Happy Birthday Henry!

Yesterday...

December 27...

my Henry Oliver turned 3.

WHERE HAS TIME GONE?

3?

And while we cozied up inside,

this is what greeted us outside...

Yep, a blanket of fresh snow!

Last night...had a wonderful family party for Mr. Henry.

The boy is OBSESSED with Toy Story!

Gets so excited!

Lil mister received every.single.Toy Story thing for Christmas....

so we decorated with a lot of his new goodies!

And the girls were such a big help!

All day they were so excited for their brother!

(I know...eyes closed, but can't believe this was the only shot I got of my girlies!)

Pizza, breadsticks, chips and punch...and Henry's favorite cake....ice cream cake!

And the birthday song didn't go over to well this year.

Last year he tolerated it...

this year...

well, I'm thinking our family singing has gotten worse!

But...

sweet boy saw his cake and got a lot more excited!

And OH BOY!  Did my guy love his cake!

And Sheesh!  Did the presents come in droves!

The favorites?

Slinky dog and a Rex flashlight!

It was a great birthday.

Celebrating my baby...

still cannot believe he's 3!

And the celebrating continues.

Today, first thing, Sheriff Woody had all of his toys out...

ready to play with each one!

Here's to my favorite boy...

so special,

makes me smile every day...

He's come a long way this year...

I love my Henry Oliver so much!

Christmas 2011

Christmas...

all the anticipation...

then ZIP!  it's gone!

We all enjoyed the festivities here!

Christmas Eve day...

 we baked ...

Santa likes peanut butter with Reece Pieces and brownies too.

Christmas Eve nite, we spent with Jon's family.

Oh the kids...

opened all kinds of goodies!

Henry...pretty funny this year.

Would unwrap a gift then want to run off to play with it.

Had no idea there were MORE gifts!

Had to keep coaxing him back to the tree!

And the grande finale...

My BIL Kyle really made the girls' evening...

Hours of labor...

handcrafted American Girl Doll wardrobes!

Had them waiting in the garage!

Yep, each girlie got one!

And they have been spending so much time in their rooms...

organizing and reorganizing them!

Christmas Eve...after a wonderful dinner and lotta gifts,

we all came home to get ready for Santa's visit!

And OH BOY!  He sure did visit!

My girlies...ran into our room at 6:45am!

Couldn't wait!

Had to get lil Henry up!

Sweet boy had no idea, but knew to run to the tree!

Yep, Santa did good!

And I must have REALLY been a good girl this year...

look what hubs gifted me!

Love.Love.Love!

I promise you will see pix of me sporting it...

but this momma ran into a wall a few days ago...

have a nice black and blue lip...not so pretty!

My parents came over for Christmas lunch.

It was such a nice time with them!

Of course, more presents came with them!

My mom gifted Laney with a special Irish Barbie.

(My maiden name is Irish.)

Yes, BaBoo the elf left us, but heard that Irish Barbie was coming to live with us.

He left her a message though:

And my dad gifted Emily with a very special telescope!

(Ya, Papa...the dramatic CHEEEEESE!)

And Mom and Dad gifted us with a new popper and a yard of popcorn!

We've ditched the microwave kind...

all about a la natural!

Christmas night, we were back at Jon's parents' for dinner.

And yes, more gifts!

The big kahuna gift...

a toilet!

Ok, so Henry jumped on it right away.

Needed a drink,

must have been cramped with his feet in the pot,

then needed food, drink and friends.

People...cross your fingers here!

So, our Christmas is officially over.

We had a wonderful time with family.

We are so lucky.

The kids have really been enjoying.

Today...an all day dance party,

Toy Story mania,

Easy bake marathon,

telescope construction,

and my kind of exercise...XBox Kinect games! 

We've had a lotta fun...

BUT...

the tree is now down and all Christmas decor inside and out are put away.

Why so soon?

Some little guy turns 3 tomorrow!

BaBoo's Craziness Continues

This elf of ours is relentless!

Always coming up with new tricks!

Walks Slides on the WILD side too!

And yes, I admit...when I was little, I used to do some indoor sledding too!

And double yes...my kids have tried it out as well!

But bean bags at the bottom ALWAYS protect you!  Ha!

And Day 22...

The girls had just watched a Fruit of the Loom commercial a few days before!

Love BaBoo's undies!

Now, today...

Last night Emily and Cousin Megan stayed over with Jon's parents.

Guess BaBoo was trying to trick us...

Trying to make us think Emily WAS here in her own bed!

Oh Baboo!

Well, he leaves us tomorrow!

The girls and I are baking cookies for Santa today.

Getting ready,

yes we are!

The final count is here!

Our Happenings

Christmas countdown is on!

All gifts bought, wrapped and waiting!

Had a lot of goings on  before Santa arrives!

Last week Emily had mini mall.

Whole 3rd grade.

All fake money.

Rent booth space.

Have to come up with a product to sell.

We didn't want to spend a lot of money and time (over 100 shoppers),

so came up with this:

Ya, that's Laney posing.

Em was over it.

Well, she was happy...successful booth and only came home with about 10 leftover baggies!

YUM!

Friday nite, hubs finally got out to pretty up our Charlie Brown tree.

Oh wow!  It looks so pretty at night!

On Sunday, we went to our first Christmas!

It was also Jon's Grandmother's 94th birthday!

Whatta lady!

And I cannot forget BaBoo...crazy elf!

And just to let you all know...

today I'm sporting my very first pair of skinny jeans.

Secretly giggling...

feel like I am going to split a lotta seams any minute!

Now that would be a nice post!

Uh Oh Art!

Went to our first family Christmas today.

And a BIG UH OH happened...

Artist:  Henry

Medium:  fingernail polish

Surface:  Grammie and Papa Larry's bathroom carpet.

Guess who's getting new carpet for Christmas?

Christmas Hints

Been wrapping all kinds of wonderful gifts...

90% of my shopping and wrapping...done!

I'm on it this year...

and it feels superb!

While I wrap goodies for others,

think BaBoo has been playing on my own Christmas wants.

Enter want #1...a horse!

(minus the Don Quixote looking elf...yikes)

Yes, the joke around here is that I SAY I want a horse...

BUT, a horse would probably end up inside our home, own bed and all.

No way I would want it outside in the cold!

So...Henry is LOVING his horse friends at hippotherapy...

I'm thinking that if lil guy ever requests a horse, his daddy will definitely follow thru!

And although I love my home,

wouldn't be too shabby to get a brand spankin' new one...complete with a new ride!

A new home...minus the pink roof.

A new car...maybe something a bit sportier than a pink mini van.

Ah well...

probably NOT getting a horse, a house or a car this year...

but a girl can dream, right?

Shopping trip with the hubs tomorrow...maybe he'll cave and get me one of the three!

Here's to the weekend!

P.S.  For some reason I forgot to ever put in Day 11...A tropical vacay is on my WANT list too! :)

Song and Shenanigans

Poor Emily...

long week already.

Fell asleep on the car ride home from school yesterday...

and it's only about a mile ride!

Well, bucked up and did a great job at her Christmas program last nite.

Oh, how grown up Emily and Cousin Megan are...

~tear~!

Walked them to their classroom before the program.

They were ahead of me...

didn't even look back!

And oh...did they WOW! us with their performances!

Both from the front row!

It's always nice to watch oldest girls...

how far they've come...

from chubby cheeks and diapers..

to such fab girls!

We are so proud of them!

And from beauty to bananas...

BaBoo...yep...definitely inserted some craziness into our home!

Here's a little taste...

Day 12:  Laney lost a tooth the day before. 

Laney came into my room..pink sparkle all over her!

Went to look...

BaBoo...must have talked to the Tooth Fairy!

Silly elf...pink sparkle ALL.OVER. Laney's room!

(and yes, her trim is broken.  Welcome to crazy Laney's room!)

And after the girls giggled over BaBoo and his dinodeer...

out the door for school.

I came home and noticed Sacco loved the shredded coconut snow!

Ahhh...just keepin' it real in our little neck of the woods!

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!