Gold, Frankincense, and.....3 wishes?

My conversation with Secily:

Me: Secily did you have a good time at Sunday School?

Secily: Yes

Me: Did you hear a Bible story?

Secily: Yes

Me: Tell me about it.

Secily: Well, Mary and Joseph, and Jesus, and the animals, and Aladdin, and a manger....

Me: Um...Aladdin, did you say?

Secily: Uh-huh.

Me (nervously): Secily, whose birthday is it at Christmas?

Secily: Jesus!!

Phew. At least we got the main point.

We can work on the details.

Happy Birthday Larson!

Today was Larson's 4th birthday!! We had an icy day in Texas, so we stayed home all day but, we played in the snow/ice

made & decorated cookies

(let's be honest, this is what Secily was doing most of the decorating time)

It was a quiet, fun day.

I cannot believe that Larson is 4. He is such a great kid. He is all things boy - constantly looking for things to jump off of, or jump over, making growling, and revving noises, he attracted to all things dangerous, and yet, he is so kind. He shares with his sister without a complaint or grumble, he is tenderhearted, and an absolute joy to Ryan & I. We are so thankful for him.

Happy Birthday Larson! We love you!

Baby It's Cold Outside....

It was cold today.
Seriously.
You can stop laughing now, Canadian friends.
There is ice here.

And so.........what better to do with your young children than take them outside to see how long you can lie in a sleeping bag on the trampoline?

(why can I not make this picture turn right? why!? why!?)

They loved it! They loved being cold, and outside, and then they loved coming in for hot chocolate!

Is it just me, or does it appear that someone's picture taking antics may be wearing off on his son?

Spiderman Birthday

The day finally came....the day he had been waiting for for the past 364 days....his birthday party!!

It was, of course, Spiderman themed.....

We played Spiderman Bingo,

had a Spiderman Pinata,

and a Spiderman Cake,

**yes, he is missing his two front teeth - -the dentist had to pull them this week almost a year after he fell on them. We may have a toothless smile for the next few years!**

And even finished out the night with some "web slinging"

It was a good time!

Oh Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding....

We are officially in the Christmas spirit!

To kick off the holiday cheer, last week, we went to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to see their Christmas Concert featuring Michael W. Smith. Yes, you read that right....friends are friends forever. It was a great concert - He was wonderful, he also had Melinda Doolittle (American Idol) singing with him who was a-maz-ing. I love nights like that - a big thanks to my brother Bryan and his beautiful wife Eraina, for getting the season started out right!

Then, this past weekend we went to Frisco's Merry Main Street. It is such a sweet little town festival with a ton of lights, crafts for the kids, carolers, brass ensembles, hot chocolate....they even had snow machines to really complete the Christmas feel.

When Larson saw this guy he pointed and exclaimed "Look Daddy! A goat!"

They also had balloons for the kids - Secily got an elf hat.

We finished decorating the house - complete with the new Christmas tree.

Hmmmm......12 ornaments in a 1 ft. area....can you tell who decorated this part of the tree?

I'll give you one guess.
Ok, 2 guesses.

And that's not all! We have even gone out driving, looking at Christmas lights. We were out on Friday night with my parents, and came to a street where everyone was in the spirit of the season. We stopped in front of the houses - about 4 of them that all looked like this:

"Oooohhhh!" I said to the kids "Look at all the lights!"
To which Secily responded:
"Where?"

Probably should have done a slideshow......

But really - don't you just love the pictures complete with commentary? I thought so.
So, here is a not-so-brief recap of our Thanksgiving trip to Ohio:

To get things started off on the right foot,

we found Grandpa Glenn's old BB gun! What is a Thanksgiving without guns, right!?

Larson L-O-V-E-D it!

We had an "awesome" bonfire (yes, awesome was in the official title on the 'to-do' list - we were going to have an awesome bonfire. And we did.)
What's a bonfire without some round-the-fire singing?

The Pointer Sisters? I'll spare you having to listen to the video.....

Linda & Elizabeth

Larson roasting his marshmallow. Actually - Larson holding his marshmallow around the fire pit for 1.3 seconds before deciding it was done enough to eat.

Aaawwwwhhhhh.....

Lesley made the entire Thanksgiving dinner! Impressive and delicious!

She not only made the dinner for the huge family, but also for the 5 Iraqi refugee's that joined us.

Elizabeth & I.

Larson loves his Aunt Lesley! Awh.

These weren't on the Thanksgiving menu. And I'm thankful for that. Ryan did however eat them when we went out.
We went to eat & listen to some local music one night,

the kids had gone home, but left their cups with me, so when the band asked us to raise our glasses, what else could we do?

The best seat in the house!

Like I said....best seat!

Ryan, Lesley, Elizabeth & I all went to a BlueJackets game. It was Elizabeth's first NHL game - I think we now have a new fan-for-life! :)

Ryan, Elizabeth & Lesley at the game.

Ryan & I on his birthday. (Happy 33rd Birthday Ryan...quack!quack!) What better way to spend your 33rd than going.......bowling!!!

Larson's first-time bowling.

Secily's too!

The shoes, as you might expect from a bowling alley, were awesome.

For Ryan's birthday dinner we went out to a Japanese Steakhouse - the kids were mesmerized by the meal cooked at the table. All that fire - exciting!!

Larson watching the fire! I love the look of wonder.

And after he opened his gifts, we couldn't help but nearly kill him with Silly String.

Elizabeth & I at the Norman Rockwell Art Exhibit.

An Ohio tradition....snow cones with Granny!

And we sign off of Thanksgiving.....and head into the Christmas season!

Cue Jingle Bells.