Home for the Holidays!

My home that is! Everyone got to come to our house this year, which has made for a crazy, busy couple of days, well honestly weeks! I'd like to use that excuse for the lack of posting and the Nov. header. *grin* And to be totally honest, I just changed Little Lion's calendar to December today!

SO here it all is in as little as a nutshell as I could fit it!

It all began Sat, Dec 19. We picked up Daddy Lion's parents at the airport.

Our Christmas Sunday best with Grandma and Grandpa Lion!

I cannot believe I got such a great shot of the two of them before church and in front of the tree! Would have been a great one for the Christmas card!

Sunday evening we enjoyed seeing my stepsister and her family who had drove in. Baby Claire is getting so big and she was so much fun.

Can you tell the kids loved her?!?

I think she liked them too!

Christmas morning found Little Pumpkin too early! I can so relate . . .

I love this shot of their faces just as they walk in to see what "Santa" left!

Look at that smile! He loved the pj's ~ put them on right then on top of the ones he already had on! Too funny.

Later Lolly, Pop and Tia came over for more celebrating. Lolly got this awesome shot of Little Pumpkin's pure excitement when opening Tia's gift!
A pinkalicious dress! With the fixings for a pinkalicious cupcake baking day! What an awesome Tia.

For Christmas, Tia was my personal shopper and bought me this sweet shirt for Christmas day. After a full day of shopping she ended up buying the pink one for her. Later she found the purple version for mom ~ so of course we had to have a picture of the three of us in our shirts! *smile* Thanks again Tia.

Side note: If I ever look trendy and stylin' you can bet Tia has dressed me! *wink*

Papaw finally made it in from overseas and we celebrated with him and Ms. K on Sunday.

This is Little Pumpkin getting into her "stocking"! YES!!! That huge bag is just their stocking stuff; can you say SPOILED!?!

A sweet picture of Little Pumpkin and Papaw snuggling in her new blanket.

I think Ms. K was dodging the camera lots, but I do think she enjoyed her red vase! I can't wait to see the flower arrangement she does for it. She is quite talented that way!

So, from our busy (but happy) home to yours: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Best Christmas Gift Exchange Ever!

I picked this up from Magnum and Doc at our small group party. Three batteries and we're good to go!

The video explains it all!

Daddy Lion

Blah, Blah, Blah

I woke Little Lion at 6:30am today. He was to have arisen at 6:25am. I turned on his Christmas lights at 6:25, didn't hear a thing, so went to check on him.

He was in bed with his blankets pulled over his head to block out the light. I pulled down the covers, rubbed his tummy and started reminding him:

"Blake, this is a great day! It's a school day. It's a day when you get to see Buck and Catherine and Ms. Baker. This is a morning like no other! Never again will it be here!"

My enthusiastic little diplomat interrupted me with:

"Blah, blah, blah"

Daddy Lion

My Photographer Rocks!

For a sneak peek at our family pics check out All For FUN Photography!

My friend Josie did another great job this year! Don't be surprised if you see one of these on your Christmas card . . . sometime in the next month(s). Hey, I got give myself some room! *grin*

AWANA Success

So, we've been working on the books of the New Testament for AWANA all week long. Instead of breaking them up into three sections like the book did, I thought he should just knock them all out together and after a long, hard week of practice he succeeded last night!

On the way home in the car we had this conversation:

Mommy lion: "Little Lion, I just want you to know that I am very proud of you! I know it was hard work and you did a great job!"

Little Lion: "Thanks Mommy. You know if I was your Daddy and you made me so proud; I'd take you to Sonic to get a slushy." (we were at the red light across from a Sonic)

Already trying to work the system! I resisted. *wink*

All Turkey-ed out

And Thanksgiving is still a week away!

Yesterday was Little Lion's Thanksgiving Feast at school. No real "program," we all got to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal school cafeteria style! YUM! It honestly was surprisingly better than expected. I don't plan to hire them for any catering business, but edible all the same.

Tia got to tag along for the fun. . . she did pass on the meal. Can't say I blame her, not my idea of a yummy breakfast either! (She worked the night before so this was her "morning.")

Family shot! Afterwards I realized I didn't get a good one with Little Lion's teacher, bummer. His shirt says "Brave Wolf"; apparently they were talking about how the native Indians got their names. When asked why he didn't use Little Lion, he replied "That's my nickname not my Indian name!" What were we thinking?!? *grin*

Today was Little Pumpkin's Thanksgiving Feast! They do have a short little program. And much yummier food since most of it is home cooked. The program was shorter than usual and Little Pumpkin was much more interested in people watching than singing.

However, I did manage to catch her sing at least a little of the song:

Caught this sweet smile at lunch time! She is being a turkey from a cute song I remember Little Lion singing his first year at First Friends! Maybe Little Pumpkin will actually sing it next year! *smile*

Lolly and Tia got to come for the Feast too! I thought this was a great shot of all us girls!

I think I'll take it easy on the Pumpkin cake until next week! *grin*

3 for 3

Little Pumpkin wore a sweet dress from Aunt B today, so I asked her if we could take a picture to send to Aunt B. She amazingly was cooperative and said "So she can see how cute I look?"

How could I not agree?!

After the first pic she said "take free" (that's pumpkinese for 3)!

And again!

3 for 3!

As promised!

This year was the first year the kids costumes did not coordinate. . . hard on Mommy Lion, but I'm sure it will be the first of many they remember getting to pick! Well, some what. . .

Little Pumpkin turned into Little Strawberry for the night. This is where the somewhat comes in; she had 3 handed down costumes to pick from and she choose the strawberry. Thanks Cheryl! (Don't bring up the fact that she was not actually Strawberry Shortcake ~ sore subject!!!) *wink*

Little Lion wanted to be Bumble Bee, the transformer! (Have to throw in that last part otherwise we would have coordinated.) He's all about transformers and star wars though he's never seen either show!

Our newest neighbors happened to walk out when we did to trick-or-treat so this cute Bumble Bee joined in on the fun! They all loved getting candy and were quite disappointed when we hit a loosing streak of people not being home.

Next stop the neighborhood get together. We had a great time getting to know some neighbors better and reacquainting with the ones we know, but never see! *wink* The bounce house was the biggest hit!

Little Pumpkin being particular about what candy she picked up from the little kids piñata!

The big kids piñata; whole other story! Look close you can see Daddy Lion picking out candy too! *grin*

How much fun can we have?!? A hayride minus the hay, but still just as fun! The kids loved it. Afterwards, all the kids headed out in two large groups to trick-or-treat. It was a great time; hope it becomes a tradition!

This is the latest trend in passing out candy: camp chair at the end of the driveway with laptop and bowl of candy! Hmmm. . . . I wonder how much he really handed out and how much went inside the mouth?!? lol Honestly the Oregon game was on . . . couldn't miss it!

We had a great Halloween, hope you did too!

Halloween Traditions:

Some new, some old but we had fun with them all!

Little Pumpkin and I started early in the day . . . we made a some sugar cookie dough. She was a excellent little helper! *wink*

After dinner we started making cookies! These cookie cutters were passed down from my Nanny! I can remember some of them vividly. I hope this will be a new tradition for us! Thanks Aunt Amy for passing them along.

Tia and Lolly came out to join in the festivities! So glad we could make memories with them too!

Next: Caramel apples! Daddy Lion and I have made caramel apples nearly every Halloween we've been married. Mmmm.... as Little Lion said: "I like them better than plain green apples!"

Tia was very proud of her apple! And I must say her caramel apple turned out the best!

And now for the featured event: Pumpkin carving! Little Lion did good digging into his pumpkin.

Little Pumpkin was less than impressed with the goo!

They both got a bit out then passed on the responsibility! Little Lion drew out his pattern on a piece of paper for Tia to carve his pumpkin. While Little Pumpkin picked a pattern out of our pumpkin carving kit . . .

Little Lion's creation!

Daddy Lion took over Little Pumpkin's carving . . . maybe letting her pick a pattern was a little much. She took a break to decorate and eat her yummy cookie. It was a hit!

Little Pumpkin's pumpkin all lit up! A spider!?! Yes, I know . . .

Me and my little sis! Isn't she gorgeous!?!

Our finished creations . . . Daddy Lion and I ended up finishing up . . . apparently it's only as fun for as many as you get to eat! *grin*

The caramel apple remnants; they were a success too!

Happy Halloween!

Random Post

Okay, so it's not uncommon to hear "RannnDommm Man" being said around our house! Sometimes Little Lion comes up with the craziest things out of no where, thus the secondary nickname and the title for my posting.

Last Thursday we went to see the doc for well checks! The kids are healthy as horses and they received the flu mist. I'll so do that over the shot any-day for the kids. Although, Kate really didn't know how to sniff! (Which really isn't a bad thing ~ she is always blowing her nose!)

Can you tell they are related!?! WOW, I haven't seen it so clearly as in this pic!

Horseplay on the doctors table . . . not really the smartest! But there were no accidents! *grin* Blake is in the 86% for height and they are both pretty average in weight. Praisn' Jesus for healthy and happy kids!

Sunday night getting ready for AWANAS:

I found this headless child! I told you he really does deserve his title: RANDOM MAN!

(you know you have to be saying that with a deep drawn out voice like a true superhero's name would be said! *wink*)

And finally! I'm on a roll! My wonderful MIL got this saying for me for my b-day and I finally took the plunge tonight and put it up! I LOVE IT! Thank you so much Grandma Lion!

Breakfast reminds me . . .

So, as I sit here and eat my breakfast consisting of a leftover birthday cupcake and glass of milk. *grin* I realize I haven't posted about Little Pumpkin's birthday! What a terrible mom I am.

It all began Saturday morning with a visit to the mailbox! There was a package and as Daddy Lion set it on her lap Little Pumpkin exclaimed "A present for ME, from GRANDMA!?!"

Saturday evening we headed to an indoor play area for her party! She had a blast and I had a blast not worrying about cleaning house before or after or running around gathering all the necessities for a party. They even provided the cake: So worth it!

Got to get every last inch of icing! Cake? What cake?

Anyone recognize the shirt?

I think 4 little girls wore this before her! Thanks for sharing Cheryl!

I don't know why we really bother to purchase any gifts for our children! Between grandparents, aunts, and friends . . . they got it made! *wink* I loved watching the excitement on her face for each gift and the unprompted thank yous that came after each one! Such a proud mommy lion! (thanks Tia and Rachel for taking pictures for me!)

I think this is so sweet all the little girls gathering around to see! I was pleasantly surprised that Little Pumpkin did not boss any of them; at least during present time! *smile*

Our birthday twin, AJ. We celebrated with her on Friday.

My Nanny was able to come over. So good to see her and get a generation shot (even if we are missing a link ~ love you dad).

Happy Birthday Little Pumpkin!

Now you're "pree" (three in Little Pumpkinese)!