Good-bye 2010

Sitters are hard to find on NYE, or so mommy says. Secretly, I think she and daddy just like hanging out with us. So, tonight we had a couple of other families over (who didn't have sitters) for a night of fun, food and games. I was so excited to see my friends and have them over to bring in the new year with me. Well, we didn't quite make it to midnight but it was close enough and who is keeping track anyway? We had a great time and hope you all had a safe and happy New Year's Eve as well. Watch out 2011 - here we come!

Not so interested in a NYE picture because we don't want to go to bed Out cold! Evidently it's tough trying to get a picture of 2 sleeping babies without turning on the light.

Time Out for Mommy

Here's the latest from Tate:

Tate: "Mommy - Look at me! No more games, no more moobies (movies), no more candy. You lost your privledges."

Mommy: "Why did I lose my privledges? "

Tate: "Because you not listening. Go to time out"

Hmmmm.......I wonder if she's heard that a time or two.

Christmas Take 2 in Tomball

Mama, Mimi B and Grandpa Smoky stopped by for some breakfast before heading back to College Station and then off we went to Tomball to see our cousins and have dinner. At Christmas time, all of the cousins trade names and Tate got a princess dress up box and I got a Leapster video game. More than that, I love spending time with my big cousins and my family!

Enjoying other people's gifts

Never one to be left out

Merry Christmas!!

It's Christmas morning and as expected, we were up at the crack of dawn to see what Santa brought us. We all had a slumber party in my room - Tate with me on the top bunk and mommy and daddy on the bottom bunk - and all went down to the living room together. What a surprise! Santa brought us exactly what we wanted! I got 'Stinky the Garbage Truck' and Tate got a dollhouse. Well, actually Tate asked Santa for a 'pink dine-dine baby' (aka pink baby dinosaur) and clever Santa actually had one in the dollhouse. Santa also brought us a new wagon with a note saying we were to share it with our new baby. We will Santa! We had such a great Christmas morning opening presents and enjoying breakfast together. Later this morning, Daddy's family is planning to stop by before we head to Tomball for dinner with mommy's family.

It's Stinky!

It's Tate's 'pink dine-dine baby'. Way to go, Santa!

Stockings hung on the chimney with care

My favorite!

Love the stocking surprises

Princess Tate with her princess lip gloss

Princess kisses for daddy

My new remote control crane

These were my Uncle Charles' chaps when he was a little boy! Handed down to me.

Preparing for Santa

After we got home, we opened our 1 present - which is always our matching jammies - got our plate ready for Santa and then went outside to spread out our reindeer food. I then "read" the story of Jesus to mommy, daddy and Tatie and then we were quick to go to bed. We couldn't wait for Santa to come down our chimney!

Sporting our new jammies. They're VERY fitting, according to mommy.

Tatie making sure everything tastes just right for Santa...

...and for Rudolph

Spreading around the reindeer food

Sharing the birth of Jesus with my family

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! This evening, it sure felt like Christmas and was cold, cold, cold and rainy. We bundled up and headed to Christmas Eve service and then afterwards, we went to Uncle Stan's house was a Christmas Eve party with family.

Riding Rudolph

Christmas Cookies

How can you have Christmas without homemade cookies? We spent the afternoon helping mommy make cookies for our neighbors, garbage men, mailman and a few other people. Tate helped eat more than she helped make but when all was said and done, we ended up with plenty of snickerdoodles, iced sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin and cake balls for all. We even made some for Santa! I sure hope he likes them.

Ornament Party

Each year, I host a little ornament party with Sofia, Emmylou and Ellie who have been in school with me since CMO. We have their families over and each of us gets to pick a new ornament for our tree. The daddies then take turns reading 'The Night Before Christmas'. It's been a fun tradition for the past 3 years and I hope we continue it for years to come.

Aren't these the cutest cupcakes ever? Of course, Miss Becca made them.
Now, that is a guilty look if I've ever seen one.

Dinner time!

Christmas Pageant

We had our annual Christmas pageant today at school and we were the wise men. We sang songs and gave baby Jesus our gifts to welcome him to the world. I was very serious about my part and mommy and daddy thought I did an exceptional job as a wise man.

Two Trippisms for the day

1) Tripp: "Mommy, I want to take a dance class".
Mommy: "Let's look on the internet and see what classes we can find"
Tripp: "Ok, but I WILL NOT wear pink tights"


2) Tripp and Mommy looking at the latest Brookstone catalog. We happen to be lookng at the 'wine section' and Tripp notices a decantur.

Tripp: "Mommy, we have one of those!"
Mommy: "You're right. We do have one of those"
Tripp: As he's getting up and walking to the fridge and pulls out the lemonade. "...and speaking of wine, I've VERY thirsty"

The Domain Carriage Ride

There is a shopping center not far from us that decorates beautifully at Christmas and has carriage rides and carolers. We decided it would be fun to make a family evening of it and headed to the Domain for a carriage ride and some dinner. For some reason, only 1 carriage was running (there usually are at least 2, sometimes 3) and the wait was longer than we had hoped for. But, once in line we were committed and although it was really cold, we found ways to entertain ourselves with the other children waiting while our parents stood in line. We loved the carriage ride and afterwards enjoyed warming up with some dinner, just the 4 of us.

Yard Work with Daddy

Mommy was with clients this afternoon so we helped daddy in the yard and garage. We love helping daddy - especially because it usually involves playing outside and getting really dirty.

Check out Tate with her hammer

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is our daddy's birthday and this afternoon we were busy making his birthday cake so he would be super surprised when he got home. He loved it, of course since it was made with extra love. Miss Becca's birthday is in 2 days so to celebrate both birthdays the adults went out for dinner. Happy Birthday to our daddy and Miss Becca!

Reindeer for a Cause

Check out the cute little reindeer I gave all of my friends at school! It's hot chocolate with marshmallows and a cherry. They were a huge hit and each reindeer we purchased supported Sammy's House. Everyone thought my mommy made these cute little guys - but they must not know my mommy that well. :)