Wii Tournament

To celebrate New Year's Eve this year, we decided to have a fun night at home as a family.  The kids got to stay up late and we had a Wii tournament (compliments of the Wii Santa brought Stetson and Cassidy).  This was one of the most fun New Year's Eve I have had!

Cassidy liked to dance to the music as she waited for her turn to play.

Stetson figured out he could play from just about anywhere, including his tent.

Of course, Mommy and Daddy had turns too!  Being a kid again is so fun!

Stetson loves driving games so Santa brought him lots of accessories, including a steering wheel.

The Wii only came with one controller, so we went out and bought another one.  Since the one that came with it was black, we got a pink one for the girls!!

Pink is definitely her color!  She had a blast with her pink controller.  It does make a difference, you know.

I think we just might do this again next year.  All four of us laughed all night long!

Indoor Camping

Santa brought each of the kids a tent and sleeping bag for Christmas this year.  They have been so excited to have a camping slumber party, so we decided that tonight was the night.  I would have killed for this when I was a kid.  What happened to making huge forts with every blanket you could get your hands on?

The campsite.  They are really roughing it.

Princess Diddy Bug in her princess tent.

Hunter Stetson in his camouflage tent.

Our little campers...happy as can be!

Just for the record, yes, they did stay in their tents all night and they did actually go to sleep.  Therefore, we will definitely do it again soon!

Winner!

One of the things Monica and Marcy gave J and I this Christmas was lottery tickets.  Who doesn't love lottery tickets?!  I don't have very good luck with them but they are fun anyway.

This time was QUITE different, though!  Look at all these winners!

And check out MY winning scratch off!!  It is hard to tell in the picture, but if you get a "TD" you win all twenty prices listed on the ticket.  Each prize was $5 so I won $100!!!!

Thanks, Monica and Marcy!  What a fun gift!!!

Ice Skating

While Mommy and Daddy work and Cassidy goes to school, Stetson is living it up with Mama Bear and Aunt Mo!  Ah, the joys of Christmas Break!  Mama Bear and Aunt Mo were sweet enough to take Stetson to the Galleria today to go ice skating.  He was SUPER excited to say the least!



Here are some pictures that were sent to me.

 If only I could skate as well as him!

Thank you for taking him ice skating today!  I know he had an absolute blast and can't wait to hear all about it.

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is by far the BEST morning of the year!!  The kids were pretty tired from all the fun on Christmas Eve, so we had to wake them up! They came downstairs and saw that Santa had come!!  

He brought LOTS of goodies too!

Stetson received a Cars 2 slot car race track!

Cassidy received a princess camera!

She also got her first princess doll with a dress that matched for her to wear!

Aunt Mo and Marcy spent the night with us and Santa left a stocking full of goodies for them as well!

After seeing what all Santa left, the kids ran to the tree to open the rest of their gifts.  This big box had Stetson excited for days and days prior to Christmas.

It's hard to see him among all the presents and chaos, but Gramps came over to spend Christmas morning with us as well.  Fun for all!

Nonnie gave Cassidy this bicycle helmet.  It is a pink and purple lady bug and it is SUPER cute!!

Stetson got to go shopping for his family at school this year.  He picked out all the gifts himself and even wrapped them himself!  He was so excited when Daddy opened his tie that plays music! Great gift, Stetson!

We are so blessed to have such a great Christmas and to celebrate it with family.  We hope each of you had the same experience.  Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve has finally arrived!  We have waiting for this today for what feels like an eternity.  Each Christmas Eve we have Mama Bear and Papa Bear over to exchange gift and celebrate. This year, though, Aunt Mo and Marcy came too!

Here are the kiddos waiting for the festivities to begin and being silly.

I'm not sure what's going on here...

Finally...the first gift of Christmas to be opened!! It was a huge remote control Jeep from Mama Bear and Papa Bear!

The kids had to put on their pajamas and get ready for Santa and then the Christmas celebration continued.

Mama Bear and Papa Bear gave Cassidy a tutu, wings and antennae so she could dress up like a lady bug (or as Diddy Bug).  Super cute!

Diddy Bug taking a break and stealing Mommy's water.

After all the gifts were opened, we got our cookies ready for Santa!  He got cookies and milk.  We leave carrots for Rudolph too.

The Ratt Pack

The Ratt Pack with Aunt Mo and Marcy

Mama Bear and Papa Bear with "Scooter and Cass"

Before going to bed, we had to do one more thing.  We had to put reindeer food outside!  The reindeer food has sparkles in it so the reindeer will see it and land at our house.  While they wait for Santa to "do his thing" they can enjoy a snack too.

They did a great job making sure Santa and his sleigh made a stop at our house!

Now it's off to bed!  The excitement is off the charts!!

Christmas Cookies Part II

Cassidy had to bake cookies for Santa too! Luckily, she let Stetson help her so they could have fun decorating together.  There is nothing better than cookies, sugar sprinkles, and lots of giggles!

Let the decorating begin!

Stetson pulled out the blue sugar sprinkles, which I didn't think was very "Christmas-y", but his cookies turned out beautiful!  We will do blue every year now!

Cassidy had a blast decorating this year (and sneaking a bite or two of dough every once in a while...yuck).

Batch one...done!

We added food coloring to the dough and made some green cookies as well.

Then we made red ones too!  Fun, fun, fun!

We just love baking cookies for Santa! Now that we have cookies ready for him, we just need him to hurry up and get here!

Christmas Cookies Part I

Every year we bake cookies for Santa and this year is no exception.  I decided to try a new idea of icing sugar cookies and letting the kids decorate them with Christmas M&Ms.  Cassidy is still a little young, so I made this a special Mommy/Daddy/Stetson project instead.

Stetson did a great job baking the cookies!  Now that he is older he gets to do so much more.

He's a pro at this.

After letting the cookies cool, it was time to put the icing on them.  Messy but fun!

Daddy showed Stetson all the cool designs he could make with the M&Ms.

My two favorite guys!

Voila!  They turned out so cute and I know Santa will love them!

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Mission Update #2

After our successful donation to The Salvation Army, we had a conversation about helping others and all those that need help.  We came to the agreement that lots of people need help, but that others need help as well.  By others, we mean animals.

We tried to go to the local veterinary hospital to see how we could help but it was already closed for the day. We thought about the animal shelter as well, but weren't exactly sure where it was located.  So, we stopped in PetSmart to see if they knew of any ways we could help. 

Inside PetSmart, there were several ways to help.  The kids had their choice of donating to the following:

1.  A trust that helps adopted animals whose owners are having a hard time caring for them, whether it be due to age, illness, or financially.

2.  A donation of dog or cat food to the local animal shelter.

3.  A donation to help homeless pets in any way possible, which came with a visit and picture with Santa.

They chose option number 3.  Although they received a sort of reward for their deed, they still understood how important it is to help everyone and every thing.  I am quite proud of our little ones.

"Saving one dog will not change the world but surely, for that one dog the world will change forever." - unknown

BALANCE:  $4