Bowling

This past weekend we attended a birthday party for Hannah at the bowling alley. It was Brinley's first time bowling and she really got into it! She thought it was fun waiting for her ball to roll down the lane (which took forever) and then counting how many pins she knocked down. She scored a 50 for her first game (with bumper rails), so not too shabby!

Clayton also LOVED bowling! His paw paw would sit him up by the lane with the ball and let him push it. Clayton would squeal with delight every time he did it (for 2 hours!) and every time he wasn't "bowling" he was crawling to be up there and crying when we stopped him.

I guess we are going to have to make a bowling night a ritual at our house!

Happy Valentines day!!!!

Clayton's first steps

I have learned that if I blog about my kids not doing something, they will quickly prove me wrong. On January 28th, Clayton took his first steps! He has only done it a few more times since then, but he is getting more interested in walking. He will now hold your hand and walk in front of you and LOVES walking behind his push toys. In fact, he uses his push toys, trash cans, dog food bin, chairs to get where ever he wants to go, just like a walker! It seems easier to me for him to learn to walk than to do this, but this little man is doing things on his own terms!

Here is a video of his first steps

Clayton has also become a master climber. He can climb stairs like a pro and onto any little chair and sit there like a big boy. His new favorite feat is to climb on the fire place, crawl to the end by the couch and then almost leap over to get on the couch. It gives mom a heart attack every time he does it, but he thinks it is the most fun in the world....little boys!

Taking it easy

I was waiting to see if we did anything exciting to blog about but we haven't.....can I mention how WONDERFUL that has been????

The only thing new around here is Clayton stared MDO this month. They had an opening and I jumped on it! Clayton has become quite the momma's boy so we needed some time apart :-) He cried the first two weeks I dropped him off, but only for a 2-3 minutes, then he was fine. The first day after I picked him up he jabbered the whole way home (like he was telling what he did that day). He is the only one not walking in his class so I hope this motivates him. My little man is very satisfied to crawl around and put no energy into walking! We try to practice with him and he drops to his knees and cries. The doctor says it is a power play....GREAT!!!!

Clayton all ready to go for his first day of school!

Other than that we have done nothing and the lonely 31 pictures on my camera for the month of January proves it (we usually average 100 pictures a month).
The kids playing in their favorite new spot...the dog kennel
A play date at our house turned into a princess parade

New Years and Clayton's first haircut

Ok, I am going to catch everyone up on our holidays in several posts, so keep scrolling down to see our wonderful Christmas fun!

New years eve was nice and low key! We went to eat at Pappasitos (a tradition) and then our friends, Brad and Erika (with Brinley's BFF) Maddy came over. We watched football and played Mexican train while the girls destroyed the house! Clayton was out by 9pm, but the girls held strong, thanks to cupcakes, until 1am! At midnight, we went outside to watch the fireworks all the neighbors were shooting off. It was a cold night, so we had to bundle up!


They were very cold!!!

It was a great night filled with lots of laughs...from the adults and kids!

Saturday we took Clayton to get his first haircut. He is going to have Jason's thick hair so many haircuts will be in his future. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the lady making him sit and touching his head, so he went through bouts of crying or just sitting there staring into space! Overall, he did a good job of just sitting there and letting her cut it.

My very shaggy boy

not happy about being in this chair

what a handsome boy!

Now my little baby looks like a little boy and I don't think he is happy about it :)

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas morning! The kids slept in until 7:30 and were very excited to see what Santa brought them!

Brinley got the Cinderella Castle she has been asking about since October that Santa had to special order because you can only buy them AT Disney world. It is really neat because it lights up, plays songs and came with all the Disney princess figurines. I didn't realize until the presents were out that every present she got was princess related...oh well, I guess it was one of those years!

Clayton got a race car riding toy that makes all the race car sounds and he loves pushing it around. He hasn't mastered getting off it yet so we still have to help.

We spent the day watching the Disney Christmas parade, in which she had to wear her new snow white dress to watch it! It was neat seeing all that at Christmas because we will be there next December for the kids' first trip to Disney!

That evening we headed over to Jason's parent's house for another Christmas dinner and MORE presents! Brinley's favorite present came from Jason's uncle who gave her a Tinkle bell that flies (think hummingbird). I think the entire family had fun watching this toy fly all over the house for a good 30 minutes!

It was a relaxing evening,that ended with dancing in the kitchen to the "nutcracker suite" music.

Christmas Eve

We started Christmas eve day by baking cookies for Santa! Brinley really enjoyed helping roll out the dough, using the cookie cutters and then putting the sprinkles on! She was very proud of her final product...especially when it was time to eat the leftover sprinkles :)

I took this picture before we left to head to my parents house

That afternoon, we headed over to my parents house for Christmas dinner and present opening. We joking call my mom "mamaw claus" due to the large amount of presents she gets her grandkids....this year was no different. We enjoyed a yummy turkey dinner and then the craziness began! Brinley's favorite present was the Snow White dress up costume Reese got her from Disney world. Clayton's favorite toy was the sports center from mamaw and pops. He is playing with it right now as I type this!

Brinley, Clayton & Reese----I guess we should have tried this picture before we announced it was time to open presents!

Lets open some presents!!!!

Too much food and presents for these guys!