getting ready for the big guy

my sister, being the good mommy that she is made sugar cookies from scratch on christmas eve so santa would leave some presents...i doubt he would have appreciated the break and bake that he would have gotten at our house otherwise! we got there just in time for the cookie making to begin! as you can see, mm was very excited!

here is sweet maggie. she is so funny. i love her imagination. she is bound to be a writer with all of her stories!
bug even got into the action with gran's help.

as you can see he was pretty impressed with himself...but typical grady...he only lasted making cookies for about 1.2 seconds, then he was off again!

mm got carried away with the sprinkles...i bet santa really liked this one!

then it was on to the reindeer food...i was responsible for this one...i know that we have to take care of the little guys since they have to lug the jolly old man all around the world in one night with little thanks! leave it to me to provide the messiest activity!

of course, maggie was unsure that the reindeer would like the birdseed...she is too smart!

the finished product!

progressive party

we had a great time at our neighborhood progressive party. thanks to the lingenfelters for the appetizers, the bakers for the dinner! we had the deserts at our house. it was so nice not to have to chase kids and have some real adult conversation. thanks everybody!

long time no post...

okay, so we have been crazy! i know that i haven't posted in forever, but i will make up for it...we have lots of pictures to be shared from all the christmas activities...stay tuned!

fishies!

we went to the aquarium last week and had a great time with my nephew, will.



don't you love this picture...i wish that maggie and katie were in it...that would have been incredible!




this was hilarious...grady was busy "racing" at the sea lion tank...he didn't pay attention to the gigantic sea lions that were swimming past him...mm did, and she didn't like it!


grady was a sleepy boy after running around all morning...this is is proof!

grady bug needs a haircut!

this is the before of grady's haircut last week...you should notice that there is not an after picture. i had to hold him down just so she could pass the scissors through his bangs one time...i am not sure when it happened, but my sweet baby has turned into a monster...ah i mean a toddler!

christmas decorations

nothing fun to post, but we did get out wreaths up outside last night!

christmas past

we have been super busy and crazy so i have nothing new to share. i decided to steal this idea from a friend to post pictures from last christmas...we are really looking forward to this christmas even though santa has not been shopping yet! agh!

who said accountants are boring?

we had john's christmas party last night and had the best time...j.k. boatwright knows how to party. it sure is a lot more fun gambling when you don't have any money at stake!


i love these girls. we always have the best time. carla, kelly, beth (and melanie, not pictured) are john's girlfriends at work!

i heart jib jab...

for making me laugh SO hard!

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

we have been elfed

here we go again...dancing fools! i can't tell you how many times i watched this. click on the link below to see the whole movie.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1187704810

you can be elfed too at www.elfyourself.com

an oldie...

this is an old picture, but i love it! it is amazing to me how much mm & g love each other. they are so little but they are so lovable.

let the season begin!

so we are a couple weeks late getting our decorations out this year, but we started this weekend.

here is our tree...it is so pretty and smells SO good!


mom got mm this pink christmas tree for her room...she LOVES it!

christmas parade

have you ever wondered why you do something that you don't enjoy, but continue to do it every year? this is the case with the local christmas parade. we bring the kids every year along with every other family in lagrange down to the square to watch countless high school bands, cars with kids, and flat bed trucks carrying loads of people waving. it is SO long waiting for santa's arrival in the fire truck. we even quilted the lingenfelters into going this year. telling them that when you live in lagrange, you have to bring your kids to the christmas parade. last night i was thinking why do we go every year and why we are we giving the lingenfelters such a hard time...the reason is that we do it because our parents did it, even though they didn't enjoy it either. i think that we are trying to do the same things our parents did so our kids can have the same experiences growing up as we did.

happy birthday katie!

today my niece katie turns one! doesn't see look like the queen waving in this picture. katie and her big sister maggie are at disney world celebrating their birthdays! love you katie!

hailey

here is a catch up picture from the long weekend. this is my niece hailey. isn't she a cutie? her eyes are incredible! most of y'all know that john is a twin so when we found out that john's brother and his wife were pregnant their mom told us that their child and our kids would have closer dna than normal cousins. weird huh?

anyway, here is sweet hailey. she is the best baby...not like my wild kids! poor thing has already survived a lot just with mm & g visiting her! mm LOVES her and we do too!

happy belated birthday maggie!

happy 4th birthday maggie! auntie fi loves you!

i was going to wait until tomorrow to post both of my nieces birthdays, but thought that they each needed their own post, especially since their birthdays are so close. this picture is from this summer, but i love it because it is so maggie!

it is finally cold!

we had our first really cold snap this weekend...just in time for a little time off with the kids. i am sure that we will be in short sleeve again by christmas. anyway, being the great mommy i am, i took the opportunity to bring my already snotty nosed kids out for a photo op!

binks take "2"!

so apparently mm is a trendsetter...g decided to try the two binks are better than one approach! i promise this is not staged...mm did this last week and g ran up to me this weekend showing me his new trick...he thinks that it is so funny and gets so tickled at himself he can't get the second one in because he is laughing!

she has done it again!

lindsey took some christmas pictures of the extended "and co" the other day for mom and dad's christmas card. here is what we got! they are super cute...especially since g screamed the whole time (there are a few screaming ones too for fun!)

i know that all of you think that i am obsessed with lindsey...the truth is that i kinda am because i feel so fortunate to have their sweet family in our life and to say the least i am incredibly jealous of her day job! i don't have any regrets at all in my life, but if i were to change one thing, i would have concentrated in photography! oh well. for now, i can just be jealous and thrilled that my friend can take these "a day in the life" pictures of my cute family!

take a look here http://lindentree.instaproofs.com/

password is Christmas (Capitalize the C)

okay, so i am not so good at math...

my grammar could be better...science, not so much...history couldn't hold my attention...spelling, thank you spell check...organization? ha!...but i must say, i LOVE being crafty! this is what i love doing...creating things with my own hands, with my imagination. sure, i stay up countless hours that i should be sleeping, but it was worth it. it was all worth it because when mm saw it this morning...she said, "a TURKEY! on my shirt! GOBBLE GOOBLE!"

(ps...i think that mm is going to be crafty too...her favorite activity is painting at school and montessori! i knew that girl was mine!)

here is why i am so sleepy today...