Daddy Date Night

OH My Gracious!
Are these two not just absolutely precious?!

Wednesday night was Bunco at our house and so Russ and GA went out for date night; which consisted of going to Olive Garden (where GA insisted on eating spaghetti and meatballs and green beans), getting me a Christmas present and looking at Christmas lights.

They had a ball and I loved hearing about every single detail....except when little miss keep no secrets bursts in to tell me exactly what I was getting for Christmas! It was too funny, though!

Here was our conversation:

Mommy: Hey, baby girl how was your date with daddy?

GA: Mommy, mommy we got you a watch!

Mommy: Oh, you did.

GA: Mommy, mommy we got you a watch at the store!

(Secretly, I am terrible with surprises, so I was just a tad bit excited when I heard that I am getting what I asked Santa for Christmas this year! )


And in case you were wondering, Brother, was oohed and ahhed over at Bunco by my girl friends! He just can't hang out in the nightlife anymore...he is definitely schedule bound these days!

9 months in and 9 months out!

Somebody is already 9 months old! And thankfully Henry has continued to grow and Mama has finally shed ALL those pregnancy pounds! Yay! With two little ones, it is definitely a workout just keeping up with them! We are always on the go and continue to not sit still!

So my little guy has turned 9 months on Dec. 9th and I am in awe at the amazing things he has been doing lately! He has been hitting some more milestones and getting more and more active!

So far this is what we see Henry doing these days:

• concentrating more on what the toys are doing and how they work
• chewing, chewing and more chewing on soft objects
• teething on teething biscuits
  
• loves to look at bright lights, i.e. the christmas tree
• crawling and scooting
• going from sitting to crawling and back up again
• drooling, drooling, drooling...I think those top teeth are coming soon
• sleeping from 7:30p-7:30a
• loves to play in the bath
• babbles to himself and to us
• got his first cold
• stacking and nesting cups
• loves, loves balls inside of balls and hearing them jiggle

Oh, Henry we love watching you grow into being a little boy! We can't wait for more things to come! I think Santa is going to bring you some fun toys because you have been a very good little boy!

8 month old boy!

Whoa Nelly...did the last 8 months pass us by! Our little boy was 8 months old on Nov. 9th and he has experienced a lot of new firsts! At 8 months Henry is...

• sitting up and playing with toys, toys and toys!
• over 19lbs. and wearing 9 month clothes.
• eating solid food twice a day: once in the morning and once in the evening
• nursing 4-5 times a day
• napping twice a day
• rolling over and over!
• scooting on his tummy and trying so hard to crawl!
• grunting, babbling many consonant vowel repetitive patterns and squealing EXtremely loud!
• getting teeth; got his first two teeth on the bottom on Oct. 17th and Oct. 28th
• amazed by Baby Galieo (Baby Einstein)
• making his family laugh and smile everyday!

We love you so much sweet baby boy!

Love, Mommy, Daddy and Big Sister GA

Visiting Santa at storytime!

Grace Ann is a big fan of Santa this year and she has enjoyed hugging and smiling at him! Henry is not too happy with jolly old fellow and cried big fat crocodile tears anytime he sees him and yes, I am that terrible mom who captured that moment! But, ahhhh such wonderful memories we will have! That pic will have to be scanned in later!

Grace Ann's First Christmas Program

GA with one of her school friends!

Waiting oh so patiently to be on stage.

I think my mom and I have been waiting for this moment for a long time! We were all so excited to see GA in her first school program! It was hilarious and so precious, especially with my "performer" singing and dancing. How could she not be such a ham with me and Russ as her parents! Let me just say it is definitely a preview to what is to come in our future!

The Tree Trimming

Doesn't Russ look super happy? He was a very tired Daddy from working 65 hours the previous week! But he was still forced into the Christmas spirit! Don't worry he is now hunting in San Angelo enjoying some well needed R & R!

Carefully handling all the decorations!

Even Brother was overseeing all the progress!

Making a list, checkin' it twice...

Can you believe it is already the Christmas season? I know I say this every year now, but it just always creeps up on me! We are in the thick of it at our house...we have trimmed the tree, hung the lights, written our letters to Santa, learning about the Christmas story and trying to keep the calm among all the wonderful excitement.

In these pictures, we went to a local event in our town that puts on Christmas activities for the kids in the community. They had letter writing to Santa, cookie decorating, hay rides, visit with Santa and making reindeer food.

We had a great time, but due to the craziness of the situation and I was manning the kiddos by myself, we did not get to everything. But we had fun and of course GA and AG got to play together! Brother had a good time watching from the stroller, which helped a ton that he was super cooperative and just loved looking at all the people!

Fredericksburg...on the way home!

We took a quick trip into Fredericksburg on the way home from Midland and it was super cold and windy! I have really got to get myself a coat! All I had was a light sweater and that wind was chilly! I love how Fred-burg is so decorated for Christmas and it is such a cute, cute town! We enjoyed looking at all the little stores, eating German food and buying some new ornaments for our tree. We took a walk through the Christmas park they have and poor Henry had to stay bundled up in the stroller! GA had a wild time running all over the place and thank goodness she stood still long enough for us to snap a few pictures! Russ did most of the picture taking and he was fast! We have decided to make it a tradition after Thanksgiving to spend the night in Fred-burg on the way home and get to take the kids through such a cute Christmas town!

Thanksgiving with Meme and Pepaw

I love Sebring Thanksgiving dinner! It is oh so tasty and I am so thankful my children will grow up on these yummy recipes! On Wednesday, we packed up the car and headed the 500 miles up north to Midland. We left a little later than we wanted but luckily made it with no big incidents! It was a wonderful relaxing holiday with me and kids enjoying staying with Meme while Pepaw and Russ headed out to the deer lease for some big boy time! One day Henry will be joining them...which boggles my mind when I think of this sweet little boy all grown up! While the boys were off, I took advantage of the sales and got in some good Christmas shopping. GA and I enjoyed a mommy and daughter date to Rosa's Cafe and ate some delicious queso and tortillas! Then we picked up Daddy in San Angelo after eating at Henry's Mexican Restaurant and headed to Fredericksburg for a quick night before heading home!

GA's Thanksgiving feast

Before we drove to Midland for Thanksgiving, Grace Ann had her "feast" at school! Her class dressed up as Pilgrims. I had so much fun being a parent volunteer and being on the other side of the coin. The kids enjoyed the feast and were so well-behaved!

Just playing around!

They love playing together!

Cheese for Mommy!

Right before he went straight backwards...thank goodness he didn't hit too hard!

Henry's 7th month picture!

I am so embarrassed that I JUST took this picture last night...the last day he was 7 months! But you know how it goes, I have that mentality of "oh I will get to that later." Then I realized later was yesterday and here is the 7 month picture very much later than I wanted!

This boy has really grown this last month! He learned how to sit up by himself, dig through his bucket of toys, babble babble, cut two teeth within a week of each other and has sparked some interest in crawling (this mama is just not ready for a mobile baby)!

Right now, his activities of choice are: jumping up and down in the control center, watching anything sister is doing, being held and flirted with, going on stroller rides and attempting to grab Oscar's ears! So far, Oscar has been okay, but I know that won't last for long!

Henry weighs 19 lbs. and I am not sure how long he is...but whoa my arms are tired! I know by Christmas I may have to say goodbye to his infant seat and hello to a new car seat!

I can't believe how fast life goes by these days and I really want it to slow down so I can really process all the wonderful memories that I see my children making for me! With all the chaos that goes on in the world and even in my everyday life, I am so thankful for these moments that I get to have!

A month full of Fun!

Before we knew it, October slid on by with many events for the Sebring 4! We went to GA's fall festival at her school, celebrated Grandmother Tatum's 90th birthday, took a quick trip to Cleveland, endured a big sinus infection with GA, watched Henry cut his first two teeth, had our annual Halloween party, went to the Murphree Pumpkin carving party and lastly we went Trick or Treating last night! Whew...did I say we were busy! As busy as it has been, we have had some major fun and have enjoyed watching these kiddos grow! I have been so proud of Grace Ann lately and how she is really working on her "helpful choices" and learning how to cope with difficult situations and Henry has been a trooper with those teeth! Double ouch with two coming up together! All the pictures below are from this month! Enjoy!

My "Cow" boy and Fairy!

Oh man, did I try to do a little make-up on GA, but she kept on moving and squirming around! So as you can see we are definitely NOT the "High Glitz" kind of people! How do those crazy ladies make up those little girls on Toddler and Tiaras!

Me and my boy

Nice job, babe!

Look at those pink cheeks! She had a blast playing with friends!

Watching Daddy carving the pumpkin!

Jumping bunnies!

Grace Ann and Grandmother are fast friends! They both have great giggle boxes!

Henry and Grandmother Tatum

Riding the train!

Ta-Da!

These girls have muscles...those pumpkins were heavy!

The boys and their football...Henry was really paying attention!