SNOW!

We got our first (and maybe our only?) snow of the winter the second weekend in January. When we drove to church that morning it was cold and rainy. By the end of church it had turned into snow and the kids were thrilled, of course. By the time we made it to Granny & Pops' house for dinner, their backyard looked like a magical winter wonderland...

They thought Pops' homemade root beer snow cones were pretty cool...

They didn't get to play for long before it got dark, but school was delayed a couple hours the next morning and we were able to enjoy the snow some more...

Our pitiful little snowman (and the snow) actually hung around for a few days... a pretty rare occurrence. The boys keep wondering when it's going to snow again and I hate to break it to them that it might not. You just never know what you're gonna get here in Texas!

Really on the Move

Sadie decided to start the new year off on the right foot... and her left foot too. At just 8 months old, she discovered how to pull herself up to stand and now it's her favorite thing to do...

She even practices when she's SUPPOSED to be napping...

How can I get upset with her when she's so proud of her new trick... and so dang cute, too!

Around the same time, she also mastered crawling with her tummy off the floor... she's really on the move now!

First Sleep-Over

The boys each got a cool dinosaur pop-up tent for Christmas and so did cousin Luke. They were dying to sleep in them and Dan & Bree were kind/brave enough to host a sleep-over at their house... a first for the boys. I was a little nervous no one was going to get any sleep, but (thanks to a little persuasion from Dan) they actually did pretty well and even slept in a little bit! Bree made a special breakfast of purple pancakes for them the next morning...lucky boys!

It's so fun to live by cousins close in age... the kids have built-in best friends!

I Have an 8 Month Old?!

Time is seriously going by way too fast. Another new year and my little Sadie is officially 8 months old today! She's such a sweet happy girl, and she has every single one of us wrapped around her little finger. I mean, come on, just look at that face...

Christmas is all taken down now, but she sure did love to steal any jingle bells she could reach off the tree. She's gotten pretty fast at getting around too. I'd turn around for less than a minute and find her hiding under the tree...the very best present I pulled out from under there this year!

Some other tid-bits about Sadie at 8 months:
-She still hasn't mastered crawling (with her tummy off the floor) and yet she's already pulling up on things to stand!
-Still completely toothless! Since she doesn't take a bottle at all, I'm very happy about this. :)
-She loves to eat, especially anything she can pick up by herself...puffs, yogurt melts, and little pieces of fruit.
-She thinks her brothers are super funny, especially Ben (Matt Mo gets a little too wild at times).
-She loves to ride the little rocking horse she got for Christmas.
-She's a growler...it cracks us up. She also likes to babble, but nothing decipherable yet.
-She loves to be tickled around her neck...and I love hearing her laugh when I do it!

We're obviously smitten with her...our Sadie, Sadie, pretty little lady.

Our Jolly Holiday

One of my resolutions for the new year is to keep up with the blog better. So here comes a GIANT Christmas post to get us up to date!

After we all recovered from the puke bug, we were able to have lots of fun. We took the boys bowling on Christmas Eve. Mo was so excited every time it was his turn...he'd start jumping and yelling before the ball even hit the pins...

 

Later that night, we headed over to have dinner with Dan & Bree. We read the nativity story and "Eve the Elf" left packages on the doorstep for all the kiddos... new jammies!

Claire, Matt Mo, Luke, Stella, and Ben (Sadie was sick at home with John)

We couldn't resist checking to see where Santa was on his route before we went home to go to bed - I think he was in Brazil...

Santa finally made it to Texas when the boys were fast asleep. I was pretty sure he was just going to leave a couple lumps of coal, but he came through in the end...

I loved seeing their faces light up when they came out on Christmas morning. They went straight for their stockings and the candy...

Nothing like a sugar rush first thing in the morning to add to all the excitement. Time to open some presents!

Stinky the Garbage Truck was on the top of Mo's list

Sad this came out blurry, but Ben was so excited about this present...a combination of his favorite things - trucks, trailers, and the color orange.

They couldn't wait to try out the stomp rocket later that day...so much fun!

I don't think Sadie knew what to think about her first Christmas. It didn't help that she had a nasty cold and wasn't feeling well. She seemed unimpressed with her presents, but really liked the wrapping paper and bows...

Now that she feels better, she loves to ride her pony and gives the biggest smile whenever she gets on it.

A little later, we packed up and went to Granny & Pops' house for round 2 of presents...

The boys got a Creepy Crawlers Bug Maker

And extra bug-making goop  and molds for hours of fun!

They couldn't wait to try it out so Pops helped them make their first batch of bugs while Granny was busy making her yummy waffles...

This is MY favorite part of Christmas morning...YUM!

After a morning nap, Sadie was feeling a little better, and looking pretty darn cute if I say so myself...

Somehow, my sister's sweet new baby, Sawyer, managed to sleep through all the craziness...

He makes Sadie look like a giant...I guess a lot changes in 7 months!

You know it's been a good Christmas when your house looks like this at the end of the day (and possibly the rest of the week)...

We are so blessed! Hope all our friends and family had a very merry Christmas too!