Quotes heard around Disneyland

Pappa: Ethan tell me about that plane ride!
Ethan: You were on it!

Pappa: Levi did you shave this morning?
Levi: No I didn't! I just don't have mustaches! [I wasn't there, but I would bet he had both his arms out to the side with his palms facing up as he was saying this!]

Libby: I wanna ride on a miracle round!

Levi: Don't tell anyone that we're having snakes for breakfast!  [Can't remember the explanation for this one...I'm thinking they had milkshakes for breakfast??]

Rachel: (driving down freeway) This doesn't look like Disneyland to me...

Ethan: I'm so hungry I'm gonna die.
Addison: Ok then, die.

E: One time I held a chick at school.
A: One time I held a bunny.
R: Boooooring.

Libby: One time daddy threw a rock at a bird and hit it's tail and hurt it and I tried to make it better but it just flew away.
Addi: And now Levi won't stop calling daddy a murderer.

Libby: One time at school, an earthworm crawled in my pants. But it didn't crawl in my panties. It held up my panties with it's mouth. And then it crawled out of my pants and we threw them away because they had earthworm stuff on them. And then I almost stepped on Ms. wormy. That's what I named her.  [No explanation for this one either!]

R: (the weenie falls out of her corn dog) Awwwww man! But at least I can use it as a telescope!

A: We're going to burn a lot of calories today!!

Libby: Disneyland is not like I thought it would be.
Kelsi: How did you think it would be?
Libby: Like...lots of fun. [Classic Libby!]

A: Kelsi, I think you're going to be a good mommy. [ :) ]

Libby: This is making me seasick! I really really like it!

Libby: There's blood on my ear. And I know it's not ketchup. How would I get ketchup on my ear?

Libby: Ethan, did you know that Rachel is crazy?
E: Yup!

Libby: I wanna ride the rabbits! [rapids]



Bryan's parents took the kids to Disneyland with their two cousins, Ethan and Rachel, and with help from B's cousin, Kelsi.  *Everyday, I hear how they want to go back :)  Kelsi recorded funny things she heard and sent a lot of picture texts.  That combined with the detailed descriptions we got from Addi made it seem like we were there.  Only, we didn't have to wait in any lines.  Sweet!

photo 88+

We celebrated Levi's 2nd birthday on Saturday. I cooked lunch: brisket, potatoes, and beans. Kroger baked and decorated cupcakes. Bryan provided the most obnoxious Elmo balloon ever created. It's bigger than Levi and plays Elmo singing Happy Birthday to You every time it's touched. By lunchtime on Sunday, Libby, who has quite a tolerance for all things obnoxious, requested the balloon be taken away from the table because she was sick of hearing that song. And, just in case I was thinking of leaving the balloon, she said, "Sick of means I don't want to hear that balloon singing anymore!" Local family members shared in our celebration and brought more boy toys to compete with all our girl toys. Levi enjoyed opening all the gifts, but had trouble moving on to each new gift.

Addi and Libby both had jobs during the present opening. Libby brought the gifts in from the other room and Addi recorded all the presents with the corresponding givers. After a combined 12 kids' birthday parties I've hosted, I finally figured out to do this for the 13th party. Now, I won't have to worry that I'm writing "Thank you so much for the fire truck" when the recipient of the note really gave a football. Somehow presents and cards get all mixed up at a childs' party. Why didn't I think of it sooner?!

You know what unnaturally green icing does to poop? You don't want to know!

This is the one picture I got of Levi with someone. I had such plans since I wanted to make him a Snapfish flipbook of him with everyone who loves him and realized I didn't have one single picture of him with certain key people. The good news is I was able to get a shot of him with his Aunt Lisa. The bad news is that wasn't a picture I was missing. :)

Maybe for the 14th kids' party I host I'll hire a photographer to capture it. Hmmmm...not a bad idea.

photo 45

Thanksgiving Celebrations

The kids helped serve lunch at the Thanksgiving Senior Lunch my mom hosts each year at her job.

Libs passed out rolls.

Addison scooped the dressing.

The 3 passed out pieces of pie.

Day-Before-Thanksgiving Dinner with my mom's side of the family

Levi was a little clingy that night.... "Momma, Momma, Momma!" But, Natalie and Kate knew the way to his heart!

My side of the table, except you can't see much of my Meme.

The other side of the table, minus Kate and Natalie. You see why Bryan has nicknamed Libby "Busy" since she was able to make it into both sides of the table pictures. :)

Levi fussed and whined a lot that night. Libby moved around a lot that night. Addi sat patiently and ate her food that night.

Dessert and playtime at Meme and Papa's

Thanksgiving Day at Bryan's cousin's home

Most of the young cousins on the trampoline

The little ones perfectly content... A few minutes later one was on his way to the ER and another one had fallen flat back hitting her head on the tile. A couple hours later everyone was back and perfectly content again.

I guess after all that excitement I forgot to take any more pictures. I can only imagine my reaction had one of those emergencies actually happened to one of my kids. :)

Hope you had a relaxing Thanksgiving filled with many blessings.

completely irrelevant because I waited so long

I figured since we're halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas, about 2 weeks after Turkey Day and 2 weeks before Christmas, I'd talk a little about our Thanksgiving. It's just for memories sake, but we did have a wonderful holiday, so it's worth remembering.

Starting the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we were able to celebrate the 5th birthday of my college roommate's little boy. I still get tickled we are able to do things like that since moving to Texas! It was a super hero party. My girls were less than enthused about the theme, but they had fun anyway.

We left the party and headed to Rainforest Cafe to meet Holly. That was a first for me! I'd never thought I'd really meet someone I met online :) But, she was just as real in real life as she is on her blog. She has a precious family that includes 4 fun kids and her Chris. (I just love that she always calls him "My Chris" on her blog.) Thanks for the meeting, Smith family!

The girls didn't have school the week of Thanksgiving. We stayed busy on Monday, ate lunch with my parents and grandparents on Tuesday and celebrated Bryan's birthday on Wednesday. Thursday morning we got up and dressed the kids in their Aggie overalls (While we didn't really believe the Aggies would end up victorious, you won't catch us allowing our kids to be 2 Percenters (That's just Aggie lingo basically meaning Fair Weathered Fan (Appropriate as it would be for an Aggie joke, I must tell you I didn't learn to use paranthesis inside paranthesis inside parenthesis while earning my degree with an emphasis in English at A&M!))). We ate with my mom's side of the family at Black-Eyed Pea for lunch. The best part was seeing everyone. Levi got to meet some family for the first time and bonded with his great uncle.

After lunch, we hung out at my parents' house.

My kids were spoiled by grandparents and even got to spend a little time with my grandparents, Meme and Papa, aka Mean and Rotten.

My grandfather would have been perfect in the movie Grumpy, Old Men, except it's all an act. He likes to aggravate people and likes being aggravated even more. Addison is too sweet for this sort of game. She just smiles and doesn't usually retaliate. Libby is the perfect candidate. And, so Mean and Rotten and Libby Lu banter back and forth. He tells her she is mean and rotten, Meme always has to interject, "No she's not! She's sweet and precious!", and Libby claims that Papa is the original Mean and Rotten! This mean and rotten/sweet and precious talk has been going on since their first grandchild (me) was a little one. Libby has taken it to a new level, though, with actually nicknaming Papa "Mean and Rotten". On the way to her Christmas program yesterday, I told her Poppa wouldn't be able to make it because he had to go out of town for work. She asked, "Poppa or Mean and Rotten?" I clarified and she said, "Good! Don't let Mean and Rotten come to my preschool. My teachers will be scared of him and my friends will be scared of him and I will have to say, 'Don't be scared. It's just Mean and Rotten!'" The funny thing is, she always talks about him and tries to think of ways to aggravate him the next time she'll see him.

This is where the pictures end because I left my camera at my mom's house on Thanksgiving. I'm hoping I can get my hands on some pictures that were taken Friday. We drove to Tyler to spend the day with Bryan's mom's family. All of Meme's (Bryan's grandmother) daughters and their kids were there. Levi got to meet more people and tons of pictures were taken. We even got to meet Makenzie for the first time!

On Saturday, we were able to celebrate Gracie's 1st Birthday! Again, I was tickled that we could be there. The girls had a blast playing with Cade on the pool table. And Addi was in awe of the diamonds that lined the walkway to the house. They really were Christmas lights, but why ruin the magicical images a 6 year old has :)

It was a wonderful week and a great beginning to the holiday season for us. We are truly blessed to live so near many friends and family.

just a little early

Last weekend, Nana had a surprise for us...the kids all came out of her room dressed in these Aggie overalls. They are really just the cutest things! (If you want your own custom overalls, even if you don't bleed maroon, go here.) It's not too early for us to decide to send them to A&M, is it?!

Trying to get 5 kids, ages 5, 4, 3, 20 months, and 7 months to sit still for a good picture is nearly impossible. I think we're missing one...

Here she is...happy to be sitting in her brother's lap!
Lib is tall enough to lean out the window in the treehouse now!

Rachel's turn...


Ethan was thrilled about something :)

Look at those faces. Someone threw the ball over the neighbor's fence.
Nana let Addi wrap up in her great-great grandfather's quilt and Addi loves it. Addi is still curling up in it everyday.