Paige's 5th Birthday: February 2017

Sassy Pants Paige turned 5 years old!

Family Christmas Present: December 2016

The main 2016 Christmas gift for the family was a night out to the Gaylord Texan the night after Christmas and to see the Santa Clause is Coming to Town ice sculptures. It was busy, but we had a great time enjoying the beautiful hotel and the awesome decorations. We had Grandma Lori come along to help and enjoy our celebration with us.

December 2016

Happy Birthday, Tessa! Here's to your first decade on Earth!

Tessa had a birthday party and said she wanted glazed donuts for her "cake". I was all for it.

 Tap dancing fool:

 Cole, Paige, Anna, Evie, Brinley, Riley, Brooklyn, Leah, Tessa, Sadie, and Kayla.

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!
The annual Christmas morning on the stairs picture:

 Merry Christmas, cuties.

November 2016

Jake turned 40. I held a surprise open house for him the weekend of Halloween, and I didn't. get. any. pictures. WHAT?!?! It took so much work to plan the shindig and to carry it out without Jake knowing, and I didn't document it with any images. Sad. It turned out really well, though. We had upwards of 70 people here at the house to celebrate Jake. We had our friends, the Nuttalls, come up from Austin to stay the night with us so they could be here. I had food hidden all over the house. I thought for sure Jake knew what was happening when, a few nights earlier, an RSVP from the evite came through on my email as he was sitting at the computer. I flipped, and he was so confused as I rambled an excuse, leaned over, and deleted it. Aye carumba. But it WAS a surprise. People just started showing up to the house, and once Jake got over his confusion, he was really touched and happy as he chatted the night away. We both felt very loved.

Tessa had her 4th grade program. She's the one on the far left with the hat on, dancing to Surfin' Safari.

 Paige voted at preschool for either Dog or Cat. I wish that's who I had to vote between this year. It was one ugly voting season. Eesh. But she's cute!

Part of Jake's birthday present was a night away. We haven't done that since we've had kids! Hospital visits where another kid joins the family don't count. My mom stayed with the kids so we could go have dinner and stay at the Warwick. We had a lovely and very relaxing time together.

 I finally was able to drive in November as long as I took off the boot to do it. I think this was during one of the first drives and to the library we went!

 Family flu shot time! They didn't have sniffers, so the drama of everyone getting the needle was a little ridiculous, but the lollies worked their magic, and happy were we. Sprouts is right across the street, so we went there afterward and picked out our Sprouts dinner which we sometimes do. The kids all pick out a vegetable and a fruit, and I get rolls, cheese, and meat to make sandwiches at home. It's a fun group effort.

 Paige's Panther Preschool is the best. Here she is as a pilgrim:

 And here she is as a squaw:

 Tessa is in the Colt Choir this year and is loving it.
Tessa, Brooklyn, and Kayla.

 We hosted Thanksgiving at our house. We had my mom and Duke, the Boomhowers, the Hirsts, and Justin and his son over. This is another event where I wish I would have remembered to pull out a camera. When I'm hosting, I get a little overwhelmed with details, and pictures are low on my totem pole of needs. It was an awesome meal with a huge variety of options. Our own Golden Corral. :) Overall it was an enjoyable Thanksgiving. The next night the Fitzgeralds came over with Angie's parents to have Thanksgiving part 2: the leftovers. We felt like we celebrated Thanksgiving as fully as one can by the time the weekend was over!