Thanksgiving 2013

Zane, aka Fire Chief

Candy turkey

Matt got to enjoy Zane's Thanksgiving feast at school. (Mommy was working.) They dressed as Indians and Zane was given the Indian name 'Fire Chief'. His class is called the Deep Sea Divers (or DC Divers, as Zane says), but they had a name change for the day, too.

He is thankful for God and his family. We sure are thankful for him and his school and teachers.

We started out Thanksgiving week with a laid back day at home, a scary-looking head injury in the garage, and making turkey hats to cover the knot/bruise.

We ended the week with our families, food, and fevers.

We had lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving day and everyday. Including, but definitely not limited to, our families (especially two new babies!), our health, and being HOME this year!

And rocking this sweet little guy.

 

 

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Christmas 2012

I survived the Snowpocalypse, four Christmases, two birthday parties, one family reunion, a baby dedication, a 12 hour car trip with a migraine, a lost (and found) camera and now I'm back and ready to blog about it all! This may take several entries and more pictures than words.

Christmas. We are beyond blessed. Lots of family. Too much food. Too many presents. And snow! In Arkansas!

Hollin started walking...practically running, while we were in Arkansas.

Her hair grew...and so did her tummy! She also started singing all the time!

 

If there's a toy made that Zane didn't get for Christmas, rest assured he got it for his birthday.

Favorite Zane quotes: "Spider-Man boots are NOT boring! They are AWESOME!" and "I didn't know that old man (Papaw Martin) had a knife! That made me scared!"

Sweet, sleeping babies were worn out by the festivities.

 

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Christmas in Madison

A few Christmas festivities we've enjoyed this year....

The kids are so lucky to have Ms. Jeri take such good care of them and treat them to a Christmas party. They enjoyed treats, movies, and presents! Hollin was wearing her cute outfit from Aunt Lindsey, so Zane wanted to wear a Christmas shirt, too. Reindeer pjs it is!

We took the Christmas tree cookies....but there's no pics of us baking or decorating. My new favorite phrase: I might not have made them, but I did make them possible. The Sentry grocery store did a much better job than I could ever do. Worth the time and sanity saved. Notice the girl in purple that Zane is next to in every picture? In his words, "I wuv her."

We enjoyed lunch with friends at Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery, which wore this little elf out.

What kid doesn't like Christmas lights? Madison has a free drive-through animated lights display called Festival in Lights. One night, after dinner and baths, we bundled the kids up and headed to Olin Park to see the lights. My favorite was the capital display with the actual capital across the lake in the background. We loved hearing Zane's excitement from the backseat. "Look at that kid sliding!" "There's Bucky Badger!" And Matt and I enjoyed the mini-vacation from chasing kids. If only they had fallen asleep on the way home....

Matt and I had a fun night out for his work Christmas party. While we were away, the kids had fun making cookies for Santa with Miss Marisa (or Miss Arisa, as Zane calls her).

That Santa....he found us in Wisconsin early again this year! The cookies must've lured him in.

Things I want to remember Z saying:

"My favorite Christmas song is "Dominick the Donkey".

"I thought it was so COOL that Santa brought me toys."

"A manger is what cows and horses eat."

"Don't worry, mommy. My toys will protect you."

And we got a little snow....but, more on that later.

 

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Dear Santa, I can explain...

We took the kids to see Santa on Friday night. Zane has always LOVED Santa, or any character-type. I guess he got a little awestruck and froze when Santa asked what he wanted. "I want a...uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.....toys? Uh, uh, batman. And uh, uh, uh toys...."

Hollin has stranger anxiety, so I knew she was not going to tolerate this strange man holding her.

So this happened.

But then she thought that she might need to do a little explaining so that he wasn't mad at her.

Santa, Hollin is sorry that she cried. She really has been a good girl this year.

Matt and Zane headed to the grocery store parking lot to pick out a Christmas tree, but Zane wasn't having it. He wanted to "go to the forest!" So on Saturday the boys headed to Waunakee to pick out a tree.

I was kind of proud of his desire for things to be traditional. Until he decided that he didn't like my angel. "It has to be a star!" Fine. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a star. "It was supposed to be a YELLOW star!" He eventually accepted my new red star.

I also picked him out a new ornament. He was so proud of it that he took a picture of it. It did not actually make it onto the tree in one piece, but he did pick out the perfect spot for it. He said it was "so special".

Z asked me the other day if we had any socks. "You know, those big socks that you hang and Santa puts candy in them?" Hopefully the man in red will find us in Wisconsin again and fill up our 'socks' with candy.

 

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