Family Pics

While we were down in Texas for Christmas, we took advantage of everyone being together and took some family pictures. Here's a few of them for your viewing pleasure...




And just for fun...

ps - thanks to my sis-in-law Valerie for editing a couple of these to look even better.

pps - an update on Delaney's kidney. We went in for an ultrasound a couple of days ago and the surgery worked! Her bad kidney is now the same size as her working one and seems to have started functioning. Such an answer to prayer!

Party Time!

This guy turned six on December 28th, and for the first time ever (we are soooo behind) had a friend birthday party! We've always been traveling for his birthday and with him having a Christmas birthday and all, it's sort of rough to try and schedule things (as my sis Ash will attest to). This year, however, we got it together and threw one for him in January.

We decided to have it at Chuck-E-Cheese's which totally works if:

a) you're not creative at all (me!)
b) the thought of 10 six year old boys running around your house because you can't let them outside in the dead of winter scares you to death (me again!)
c) your sweet little boy has been begging and pleading for Chuck E. to make his birthday dreams come true (you guessed it, me!)

All in all, a successful day where Colton had a great time with his friends. I know it's cliche, but I can't believe how fast he's growing up. He's such a sensitive, sweet boy who worships his dad, is a big helper for me, and loves his sister and brother (most days) more than anything. I love him and am so grateful he's mine.

Christmas Rundown

Okay, brace yourselves for an onslaught of pictures. You've already heard about our drive down to Texas so here's what we did to live it up while we were there. Like I mentioned, this is the last time we plan on celebrating Christmas away from home for awhile, so we decided to go out in style with the Carleton clan. Here goes...

This is pretty much how Delaney spent her Christmas. Problem was by the time we got home, girlfriend forgot how to fall asleep while not being held.

On Christmas Eve we started off with sugar cookie time! A tradition passed down from when we were little kids.
On to the Nativity. We had our wisemen...

Our shepherds.
Our Angel.
And of course Mary with her baby in the manger. Sorry excuse for a manger, if you ask me, but there you have it.
Christmas Eve pajamas, right before tucking these excited munchkins in.
A snapshot of Christmas morning. It was a success, thanks to Santa, Mom & Dad, and both sets of grandparents who spoiled the kiddos rotten.
Such a success that these hooligans couldn't be bothered to change on a quick shopping trip the next day.
One day after Christmas we headed to a local place that had bowling, laser tag, rock climbing, arcade games, you get the idea.
We decided to try Colt out on rock climbing (a certain passion of a certain man of mine). To my surprise, he LOVED it. No fear of heights at all (guess he skipped out on inheriting that from me). Evan's buttons just might have been popping. Well, if he'd been wearing any.
Later that night we put the kids to bed, and while my mom and dad stayed with the kids, my siblings and I (and spouses) headed back to play. We rock climbed some more, played mini golf, and even played a laser tag game at 1 in the morning. I think Evan and I made it to bed around 2:30 am. Problem is we're not teenagers anymore and we were so ridiculously tired the next day. Seriously, we spent the whole day trying to sneak in naps while taking care of the kids. Guess those college days of late nights, no problem are looooong gone for me.

Not pictured are the games, yummy food, date night to see Sherlock Holmes and eat at Chuy's (yay for Tex/Mex!), paintball, birthdays for Ash & Colton, more games, movies, and more yummy food. Such a great time! Thanks to my parents for hosting, my siblings/siblings-in-law for being there, and Texas for the beyond amazing weather.

Still feeling grateful

For Christmas this year, I told Evan I wanted a minivan. I was joking. Well...mostly. We made the drive down to Texas for Christmas and the thought of three kids plus all the presents, baby gear, and luggage crammed into my five seater car caused me to question my sanity more than once. Good news is we survived the FOUR day car trip and have decided to put traveling for Christmas on hold for the near future.

So, I'm grateful we made it there and back and no one lost their minds. In full disclosure though, the last couple of hours before we got home, Delaney almost did. Poor baby girl was beyond done. She'd spent way too long strapped into her car seat, had a pretty rough cold, and just wanted to be held by her mama. So we pulled over at a gas station while I tried anything and everything to get her to calm down. After she calmed down a bit and we were headed back to the highway, I ran over something. It didn't feel like anything big so I decided to press on. Awesome logic right? By this point though, that was my state of mind. Later that night, as I was checking our messages, there was a message from our credit card company that someone had turned my purse into the Dwight, Illinois police. What?!? It's lost?? Ohhhhhhh. That's what I ran over. Bless that person for turning in my purse! The purse I didn't even realize was gone! Fast forward to me on the phone with the Dwight Police Department trying to figure out if I was going to have to drive all the way back there with my kids in tow to pick up my purse. One of the officers said he didn't live too far away from me and a few hours later, he was at my house with purse in hand. Everything was there. All my money, credit cards, keys, driver's license. So today I'm ridiculously grateful for the wonderful, honest people in this world.


I'm also grateful for this man, who turns 32 today. Happy birthday to the man I love! He makes this life I live possible and I'm so grateful for how hard he works, how supportive he is of me, and how much he loves our family. Delaney seems to be pretty grateful for him too. Just a preview of our great, warm time down in Austin. The weather was beautiful and the company even better. More pics to come of Christmas and a certain SIX year old's birthday. The party is this Saturday. Me and 10 six year olds...wish me luck!