It's Beginning (kind of) To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

On Monday night, we brought all of our Christmas decorations downstairs and attempted to start decorating. This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions of ours. We turn Christmas music on throughout the entire downstairs, put on Christmas hats, and decorate. It really feels like Christmas after that! We didn't get as much done this year so it's still a mess (but it's getting better!) Here's Harrison rockin' out with part of our "peanut" Christmas tree.He brought all of his Webkinz down and set them up around the living room so that they could watch us decorate. I love this view!

Waiting to light the tree. I wasn't sure what Lydia would think.
She liked it!!

She would NOT leave a Christmas hat on. Harrison was really into it this year (he always is). He was working away and realized that we didn't have our hats on yet and started passing them out!!

He decorated everything he could find in the living room.

He set the outside trees up and decorated those and my greenery (and the hearth, chair, and couch). I may have to leave some of his masterpieces up!!

Getting the train ready. This is one of Zane's favorite parts! We've had this train since he was 2 or 3 and living in Little Rock.

Lyddie was "helping" and Zane was cracking up. He's such a great brother (cheesy but true :) ).

You can't end the night without a big ball fight. This has become a favorite bedtime ritual. It really calms them down and sets the mood for sleep :). All three of my boys love it. It gets pretty intense!

On Tuesday, Lyddie helped me get a little more unpacked. She found these plastic mugs and played for a long time. It was funny to watch her concentrate so hard on stacking.

Where's Waldo... I mean Lyddie??? She loved playing in the boxes and checking out all of the new "toys". She played so hard that she fell asleep eating lunch.Literally eating lunch. She was sucking on this cracker as she was falling asleep.

Guessing Game

I went to tell the boys that it was time to go to bed and I found them playing together in Zane's room (without fighting- it was great!) Zane had this putty slime stuff rolled into about 12 balls and they were laid out on his floor. He asked if him and Harrison could finish their game.

Me: What game are you playing?

Zane: It's a guessing game.

Me: What kind of guessing game?

Zane: Harrison has to try to guess which ball my silver tooth is in.

I guess the tooth fairy had dropped it or SOMETHING!! I can't figure out how it got under his bed but that's where he found it!! Gross, I know.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days. I think that we may've found our lead singer for Rock Band. Harrison helped me make Peanut Butter Pie !

She's learned to check herself out in the mirror. Then she puts all of her things in her "purse" and walks all over the living room.

On Saturday we had waffles and sausage for breakfast. Lyddie actually ate out of the bowl! She normally won't touch it unless it's on her tray.

Harrison was letting his animals eat.

The boys had hot chocolate with their breakfast. They liked to suck the marshmallows up thru the straw.

Big Walker!!

Lydia has REALLY started walking now. She was taking steps, but on Sunday, she started walking all the way across the room and changing directions! Jared and I just sat there and stared at her and then at each other. She really seemed to change overnight. Jared set up Rock Band on Sunday night. It is SOOO much fun!!! I got kicked out of the band when I was on the guitar but held my own as the drummer (my true passion!). It's great because when H and I double up on the drums, we are all able to play. Here are the boys watching the tutorial video. My mom got Lyddie this dress for her birthday. I wanted to get a picture before we left for church to show her. NOT a good idea! This girl was wanting breakfast... not a photo session!! This is the best picture that I got if that tells you anything!

After church (notice we shed the bow, tights, and boots!) Zane would push her toy around the living room and she would chase him. It was pretty sweet.

Harrison loves to dress up. He found the swimming gear in the laundry room.

Tonight I put her yogurt in a bowl, gave her some spoons, and let her go! She actually did much better than I predicted. At first she just tipped the bowl up, but by the end she was really using her spoon. NOT to say it wasn't everywhere! That's how they learn though, right?!

Lydia's FIRST Birthday

Happy Birthday Lydia!! We celebrated her 1st birthday on Tuesday evening. All of our family came over and we had dinner and birthday cake. It was a lot of fun. She went to the doctor on Wednesday. She weighs 18 pounds 14 ounces and is 28 inches tall (25% for both!) She's on the small side put I think she's plumping up a little bit. She's taking a lot of steps (6 or 7 at a time) and last night she walked quite a bit further. She's really turning into a little girl. She loves to wear my bracelets. It's her favorite. Last night, I walked into the kitchen and she was standing there in nothing but her diaper and a plastic bracelet (where was my camera?!).

She was not sure about the cake at first. She's looking at her Daddy in this one.

"Mmm, that's good!"

She didn't like having her hands in it so this was her preferred method of eating at first. She had icing so far up her nose!

She got over it!!!
I forgot to put her birthday hat on for the party so I took a picture last night.

Halloween (FINALLY!)

We had a fun (and CRAZY) Halloween. Zane's party was the night before so we started off tired :). Zane's friend was having a hay ride around his neighborhood to trick-or-treat and a party afterwards. We decided to let him go to that and spend the night with another friend. After we dropped him off and were on our way to make our "rounds" I started crying! It was harder for me than I realized that he wasn't going to be with us. He's just growing up too fast. Anyway, we stopped at Jared's grandma's house, my grandparents house, Jared's parents house, and then finally my parents house. We left the kids there to spend the night and Jared and I headed to Fort Smith for a Halloween party. We didn't get there until 10 and had to drive back that night. It took me a couple of days to catch up on my sleep! My sister has more Halloween pictures (and pictures from some birthday parties that I didn't get put on here). Click here to see her blog.

Lydia was a "beautiful ballerina". Harrison tells her that she's "more beautiful than a ballerina" so I felt like this was a fitting costume! Harrison was Indiana Jones.

Zane was a ref from the Ole Miss game!! She LOVED her plush Halloween basket. She carried it on her arm like that all night!

"Can I really pick anything I want?"H enjoying his sucker on my Granny's front porch.

We were in such a rush to leave the house that I forgot her bow and ballerina slippers (and their overnight bag). Showing off his skills!THIS is my brother. He was dressed as the biker from the Village People (and really shaved his goatee). He works at the court house so I can imagine the looks that he got when he showed up to work. They love it! Each year we can't wait to see what he'll be dressed as. This was taken after Halloween. She has her share of girly toys (she's actually very girly!) but she was loving this gun and spider. You can tell she's in a house of boys.

Zane's Party

I didn't get very many pictures from Zane's party. When there are THAT many kids running around it's hard to remember to get the camera out! We did a haunted trail ride. We weren't able to scare them as much this time but we'll get them next year :). I think that having 28 people on the trailer made it a little less intimidating. This is a picture of them before we left. This kid got some serious cash! I'm going to invite all of them back for my birthday :).At the end of the night Jared took Shelley's stitches out. I'll bet that would've scared the kids!