It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas at Our House!

My favorite time of year is here!! I usually wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving to put my Christmas decorations up, but I cheated a little this year & did it the week before Thanksgiving.

I cut some circles out of the leftover board I had from making door hangers so the kids could make some ornaments. They got the biggest kick out of it & loved perfectly placing their own ornaments on the tree.



Another favorite is digging the other Christmas ornaments out of the boxes to decorate the tree. I love seeing the excitement on their faces when they find a new one in the box.

 

The bottom left section of the big tree was their designated decorating spot. It’s a little splotchy, yet cluttered. And I love it. Seeing my babies get in the Christmas spirit makes me so happy. It especially warms my heart to see them naming off everyone in the nativity scene. Even though we do it up big in the decorating & everything that goes with the Christmas season, we will never forget to teach our kids what Christmas is really all about-our sweet Savior’s birth.



The final product. Our living room tree, which is my favorite tree because it has all of our special ornaments that we’ve collected as a family & some that were mine as a child that my mom gave to me.



The mantle with our stockings.



My red, green, & white dining room tree.



Riley’s tree in his room.



And Miss Priss’s tree in her room.



I didn’t put up my 5th tree this year because I let my sister borrow it. But I already have some cute ideas of how I want to do it next year! :0)

Now, on to wrapping presents!

Thanksgiving

This year my side of the family did the big get-together at my parents’ house on Thanksgiving. I was so busy helping get things ready & hostessing that I really didn’t get many pictures. We had a wonderful time & just about all of the family was there-about 35 people. Even my 89 year old great aunt made it!

Here’s the biggest group shot I got.



Jamie & Rodney.



My sweet girl who desperately needed her bow eating marshmallows.



Riley & Averly loved playing with baby Claire. Usually they are the youngest so they thought they were real big.



This was my first time to meet Claire. Isn’t she the most beautiful thing?!



Ashley, Jamie, & me.



The weather was so perfect on Thanksgiving too. We all played outside for a little while before we ate.



Riley in his “Indian hat”-as he calls it-that he made at school last week.



I hope everyone had a wonderful & safe Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for so much, not only on Thanksgiving, but everyday!

Raking Leaves with Dada

This year has been so nice because I feel like we’ve actually gotten to experience all 4 seasons. We usually don’t get much of a fall-it just skips right from summer to winter but this year the weather has been perfect. I LOVE these 73 degree temperatures we are getting! TAG has been trying to clean up some of where they cut 2 trees down a few weeks ago. He’s been burning off the brush & we are going to chop the other up for firewood. Averly decided that she wanted to help her Dada rake the leaves & gather up all the sticks.



Such a big helper.

Riley & Averly go to Starkville

We took the kids to Mississippi State’s Homecoming a few weeks back. Since Josh & Brooke didn’t go, we just got their tickets for them. This was Averly’s first football game but Riley went once last year with Dada. I was also excited to take them because State was playing UT Martin, which is where I went to school. :0) Averly & I wore our orange & blue to support the Skyhawks!

Getting ready to leave. She looks miserable, but she was so good. Actually, they both were so good the whole day. Even without a nap from either!



My handsome little man was ready to watch the bulldogs!



We made it a fairly short day since we didn’t want to tailgate all day with the kids so we got there just in time for the Dawg Walk & then just walked around a little bit.

 

Our not-so-great family picture of the day. It is so hard to get 4 people to look at the camera-especially when there is a 21 month old & 3 year old involved.



Riley wanted to ride the bulldog. Ha!



We met up with my sister for a little while. Then it was game time!



They love ringing their cowbells!!



We were so proud of how good they were. I knew Riley could do it, but Averly is just at that age where she does not like to sit still. They were so good for us & I can’t wait to take them back to more games!

Halloween

Sunday evening at church we had our Fall Festival for the kids where they come in their costumes. Originally, Riley & Averly were going to be Bam-bam & Pebbles. I bought the fabric to make their costumes last weekend while at my parents’ house, but then ended up leaving it all there. So our next options were Spiderman & Raggedy Ann. Riley’s Spiderman outfit is actually pajamas, but paired with his mask, they worked just fine. Averly’s Raggedy Ann dress is a doll dress from a doll I had when I was little. I made her hair with yarn hot glued to a shower cap. It was all very last minute but we all made it there in one piece!

My handsome Spiderman!



And my Raggedy Ann cutie!



Riley & his best friend/cousin, Luke. They go to school together & every time I check in on him with the camera at school they are always right beside each other.



Getting dark so it’s time for the hayride!



Poor Averly’s hat kept falling in her eyes but this bad Mama forgot her hat so she had to keep it on to cover her ears.



BFFs.



Then on Halloween night our town had its Trunk ‘R Treat. This our first time to go since we just moved here. It was fun, but I still like plain old Trick ‘R Treating better I think.

Dada was at work so Aunt Brooke went with us.



Ready to get some candy!!



We also entered the costume contest & Averly got 2nd place!!! I felt like a pageant mom up there on the stage! Ha!



I bet we would’ve taken 1st AND 2nd place if they were in their Pebbles & Bam-bam costumes! ;0)



I’ve got to be sure & get a paper next week since Averly will be in it!



Afterwards we went Trick ‘R Treating at Mrs. Rhonda’s house (Luke’s grandma). And waited on Luke to get there so they could play for a while. Time got away from us & it ended up being 10:30 before we got home! We had a such a fun Halloween!!