Christmas Rewind

Last Christmas was the babies first trip to Texas. Lets just say that it was a challenging trip. Over 20 hours of driving, a packed schedule, and two 4 1/2 month olds that didn't want to sleep. I'm sure they were overwhelmed with all of the new people, new places, and Christmas activity. Needless to say, last Christmas was a blur for us and we didn't take any pictures! This Christmas, my mom gave me a cd with all of the pictures from last year. It was crazy to see pictures from the babies first Christmas a YEAR later!

Christmas 2007

Emery with big blue eyes and a very round face!

Gavin opening one of his first presents.

Yee-haw!

I guess they did sleep......just not at night! :-)

Happy Holidays!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We had a great Christmas and were able to spend lots of time with family. Hopefully I'll get back on the blogging track soon. Things have still been a little crazy. Here are a few pictures of our Christmas fun........

North Pole Dance Party

Having lots of fun before bathtime at Grandma's house!

Scary Santa

We decided not to take Gavin and Emery to see Santa this year. This might make us bad parents, but they are going through SO many changes and meeting SO many new people in Texas that I didn't think it was right to add a scary Santa to the mix. But........that won't stop me from posting the best twin Santa picture EVER.

Click here to see what I mean.

These are Gavin and Emery's good friends Henry and Eleanor. Every time I look at this picture I laugh. So, thank you Jennifer for allowing me to steal the picture of your cute kids in lieu of my own Santa picture this year.

Next year we will DEFINITELY take Gavin and Emery to meet Santa Claus!

Where have we been????

We're in Texas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We've had a busy last few months, so the blogging has been REALLY SLOW. Hopefully I'll get back on track soon.

To quickly recap the last 2 months, Pete's job was eliminated at the end of October. We immediately put the house on the market and began looking for a new job. Thankfully, we were able to sell the house quickly........before we even knew where we would be moving. We avoided a move to South Dakota (by the skin of our teeth), and Pete accepted a job in Texas!! So, here we are.......our belongings have been packed and are in storage until we move into a house. We are bouncing between temporary living (apartment) and my mom's house. The babies have adjusted SO well and did great on the drive down (20 hours).

I have a ton of pictures that I want to post from the past few weeks, but for now I'll just post a few pictures from the snow that we got before leaving Indiana. As you can see, we only got a couple of inches, but I was excited that the babies got to play in the snow before we headed south.

Emery wasn't sure what to think. She stayed frozen in one spot unless we held her hand.

Gavin loved it. He took off across the backyard without hesitation.

Helping Dad make a snowman.

Checking out their work.


We went inside to get warm before adding the corn cob pipe and the button nose to our grassy snowman. So.....use your imagination. :-)

P.S. This post is for my Aunt Dawna, who was "sick of looking at the same pictures for so long". :-)

Early Christmas Gift

I'm SOOOO behind on posting, so I'll back up to last week when Grandma came to visit. The babies got to open an early Christmas gift that had been delivered to our house a few days before she arrived. Of course Grandmas always buy the small gifts, that don't take up much space (haha).

And of course, the box was just as much fun.......

Grandma also brought new pajamas. Gavin LOVES his Cars (from Cars the movie) pajamas. He carries them around for 10 minutes before we put them on. Then, he points at the cars over and over while wearing them. Like father, like son. I think if Pete had these pajamas, he might do the same thing. :-)

There will be many more pictures to come. Like I said, I'm really behind on posts! I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Fun at Lowe's

What do we do for fun with two 15 month olds while trying to save money? Go to Lowe's!!!! We've made several trips to check out the Christmas decorations and tractors (riding lawnmowers). The babies LOVE it. I wonder how many visits we can make, climbing on lawnmowers and playing with musical snowmen for 30 minutes before they kick us out?

Gavin, pointing to the big, inflatable yard decorations on the top shelf.

They are obsessed with tractors. Gavin says traaaatr, traaaatr over and over again. I actually found tractor Christmas ornaments while we were there. We might have to make a trip back for those......

Thank you Lowe's! You are as entertaining as the Children's Museum!

Our little turkeys

Thanks for the stuffed animals Mimi! Gavin and Emery took turns handing me the turkeys, so that I could say "gobble-gobble" (in my funniest turkey voice). The things I do as a stay at home mom..... :-)

And a little "ham'n in up" for the camera....

It's getting COLD here

For some reason, I can't resist taking pictures when they are bundled up like this. Gavin's hat was a birthday present from Mimi. It made us laugh every time we looked at him.

It's only going to get colder! We'll be playing in the snow soon!

Future Gymnasts??

I spend my days trying to keep the climbing to a minimum, but sometimes I just have to sit back and watch the antics.....

A video........

You've gotta admit that their balance is pretty impressive!!

Balloon Fun

Welcome to the circus. Meet our little clowns........

It's been a crazy week, but we're still having fun!

**I just realized that Emery has been dressed in the same clothes in the last few posts. Just trying to maximize the Halloween outfit I guess. :-) I promise that it is washed between wears! Gavin is also sporting a nice "off the shoulder" look in his Texas Ranger shirt. We are less about fashion and more about function!

Obama, if you're reading this......

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell your people to leave us alone!!!! The daily phone calls, the multiple e-mails, the knocks on the door........I can't take it anymore! Today, I actually got an e-mail from Al Gore asking for my vote......seriously. I can't WAIT until this election is over!

Other crazy things:

1. The line at the Courthouse for early voting. Holy Cow.

2. One of our neighbors took down their cemetery and front yard coffin yesterday (thankfully). Two other neighbors put up their Christmas lights today! I'm not complaining, because it will give the babies something to look at, but c'mon....Isn't it a little early? I'm trying to teach Gavin and Emery to say "Griswolds".

3. Crazy, but cute kids:

Just for fun

A few pictures from last Halloween.......

Emery and Gavin (still on oxygen). Almost 3 months old.

Me, Gavin, and Emery.....showing off their wings


Emery (on my GIANT looking legs)


Gavin with the cute bib that Grandma Penny made

This one isn't technically Halloween related, but it IS a cute picture from last October!

Trick or Treat

Ok, finally some Halloween pictures! I was AMAZED at the craziness of Halloween in our neighborhood. I've always been surprised by how people in the Midwest decorate their houses for the fall and for Halloween, but I've never been out and about on Halloween to witness the madness.

Getting ready for trick or treating.....

We stopped at a couple of our neighbor's houses

And then climbed in the wagon to check out the rest of the neighborhood

People were barbecuing in their driveways

John McCain asked the babies for their votes

Look in the background at the masses of trick-or-treaters. It was NEVER like this in Texas!

Yards were turned into cemeteries

And Gavin and Emery were WOUND UP by the time we got home at 6:45. They were running in circles as we were trying to get them ready for bed. You would've thought we let them eat a bag of candy. In reality, I swapped candy for Teddy Grahams, which worked out pretty well.

Their costumes were a hit. Most people knew right away that they were Pebbles and Bam Bam. Gavin was chewing on his club most of the time. One guy thought it was a cigar, which would have been funny, but possibly inappropriate. :-)

Overall, it was a success!