Every year on the weekend of Thanksgiving, the city of Childress has a downtown celebration to kick off the Christmas season. They have pictures with Santa (which we never do because the lines are so long), music, hot chocolate, and a hayride through the park to see all the Christmas lights. The kids love the hayride and seeing all the lights. This year they didn't have hot chocolate which was a bummer, but the lights were still fun to see.
Our stylish girl with her pink boots and pink pants!
Walking with Daddy, so cute!
This child has been following Damon's lead and hates wearing pants. It made me cold looking at him!
It's a Christmas time miracle! They are all looking at the camera and smiling!
We were there too!
Emma, Cary Shane, Diana, and Carter
Kevin, Savanna, & Landry
The miracle didn't last, but we'll take what we can get!
Kelli & Keyan
Bentley was so cute prancing around, but I didn't catch most of it.
The best part about Thanksgiving was being with family. The kids had so much fun with cousins and playing outside. They are getting better about being excited for the food too which was really surprising. They all love pumpkin pie, and Kyler even liked the turkey!! I made stuffing with real bread and decided it didn't taste that much better than the box so it's probably not worth the effort!!
One night we had the Paynes and the Schades over for dinner which was fun. Bentley loved Brock and climbed on his lap any time she could. He was super sweet and read her books and everything. She was quite the ham and showed her dancing moves to everyone. Tyce spent the night and we sent Radley with Bruce which everyone seemed to enjoy.
The girls went on their annual Black Friday Walmart trip. We got everything we wanted to get, so it was quite a success! We've got the Childress Walmart thing down!!
Before everyone left, we had a fish fry at the lake house. It was fun for a change of environment. We watched a lot of football, making Damon extremely happy.
Radley stayed at Nana & Papa's house one night while we kept Tyce at our house. He had a great time with Bruce and Carter.
He didn't even miss us!!
All the kids spent a lot of time in the sandbox because the weather was perfect!
The pies were few in number this year.
Black Friday with the girls!
We all had a great time at the lake house, and the sunset was beautiful.
The kids had a blast running around in the stickers!!
Why is the sky and the sun so much better with water around?!?
Nana found some wrapping paper rolls and then encouraged all the kids to attack dads and uncles. The kids loved it; the guys maybe not so much!
It's nice to live in a place with more trees than we have in recent years. Our backyard has some great trees which the kids love. This year they left the trampoline right under a tree and collected leaves to jump on. They also made some big piles, with Daddy's help, the jump in too. Our neighbors had fun with us.
This month has been so warm! We have spent a lot more time outside than normal in November. The highlight of Bentley's day is when we go to pick up the boys from school, and she gets to play on the playground, most specifically the swings. Inevitably I end up pushing a good 4-5 kids because most parents get to stay in the car when they pick up their kids, but we get out pretty much everyday.
Trying to be like the big boys.
She screams, literally yells at me if I don't push her high enough.
Only the beginning of the head injuries!
A paper Damon brought home from school. I couldn't decided what it said, so he told me it says, "I hope you all make a one hundred." Of course that's what it says!!
All pretty in a dress Oma made for her.
She is very happy when she looks all pretty and is able to show off her clothes and shoes!
Silly Girl
The boys actually liked and ate the dinner I made. It was an early Christmas miracle, and I wanted proof!
Our little girl is 2 now!! She is quite the character with too much personality for her tiny body! She absolutely loves all things girl. It's hard to find her without some accessory. Usually she has a purse, doll, blanket, phone or something else in her hands. Rarely is she empty handed. Her brothers still spoil her and do things for her all the time. She is very dramatic, but there are glimpses of a sweet girl underneath her sassiness. She doesn't know many strangers, especially if she is in a comfortable environment. She will sit on most people's laps, but favors men. She often tilts her head to the side and smirks to get her way and more often than not she gets it! As crazy and demanding as she is, we are excited to watch what she will become!
She really didn't want to blow out any candles.
Poor girl was not into the singing stuff.
Poor Baby!
She started to warm up to the party idea once she was able to open some presents!
There are always so many kids around!!
And then she opened her Moana doll!!
She was so happy!!
This is her holding up 2 fingers to show you how old she is! We're still working on it!
Her cupcakes (they were the same color as her cake, but the lighting is off in this picture).
Her cake was really fun to make!
She was very unsure about everyone singing to her. It was kinda sad how uncomfortable she seemed, but once she got to eat ice cream she was happy as could be!
She was more than thrilled when she opened her Moana doll from Oma and Papa Dude. She LOVED it!
