Another SNOW DAY!?!?!

Well this Winter has definitely been VERY strange around here!! We had yet ANOTHER Snow Day the week after Christmas. Ben & Emma LOVED getting to play out in the snow. Emma ate as much snow as she possibly could and Ben made a little snowman. Even Ginny tried a taste of snow~she was not too impressed!! ;)
Here are some pics of the fun:

Family Christmas Pictures

Here are some wonderful Family Pics that My Uncle Greg took for us when he came down to visit this Christmas: It was SO wonderful to have him here with us!

Christmas at GaGa & PaPa's

After we played for a bit at our house, we packed up the car and headed to my parents house (GaGa & PaPa). There we were greeted by a mound of presents!! We opened all of our gifts, we got so many nice things~ Emma was SO excited that she got the Barbie Camper. Ben got a really cool microscope kit and Miss Ginny got Elmo Live~which she ADORES!!! Chris & I got beautiful new lamps for our Family Room~The first new lamps we've ever had in this house!! :) Then we all played and hung out with the family including my brother and sis in law and my sweet nephew Charlie. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner and truly enjoyed our day with our family.
Here are some pics from the festivities:

Christmas Morning!

Christmas Morning we woke up and got the kiddos ready to go and check to see if Santa came. They were SO excited and surprised when they saw their gifts! Ginny got a new babydoll and stroller, Emma got a pink Leapster and Ben got a Star Wars AT-TE vehicle. Then we opened gifts and had a yummy coffeecake breakfast. After breakfast the kids played with their new things for a bit before we got ready to head to GaGa & PaPa's house.
Here are some pics from our Christmas at home:

Christmas Eve Celebration

Every Christmas Eve we celebrate with Chris's side of the family. We all meet at someone's house and this year his sister Sarah hosted, so after Mass we headed their way. The theme this year was Mexican and we had some totally delicious food! We had such a fun time seeing all of our family and Ben, Emma & Ginny LOVED seeing their cousins!! It was so special to me that we could be there to help celebrate Baby Wyatt's first Christmas! What a sweetie pie he is!
After our yummy dinner, it was time to open presents!!! The kiddos were SO excited and they got so many wonderful gifts! Then we got the kids changed into their new PJ's (a brand new family tradition :)) and packed up the car. We S L O W L Y headed home as it had been snowing all day and the roads were SUPER Icy ~Yes, I did just say it snowed and was icy on Christmas Eve IN TEXAS!!! After we got home, we put out egg nog and cookies for Santa and reindeer food and tucked the kids into bed. What a fabulous night we had with wonderful family!

A Ben & Emma Christmas Special

This is a special video that Ben & Emma made for the Grandparents this Christmas and we just had to share it!! They are just too adorable (Yeah I know I'm a little biased!! ;)
*Be sure to listen closely to Miss Emma Kate's lyrics on Joy to the World!!* ;)
Here it is:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Birthday Tea Party & Special Babydoll

Today Grandma Ann & Miss Lori took Emma and I to an adorable tea room in downtown Plano called Into My Garden Tearoom. This was Emma's Birthday present from them. We started off having a delicious lunch compete with real china and Emma got her very own birthday princess place setting with her own tea pot & cup/saucer. She LOVED getting to be such a big girl! For lunch she had a flower shaped PB& J Sandwich along with fruit, chocolate chip muffins and pink "tea". For dessert she got to have Ice cream with sprinkles! I had a wonderful Chicken Caesar Salad and a delicious piece of chocolate cake.

After lunch Aunt Mary met us to go and choose Emma's new Baby. They have a special Lee Middleton Newborn Nursery set up in the front of the Tearoom. Emma got to look at all of the babies in the nursery. The "Nurse" asked Emma some questions to make sure she would be a good mommy. Em passed with flying colors and got to choose her baby. She chose the 2nd dolly that she held and named her "Baby Emma". She is too adorable and Emma had the BEST time ever as she would say :) This was seriously one of the CUTEST places I have ever seen, Thank you Grandma Ann, Miss Lori & Aunt Mary for such a fun and special day!

Now my only question is: Does this mean I'm technically a Grandma now? ;)

Emma's 5th Birthday

WOW, How is my girl already 5? I CANNOT believe that she is 5 already, I can still remember being pregnant with her (and feeling sick as a dog most of the time ;) )
She is turning in to such a sweet little girl, very helpful with her baby sister and ALWAYS thinking of others. Emma Kate you are so very precious to me and I love you so very much!

We celebrated Miss Emma's Birthday with an Italian Dinner with all of the family and pink cake/cupcakes! We had so much fun with everyone!

The Following Saturday we celebrated with some of Emma's friends at a Gymnastics place, the kids had SO much fun on the Trampolines, Zip line, Bounce Houses, Balance Beams and trapeze!

The rest of NOVEMBER

The rest of November consisted of Mommy getting really sick ~for pretty much the entire month :(
AND
Ben Losing his FIRST Tooth at school on Wed. the 11th, he was wiggling it during PE and then he pulled it out. He was SOOO excited when I picked him up from
school!!


The other exciting thing to happen this month was that Miss Emma got a Sassy new haircut. She and Mommy spent the Tuesday before Thanksgiving together and we went to Mommy's Salon and got our hair done. We had so much fun!!We also had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving with all of our family, I am so thankful for all of the wonderful and special people in my life!!

Ben's 7th Birthday!

WOW, I can't believe my boy is SEVEN today!! He is such an inquisitive and sweet little man!! He's reading like a pro and LOVES anything related to Star Wars!! ;) Here are some pics from his Birthday celebrations- we had one with just our little family on his actual birthday and then one with the whole family that following Saturday.

OCTOBER

Our October consisted of going to Ben's Soccer games every Saturday and of course Halloween. We had a trunk or treat with our MOMs club and Emma, Ginny & I went to the Senior Center with our friends to trick or treat as well.
Here are some pics from Ben's soccer games:

Here are some Halloween Pics:

SEPTEMBER

Well since I'm tryin' to play catch-up, I decided to condense the month of September into one post. The major events in September were Emma starting preschool on the 10th (and getting to meet her teachers on the 3rd) and going to the Balloon Festival (on the 19th).

On Emma's meet the teacher night, we got to visit her classroom and she decorated her special folder. She was SO Super excited to meet her teachers and some of her classmates.


Here are the pics from her 1st day of Preschool, she had such a great day and I was SO very proud of what a BIG girl she was!!


Then on Saturday the 19th Uncle Colin joined us and we all went to the Balloon Festival. We got up at the crack of dawn and went to watch the balloons take off. It was SO amazing, we had so much fun! Then we went to The Original Pancake House after for breakfast-YUMMY!! :)

The BIG 3-0

Well it's happened, today I turned the BIG 3-0!!! It really doesn't bother me all that much, it's just really really weird ;) I think back on when I was a teen and used to think 30 sounded SO old, now not so much ;)
It's crazy, growing up I thought I MIGHT get married by the time I was 30 THEN start having kids after that,or that I might not get married at all and look at me now. Thankfully I found my soul-mate (who FINALLY came to his senses) and I have been blessed with my 3 kiddos. I wouldn't change any of it!!
Here are some pics from my birthday party at my parents house:

1st day of FIRST Grade

Today my Ben started FIRST grade, I can't believe it! I know that he will have a great year and he was SO excited for school to start! I even got his famous double thumbs-up from the car as he was walking into the building!!