Tree Lighting

We took the kids again this year to Sugar Land's tree lighting. This always sounds like a good idea, until we get there and realize that we have to do something to entertain the kids for 2 hours before they actually light the tree. Here is how Luke and Abby spent their time...

Fortunately we ran into a friend that helped entertain them. They ran around together....

And crawled on the ground together...

Fortunately we also ran into Uncle Matt, always exciting!

And finally the tree was lit!

Santa's Wonderland

This past weekend, we took the kids to College Station to visit their Uncle Andy, and to go to Santa's wonderland. I had not been to Santa's wonderland since I was in college, and we knew the kids would love it because they are obsessed with Christmas lights and decorations.

While we were in College Station, we visited my brother's girlfriend, Stephanie, who teaches kindergarten there. Since Luke is slightly resistant to the idea of kindergarten, we thought it would be a good idea to give him a little positive experience with it. And Stephanie did not disapppoint, she made it look so fun, I wish I could go back to Kindergarten! Here is Luke playing with her smartboard...

On the hayride at Santa's Wonderland!

With Uncle Andy and Stephanie

Visiting with Frosty!

We usually bring our own pack-n-play for Abby, but we forgot it, so we just let the kids sleep together on the sofa bed at our hotel. They did pretty well, only woke up talking to each other a couple times :-) I just thought it was so cute to see them sleeping so peacefully together!

Santa

Every time I asked Abby if she wanted to see Santa, she screamed "NO!!!", and we tried twice at the mall (I couldn't even get near Santa without her screaming) before a successful visit. Luke was more than happy to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wants for Christmas. We finally convinced Abby to get a little closer, only by telling her that if she wants Baby Alive for Christmas, she had to tell Santa! So she tiptoed up to Santa, mumbled "baby alive" and then ran away. Oh well, at least we got a picture!

Getting ready for Christmas

We LOVE decorating for Christmas, both inside and outside. The kids were actually very helpful this year, putting ornaments on the tree and helping Vic with the lights outside. Here are some pictures!

After decorating the tree

Helping Daddy outside!

Playing in the nativity scene

The lights are finished!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful week of time together over Thanksgiving, Vic took the whole week off and the kids did not have preschool. We spent time with friends, decorating for Christmas and seeing our families. Here are a couple pictures from Luke's Thanksgiving feast at school and of the Thanksgiving crafts we made at home.

Happy Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween yesterday. The kids and I enjoyed a day of Halloween treats, craft projects and of course trick-or-treating! One of our crafts, halloween puppets! We also made a bat mobile and pumpkin lanterns!

We had a halloween picnic in the backyard with pumpkin shaped grilled cheese, followed by a dessert of making haunted houses....well, that didn't work out so well, the kids just ended up eating the frosting and marshmallows

This was Luke's first year to carve a pumpkin, he drew the shape all by himself and helped Vic carve it out

Belle and Optimus Prime ready for trick-or-treating!

Zoo Boo!

We went to Zoo Boo this past Friday at the Houston Zoo, we enjoyed the Halloween activities and the cold weather! The kids played games, painted pumpkins and enjoyed looking for all the candy stations!

Painting pumpkins

This was honestly the best picture I could get of the kids together, Abby was so done with it...

Luke showing off his tattoo!

Playing games