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!

The big 3-0!!!

Sunday was my 30th birthday. For some strange reason this birthday has really hit me and I now realize I am getting old :( In order to cheer me up, Jason threw me a birthday party in which he completely planned and did such an awesome job! We started the evening at Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant downtown for some yummy food. Several of my family and friends came to help me ring in the new year.

My little boy LOVES to eat
Part of the crew that came to celebrate with me

Me and my girl

After eating dinner and cupcakes, my parents took the kids to their house and the adults headed upstairs to Lucky Strikes bowling. This is not your ordinary bowling alley. It is very classy with a dress code, full kitchen, bar, big screen TVs at the end of each lane and great music! It was so much bowling, drinking and eating with everyone.

The boys- Bruce, Jason, Chris, Craig and Rob
The girls- Tara, Callie, me, Melody, and Becky

Time to bowl!

Me and Melody-no clue what we were doing

It was a great night and I had so much fun! Thanks sweetheart for planning such a great evening and helping me start my 30s with a bang :)

Clayton is 1!!!!

Yesterday was my little man's birthday party! It is hard to believe that he is already a year old. I thought time was flying fast with Brinley, but with Clayton it is happening at warp speed! We don't go to the doctor until Tuesday for the official stats, but 2 weeks ago he weighed 21 lbs. Clayton, you are such a lovable little guy. You are crawling all over the place, pulling up to stand and cruising like crazy. You can't stand by yourself, nor do you have any interest in walking because you arch your back every time we try to make you practice. You love to eat and growl at us when we don't get the food in your month in a timely fashion! No more baby food for you because you love table food....especially blueberries, grilled cheese, bananas, and crackers. You have 8 teeth with plenty more trying to work their way in. You love chasing your sister and laughing at everything. You are so sweet and we are glad to have you in our lives!

We had his party last weekend to try and avoid the Christmas rush! I never realized how crazy it would be to try and plan a bday party and get ready for Christmas. I have already vowed that next year his party will be totally planned and supplies bought before thanksgiving! Overall it turned out to be a beautiful day and a good time was had by all! Clayton LOVED his smash cake and devoured it! It was quite a sight to see. Here are some pictures from his big day.





his monkey cake I made

let the Christmas festivities begin

We kicked off the holiday season, Thursday, with a trip to the mall to have our picture taken with Santa. Brinley had no problems going to sit on the big guys lap and she was sooo anxious to tell him she wanted a Cinderella castle and bike for Christmas. Clayton sat on his lap and let us get one picture before he realized he did not want to be there. I calmed him down several times and tried again, but he would get hysterical. So here is our Santa picture for 2009

Friday was a cold and snowy day. Yes it snowed in Houston and yes it snowed at our house ALL day long, but it did not stick. Other parts of Houston (including a friend who lives 10 miles west of us) got 2-3 inches of snow on the ground. Brinley was very upset that she couldn't build a snowman. We were able to scrape together enough ice off the sheets covering our plants to build two golf ball sized snow balls. Brinley threw her snowball at Daddy and Clayton decided to try and eat his.

Clayton eating his snowball
Brinley holding her snowball
Here is all snow that stuck

If you enlarge this one you can see all the snow falling

We also had Wyatt at our house on Friday, since it was not a fun filled day of playing in the snow, we made a gingerbread house instead. The hardest part was keeping them from eating all the candy before they put it on the house. They were also very rough in putting on the candies so it made the ceiling collapse. We pieced it back together with tooth picks so they could finish decorating it and we could take a picture.

Saturday evening, we bundled up and met some friends at the League City Christmas Parade. They had lots of crafts booths, amusement rides and yummy food before the parade. Brinley loved the parade (especially the dance teams, drill teams from high schools and cheerleaders). We braved the cold all evening but had to call it a night after 2 hours into the parade and still no end in sight. With pockets full of candy, frozen fingers and toes, we headed home for hot chocolate and bed.

Brinley with the blue Santa

Brinley had the best view of the parade

Me and my little man all bundled up

Brinley and Maddy ready to ride some rides

This week will be crazy with Clayton's first birthday party, Jason's company Christmas party and Christmas with Jason's family. I am tired just thinking about it :)