Christmas

I love making ginger bread houses and candy trains. I love eating them even more. These boys definitely inherited my love of candy!

The above is what Kimball and my train looked like right after we finished it.

Below is what the train looked like 10 minutes later when Peter and I came downstairs after putting the boys to bed to find our dog had inhaled loads of candy bars.
Apparently our dog has a sweet tooth too.

This is what happens when boys get silly

Our sweet little family in Christmas PJs

"all snug in their beds" They are so cute!

I love the tree all stuffed and peaceful on Christmas Eve, knowing it will bring magic and happiness to those sweet little boys.

Hoe to train your dragon--Joey's favorite.

Joey made this cute calendar with all his drawings for each month. It was so cute!

The boys got watches, they were so happy

A puppy is like a baby--the wrapping paper was as exciting as presents

Grandma goodies

excitement

Kimball got "my spectacle movie"

Peter's big confusing surprise. He wasn't quite sure what the gloves were for until I told him the punching bag was hiding at Sally and Joe's house. He was very happy.

Finally, a kitchen Aid. No more carpel tunnel syndrome from kneading bread. I have made a lot more bread lately

Kimball could not get enough of the lazer sound feature on his "buzz light year watch"

Kimball Cheetos face, and I noticed he has some very dirty nostrils--that a boy for you. They somehow figure out how to get dirt every where.

I gave the boys some bags of Cheetos in their stockings and they were in heaven!

Traditional Taylor style Christmas brunch: Eggs, bacon, OJ, and the highlight--scones and honey butter. The scones got a little crispy this year :)

Playing with the loot while sweet Dad went outside in the freezing 30 degree temps to set up their new trampoline. What a great Dad!

The boys couldn't resist helping out

Kimball kept saying, "Our new jump-o-line is AWESOME!"

jumping with Dad on the new mini trampoline while poor Kiki looks on longingly

Sweet Joey

Last week, while we were all sick, Joey asked me to come eat lunch with him at school. I told him yes thinking that I would be feeling a lot better the next day. But the next day I woke up not feeling much improvement. I told Joey that I didn't think I would be able to come and asked if we could wait until the next week to go. He looked so sad and I just couldn't say no to those big brown eyes. I just thought, "He is so excited for his mom to come to his school and eat lunch with him. There will probably come a time when he would rather die than have me come eat lunch at school with him; I better take advantage of these precious moments while they last."

So after taking a little power nap, Kimball and I headed off to school to eat with Joey. It made me so happy to see how excited he was that we were there, and how proudly he said YES when the other kids asked, "Is that you mom Joey?" It was so fun to sit at the table in the noisy cafeteria and eat with my sweet son. What melted my heart even more was when he jumped out of his seat to go give a man walking by a hug. When I asked him who that was he said, "It's Mr. (I forgot the name), he's the janitor."

Then that night for his prayer he said, "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you that I could have a fun day, and thank you that we are a family. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I am so grateful for a sweet boy who reminds me of what is really important!

The only snow in San Antonio

The only snow we get in SA is at Sea World, where there are snowmen made out of plastic, and snow flakes made from bubbles. I can deal with that as a trade in to wear shorts and not have to shovel the driveway

Enjoying the Polar Escape movie at sea world

Sweet, Silly Dog

Our dog is so funny. She is a pack-rat! She loves collecting things from around the house (belong to each person in "her pack") and then brings them down to the living room and makes a little pile for herself. I would watch her go upstairs, sniff out a piece of clothing; very, very careful fold it over so it fits nicely into her mouth with no fray edges hanging out (she's very particular); and then sneak of downstairs to her treasure lair. She sneaks because she knows she not supposed to do that :)

This is one of her all time favorite things to sneak off with--the boys puppies from off their beds. This is her cowering behind the toy because she knows better.Her pile of collected clothes

But she is just so cute and lovable!

Getting ready for Christmas

Ball on a string--a great tug of war game for the boys and dog

snuggling to read stories--I love that!

The boys and I had fun putting all the Christmas lights and decorations. The boys mostly ran back and forth across the cul-de-sac with the dog while I did the work :)
And of course, showed me their silly faces afterward