Sadie's Five!

What a year she's had!

When Sadie started Sunshine Friends this year as "the big sister," it was the best thing that ever happened to her.  She and Jackson like each other sooo much more than they used to now that they have a little time away from each other each day.  And she just continues to grow and change and become such a big kid.

Sadie got to play softball for the first time, and she did great.  

Right after school started, Sadie told me she wanted to cut her hair off.  I honestly felt sick to my stomach.  But she and I were not friends every morning when I had to brush her hair.  So after a few weeks, we had a long talk about why she wanted a hair cut.  She knew it wouldn't take as long to brush, and it wouldn't hurt as much.  She just really REALLY wanted to get a haircut.  So we did.

It was sassy and cute and perfect for her.  She loved it.

She also got to play soccer this fall, and loved it--to a degree.  But about halfway through the season she said, "I like soccer, but I don't want to play anymore." :)  We told her she would have to honor her commitment to her team until the end of the season, and that was okay with her.

She got to celebrate her big day with her birthday twin, Aunt Debbie.  Usually the two of them go out for breakfast, but we all happened to be in Oklahoma visiting Cody, Karen, and Jones so they had the whole day together. :)

Last year, we kept thinking we would have Sadie's party sometime in January.  Then January turned into April, and we still hadn't had a party. : (  Not parent of the year, for sure! But we had her "half-birthday" in May, and we're back on schedule this year!  I promise!  Jackson came up with the idea of throwing her a surprise party, so we're excited about it!  Keep your fingers crossed!

Christmas 2012

Christmas this year was a little different than normal, but then, life would be boring without a little different thrown in for good measure, right?   The Saturday before Christmas, we got ready to have our normal family Christmas dinner, just the five of us. Kevin had told me most of the day that he wasn't feeling great, but we thought it was just allergies...until bedtime that night and he was running fever.  By the time he woke up Sunday morning, it was full-blown sick.  

Flu.

At Christmas. 

Great.

I promise I really did feel bad for him. While I Lysoled every surface he touched.  And spoke to him from a distance of no less than ten feet.  And made the kids wear surgical masks.  

Not really.  But it crossed my mind.

He did go to the doctor... who sent the prescription to a pharmacy that was closed.  Which prompted an 8:00 trip to Tyler to the one pharmacy still open.  But the kids thought it was an adventure, so it was actually okay.

 Jackson got all the goodies he was hoping for.  He didn't ask for anything "big" but he asked for A LOT...he has no shortage of great gift ideas. :)  He didn't get all he asked for, but he was very excited about what he got (Note the football jersey we gave him--we can't let those pesky Longhorns in the family do all the indoctrinating!)

 Sadie's list was pretty short.  She wanted a doll house...and lots of babies. :)  She loved her doll that she said looked like Aunt Robin. :)  She also got the cutest bicycle from Nana, which was a big surprise for her that she loved.

 All Annabelle wanted was "toys."  No specifics.  Just toys.  She loved the time with family, the opening presents, the whole shebang. Santa brought her triplet baby dolls.  That are motion activated and move and laugh (creepy baby doll laugh) and cry at really weird times.  Trip.  Lets.  Not Santa's best choice.

We gave her a Little People nativity set, and she LOVED that.  All season long she's been pointing out "Baby Jesus" everywhere we went (Which made me smile. Every. Single. Time.), so I knew she would love to have a nativity that was hers that she could touch and play with.

I love the conversations it initiated.  I love that my kids are as excited to discuss the true meaning of Christmas as they were to talk to Santa.

 But the biggest, best surprise at Christmas was SNOW!  Not often do we have the dream of a white Christmas become a reality here in Texas, but this year was different.

And different, in this case,  is GOOD. :)

Our Christmas Visitors

Every year after Thanksgiving, our house gets a very special visitor:

 Meet Bruce.  (When Jackson was two, he named him "Elf"...very creative.  So he decided this year that he needed a different name.  Hence Bruce.  I have no idea where he got it, but he was VERY offended when Sadie said it was, and I quote, "lame."  We then had to have a long conversation about not being rude and standing up for things you believe in.

I promise my kids love each other.

Anyway.  Bruce used to just sit around our house... a little like the creepy clown on that scary movie years ago.  But the kids LOVE Bruce.  And as of late (and about the same time I discovered Pinterest, coincidentally) Bruce has gotten to be quite adventurous.  Some days I took pictures of his antics.  It freaked the kids out a bit because heaven forbid I touch him and he "LOSE HIS MAGIC!"

Annabelle liked to test this theory.  She loves Bruce more than anyone else in the whole house.  She was the first to look for him in the mornings and the first to tell him Good Morning.  But I guess Bruce was a little nervous about her getting too close because he always seemed to be just out of reach of little fingers...

One night while Jackson was spending the night with Nannie and Sadie was having a special night of her own, Bruce thought she needed a little makeup...

I made sure I took a picture of her after bedtime, because by the time morning rolled around she'd wiped almost all of it off. :)

Obviously Bruce had a lot of time on his hands at night... 

Aside from Bruce, the kids always look forward to their first visit with Santa at the Hilliard's Santa party.  We always love to go to the Hilliard's house and see all the beautiful decorations and chat with the big man.
There are always so many neat things to see around every corner.  Annabelle is going through a phase where getting a picture of her is hard, and getting a picture of her with Jackson and Sadie is next to impossible.   But if I'm quick enough I can still capture moments of sweetness...

Last year Annabelle had a meltdown, but this year after giving him a cautious once over, she was happy to see him. :)  So thankful for Cara Jordan of Magical Memories by Cara Jordan, who has given us amazing Santa pictures since Jackson was a baby!  They're such special keepsakes. :)

Halloween 2012

We had a great Halloween this year.  Jackson and Sadie have been planning their costumes for months.  Sadie plans her costumes for years in advance...last year she was Belle, and on November 1 she told me she wanted to be Snow White next.  That's all well and good, except these princesses are the brunettes, and she, clearly, is not.  We tried doing a temporary dye on her hair last year, but it barely took.  So imagine my relief when she changed her mind and wanted to be Cinderella. Whew!  We found a cute Cinderella costume at Target (although I wouldn't recommend the costume we got, it was great in theory...removable long skirt? Awesome! Except the short skirt was super short and the long skirt never attached just right. Oh well.  Lesson learned).  She still looked beautiful (I think 90% of that was because she loves loves loves being a princess.).  We wore the costume to school but didn't do the hair and makeup and such...

Jackson started out wanting to be a wolf...just a regular old wolf.  Then a werewolf.  Then a superhero (I forget which one).  Then a Ninja Turtle...which you would think might still be available in the days of 80's retro coolness.  But no.  So one day the girls and I were in Tyler, we went to a costume store in search of the elusive ninja turtle, we saw a ninja costume that we knew he'd love and got that instead.  Luckily he loved it. (Apparently ninjas are hard to photograph...and don't smile much.)

Annabelle, as vocal as she is, did not get a vote on her costume.  She got to wear the Raggedy Ann costume Sadie wore when she was almost two.  I love this costume.  It is my favorite of all time, and both girls got tons of compliments when they wore it (although Annabelle is NOT a fan of Raggedy Ann now.  Not sure if it was the wig or the socks, but she kept telling me "I NOT be Raggedy Ann"...).  It makes me a little sad to retire it.  I was so happy to find a sweet lady in our church who makes Raggedy Ann dolls...all sizes.  She is making a kid-sized version that I can put the girls' costume on for posterity. I'm so excited!

We did our regular downtown trick or treat routine, which is really kind of a whippin but the kids still love it so we go, but after that we hopped on a hayride and did trick or treating old school!  It was so much fun and way less stressful than downtown.  

 I was amazed at how brave Annabelle was!  There were some creepy costumes walking around that night, and nothing really phased her.  She even gave the Old Man (Dado) a kiss after this picture was taken!  

Baby Girl Turns 2

Annabelle turned two on October 6!  This being our third go-round on the whole "terrible twos" thing, we thought we were prepared...only we've never been through this stage with this particular girl!  She is sweet and smart and spunky and oh-my-goodness is she strong-willed.  But isn't she cute? :) 

 If she knows I'm taking her picture, she will instantly turn into "CHEESE" mode, which does not a sweet picture make...funny, yes.  Just not sweet:

But when she's not looking...

This chick knows no fear (Well, there's this whole clown thing.  But clowns are creepy, let's just all agree on that.).  She's very verbal and wants to do everything Jackson and Sadie are doing, which can be a little scary for me...stair climbing, jumping...you name it. While she has amazing balance, she makes me a nervous wreck!

She loves school and baby dolls and her brother and sister (most of the time) ;) and our dog Jigs.

She is a great sleeper and still takes a long nap if time allows.

She knows her ABC's and can say the fruits of the spirit and her favorite color is, and I quote, "pank"...we might have a thick East Texas accent on our hands.

She entered this world with dark hair, but it soon turned to the same blond as her sister.  She still has her blue eyes, so maybe they won't change. I'm sure her Grandaddy would love that.

We love this kid to the moon and back!

Oh, the Organization!

If you know my husband and me, you know that I am always finding amazing (to me) pieces for our home (usually expensive), and my honey is usually saying, “Baby, I could SO build that.”  What he hasn’t figured out yet (SHH! Let’s keep it between us!)  is that’s the response I’m usually hoping for!  It’s worked out well for me twice before, after all.   The only downside is I have to be patient and let him find the time to do whatever it is I’m hoping to get done.

This time it was a set of “lockers” for my entry way.  When I saw these in a Pottery Barn catalog, I was smitten.

 I have dreamed of these lockers since the first backpack entered our house. I've had nightmares about their $1200+ price tag.  But once you have more than one kid, and once those kids start preschool, and especially once those kids have more than one pair of shoes, it just becomes this constant battle between organization and chaos.  Chaos is almost always the winner in our house.  Not that we didn't have a system. We did have a system.  It wasn’t perfect, but it kept the mess in one place, and helped us not have to go searching for a stray shoe or backpack (most days).   But it was almost always cluttered.  Except without the “almost.”  Call it the nature of the beast, or whatever.  It drove me nuts.  But here’s the “Before”...

When my hubby said he was taking a day off work and would build my dream DIY project, I was beyond excited! We got the plans off ana-white.com, and it didn’t take him long to get his part done.  With the painting, drying, then reassembling, it took about three days.  So (drum roll please!) here's the "After": 

Originally I was going to paint the whole thing white, but then we decided to stain the bench, and after that the kids said they really wanted the whole thing to be red! The compromise was to paint the beadboard red, which I love! We also made one end a message center with magnetic primer and chalkboard paint.  Love again!

 I found the baskets at Target for less than $20, and the letters came from Hobby Lobby (I got all crafty and ModPodged scrapbook paper on them.  I think they’re cute.)

We love to distress and stain wood, probably because it gets the kids involved and makes it a family project! Kevin even busted out some family cattle brands and burned them into the bench.  It looks awesome!

 When they were completely finished, I stood and stared at them for minutes at a time! I was just so excited that everything that was in the “before” picture was still there (And actually more! I was able to take the kids’ Crocs out of our laundry room and put them in their baskets. Score!), and yet it looked so neat and clean and organized! It makes our garage entry feel “finished.”  Love.

Pottery Barn, eat your heart out!

Kindergarten!

Holy moly, how did we get here?!

 Jackson started kindergarten today, and let me tell you, it was harder on me than I anticipated!  He has been ready to go to school for a while.  He could've started last year, but we knew he had a little more growing up to do, so we held him out one more year.  It was fine with all of us, except when someone would ask him, "Are you in kindergarten?"  He always rolled his eyes a little and would sometimes launch into the whole explanation of "yes-I-should-be-in-school-but-my-mom-didn't-start-me."

I stick by my decision.

But when the first day came, he was totally ready.  Me? I thought I would be fine.  I'm not a cryer by nature. And this was a happy day, so why would I cry about that??  Yeah.  As we walked into the building, I could feel my throat tightening up. I had no idea it would hit me like that!  But I sucked it up and did fine.

 He has a great teacher who scored points with him right away because the first thing they did when they got to their seats was play with the Playdoh (also known as "that stuff we never get to play with at home").

When he got home that afternoon, he said he had fun, but that was about it.  He is soo my child.  All those days that my mom got the one word responses from me after school?  Yeah, I'm paying for that. I can't wait to see what his year holds.  He just seems so much more grown up already. Love that kid!