We need a little Christmas...

I love Christmas time. I would start decorating after Halloween if Marty would let me. My parents always made Christmas so magical for my sister and me, and I have carried a lot of their traditions into our family, and we have started some of our own. We started with 5 trees this year. I can't help myself. Here are some of our pics:

The reason we celebrate...
...is our precious Savior!
My helper
The tree in the bonus room
Our bedroom
Maddie's room
Preston's room
The living room tree

Ho-ho (our family elf on the shelf) is sneaky
We count the days...
...in many ways

My grandmother's candy dish filled with red and green M&Ms. She always kept it full!
A gum drop tree just like my grandmother's

What are your family traditions?

Hmmm....

Guess who's wearing princess chapstick?

Against his will

Thanksgiving

I did a terrible job taking pics on Thanksgiving. I guess we were having too much fun being together with our family. Here is the best of what I got:

Cousin Hailey just got braces, and she looks so grown up!
Maddie loved Mamaw's famous pumpkin pie
Uncle Howard loved Mamaw's home made bread
This speaks for itself

Mission Organization

We woke up to a beautiful day Saturday. We had fun game day plans, and we had a couple of honey do items to take care of. A year or so ago, a recycling facility opened near our home, and we started recycling everything. And when I say everything, well, you understand. The one thing we were lacking was a good system for recycling. We had large trash cans and storage containers taking up a big part of the garage, as well as the fleet of kids rides and toys. We built our house 2 years ago, and we have everything organized except the garage. Who has time to do that with 2 small kids?
As we prepared to drop the recycling on Saturday, I became suspicious that we had a mouse living in our garage. We have a huge field behind our house, so this wouldn't be too surprising. However, I don't care for any type of critter to be in my home.
Marty decided to investigate as the kids and I went to recycle. My suspicions were right, and when I got back home, it looked like we were having a massive yard sale in our driveway. Marty pulled out everything, and I knew my Saturday plans were out the door.
My sweet husband worked all day to get things hung up on the wall as I shreded 10 years worth of paper. We took 2 truck loads to donate, and I am so excited about how much room we have now (for cars!!) that I wanted to share pics with you.
Saturday sunrise
Our new recycling center
All of this stuff was on the garage floor

All in for Michigan!

Okay, so the game stunk. However, we wore our Wolverine gear all day. No fair weather fans here!

Thanksgiving Lunch

The kids are having a Thanksgiving Feast at school today! Here are their pictures:

Brushin teeth

Isn't he so big?

School Pictures

Our preschool takes the kids pictures about once a quarter. To be honest, they typically aren't that great, and they are WAY overpriced. I usually don't look at them bacause one child's is cute and the other is terrible. This was the first time they dressed them up, so I had to take a peek. This is what I saw:




Aren't they hilarious? I laughed out loud. I bought the cheapest package available just so I could show them to Marty.

Mia's 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday Mia

Maddie dressed herself.
My rotten boy.
Mia loved her cake!
So did Bryson
I turned around for 2 seconds...

Sun Drop

A little Halloween fun

Cinderella and Nemo had lots of fun this Halloween! Mommy and Daddy are really enjoying the yummy treats they collected.

Party day at school
Will we ever get a decent pic of them both?
Trick-or-treat night at school




The local police patrol and give out candy
Belle and Cinderella ran into their old friend Sleeping Beauty
Guess who tried to eat candy through the wrapper?

4 kids - 3 days

We kept Matt and Nicki's girls for a few days so they could take a little trip to NYC. We love Olivia and Madi Claire as if they were are own. Olivia is 2 months older than Maddie Grace, and Madi Claire is 3 months older than Preston. So what was it like having 4 small kids? I'll let the kids tell you: