Decorating For Christmas

I realized two things after decorating for Christmas this year, first, I didn't take enough pictures, and second, our decorations are small and limited in number! Now that we are out of the apartment, our house is much bigger to fill. Our puny tree looks extra small and weak in our huge living room! A problem we are very grateful for this year! The video is nothing special or interesting, just for family memories.

They liked the one Santa hat we found.

Just too cute!

Our non-functional fireplace somehow looks even more awkward with stockings hanging from it.

We also had a lot of little helping hands.  I don't think I ever realized how frustrating it can be to decorate!

Here's the video. I mostly put this on here because it is Bentley's first Christmas.

Leaves!

Our seasons got a little mixed up this year... ice storm before falling leavs, go figure! The boys had fun 'helping' Daddy rake and move the leaves. Surprisingly, Kyler was the best helper and Damon & Radley had the most fun playing in the leaves. Can I tell you how nice it is to have a yard with leaves? We have also been collecting a TON of pecans. We of course have native pecan trees which means our pecans have a harder shell, and the pecan itself is smaller than the paper-shell pecans. However, according to Kenney (and many others) our pecans taste better! We have spent a lot of time collecting and shelling pecans, while the boys just eat the pecans straight from the bowl once they are shelled! We do love our big trees!

Burying himself in leaves.

These two are good little buddies, most of the time!

Being able to use the wheelbarrow kept Kyler involved and motivated to work hard!

Running and jumping into the leaves.

He even loaded the wheelbarrow! 

Waiting for Daddy to dump the leaves on top of them.

Getting buried!

Leaves are so fun!

Hanging out waiting for Daddy again.

I think Daddy had just as much fun as the boys!

Ice Storm

Thanksgiving Day the weather was not very good, but it just kept getting worse! The next two days an ice storm came through and covered everything. The freezing rain, wind and dropping temperatures made sure to put a thick coat of ice on anything left outside! We were blessed because the power never went out at our house and were able to stay nice and warm. There were some people without power for 3 days!! I'm so glad that was not us. Kenney had to work both Friday and Saturday and thankfully he does not have a long commute. However, we were unable to go spend time with the family on Friday, but the roads were safe enough on Saturday we spent most of the day hanging out before everyone went their separate ways.

Being stuck inside all day causes some crazy to come out in these boys!!

Everyone's trees and other plants looked so bad and were so weighted down by the ice!!  There were broken branches everywhere.  Our house didn't have any thanks to Kenney's Uncle Richie who had just trimmed all of our trees!

This was before the icicles got big!

The branches were almost touching the ground, but nothing broke.

Ice, ice everywhere!

I have no idea why they wanted to play out in this, but I didn't have our winter clothes at the house so it didn't last long.  Now that I have since brought them to our house I'm sure there will be no more snow or ice this year!!

Radley didn't get too involved.

Our plants were still green because the day before this ice storm blew in it was 74 degrees outside.  Crazy Texas weather.

That's a lot of ice.  There was at least 2 inches covering everything.

Here is video of the boys in their crazy costumes. I'm not sure was inspired these looks, but they had a lot of fun!

The skinny legs are just too appropriate!

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was extra crazy! All of Kenney's siblings (besides his brother on a mission) were in town which means 17 grandkids in the house!! That also means the kids have a ton of fun and completely wear themselves out! Thanksgiving Day was especially saturated with kids because almost all of Kenney's Keys cousins were in town too! There were at least 30 kids under the age of 10. It was loud, and we were stuck inside this year because of the weather. Needless to say, there were a lot of people in small place!! As crazy and chaotic as it was, it was fun to see everyone and see how all the kids are changing and growing.

Our Thanksgiving blessings for 2015

Tyce and Kyler found some while playing at Nana and Papa's.

Kenney loves how many pies there are every year.

Since all of Kenney's cousins and their kids were in town, it was decided to do a HUGE family picture. We had to take the picture at the gym just to get all of us to fit!  It worked out great for the kids too because they had a place to run around!

Here is everyone!  I think the total was 84 people.  The copy of the picture I got was blurry, but you can at least see how many people were there!

The kids table one night for dinner.

We had a Christmas celebration at Nana and Papa's while we were all together.  I didn't get any pictures of the present festivities, but I grabbed this shot before I had to feed Bentley.

Kyler taking a picture of Bentley.

Miss Bentley one day during the break.

Smitten with Bentley

Everyone is in love with this little girl and so impressed with her hair. I was very relieved she had hair mostly because all the boys were born with a full head of hair, and I was worried that I would finally have a girl and she wouldn't have hair!! Hair or no hair she is loved! Her brothers are especially in love and that makes me so happy!

The only picture I got of my mom with Oma.  I completely forgot, but she was a HUGE help.  We were all so happy she came to see all of us!

All ready to go home!

Damon had to hold her real fast before we left.

So cute in her little coat.

Ready to hold her at any moment!

Auntie Shandi got this for Kyler when he was born, but it just looks so much more cute with a little pink bow.

One extremely proud big brother!

Damon picked out her clothes (all blue of course) and asked if I could put her in her bouncer where she could watch him play with is cars!  It is really sweet to watch him love her so much!

Wide awake!  This girl is not awake very often during the day.  The boys always point out when her eyes are open.

The best picture I could get of her eye lashes with the boys around, but I wish I had her eyelashes!

He does love her, but completely on his terms!

Kyler loves to hold her too.  The best was right after she came home and spit-up all over his arm.  He freaked out a little bit and hasn't forgotten it!  It was pretty funny to watch his reaction.

All the boys decided Bentley needed more blankets so they all put one of their own blankets on her.  This was a BIG deal for Radley.  He loves his blanket and hardly ever shares it.  It was super cute to watch them take care of their sister and share with her.

There's nothing particularly interesting about this video, but I love to watch newborns move and wiggle around, and it's cute to watch Damon interact with her. I love the part where her spit-up scares him away!