Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas with my family in Missouri. We decided to open some presents on Christmas Eve and saved some for Christmas morning. Here we are before the big frenzy began!

Mom and dad with their three grandsons.

My little angels.

Seth opening a Batman helicopter.

Ethan with some new Legos from Mimi and Mambo.

Zach with his latest video game. I'm pretty sure he now has every kind of video game system ever made.

Dad with the book I got him.

Mom and her new Coach purse.

Nate really liked his little learning table.

Emily and Tim playing the new Wii game that Tim got for Christmas from mom and dad. Unfortunately, the game ended in violence. (Tim accidentally wacked Emily in the face!)

Mom with her Santa cake. It was pretty cute-and tasty!

Christmas Morning

Yes, the boys had even more presents to open on Christmas morning. These were their presents from Santa! This was the first year they really got into Santa, so it was pretty fun. We even made cookies and left them out for him. As you can see, Ethan was pretty surprised that Santa knew he wanted a race track.

Seth had to look at this spaceship every single time we went to Target, so he was also pretty excited that Santa magically seemed to know exactly what he wanted.

Tim and the boys testing out the race track.

The boys playing with the croquet set that Mimi got them. They love the show "Caillou", which is where they learned all about the game of croquet.

Marshmallow guns are the only things the boys told Santa they wanted for Christmas. Yes, they sat on his lap this year! We were so excited. They were scared to death last year, but this year they hopped right up there and chatted up a storm with Santa. Seth even gave him a big hug. I have pics of them sitting on Santa's lap that I have tried to scan on our new printer, but so far I'm not having any luck.

Seth shooting Mimi.

Mimi getting Seth back! I think the boys had the most fun eating the marshmallows that were shot at them.

This picture sums up the boys' relationship with each other perfectly. They love each other so much!

A Kansas City Christmas

We spent a weekend in Kansas City eating, opening presents, spending time with family, and eating some more! Here are mom, Em, the boys, and me with Nana, Tyler, Graham, and Aunt Jeannie.

Graham with the boys. Nice faces, guys!

Emily and baby Nate. Look at that cute little smile!

Everyone opening presents at Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Doug's house.

More people and more presents. This year we each drew a name for our gift exchange and it worked out great.

My Nana's sister, Jean(on the left sitting by Fred), and Jean's daughter, Jerilyn, came all the way from England to visit.

Dad and Nate: two peas in a pod.

Me and my mom, the greatest person I know! I love you, mom.

Dad and Seth watching some basketball.

Nana, mom, and the boys watching The Polar Express. That was the boys' favorite movie this year, by far. Ethan has the entire thing memorized and asks to watch it almost everyday.

Hanging with the Holcombs

The Holcombs are one of my favorite families. I feel so blessed to know them (especially my super awesome friend, Gayle) and I am so thankful that they are in the boys' lives too. The boys and I got to spend some time with them when we were in Missouri for Christmas.

Terry and Ross playing with the boys. Terry was back from Iraq for just a couple weeks. Ethan and Seth had so much fun playing football outside with all the "big boys".

Gayle always does such fun, creative activities with the boys. She made gingerbread houses for them and got a bunch of stuff to decorate with them.

Wade and Ethan decorating their gingerbread houses.

Gayle, Kara (Wade's sweet, beautiful girlfriend), and Seth.

Ross and the boys showing off their muscles!

Wade and Seth. These two think they're pretty darn cute!

Our Visit to Oklahoma

Aunt Tommie read stories to the boys (Ethan, Levi, Seth, and Joe) almost every night we were there. She is a very animated story teller!

Seth showing off the cowboy hat and guns that Granny gave him for Christmas.

Seth and Joe fighting the "bad guys". The boys definitely liked shooting their guns and running around. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of them all playing together.

Joe, the sheriff!

Seth riding a horse for the very first time. He loved it! Thanks again, Casey, for taking them on rides with you.

Ethan loved his first horse ride too. They're already doing better than me. I didn't ride my first horse until I was in my early 20's.

Seth contemplating life.

When the boys were done riding the horse, they got to help feed him apples.

Seth modeling the Indian costume Granny made for him. Look at that grin! I think he may be up to no good.

Ethan in his Indian costume. Granny also made all of the boys cowboy costumes too. So cute!

Autumn in the Ozarks

Fall is definitely my favorite season and I'm so glad I was in Missouri during the fall this year to witness the beautiful leaves and feel the cool, fall air. This picture and the following five pictures were all taken at Ha Ha Tonka.

Ethan and Seth by the lake before walking on the trail.

Nate is one of the best babies I have ever seen in my life (and I'm not just saying that because he's my nephew). He hardly ever cries and he smiles and laughs all the time.

Seth had to have his fishing pole on our walk, so he could stop and fish periodically. Ethan had just broken his that morning, so they both had to take turns with Seth's pole, which created a few minor problems on our peaceful outing.

Emily is such a great mom to baby Nate.

Here are the boys and me by the spring.

Dad took me and the boys on a boat ride one evening. The leaves were really colorful and there were no other boats on the water. The perfect time to be out on the lake.

Seth had a death grip on his fishing pole and would not put it down even for a quick picture.

Seth reeling in a big one. Actually, he had just gotten the line tangled up in the boat motor and was trying to pull it out.

Ethan likes watching the water when the boat is moving.

Mom and Seth playing tennis. The boys really liked running around on the tennis courts.

Ethan would really concentrate on the ball and he actually got the ball over the net a majority of the time.

This was baby Nate's first time in a swing. We think he liked it, but it was kind of hard to tell.

Seth, my little monkey, climbing up to the very top of the jungle gym.

Ethan was pretending he was digging holes to build houses.

Emily and Nate in his little ghost shirt.

The boys throwing sticks to Mercedes.