Enjoying some time outside…

Giving Bullseye a ride on the tricycle…

Loving picking out his own clothes and wearing Cohen’s shoes…

The kids table.  They were so cute…

After dinner we stopped by Starbucks to pick up some drinks and headed home to open our Christmas Eve gifts.  Cohen was super excited when he opened his (although I’m not sure he really knew what it was at this point in time).

We all had fun drinking with our crazy straws!

Keegan made a bit of a mess…

I read the boys my all time favorite Christmas book, Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree…

Christmas Eve jammies…

Fun with daddy…

Fun with mommy…

Cohen was super excited on Christmas morning to see that Santa had brought what he wanted…bases!

Keegan on his new motorcycle…

A few days after Christmas we headed out of town for more Christmas celebrations!  The first stop was at my dad’s.  Love this picture…

The boys with my Grandmom & Grandad…

B-Pa & Keegan…

After we left my dad’s we headed to Portales for our Charlie Brown Christmas.  Monga did a great job with the stockings (as usual).  The boys had Charlie Brown stockings and the girls had Snoopy stockings.

Keegan and Levi jamming on the piano…

Ready for hot tub time with GranZ…

Silly boy…

We celebrated Daven’s birthday while we were there and Keegan dove into his cupcake…literally…

These two had such a fun time together…

As part of our Christmas Eve festivities, we played some minute-to-win-it games.  The first was a family snowball fight (with paper snowballs)…

Next was Ornament in the Balance…

Nut Stacker…

Fan the Ornament…

Ornament Relay…

Pictures just didn’t do the next two justice.  Enjoy Face the Cookie…

and Jingle in the Trunk…

HILARIOUS!!!

Can you believe Santa made a second stop to see these boys!?!  They must have been really good this year.  ;)  Cohen with some of his favorite gifts…cowboy hat, stick horse and sword…

Keegan looking super cute in his new hooded towel…

And one of my favorite memories from this Christmas…

Yes, that is embroidered toilet paper.  Ask…I’ll tell.  Fun times!  What will next year’s theme be???  It’s neck and neck between Rudolph and the Muppets…guess you’ll have to wait and see!

First I created this living advent calendar after seeing this one on Pinterest.  We had a stocking for each day leading up to Christmas Day with a piece of paper inside that had a different activity for us to do each day.  It was so fun!!

I have been searching and searching for socking holders that would hold photos, but not cost me a fortune.  I saw these on pinterest and LOVED them.  With the help of my wonderful hubby, we made these stocking holders for less than what one would’ve cost had we bought them.

I saw these cookies on Pinterest and decided to make them for a cookie exchange party I went to.

I saw this unique way of displaying Christmas cards and did it with mine as well.

When I saw this sandwich I knew I had to make it for the boys.  They loved it!

And although, this next idea didn’t exactly come from Pinterest, I did make these and thought I’d show them off anyway…

And last, but certainly not least, I saw a friend make these and knew I had to make some for Christmas gifts…

So, as you can see, Pinterest certainly inspired me this Christmas season.  You should go get inspired yourself!  You’ll thank me later!

Next we head to this advent calendar that Christian’s mom made us this year that is a replica of one they had when Christian was growing up.  Each day we put a new ornament on the tree and there is a little paper that goes with it telling how the ornament relates to Jesus and there are scriptures to read each day…

Finally, we went to the living advent calendar that I made us this year that had something for us to do each day.  There was one stocking for each day in December with a little paper inside telling us what our activity was going to be for the day.  Some things were simple and some were more involved, but it was so fun!

I’m sure we’ll do them all again next year along with the Elf on a Shelf.  I’ve been seeing so many of your cute posts about things your elves have done…we’ll get in on that action next year!

The very first thing we did for our living advent calendar was go to the parade of lights on Main Street in Grapevine with some friends.  The weather was great (with the exception of a few sprinkles) and a good time was had by all…

I have always wanted to put lights on our house and Christian surprised me this year and did it one day while I was at work!  I was so excited!!

We went to the lighting of the Town Square in Southlake and the boys got these super cute antlers…

We’ve made it a tradition to have a real Christmas tree every year.  I think decorating the tree is one of my favorite parts of the holidays.  We have a random assortment of ornaments, but pulling them out each year brings back memories of loved ones, reminds me of all the Christmas themes we’ve enjoyed in years past, reminds me how fast my boys grow with each passing year and we even have some I made when I was a little girl.  Fun times!

Santa hats!  Can you really get too many cute pictures of your kiddos in santa hats?!?

I made several batches of cakeballs…

We made gingerbread houses…

We went and saw the trains at North Park Mall…

I saw this can in a store one day and thought it would be so fun for the boys to do since we were highly unlikely to get any real snow.  Open can, pour in water, stir, instant snow…sounds good!

They liked it alright…

What a mess it was to clean up though!!!  I think this stuff is the same stuff that is inside diapers.  If you’ve ever had a wet diaper burst for whatever reason, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Someone at the diaper company got smart and is now making millions selling fake snow!

The boys both had fun at their school Christmas parties and surprisingly both sat on Santa’s lap without shedding any tears!

The Christmas spirit has brought some brotherly love to our house as well…

Some sweet Christmas faces…

Making cookies for Santa…

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!  We still have lots of fun left to come!  Stay tuned!

He loves playing trains…

He loves putting on Cohen’s shoes.  As soon as they come off Cohen’s feet, they are going onto Keegan’s…

Some cute smiles in front of our tree…

Santa baby…

Happy 22 months, Keegan!  I love you!

and Keegan was a turkey…

Enjoying the feast…

This year we spent Thanksgiving at the Purley Gates…you heard me right…the Purley Gates.  It was great and a perfect place to have a family gathering.

Keegan and Aunt Melissa…

We played LOTS of mahjong.  I hadn’t played in years and had forgotten how much fun it is to play…

Keegan & Mimi…

Me, my mom and Melissa…

This next picture will always bring back sweet and hilarious memories.  Sweet in the fact that it’s Cohen and his great grandfather.  Hilarious in the fact that my PawPaw is what some would call hard of hearing and as I’m walking behind them to snap this shot I hear PawPaw tell Cohen that they are going to walk down to the fire pit.  I hear Cohen ask if the fire is an emergency and my PawPaw say, “yeah!”

Both boys had a great time wearing PawPaw’s hat…

Cohen learning how to properly roast a marshmallow…

Keegan and my mom…

Cohen made great friends with my cousin, Olivia, while we were there.  She was so great with him.  He often referred to her, not as Olivia, but as “that 11 year old girl.”

Overall, a good time was had by all.  Here’s Cohen singing his Thanksgiving song…

We now have our house all decorated for Christmas and I am beyond excited that we will be at our house this year on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I can’t wait to start some of our own traditions (and carry on ones we love from our childhood) and have the boys wake up at our house on Christmas morning.  I’m just giddy about the whole thing!!  Lots more fun to come…

Fun at the community center with Audrey & Grady…

And now a ton of pictures from our day at the arboretum.  It was a gorgeous day!  The kids (and mommies) had a great time.

I also realized that I did a terrible job of taking pictures this past month.  (Sure to change with the holidays around the corner)!

So, just a few pics of my sweetie (who is finally doing better by the way).

Keegan loves being with Cohen and doing everything that Cohen does.  He especially loves putting on Cohen’s clothes and shoes…

Sweetie pie…

I promise to have more pictures next month!!

Keegan’s didn’t have a theme…he just decorated his own with marker and some stickers…

Both the boys loved playing with the silly glasses given to Keegan by Mrs. Denise…

Of course we can’t let Halloween pass us by without making some ghost cookies…

We took the boys to the pumpkin patch this past weekend.  The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.  Despite our best efforts, we weren’t able to get a shot of both boys looking at the camera.  Oh well…we get what we get at this point in time.

We also enjoyed a fun time at our church’s Fall Festival with Robin Hood and Dr. Ross…  (A HUGE thank you to Monga for making Cohen’s Robin Hood costume!!)

Happy Halloween!!

Followed by a hallway full of balloons…

He loved the balloons!

Then we had his requested breakfast, “sprinkle doughnuts from the doughnut place by church.”

We had a few minutes to open a couple of gifts before his blast ball game.  His most requested item for his birthday…a bow and arrow…

Today was his last blastball game for the fall season.  Sporting his trophy and chocolate mustache…

Cohen went to a friends birthday party for lunch at Chuck E Cheese.  He was so proud of his “monster teeth…”

After his nap he opened the remainder of his gifts.  His absolute favorite was this wooden bat from Monga & Ponga.  He said, “just what I’ve always wanted!”  It’s a true Louisville Slugger with his name on it.

Breaking in his bow and arrow…

And his bat…

Cohen has been requesting Panera Bread for his birthday dinner for weeks.  So, that’s where we went.  He loves their mac & cheese…

After dinner we headed over to Milwaukee Joe’s for some ice cream per his request.  Flavor of choice for the night…mint chocolate chip and a sprinkle cone…

And tonight we did a glow in the dark bath to wrap up his day of fun.  My camera isn’t fancy enough to capture the “glow” but it was lots of fun…