My baby has turned 3 years old. I can't believe that he's gotten so big. At 2 he was a baby, at 3 he now a big boy. But he'll always be my little baby. We have a cut little thing we do at bedtime. I tell him goodnight Peter Pan, and he says goodnight Tinker Bell. If you ask him why he's Peter Pan, he'll tell you it's because he's never gonna grow up. I can't begin to say how I wish that was true.

He is such a sweet little boy. He loves spending time with "just us" as he calls it when all the kids are in school. He helps me do the dishes and will randomly bring me a Coke in the middle of the day. He says the cutest things all day, every day. I'm so lucky to have such a beautiful spirit as my son.
We take the kids to Toys r Us to pick out 1 birthday present. There was so many choices poor Carson had a bit of a hard time.
We were there for over an hour for 1 toys. He was in awe of all the toys.
Here is his final choice (at least that mom and dad aproved of. He really wanted Thomas the Train)
Toys R Us gives them a balloon and announces over the speaker that it's his birthday. All the workers will stop them and wish them a happy birthday. It makes them feel so special.
Here is Carson at the Cake Cake Factory where his favorite Aunt Stacie works.
To finish off the day we met some of his favorite people at Leatherbyes for ice cream. He asked for a suitcase that he can take on trips.
Carson order this strawberry sundae all by his big boy self.
But when the waiter brought a little cup of ice cream with a candle in it and sang to him, he would only eat that.
Here's Grandma Pam, Stacie and Chris, Dale, Tabitha and Lincoln, and Easton and Avery

Christmas with the Rex's

Here's one child with one gift...One of way too many.
Carson somehow got his head stuck inside this wrapping paper. He was so funny all day.

Here's Halle in her brilliant Christmas smile. Notice Carson laying on the floor. At this point he had thrown himself on the floor and cried out, "I give UP! I don't neeeed anymore toys!" He wanted to open each presant wrapping paper, box and all and start playing right then. It was so cute.
Here's all the kids and they're stockings.

We made another ginger bread house curtesie of the Gray's. So, in their honor they decorated it like the grays house. From the big red U, to the hot tub in the back
Notice the blue hot tub in the back.
Twister anyone???
Carson added a new level of difficulty to Twister. He would either jump on my back or come around and push everyone down.

Here's my neighbor gift. I'm not trying to brag, but I wanted Brenda to see how cute her little box's worked.

For my mother in law's Christmas present. The entire family went in and did a room make over, Extreme Make Over style. She had a substitute job that day and we showed up minutes after she pulled out of the drive way. Mikki, Jenny and myself, battle little kids touching wet walls, lamps exploding, and the ever encroching deadline. We were able to get it all done and cleaned up with about 15 minutes to spare. I think Pam really enjoyed having her own little oasis.
This beautiful saying, was meant to give her courage to make it through her daily challeges. The picture is called, "Let your light so shine."

New Christmas Eve Tradition

After asking JD at least a million times what he wanted for Christmas Eve dinner, on the 23rd he decided that we should go out to a nice dinner with the family. At first I was a little against the idea. I like being home around the Christmas tree and watching a movie or play a game. Then the truth of the matter came to me. If we stay home, I cook, I clean up, I miss the fun times around the Christmas tree and half the movie.

So, on Christmas Eve we went to one of my favorite restaurant, Rodizio's. Our reservation was for 5:00. We were back to our house by 6:30. Yes, ladies, 1 1/2 hours to be seated, eat until we were about to pop, loaded back into the car and home. No dishes, no burnt anything, no "I don't like that".

It was so much fun. We all got dressed up in our Christmas best. We invited my mother and brother in-laws, and had a great family dinner. Will we do it again? 100% YES!

Finally a PTA mom

If you ask Easton, it sucks being the oldest because mom never gets to go on field trips with you. There too many little kids to find sitters for......

Well, I pulled some strings, used up my last favor for the year, and with the help of a little pixie dust, I managed to escort Easton and 26 of his class mates on a fieldtrip.

We spent the day downtown at the Gateway mall. Walking between the trax station, Clark Planitarium and the food court in the snow. The weather was nasty when we left. I would say with wind chill it had to be 10 degrees, it was FREEZING! It calmed down on the ride downtown and stayed mild until our way home, when it started dumping snow again.

This morning we were discussing the kids in his class and if they had fun. Easton said something silly about himself and I said, "You're such a dork," He responded with a straight face, "We like to call ourselves Genius's." I laughed till I peed.

Here are some fun pictures of the dorks, I'm mean genius'

Here's the entire clan, on the vacation to mars.
Here's Easton seeing if Neil Armstrong measures up to him.
Here are the girls getting a great tan on Mars

Halle's Winter Program

Hall did a great job at the preschool Winter program. It was short and sweet, just the way we like it. They don't celebrate Christmas, but the do Winter. So, my favorite song they sang was the "Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Piza Hut" song. If you haven't heard it, it's worth asking her to sing it for you.

Christams Dolls

My little Christmas dolls starred in their Christmas dance performance. Both Avery and Halle did a great job. Avery insisted on continuing her bossiness on stage, telling every one where to go, and the rest of the girls just stared at her and followed her steps. The sad thing is they all knew the dance without looking at her. So, for the second show I told them to quit looking at Avery and smile for their parents. They did better the second time around. I always think my girls have the cutest costumes.....but really, look at them! Could they be any cuter?!?!

Elf's little brother

This is what happens when mom works mornings.

Easton's pretending to be Elf (the movie)when he's sleeping in his all red long johns.

The meanest nija in the world

I was getting ready for a wedding the other day and in comes Carson with his nija's. I didn't realy pay him any mind. He was making them fight each other. Then, he started giving them names. This is Alvin, this is Simon, this is Dave, this mean guy is Dale, and the meanest one in the whole world is Tabita.

He then preceeds to have Tabita kick the trash out of all the other nijas. It was so cute.

***Tabby, this was a term of endearment. It's cool to be able to kick everyones trash!****

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

My baby is going to be a Sunbeam. Bye, Bye Nursery.

The primary is getting the new sunbeams ready to be in primary, by taking them to singing time. Last week Carson wanted nothing to do with it. So, this week I walked with him. He walked in like he owed the place. He spotted Halle on the front row and ran to sit with her. When there wasn't an open seat, he hopped up on her lap. It was the sweetest thing.

They sat there like that the entire time. Both of them sang Christmas songs and did the actions that went along with them. It was so cute I could have cried.

Just one last first that I'll have with my babies.

Black Friday

Thanksgiving came and went. I made a turkey and way too much stuffing. Cranberry sauce and about 3 dozen rolls. We met all of JD's family at his mom's house. The 5 hour preperation was done in about 8 minutes. And true to form I was the last one sitting at the table finishing my meal alone. I guess when you come from a family of 7, you eat quick or someone else will eat it for you. I, on the other hand, like to actually taste my food and have conversation over dinner. Oh well, at least it was quiet.

Later Tabby and Dale joined us for a movie. We brought in the Christmas season with "4 Christmas" I would recommend this to everyone. Simply hilarious!

I went to bed at eleven and was back up at 3:30. My sisters Stacie and Stefanie, and Tabby all met at Target at 4:00 am. It was raining when we left the house but stopped shortly after getting in line. It wasn't even that cold. We've suffered through worse. We got door busters at Target, Old Navy, Home Depot, and Walmart. Then we hit Bed, Bath and Beyond. Next it was a pit stop at Midvale Mining Co for breakfast. Then we stopped my the beauty supply shop, back to Target and then Inkleys. We were home by 11:30. My van was full to the top. Tabby was in the back and barely had room to sit.


JD went to work and I took a power nap from 4-5. Then it was off to the mall. I found great deals at Gymboree, Victoria's secret, and Bath and Body Works. Toys R Us looked as though a bomb went off in it. I walked in and went straight back out. It was a great day. I only have a few gifts left to buy.

On a side note. Every Saturday after black Friday, I have people come up to me and say, "Oh, I wish I would have come." Here's a tip: It never sounds like a good idea to get up at 3:30 am and stand in line at some store; but once you're eating breakfast with girlfriends at 9:00 am knowing that most of your shopping is done and you've saved over 250.00 (and that's a small figure) it is all worth it,and you'll actually say it was fun.

My sister goes with me every year, and every year I have to talk her into it. This year her boyfriend had to shove her out the door. But at breakfast she was smiling ear to ear about the purchases she'd made.

I have an open invitation to shop with me, but I always start at Target.

Merry Christmas