SANTA!!!!

I don't even think Levi saw Santa at all his first Christmas (he was only 2 months old.) Last year he screamed bloody murder. I'm not about paying out the wazoo for an assembly line of screaming children being rushed to take pictures. The VFD out here at Lake Kiowa brings Santa to your house! Nana had him stop by so all the grandkids could see him together.


We worked really hard before hand to get the lighting right for the picture spot. haha. This is the best we could do.


Just chillin with her Grandpa. :)


The older boys didn't know what was happening, they just told them they had a surprise. The fire truck pulled up and honked it's siren!



Levi and Braeden checking him out!





Nathan gladly hopped in his lap and told him what he wanted. I cannot believe he's this BIG!!!


Braeden told Santa he wanted some Santa pants and boots. hahahaha the kid LOVES costumes!


Levi looked at us like "really??? do I have to?"



We've come a long way from last year ok...


"Alright....I guess I will"


hahaha this cracks me up. Why do we do this as parents? Force them to take pictures with a man they are TERRIFIED of! Chloe really wasn't too scared. She handled it pretty well!



Sweet brothers!


Chloe even snuggled up to him at the end!



Lucas looked at him like he was nuts! haha


Then we headed outside to look around in Santa's firetruck. (He parked his sleigh and reindeer at the firehouse.)



Love this one!


And if that doesn't melt your heart....you're not human!



They even got to climb up in the truck and look around! Levi turned around and told Trent " 'mon Dad!" He wants his dad to go everywhere with him!

SOOOOO much better than the mall!
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ICE!

We met Landon, Diana and Brielle at the Gaylord Texan a couple of weeks ago to see the ICE! exhibit. I thought Levi would like it because it was Merry Madagascar and he has watched MANY a Madagascar movie while he does breathing treatments. :) (side note...I feel like we successfully avoided an asthma attack last week by paying attention to the weather and a little snotty nose. Hopefully we can keep things under control that way!)




I found this awesome hat at Target a few weeks ago and thought he needed to match Daddy for the winter!



The hotel is decorated so beautifully. I L.O.V.E. Christmas decorations and when they're enormous I think it's even better!








Levi loved this train! He loved it so much that he boohooed when we left because he didn't want to leave it. haha.





Sweet little cousins waiting to go in! Brielle is SO sweet and motherly to Levi. Several times through the day she grabbed his hand and led him wherever we were going. He's still 2 and needs some direction you know!


We were herded like cattle into this giant room to watch a video before they let us in. At the end is snowed on us!



I picture jacked this one from fboo. Diana's way better at taking pictures of people than I am! I love her so much and am so glad we are close and get to hang out more!


They totally threw me off my game when they said I couldn't take the stroller in! It was much harder carrying Chloe through it, but it was really crowded so the stroller might have been equally miserable.




For the record, the teacher in me is DISGUSTED at how many people have put on those dang parkas before us. Can you say LICE??






Brielle's face here cracks me up!



Levi had his typical very serious face, but he was so enjoying that he got to see all the Madagascar peeps!











This was a huge ice slide. Trent was kind and patient enough to go with him and wait in that line. It was so hard to get pictures because it was crowded! I had Chloe in my arms so Diana took pics of Levi coming down.








He was not sure of it at first but was very proud of himself at the end!


Dad's turn!




Mesmerized by the giant Santa boots!



Tia Diana got some big ole' grins out of our sweet darlin!!



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The Zone....

I bought a groupon waaaaaay back in August for go karts in Lewisville. Every time we've planned to go Levi has gotten sick. Well we FINALLY got to go the first weekend in December. My nephews were pretty pumped that we finally got to do it! It was kind of a bummer because Levi couldn't ride them, but he did get to play putt putt. You can imagine the melt downs when his Daddy, Uncle Steve and his big cousins all got to get on and he didn't. :( We tried to pacify him with some games inside...but he's no dummy. I didn't take too many pictures because it was windy so Kristie and I hung out inside quite bit with the babies.











Nathan is only a LITTLE BIT (sarcasm intended) competitive. I know this pic is blurry, but you can make out the expression on his face and how excited he is that he is beating Braeden. haha Braeden could really care less, he's just there to have a good time!



ANd here's Braeden beating Nathan! The look on Nathan's face here was a little less thrilled. :)



Oddly enough this place is just a couple of miles away from Landon and Diana's new house. They actually went on a date to the same place later that night and saw our faces on the racing game we played inside with Levi. Pretty hilarious! What a small world!
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Happy Birthday Matthew!

This post is way late, but sure can't forget it! The weekend before Thanksgiving, my cousin Matthew had a 30th birthday party. It was supposed to be a surprise but he found out. Either way, his wife, Jennifer did a great job!

Since I was puking on my birthday we never really got to go out. My parents kept all the grandkids while us young folks went to the party so we just left a little early to go fiddle around. We were trying to find a mall when we accidentally stumbled upon.....the Ft. Worth Stockyards! I've wanted to go there for a while but you know we don't get out much without our kids. It was the greatest wrong turn ever! We had so much fun just walking around and being "Trent and Emily" instead of Mom and Dad.






You don't see this every day!







Some car Trent was oodling over. I don't get cars....but I know he loves them!



I rode a longhorn :)




And this adorable little wine bar had the BEST winearita!


I'm assuming this sign was out because Obama got reelected. :) hahahaha pretty funny!!


Matthew and Jennifer live in Weatherford in a VERY hard to find neighborhood! They're house is beautiful and they had a casino company come and do the party along with Pappasito's. I don't think you can go wrong with Pappasito's!

I had a blast hanging out with my cousins! I'm not very good at it....next time we go to Vegas I think I'll give my money to Kristie!

I snapped this pic right before everyone yelled at me for taking a pic of their @$$es. My Uncle Bub had gotten out of the hospital literally that MORNING, did't stop him. He gambled all night! And kicked all of our butts at roulette!


Black Jack room....This is where Trent camped out most of the night.




My cousin Shelle. :)


It took us a few tries to get this picture right. :)



Not sure what was so funny....but it probably had something to do with Herbert and Rotha. That's the birthday boy on the left, Matthew and his sister Samantha, then Shelle on the end. We were only missing Robby. :(



Here's Herbert and Rotha. :) I really can't make too much fun of Shelle because I also inherited the need to be under a blanket at all time from my Grandma. haha


We had such a wonderful time and ended up planning a joint night out for our anniversaries with Shelle and Cory. There's is the 13th of Dec and our is the 17th. We're excited to get another night out next weekend!


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Gingerbread Fun!

One thing I will miss about Wolfe elementary this year is gingerbread week. So....of course we had to try it out with Levi!



He enjoyed it so much once he got the hang of it and did really well with not just making a huge mess! He would actually put the candy where we told him to. Plus, the kit came with nasty candy so he didn't even try to eat it! Ha!

He ate crackers instead :)






Chloe has gotten so BUSY! If you put anything in front of her she's hitting it and grabbing at it.

Exhibit A






He did a little dance move instead of saying cheese :)





And here are just a couple of randoms....



I'm loving this stage with their interaction. Levi loves to make her smile, he's so proud when she giggles at him! I have to remind him to be gentle but he's great with her for the most part.


Here is one of Chloe's sweet Christmas outfits! Her Aunt Batesie and Grandma Bates sent it to her!


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