Beginning to look like Christmas.

Ben's parents are going to be out of town over the holidays so we opened presents with them Sat night before Christmas. They came over to our house and we did gifts,



Sid is obsessed with polish. She got some from Grandma so here they are trying it out. Such a little girl!


went to eat at one of our favorite local places, The Wagon Wheel, and then came back home to decorate Christmas cookies.



We all had a great time.

Earlier that morning, we went ahead and let Conner have his Bike that he accidently discovered hidden in the garage. I forgot to let Ben know it was hiding in there....oops!


Sidney inherited Linlee's old Dora bike last week as well so they are both having a blast! She thinks she is soooo big.




I tried really hard to get a good pic of all of them Sunday morning. In every single one, someone is doing something cooky. Oh well, can't win them all. I told Sid that she looked sooo pretty that morning. She replied, "I need a crown."

Traditions

This year for Thanksgiving I really wanted to have it at my new house, so I invited both sets of parents to eat here. I am extremely lucky that everyone actually enjoys being together and gets along. Some in-laws would not and could not do that. As an added treat, Granny came along. We had such a great meal and fellowship. I only got one picture but it is a great one. Nana was reading a thanksgiving story to the kids who dressed up for the occasion.


I haven't done much as far as decorations for Christmas but will add to the list next year.





This time of year always brings out the treat making chef in all of us. We tried an awesome recipe in Parent's magazine for Peppermint Suprise cookies. This is how they were supposed to look:


This is how ours looked.
no matter....they were DELICIOUS and will definitely make the yearly must make list.



We also tried our hand at reindeer cookies. The kids had lots of fun with this and they turned out really cute.





The next night I set up a make your own pizza and salad station. It was a big hit. We will definitely be doing this again!!



Our annual gingerbread house session went great. I left it out on the counter for display only to find that every ant in Petal had heard about it by the next morning so we had to put it outside. Oh well, live and learn. You can't leave ANY food out in this house. They even found a sucker in an old purse in my closet. Not a good situation.

My wonderful husband bought me a new camera for Christmas since my old one stopped taking pictures that required flash. Guess it had been through a rough 3 years. I love my new one though. Thanks Ben!!


Last weekend Ben and Conner did a boy project and built a firepit in our backyard. It is AWESOME.

We still have a few things to do around the outside of it but have already enjoyed a few fires. Love sitting around the fire with family. Peaceful! Hope Flip and Flop aren't scared away by this invasion. I haven't seen them since it was built.

Tyler Photo Shoot

Conner and the Monster Trucks

Conner is a BIG fan of monster trucks. He is always talking about them. Ben has had it in the back of his mind that he was going to take Conner to see real ones one day. It just so happened that we got a flyer from McDonalds one morning for a show going on in Purvis. Ben didn't tell Conner about it, just said that the boys needed to go run an errand. On the way, Conner fell asleep so he didn't see what they pulled up on. When they got out of the truck, Conner saw a little boy with a toy monster truck. He made a comment to Ben that the little boy had a monster truck and he wondered if they would ever get to see a REAL one. Ben said maybe one day. About that time they rounded the corner and bam, there were 5 monster trucks sitting there. Conner (as only he can do)
opened his eyes really wide and with conner excitement said:"DAD.....MONSTER TRUCKS!!!" Perfect! They even got to ride in the back of one before the show. I think it ranks up there in his top greatest days ever!

Flip and Flop

We have loved watching our deer twins meander in the yard. We typically see them at least once a day. It is so cool! WE have named them Flip (the reddish one) and Flop (the brown one).


One night all the kids slept in Linlee's room. Conner and/or Sidney was supposed to be sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor. This is how we found them when we went in the check on them...cute. They were OUT!

Class Trip and Thanksgiving Program

the 1st grade classes had a field trip to Landrum's Country Village. They boarded the train in Hattiesburg and rode it to Laurel where we picked them up. I have never ridden a train so Linlee has one up on me.



The village is very quaint and super fun.

They had a blast in the crooked house, gem mining (Linlee's favorite), hayride and scavenger hunt. It was so much fun that we took Granny back the day after Thanksgiving to see the Christmas lights.



The three muskateers: Linlee, Heather and Olivia


The Kindergarten class performed a Thanksgiving program. They were all dressed so cute in their handmade Indian outfits. Conner did great as long as he was singing. Otherwise, he was in his own world as usual. I have noticed in public performances, his teacher stays real close to where he is. Probably just a coincidence...

The Game

I got really lucky and at the last minute, scored on 6 tickets for the LSU homecoming game. Ben and I had been talking about how he needed to take Conner to a game. I had been wanting to go to a football game (alabama mind you) for a while too and so this worked out perfectly. IT WAS GREAT!!!(if you forget about how a UFO suddenly crashed into our sunroof on the way there forcing us to tarp it for the next 2 days for fear of rain.)




It was a perfect weather day, we got to eat at Walk-on's (delicious)and see the campus. The kids loved seeing Mike the Tiger and looking for the mascot during the game. I think doing the wave was a big highlight too.






We stayed in the RV that night which was also a hit. Aunt Sandy made an appearance for lunch and then we made a stop by the orange tree on our way back home. 62 oranges were picked (and eaten).
Great spur of the moment weekend

Part 2

My mom, our family, April and Ava all went to Mitchell Farms in mid October. That place is awesome. Other than the fact that they pre-pick the pumpkins, I was very impressed with the amount of activities they had for the kids to do. Lots of play equipment, rope swings, tire swings etc. The kids had a blast and so did we!










Linlee was picked to be fantastic reader in her class. She decided to read "If You Give a Pig a Party". They are to bring some sort of illustration related to the story and a snack. I remembered that we had a pig mask I had picked up a few years ago and so we paired that with a party hat and walla. She read the story in character and it was a hit!!


Part 3 coming soon.