Wedding Bells

Max's teacher got married last night and Max was a ring bearer. Him and his friend Nick were both chosen to be ring bearers and they did an absolutely wonderful job. At one point during the ceremony I saw Miss Fitz look down at Max and he smiled and winked at her. The reception was a blast. Miss Fitz, I mean Mrs. Davis had a candy buffet table just for the kids and spent time with them on the dance floor. It was hard to tell Max when it was time to go home.

Max with Mrs. Davis

The kids all doing crazy dances with their teacher.

Max and his friend Nick

Not my favorite picture of me, but I love the look on Max's face.

Max ready to go to the wedding. Doesn't he look handsome?

Christmas morning

These are just a few pics from Christmas morning.

After Santa stopped by.
Miss Celia with her new baby doll and a few too many coats of lip gloss.

Nothing says Christmas like a B B gun.

Believe it or not, this was one of the things that Max really, really, really was hoping for. My only problems is that he keeps wanting to go over the sections on reproduction.

Happy Birthday Conner!!!!

On December 23rd Conner turned 14. I still can't believe how quickly he has grown up. You always hear people say that it seems just like yesterday..... but it is so true. I am so proud of the person he has grown up to be and although I am a little nervous about the next few years, (he gets his drivers learning permit now), I am so excited to see what paths he decides to take.


Conner with his beautiful homemade cake. I ran out of red dye for the frosting. You can imagine Conner's excitement when he saw that his birthday cake had hot pink frosting on it!

Christmas party!!

On the 21st we had Max's class party. Now if you know me, you know I love these parties, but this one was very special because Aaron was there too. Aaron took the whole week off so he was able to make it to all of the kids Christmas events. We had sugar cookies and juice, played Christmas BINGO, and all the kids got goodie bags. It was a lot of fun!

Max with his teacher Miss Fitz

Daddy and Celia enjoying the party.

The Polar Express

On Dec. 19th Max got to play the part of the little boy in his second grade class production of The Polar Express. He was great!!!! I thought I was going to burst when I saw my little guy walk out on that stage all by himself. He was so cute. Max really enjoyed the whole experience. I loved hearing him sing all of the songs. He would sing on the way to school, at the grocery store, everywhere!!! We even had people stop and tell us how beautiful his singing is. This was not Max's debut performance however. In May of 2005, while we were at Disneyworld, he got picked to be part of the show at the hoop-de-doo review. Max is a natural born performer.

Max in his costume for the play.

Ponies, and Camels, and Mistletoe, Oh My!

Sunday night we all went up to the square in Fayetteville. It has become a family tradition to take the kids there each year to enjoy all of the lights and let them ride the ponies. For those of you who do not live here in Arkansas, the square is beautiful at Christmas. It is completely lit up, and Christmas music is playing. It always makes me think of being in a small town years ago at Christmas time. There are ponies and camels to ride, hot chocolate, and carriage rides. This year we let the little ones ride the ponies and camels and they thoroughly enjoyed it. Max was very concerned that Aaron and I kiss each time we found ourselves under mistletoe. I was more than happy to stop and give my husband a kiss, unfortunately Conner found it very embarassing...which of course made Aaron and I want to do it even more!!

Daddy dancing to the Christmas music with his little Princess.

Celia all fired up!

Max riding a pony and as usual being very good for the camera.

Doesn't every little girl want a pony?

The kiddos!!

Max and Celia riding on a camel. Now that is something that you don't say often.

Me and my sweetie......the greatest husband ever!!!

Seeing Santa at the Botanical Gardens

My crazy kids enjoying the new botanical gardens. It is just down the street from us and it is really nice.
Me and the kids trying to fit all of us in the picture. It didn't work out so well but we had a blast trying!
Max and Celia talking to Santa Claus. Celia was soooo exicted to tell Santa what she wanted. She kept jumping up and down and did not want to leave him. Again, my kids are NOT shy!! (they get that from their dads side)
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Celia's new haircut

So I decided to give Celia a haircut. As you have probably noticed in past pictures, Celia has crazy hair. I always promised myself that my little girl would always have long hair, but we could not keep it in a ponytail and if she tried to wear it down it was everywhere. I was unsure how she would do at a salon and decided to do it myself. BAD IDEA!!! I would cut, think I was done, realize it was uneven, and cut some more. When we got to chin length I accepted the fact that she had to go to a professional. When we got to the salon and Celia saw the all mirrors, she was thrilled. The lady who cut her hair put a PINK and PURPLE cover over her. I believe it was at this point that Celia let everyone in the salon know that she was a princess. Halfway through the haircut she even told the lady that she loved her. Needless to say, Celia will be going to a salon from now on. I know that she no longer has long hair, but doesn't she look cute with short hair?

Max can cook!!

Max made a very yummy breakfast for all of us this morning. He made sure that he finished all of his homework last night so that he would have all of his morning free to make pancakes. At first I was a little reluctant, of course I am reluctant about almost everything in the morning until I have had at least two cups of coffee. As usual, Max's enthusiasm won me over and before I knew it, we were mixing the flour, eggs, etc. Max was great in the kitchen and the pancakes were delicious. Aaron even got out of bed an hour earlier than he needed to so that he could have some of Max's pancakes.


Max ready to go!!
Thinking about what ingredients he needed to get to make his pancakes.

song and dance

On Monday I took Celia to a kindermusik class that moms club does once a month. I have not taken Celia to this class for a very long time because she did not do very well on my first attempt. I decided I should try it again though because she is going to start dance in January when she turns four. I figured that I should make sure she is okay about following direction, etc. She did great and had soooo much fun. I think we are going to start going every month.

I need to brag

I got the greatest gift today! Max's entire class made me cards. They were thank you cards for the class party. I have to admit that having 23 seven year olds tell me I'm cool and fun made me feel pretty good. Aaron and I have always considered ourselves kind of nerds, but obviously we were wrong!! Did I mention I love being a mommy?

Cozy P.J.'s

Today, Celia wanted to get the mail. When she opened the mailbox there was a package just for her. Grandma Merry had made her pajamas! Celia opened the package right away and exlaimed, "oh my gosh!!!" We had to go shopping so she brought her pajamas with her to hold and was a little disappointed when the lady working at the McDonalds drive thru did not have time to look at them closely. As soon as we got home she put them on and I think it will be awhile before we get them off again. Thanks Grandma!!!!

Second Grade is a blast!

Max is having such a fun year. He is in Miss Fitz's second grade class, and they get to do so many fun things. On Halloween all the kids got to dress as their favorite book character. Max's teacher had her class all dress as characters from Charlotte's Web. As you can see Max got to be Wilbur. Wilbur

The day after Halloween they all got to wear their pajamas to school.

Trick-or-Treat

Halloween night we went over to our friends house so the kids could trick or treat together. We made "mummy" dogs and green macaroni and cheese for dinner and then headed out to get a ton of candy. While we were out Celia would occasioanlly yell something about how trick or treating is her favorite, or I love candy. I think this was probably my favorite Halloween ever. Although Conner is much older, it was fun to be out with all three of them on a beautiful night.

Little Mermaid with her "best friend" Spiderman.

Celia, Max, Mason, and Nick getting ready to go!

Out gettin' candy!!!

Another Party!!!!!

On Wednesday afternoon Max had his Fall party at school. I am the room mom for Max's class which I absolutely love. I have always helped with his parties, but this is the first one I have done by myself, so I was a little nervous to find out if the kids would have fun. What I have learned is that if you mix sugar with a chance for them to run around and act insane, they seem to enjoy themselves. We had popcorn balls, played "wrap the mummy," and ended the party with goodie bags. What a great time!

Max's group won the game so they got these skeleton suckers for a prize. All of the kids got some of these great looking teeth. What a handsome group they were.

Celia helped out by carrying some of the bags in for me, and the class made her feel very much a part of the group. I should probably mention that Celia always feel part of the group, even if she doesn't know who the group is!

Celia helping Max's group get the mummy all wrapped up!

Party!!!

Last Tuesday I took Max to the Moms Club Halloween party. Celia was sick so she was not able to go with us. Max had a great time. Here are a few pictures of the night.




At the cake/cookie walk, Max was the first one to win. This was very exciting except he still wanted to play so.....


he just made up his own entertainment while the others continued the game.

Let's Bake!!

The other night, Celia got to bake her first cake. She was a natural. She put on a apron and chefs hat, and was ready to go. Here is a picture of our baker.

Kansas City

On Friday, October 19th we packed up the kids and headed for Kansas City! Although Conner had found out that we were going ahead of time (due to eavesdropping on my phone conversations) the other kids had no idea. We acted like we were getting them ready for school, but drove to Science City at Union Station instead. The kids had a blast!!!! After spending the afternoon playing, exploring, and learning we headed to our ultimate destination.....T-Rex Cafe. This restaurant is from the same people that own Rainforest Cafe which is one of our favorite restaurants. It did not disappoint. Animatronic dinosaurs, occasional meteor showers, and a Build-A-Dino store (by Build-A-Bear) were all there to enjoy. Max chose a pteranadon (sp?) and named him Fly-E. Celia found a little pink dinosaur that was perfect for her. After dinner we browsed around the mall where the kids got to enjoy the great water fountain. Max said it felt like DisneyWorld. At the very end of the night, Grandma Merry surprised the kids by pulling out a Christmas tree and giving them their presents early so we could all be together to enjoy watching them. It was an unbelieveably good day. On the drive home I felt so blessed to have this amazing group of people to call my family, and to have the ability to take a day off and just enjoy spending it together.