Christmas 2010 (Part II)

This picture sums up all the craziness of Christmas at Mi-Maw's! Silly boys!

Kiki got a jeep, and they loved driving around the cul-de-sac! They were HILARIOUS.

Mi-Maw bought G a wagon - let's go Kiki!

Before all the cruisin' around began - we ate those delicious cinnamon rolls. Good job, Mommy!

Santa brought someone his very own kitchen. He loves it and made us "coffee" the whole weekend! Dada wasn't so sure about this gift, but G loves it! That's what's important!

A Toy Story scooter too?? Thanks, Santa!

And a Spiderman four-wheeler? Santa, you are TOO much.

Sweet faces seeing all their goodies!

Christmas Eve -this picture cracks me up. Poor Mi-Maw just wanted ONE picture of her four grandsons. Here you go, Mi-Maw :)

And Mack too? Can you just feel the excitement??

Since I just couldn't take the long lines and put my little monkey through Santa torture, we brought Santa to us. He sure looks a lot like my brother, Doug :)
Santa would slowly sneak up on G while he was playing with his new toys. It took a little bit, but they soon became friends.My sad attempt to get him to sit near Santa at first.

Thanks, Santa, for coming to see us!

Buster and Griffin - new friends!

Since my Dad's cat passed away in March, my Mom has missed having a little friend around. SURPRISE, MI-MAW! Here is your new kitty, Buster. She was SO excited. And this is one sweet kitty cat.

We had an absolute amazing time this Christmas. What joy to see how much fun
the boys had. Thanks to my Mom for a great time and for always being such a great host to us. We are beyond blessed and so lucky to have one another...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas 2010 (Part I)

We are enjoying our holiday! Our favorite movie this week has been POLAR EXPRESS. We even invited Braxton over to make s'mores and watch the "choo-choo train movie."

First, we had to wrestle in the front yard.

Then, after we watched it, Santa brought us our bells. We believe!
How cute are these little elves??

We also got to visit the Thompsons in their new house! We are so glad they are home. AJ and Griffin played with cars the whole time.

I even attempted the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. Here is the mess I created. I didn't get a final pic of the rolls to post here, but trust me - DELICIOUS.

One of my favorite Christmas memories has always been traveling to Prestonwood Forest to see the lights. Each street has a theme - we loved the Disney one the most!

Gabby (our neighbor) came along with us and rode in the back of Dada's truck - so fun! We sang Christmas carols as we drove around the neighborhood.

More to come...this is just the beginning of our fun-filled Christmas!

Pajama Playdate!

Merry Christmas!

We are enjoying Day 1 of our break! Here is the tree looking pretty - still in the middle of wrapping. It's hard to to do with a curious toddler nearby.

13 sweet kiddos

6 pretty mamas

ONE FUN PLAYDATE!

Here is G and his buddy Harrison enjoying some fruit. I swear my child could eat fruit for every meal. I wish I had his love for all things fruit :)

After A LOT of playing, the sweet ones sat down for a little Polar Express.



Then, we headed to the playroom to share some stickers.

All this playing...someone needs a rest.

Wrestling with Baby Ryan and Reed...

I made Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding, Breakfast Bake with Eggs/Ham, and my mommy's Sausage Bread. Oh yes...we also had fruit. Gotta keep my main man happy :) (please forgive this set up - I did place them on my fun Xmas platters but didn't snap a photo - I promise it looked festive).

The kids left with sugar cookies and chocolate covered pretzels. The moms also enjoyed the peppermint coffee - tasted like Xmas :)

Little one is napping, and we are both still in our PJs. Love the holidays!

Thanks to all our amazing friends for coming to play! We loved spending our holiday with you!

Christmas Sweaters and Birthdays!

The Annual Armstrong Christmas Sweater Party was a blast! I loved seeing my dear friends and their awesome sweater ensembles. Dwayne, Skaife, and Keith are just some of my absolute favorite people. We grew up together and went to college together. Everytime we are together, this is what happens :)

We then had Baby Ryan's first birthday! Look who enjoyed a cupcake :)

And Baby Ryan enjoyed his too!

Then it was Dada's birthday. Griffin personally loved the card best - it plays his favorite song "I Like to Move It, Move It." He opened and closed it many times :)

We gave Dada a book of pictures of him and G. Along side the pictures, I included the lyrics to "Anything Like Me" by Brad Paisley. It fits this boy and his daddy perfectly :)

You can see/hear the song here.

On to more parties and wrapping gifts...what a fun weekend!

So this is Christmas...

Our Christmas celebrations have begun! We are getting into the holiday spirit and loving every second. This weekend, we watched the Parade of Lights in our area. We went with the Odells and loved seeing all the garbage trucks, firetrucks, and 18 wheelers covered in lights.

Mom, Jill, and I went on our annual girls' weekend to Fredericksburg. If you have never been, GO. And definitely go during the holidays! We shopped, ate, drank wine...pretty much the gist of it all. We loved our little cottage (we stay at a different B and B each year) and loved being together. Pretty sure we laughed more than anything...

They delivered breakfast to our cottage each morning. YUM.

Wine. YUM again.

Luckenbach is just around the corner so we stopped in for a Shiner and a little country music.

We have had fun decorating for the holidays. I still need to add all my treasures from the Burg - there are many. They have the cutest holiday decor :)

A little elf helped decorate the tree!

This little elf also got an early Christmas present - the learning tower. BEST. PURCHASE. EVER. Now, he can see everything I do in the kitchen - makes cooking so much easier! He also loves to color here and eat his snacks. Go get one. It's a must!

Our holidays are in full swing. I love this time of year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Giving Thanks...

Right before we began our holiday, my Uncle Doug passed away. He is my Dad's older brother, and I wrote about him here. He passed away suddenly and while we know he had an amazing life full of adventure, we miss him. To me, he is another part of my Dad, and I hate that another physical part of him is gone. But, he made the long trip to see us this past summer, and I am beyond happy that he met Griffin. Uncle Doug, we love you very much. I know Dad was waiting for you, fishing pole in hand.

Once we returned from Louisiana, we then packed up and headed to Stephenville. It was COLD, but we had a blast. Grandma took us all on a safari - Griffin loved every second!





(I have NO idea what this is, but his face cracked me up.)

Now we are home and getting the house decorated for Christmas!

Please continue to give thanks everyday. Each day is a blessing!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!