Happy 29th to me!

For my 29th Birthday, OU planned a big football game at Cowboys stadium for me. I said it was a little over-the-top JUST FOR MY BIRTHDAY, but they really wanted to play ol' Johnny Football and show him what's up. Too bad that didn't happen, but the trip was still great! 

Dad got us tickets to the game for Christmas, and we headed down Friday together before the game that night. Even with a loss, I feel like we all made the most of the trip! It was so much fun, and as always, Jerry's World makes for a fun way to watch football. Thanks again Dad, and Happy Birthday to me. :) 

Love you Daddy! 

Saaaaaaanta! He came!

Christmas Eve, we came home from my Dad's house, and spent some quality family time watching Xmas movies with the boys. When it was time to go to bed, we put out cookies and milk for Santa. In the morning, we took our time opening gifts with the boys, and had so much fun. At first, Eric and I were a little disappointed with Gavin's reaction to his new car. But after about 2 minutes, he wouldn't get out. He refused to open his presents unless he could open them in the car. And every gift we opened, had to get all the way out of the box and be played with. Im pretty sure it took us almost 2 hours to open gifts, but it was so much fun! Crew was so exhausted, he immediately went back to sleep. This year wasn't really his year to care much about presents, but he loves to do whatever Gav does, so they just played the whole time. We took Gavin outside to ride his car, but it was sleeting and the temp was in the teens! I had bought a ski suit for him, so he was as bundled as he could be. 

We had such a wonderful family Christmas. I love my boys

Christmas with the Family - Traditions

One of our favorite parts about the last few days leading up to Christmas, is spending some major quality time with the family! This year, we had Christmas with Mom and Bill and all of us "kids", a few days before Christmas. We ate our traditional mexican dinner, and let the kids decorate cookies! They all had so much fun! When it came time to open presents, we took our time and let the kids open each of their gifts so they could play with them. Later we opened up stockings that we draw names for. It was crazy, loud, and perfect! 

Our family just keeps growing! 

These boys are my world

On Christmas eve, we headed over to Dad's to spend the afternoon with him, Renee, Bryce, and the Blackburns. The kids decorated a fun rice krispie treat train, then opened and played with gifts until they couldn't make anymore of a mess! We love our tradition of spending the day with Dad, and each year we add another kid or two, just to keep it interesting! My Dad bought us tickets for the bowl game to watch OU play, so all of us big kids were pretty excited about our gifts too! I wish I took more pics this night! :( 

Christmas afternoon, we headed to Nana and Papa's house to have dinner, and of course, open more presents for the kids! Gavin and Crew bring such big smiles to their faces, and they love being with them. They opened tons of new toys, and then we had a great Christmas dinner that Debbie made. We spent the day relaxing and playing with toys until both boys gave in and fell asleep. Gavin passed out on Papa, which has become a tradition at their house! Overall we had an awesome time with them, and the boys were, once again, spoiled beyond belief! This was our first Christmas without Grandma Rose, and we left her seat empty at the table. We talked about the fact that long after we were all finished eating, she would still be sitting at the table bc Grandma was never in a hurry. :) We all definitely miss her.

There's never enough days to celebrate Christmas with our family. This year was so much fun, and I know that each year will just keep getting better! Merry Christmas! 

Tommy the Elf

Our Elf on the Shelf made his debut this year. I wasn't sure if Gavin would be old enough to understand or care about him yet, but after several different explanations, here is what we got: 

We named him Tommy (after Thomas the train) 

Gavin had actually wanted to name him "get presents" 

He understood that he goes to see Santa at night, is in a different place each morning, and that he would "Be Right Back" 

We asked why he went to see Santa and he would said "Go see Santa, aaaaand, get presents!" 

He never really grasped that Tommy was watching him so he better be good, and I never placed him low enough that Gav could get ahold of him because I know how well that would've gone! 

Overall, Tommy was a success! He left Gavin a note on Christmas Eve telling him that he had fun, that Gavin and Crew were good boys, and that he was going to go spend some time with Santa, but would be back next year! It took a few days to convince Gavin that Tommy was gone, but I think he'll be very excited next year when he comes back!