Halfway through January?!?!

Hard to believe the holidays have come and gone.  All three kiddos are back in school (YAY!) and we are settling into our  routine.

Wes started the new year with a business trip to New Orleans.  Reese asked if he was going to buy her some (LSU) tiger gear.  (Drake has a baseball cap and she wanted her own.)  I found this adorable book on Amazon for Wes to give to her when he got home.  Here she is reading it.

Drake loves his car track.  Here's some slo-motion fun!!

Another one...

Reese loves to sing along to the radio as we drive to school.  Here's her version of Uptown Funk.  Well, just the hook.  

Stella is happy to be back at Spark.  She loves her busy, structured day!

I snapped this picture of Drake and loved it so much, I blew it up to hang over his bed.

Mom, remember when I told you Stella loves to sit at the school desk?  Here are a few examples.

Drake and Reese playing together nicely.  Kinda funny because as I type this, both kids are in their room for a timeout because they KEEP FIGHTING!!!!

Reese reading while Stella warms her bones by the fire.  Whenever Wes builds a fire, Stella likes to sit on the hearth and get warm.

Stella rocking my boots.

Cute story - Reese and I were picking the meat off this chicken at dinner one day.  She asked Drake if he wanted some and he didn't.  She shrugged her shoulders and said to me, "That's ok, mom.  I guess it's just our thing."

Another funny Reese story.  She was upstairs playing in her room last Saturday.  Wes went upstairs and asked her if she wanted to hang out.  I guess he asked her a few times because she finally told him, "DAD, when someone says they don't want to hang out that means they just don't want to hang out!"

Here a picture of a random hail storm we had a few days after Christmas.  Turns out, it means we are getting a new roof!!!  Ours was pretty beaten up so we are excited to get a new one!

Christmas 2015

We spent a quiet Christmas at home this year.  All 3 kids are "aware" of Santa so we had several fun weeks of anticipation.  We would call Santa (Jill) and tell him our wish list and our elf sat on our mantel to watch our manners.   KK printed out several letters from Santa and his crew - we would find them randomly on the mantel next to our elf.  While we were in Cabo (Wes and I snuck away for 3 nights mid December) KK took the kids to see Santa at the Johnson Center.  They have a private Santa room so kids can get acclimated and best of all, NO LINE!!!!   Reese asked for a pink bike, Drake asked for cars and easy going Stella was just excited to talk about toys!!  Of course, I waited until the night before to assemble Reese's bike, and I totally screwed it up.  (Note to self:  Ball bearings are important - if one falls out, you can't just shove it anywhere and expect the wheel to turn.)  So I had to concoct a story for Reese.  Here goes...





Stella quickly found her favorite toys, both from Nana - an aquarium and a farm set with stickers.

Reese got a cash register that she loves to play with.  Here she is checking out Wes, dressed up in her Elsa gear from last year.

Drake scored another car track that he LOVES.

Pictures:

Our tree - not sure if you can tell, but all the ornaments are on the top 1/3 of the tree because Stella turns into a cat and bats them off the tree if she can reach them.

Jill and Byron joined us for a few days - we enjoyed the Trail of Lights (a one mile Christmas light display in Zilker Park) and we hiked Mt. Bonnell with Reese and Drake (Stella was at school).

Random -  we didn't have snow, but we did have a wicked hail storm one evening.  A blanket of white covered our deck in just a few minutes.

Now that KK has moved to Savannah to join Rayce, we moved Reese into her room.  It will still serve as a guest room for company but Reese is in heaven having her own space.  We finally ditched the toddler bed Drake was sleeping in and moved him to where Reese was sleeping.  Here is his new room!!

 We moved the couch from our master bedroom up here.  This room doubles as our playroom so it's nice to have a comfortable spot to sit while I watch the kids play.

Notice the new shelf for our stuffed animal collection?  Super excited to have them off the floor, yet still displayed in all their cuteness.

I finally found some room for our childhood desks.  Makes me so happy to see our little ones using them.  Ah, memories!!!

Happy New Year to our family and friends!!!!  We were in bed and asleep by 10:00 pm and are spending the day playing in front of the fireplace.  Perfection!!!!