few things about logan these days:

he is outside 85% of his life. this kid comes home...puts his back pack away...and says "i'm going to get friends!" and is back out the door. there are literally 5-7 boys at our house daily playing football or jumping on the trampoline. he LOVES his friends. he is so active....even if no one can play, he will go out and practice flips and "moves" on the trampoline by himself. he loves to be busy.

he loves going to movies. 

he loves all things sports....but typically cant sit still long enough to watch a whole football game. (unless he is getting to stay up late, at which point he is super interested and wants to watch the whole thing)

i just don't have that much variety, cuz so much of his time is spent outside with his friends. that's what he loves. and i love that about him!!

can never get enough of those dimples!

november highlights

november has been good...we have had a some good down time...but stayed busy also...had a visit from karis/thomas...football games...ana and papaw visiting...and lots of RAIN. that hasn't stopped the boys from being outside...they love jumping on the trampoline in the rain...though the past few days they have had to stay in due to the 40 degree weather...andy has been preaching every other sunday while we are still searching for a new pastor. its been a lot of fun for him...but i won't pretend its not tiring on top of his current work load. God is good though...we are looking forward to seeing who he brings to our church!

halloween

well, i'm a little late...but getting around to catching up on my pictures! 

halloween was a blast as usual. we had our annual "halloweenies" block party....passed out over 100 hot dogs and 100 snowcones...so much fun...

this year, we had 100% homemade costumes. logan was simple as a football player... ian constructed his costume mainly out of foil and cardboard as a soldier....and tysen made a spider hat at school, and wore it so much that was his choice in costumes. didn't spend any money, so i'm great with all of those choices!! 

ian's best bud, tyler prince, came to trick or treat with us...

for our "hallowink" (link that was before halloween)....i actually decided to dress up...as andy. not everyone got all the little things about him...but he did...and his laughing was worth the whole project.:)

this was by far andy's best costume ever. he had been growing the beard for several weeks in anticipation of being wolverine....he was one popular dad to his boys!