Happy Birthday, Jesus!

What a Christmas! The kids had a wonderful day spending it with family... We try very hard to remember the reason we are celebrating this very special day! We have always sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, but this year we decided to bake him a cake. We made a chocolate cake with white icing, because that is what the boys thought Jesus would like.

Getting ready to bake the cake for Jesus!

The finished product -- It says "Happy Birthday, Jesus!"

With the candles on it

Andrew blowing them out!

What a day!

This is what Nathan looked like most of the day! He got a DS for Christmas from Oma and Papa!

Santa brought Nathan a new scooter!

Nathan, Andrew, and their cousin, Caden together at Nana and Grandpa's house!

Nathan and Andrew sitting in front of the manger scene at church!

I wish I would have taken more pictures this Christmas! I think I was so wrapped up in making it special for the kids... I forgot to stop and pull out my NEW camera!

Advent Season

We had 4 amazing Advent celebrations at our house this year. We really enjoy having the family over for dinner and celebrating this special time of the year with everyone.

Jeff, Nathan, Andrew, and Grandpa blessing the Christmas tree!

If you look closely, you can see the holy water!

Andrew turning on the Christmas lights after we blessed the tree!

Kelli and Caden lighting the Advent candle!

We had our yearly progressive dinner with the neighborhood kids! We go to four houses -- ours being the last -- dessert... We received some sad news on this night... The Addison's are putting their house on the market... We were all sad to hear it but happy for them! Here are all the kids lined up -- 8 total kids -- 3 girls and 5 boys!

The progressive dinner happened on a Sunday during Advent this year, so we decided to do our celebration with all 4 of the families!

Beginning with a prayer


The Johnson's lighting the first candle

The Royed's lighting the second candle

The Herman's lighting the third candle

The Addison's lighting the fourth and final candle

After the Advent celebration, we had some artwork for the kids to do! They had a lot of fun making their Santas!

Decorating the House for Christmas!

This year, the boys had a lot of fun setting up for Christmas! We probably have about 10 bins filled with decorations, so it is quite a family ordeal... Enjoy the pictures below of us decorating our house!

Nathan has had a Christmas tree in his room since he was little. As Andrew has gotten older (since they share a room now too), he has enjoyed decorating it with Nathan.

Jeff doing his favorite thing of all! ;)

Nathan, Andrew, and all the singing toys in front of the tree!

Could he be any cuter!?!?! I guess I am a little partial! ;)

Best Buddies!

Enjoy the video of the four of us decorating the house!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Yes, it snowed here in Missouri City on December 4, 2009. It was an amazing day for the kids. We began to have snow flurries here in the morning as we were walking into school. The snow picked up throughout the day. It began letting up as the day progressed. This is what we were greeted with when we got home that afternoon! The kids had a blast!

Our house in the afternoon

Nathan and one of his neighbor friends, Alex, building a "Texas Snowman."

Nathan and Andrew getting their snowballs ready to throw at me.

The three of us happy as clams playing in the snow!

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

What a memorable carving pumpkin year! Jeff and the boys had this great afternoon planned carving their two pumpkins. As Jeff was beginning to cut into the pumpkin, he cut into his left hand. So what was planned to be a fun afternoon of pumpkin carving, turned into an afternoon at the emergency clinic getting stitches. Blake, our neighbor, came over with his little girl, Alex, to help continue the cleaning out of the pumpkins. Jeff and the boys continued the rest later in the week. Enjoy the pictures!

Setting out the newspaper getting ready to begin the pumpkin carving!

Sitting next to their pumpkins... so excited!

It has become a yearly tradition for Alex, our neighbor, to join us! This time her daddy came along to finish up the cleaning out of the pumpkins.

A couple of nights later, Jeff and the boys finished carving out the fronts of the pumpkins.

The final product and a proud little boy

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year, we went up to Nana and Grandpa's house to celebrate. In past years, they have told us that trick-or-treating is a big deal in their neighborhood, so we decided to give it a try. They were right... the kids had a blast! I will let Captain America (Andrew), Darth Vader (Nathan), and Mickey Mouse (Caden) take over. The pictures tell a story of our day!

The first thing we did when we got to Nana and Grandpa's was play outside. The kids love to play outside when they go there!

So, I have to tell a little background information about the last picture. We love to watch "Mantracker" on TV as a family. It is a show that follows an outdoors adventure where Mantracker is supposed to search in the woods and find a couple that is running from him. I went over and asked Andrew what he was doing, and he said he was hiding from Mantracker.

Before dark, because the kids couldn't wait, we began our trick-or-treating. We started out with taking pictures of the three kids. Nathan was Darth Vader, Andrew was Captain America, and Caden was Mickey Mouse (at the last minute).

We went over to visit one of Jeff's teachers that lives in the Woodlands. We had to take a picture of Caden because he looked so confused being in a different car and car seat.

When we got back, we began the much anticipated trick-or-treating. Nathan and Andrew did not have a nap, so Andrew petered out pretty soon after we started. We made it down Nana and Grandpa's street, and he wanted to turn around. There is a little boy and girl that live on their street, and Nathan hit it off with them. Nathan and Jeff went about three streets away with the little boy and girl and their families

First house

Kelli and Caden

What a fun Halloween! Thank you, Nana and Grandpa, for hosting us! :)