Breakfast with Santa

My day 1 of Nicaragua post is coming up, but first I wanted to share this year's Breakfast with Santa pics.  It was the day I left, so Troy and his dad were on their own!

The breakfast of champions included pancakes covered in whipped cream and assorted candies.

Poppy thought she had died and gone to Heaven!

Each boy had a turn to tell Santa what they wanted.

Jonas brought pictures, just to be sure he and Santa were on the same page.

 And the group shot.  Troy's in the picture because he doesn't like the "my child hates Santa but I'm going to make her sit in his lap anyway" scene.  He's a better parent than me!

Decorating for Christmas

Before I headed to Nicaragua, we had to get the Christmas decorations up.  I was already going to miss Breakfast with Santa, so I didn't want to miss this too!  We debated real vs fake Christmas trees and decided to invested in a fake one.  I was excited.  The kids are always thrilled to get out the decorations.   Above, is our traditional "stockings as shoes" picture.

Poppy was (and still is) fascinated by the tree, the lights, and the ornaments!  I knew she would be because she redecorated Kristin's tree several times earlier in the week.  Troy tied the tree to the wall, just to be safe.

Lachlan quickly lost interest in tree-decorating and decided he was in charge of setting up the nativity.

We've had these light up Santa hats (from the Whartons) since we moved into this house.  They are well-loved each year!
Now that the stockings are hung and the tree is decorated, I can go on my trip!

Thanksgiving 2012

We did something a little different this year for Thanksgiving.  We invited ourselves to the Craftons....after we convinced them they should host it in the brand new house...that was barely finished...
Honestly, as the day approached, I started feeling weird about it.  But Stacia and Beth convinced me that was silly and that, of course, we were welcome.
So, on Thursday morning, we headed out to Boerne for the day.  The house looked great, and we were thankful they still wanted to host even after being up well past midnight getting the propane hooked up.
The food was fabulous and we all ate too much.  Troy and I loved how relaxed it felt.  We ended up staying until almost 6pm! 
The kids had a fabulous time, and we rarely saw the boys.  They were out exploring and bringing bones from dead animals home to show us.
These girls were forced to stay close to the house.  After a small fight, they were BFF's inside this cabinet.

 I had planned on letting him skip nap...but he passed out on the couch all on his own.  This has NEVER happened before!

 The whole gang.

Thanks again for including us!

Conroe roadtrip, pt 3

To make our trip extra special, Gigi took the day off work so we could venture to the Houston Zoo.  We had just enough space in the back to squeeze Jacob in too!  It was such a special day of memory-making with Gigi and all the cousins together (except Lila).

First stop was the elephants.  They had a really cute baby one inside but pictures didn't happen that early.

 The monkey exhibit is new since last time and did not disappoint.  This guy was very interactive with his audience.  Just as my mom said, "I don't think he can see us," the chimp jumped at the window and startled Jonas so bad that he fell off!

 Poppy loved them too.

 Obviously picture-taking took a backseat to wrangling the 5 of them.  We stayed 2:30 and then caught a quick train ride.  Aren't you guys so proud of my flixibility?  I mean, we skipped nap!

It was a great day, and we all slept well that night!

 

We wrapped up our trip to Conroe with a visit to Joe and Lisa's on Tuesday morning.  It was great catching up with him (Lisa was at work), and Reef is still talking about that Kinect game!  Hopefully it won't be so long between visits this time.  Tuesday evening, my cousins Caitlin and Andrew drove in; it was good to see them even if it was for a super short time. 

On Wednesday morning, we loaded up and headed home right after breakfast.  It was our fastest trip yet!  Poppy took a small catnap and didn't cry the whole trip!  We made it home just in time for lunch and naps.  We may have found the perfect time of day to travel!

Conroe Roadtrip, pt 2

 After church on Sunday at Gigi and Mr. Don's church, we headed to Montgomery to visit my dad, known as Mr. Jerry to the kids.  They had such a blast last time we went out there, so I knew they'd love it again.

The big surprise this time was a litter of puppies!  She was pretty excited!

 We found Lachlan enjoying his snack on this lawn ornament, which he claimed is either a giraffe or a zebra.

 Of course there was horseback riding, which both Jonas and Lachlan enjoyed more this time than last.

 Poppy eventually got onthe horse but was pretty unsure.

 This boy was IN LOVE with this one puppy.  This is quite shocking since he has major dog fear, even worse than Reef's.  The only thing that saved me from having to take it home with us was that this is the one that was already claimed!

They also enjoyed some tractor driving.

Again, Lachlan found a lawn ornament to sit on.  Funny boy! 

When it got too dark to keep playing, we headed to McDonald's for dinner and then the grocery for some zoo snacks.  We all had a great time playing and catching up with Mr. Jerry!

Conroe Roadtrip, pt 1

The kids and I took a 5-day road trip to Conroe the week before Thanksgiving.  Troy had a ton of work to do plus was going to be out of town for the weekend, so it seemed like a good idea.  It worked out great since we were able to spend more time than if we had gone for actual Thanksgiving day.  We left right after preschool on Thursday  and came home the following Wednesday morning.

The trip there went great.  No vomiting thanks to Lachlan's Dramamine, and Poppy didn't scream too much.  We stopped once in LaGrange to play at the park and get the snacks situated. 

We stayed with Grandma this time since we could spread out a bit more and make use of the backyard.

She zipped them off on a walk the first day.

 Poppy thought riding with Lachlan was pretty fabulous.

 We visited a new park with Gigi on Saturday morning.  It was really nice!

The best part of the park (according to Reef and Jonas, anyway) was the skateboard area.  Obviously we don't have skateboards, but they didn't mind.  They loved sliding down the walls and ramps, especially in the 12-foot empty pool!  Grandma had to patch their pants after all that sliding fun!

 That evening we headed out to the outlet mall for their tree lighting.  It wasn't the most fabulous outing, but we all enjoyed being together.  Lachlan and Poppy were very impressed with the "rein-moose".

 We happened to be close enough to the carriages that we didn't have to wait too long.  This is the best pic we could get!

Random November

These are just a few cute ones from November that I don't want to foget:

Bringing the big red car into the school room = saves the school day.

 Texting with Daddy.

 Preschool Thanksgiving feast.  Someone loves his lunch.  Lachlan's Indian name was Yellow Moon.  He was pretty proud of his decorated shirt.

 Jonas's class was pilgrim's this year.  I'm kind of shocked that he actually wore the hat and collar!

 

Coming up next:  our Conroe roadtrip

Jonas turns 5

 It's hard for me to believe that he's already 5!  Seems like just recently he was our biggest newborn, weighing in at 9 lbs!  Jonas has always had his own personality; he's our only one who hated to be swaddled and I've never seen a baby love TV like him.  Jonas continues to march to his own beat at times but has really become more laid back in the last year.  We love him dearly and can't wait to see what this year brings!

Jonas's birthday fell on a preschool day this year.  He loved celebrating with this school friends, and, to top it off, it was letter J that day, so he felt extra special!

That afternoon, he opened gifts from us and Oma and Opa.  He loves his Super Mario shirt!

When Gigi and Mr. Don arrived on Saturday, he opened the shared gift from them and us.  It was exactly what he wanted!  Reef couldn't wait to get started building it, and Jonas let him tackle that job!  Jonas did a great job building another Ninjago set; Troy says he did great for a first try!

 This year's party was all about Ninjago!  These boys are OBSESSED with all things ninjas and legos, so it was a no-brainer (after we convinced Jonas that he couldn't replicate Reef's Angry Bird party). 

Troy and I painted these guys, and each party guest got two.

Jonas saw these on Pinterest, and Troy made it happen for him.

A last minute addition to the menu: Ninja Sushi Bar.  It's made out of candy and junk food like Twinkies (this was the week before Twinkie went out of business).  The kids loved it!

Ninja Nunchuks.

 The first game was Pin the Beard on Sensei Wu. 

 Then we decorated ninja stars.  I had folded all 20 of them the night before.

 Then they threw the ninja stars at these balloons.  I think the idea was for the balloon to move when it got hit.  But the wind was blowing.  Eventually they grabbed the balloons and popped them with their ninja stars.

The Craftons loved being in the sandbox.

 Larkin was just a trooper on the tire swing.

The ninja cake.  Obviously, the green ninja is a favorite right now.

 

I think he had a great day, and we all loved celebrating with him!