Christmas Eve

Before the slew of pictures we will be taking tomorrow we had to share these. 

Me and Jackson at his school performance

 School performance

 Tate and Jackson at their annual Christmas "party".  Sadly this is about the only picture I got.  They made ornaments and then gingerbread cookie pops!  YUM

 Anna and Jackson goofing off by the tree

 silly kids

 Mike and I got dressed up and went out to dinner TWO nights in a row!!  WHOA.  The kids joined us for a quick picture before we left (Mike was wearing a full suit!!)

 Our supper club's annual Christmas dinner night out.  We are all sitting in a huge chair--pretty funny

 This was their attire 3 days ago!  Did we mention it was over 80 degrees???  WHAT?

 Watching Christmas movies snuggled up together

 All dressed up this morning for an annual Christmas Eve brunch (our friends just started the tradition this year and it was super fun)

Merry Merry Christmas!!!

Tis the Season

Jackson has spent several hours helping me make cookies this year.  We've made..chocolate covered pretzels, sugar cookie candy canes, sugar cookies with crushed candy canes in them, chocolate chip fudge, chocolate covered peanut butter balls, snowballs, and homemade doggy biscuits.

 Anna loved making Santa sugar cookies (she had to kiss each one before it went into the pan).  Made with love....

 We listen to Pandora Christmas music about every day.  Anna loves to dance to it

 A little Christmas loving...

 And a little fun trying to peak at presents in our closet

 Pretending Bear was a reindeer (not sure if Jackson is trying to choke Anna or what...)

 We've hung our stockings by the fire with care

 And good 'ole Oreo the Elf has been keeping an eye on things

 We took the kids for a carriage ride complete with hot chocolate the other night

 Jackson thought the horse was pretty cool

We are very excited about Christmas around here!  Too bad we were in shorts and t-shirts today--the weather isn't cooperating for a white Christmas.  Jackson's neighborhood play and school production to come...

Santa and Polar Express Train Ride

Sunday we went to see SANTA!!!!!

Anna and Jackson checking out the elves

 And the reindeer

 Anna is NOT a fan of Santa's

 Arriving at the Polar Express in our jammies

 Anna climbing up on stage with all the other kids to dance.  She has no stage fright (notice Jackson is NOT in the picture.  He prefers to watch from his seat)

 Anna singing along

 Dancing with her BFF Elise

 Taking a bow

 Posing with the conductor before walking through the forest of evergreens and snow to board the train....

 Fun on the train

 Everyone in their jammies

 Anna spots Santa (notice the tears)

 SANTA again before heading back up to the North Pole



Anna B

We haven't done a blog about Anna in awhile so here she is.  We call her Anna B.  Jackson even calls her Ms. B sometimes.  "B" for Banana--because it rhymes with Anna so she's Anna Banana to us!

Anna just got her first big girl haircut.  Look at this cute bob!  Gone is the mullet!

Here are the kids on our Sunday Pizza-Movie night

 Enjoying a banana

 Under ware heads

 Forever a messy eater.  This would be yogurt in her hair!!  ARGH

 Fun in the bath.  Jackson has taught her how to "swim" in the tub so that's a favorite these days

 Anna B. loves her some bike riding!

 And is crazy for shoes....especially when she thinks she's being silly--like in Daddy's shoes

 This would be her absolute favorite outfit.  She requests it every day.  If "meow" is dirty then she gets it out of the dirty clothes and gives meow a kiss, says goodbye and then can carry on with her day.  And oh, by the way----pink tennis shoes do NOT go with this outfit---she always chooses her black dress shoes because obviously that goes better!  And notice the pink sparkly bow that goes perfect with the pink on the shirt!  I learned long ago with Jackson not to argue with a child's fashion sense----although both our kids have great taste in coordinating so far

 And she's super at video games....

Anna seriously just makes us laugh all the time.  She has a truly silly personality and is quite laid back.  She loves princess, shoes, and anything puzzles.  She also just finally realized the joy in books and can sit for a long time reading books.  Oh and did we mention she wants to do anything and everything her big brother does!  Good thing he's a good influence :)

Dallas White Rock Marathon

The best part of running the Dallas White Rock Marathon yesterday was running it with 5 friends and doing the relay!  It was super fun and a really long day.  The race started at 8:00am but I was #4 so my leg didn't start until  about 11:00am.  Luckily there were lots of nice people to hang out with at the exchange.  By the time the bus got me back to the finish our #5 had already finished.  We left the house about 6:00am and didn't get home until almost 2:30pm.  Then we all celebrated last night with a victory party with husbands and kids.  Can't wait for next year!!  Go TEN BOOBS TEAM GO!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Nana and Papa came for Thanksgiving this year and we had a great time. 

Here is Jackson in his new Santa shirt and Anna in her adorable Christmas outfit made by Nana.  Isn't she pretty? 

 Jackson and Anna are doing a little pre-Thanksgiving meal exercising--a.k.a. dancing

 Turkey face

 Yummy turkey meal

 And my first attempt at Black Friday shopping was a huge success!  Nana and I completely filled the trunk.  I am hooked!  Black Friday 2011 here I come!

 And to wrap up the holiday a few kisses with Daddy (in their new Santa shirts)