Visit with Santa

Every year I take the girls to sit in Santa's lap and get a picture. And every year it seems like there's one of of the C's who is less than thrilled about the visit. The minute we get in line the clinging, tears and loud cries begin and they don't end until we are a very safe distance from the jolly man in the red suit. I know some parents can't stand to hear their kids cry and wouldn't dream of making them sit in Santa's lap for a picture, if they were going to scream. I, on the other hand, love looking back at the pictures of the girls in Santa's lap and I treasure these memories, even if they were upset. One of these days they'll be grown and I want to know that I captured as many memories as possible.

This year I was fully anticipating Carlyle to be the one who screamed and screamed and screamed. She gets scared of birds in the parking lot, commercials that have dogs barking, and has even gotten scared of a statue of a dog. So, with the history that she has with animals, I fully expected her to react the same way with the bearded man dressed in red. But, to my surprise, she anxiously waited in line and kept saying "Santa" over and over. When I asked her if she wanted to sit in his lap, she said "yeah"!!! Because I wasn't sure how she would do, we positioned the older girls first and then sat Carlyle in his lap at the last minute. What a shock!!! She cheesed it up, smiling ear to ear! She even gave him a hug before we left!

I love this year's Santa picture and am so happy to have gotten one with all three girls smiling so big!!





For fun, take a look back at all the Santa pictures since Camden was a baby.
2004-Camden

2005-Camden

2006-Camden and Claire (love this one...we barely got Camden in the picture. Can you tell she's sitting as far away from Santa as possible?)

2007-Camden and Claire

2008-Camden and Claire

2009-Camden, Claire and Carlyle

2010-Camden, Claire and Carlyle

Our Elf, Markle

This morning was Markle's first appearance this holiday season. The girls were super excited! He brought them breakfast (powdered donuts,hot chocolate and orange juice) and even a gift to remind us all of the real reason we celebrate Christmas. We didn't want Carlyle to miss out on the fun so we had to wake her up. She wasn't too thrilled about the presence of Markle, however she was very interested in the present!! She helped Claire tear off the paper. All three girls were thrilled with the Fisher Price Nativity set. They played all morning with it, until I had to hurry them to eat and get dressed for school. We love Markle and hope that his presence in our home brings more sharing, more kindness and more love! And, we're hoping to remember that the real reason for Christmas is the gift of Baby Jesus!!

Thanksgiving and weekend away

Being the good mother that I am, I took absolutely no pictures on Thanksgiving. NONE!! The girls looked super cute in their smocked outfits and had lots of fun at Marme' and Pops' house. We spent the majority of the day enjoying great food and lots of fun! Three of Jeremy's uncles were in town so it was good to visit with them. Of course, the girls had fun playing with their cousins. It was nice to have such a relaxing day!! Later that afternoon, Jeremy stayed at his parents' house to play poker with his family and I took the girls to my parents. I stayed for a little while, then headed home to pack for our weekend trip to Dallas. Thanks to my parents for keeping the girls. I know they all had fun, but feel sure that my parents were exhausted after spending 3 days with 3 wild, crazy, full of energy girls:)

Now, back to our weekend. When Jeremy and I found out that Baylor was playing Texas Tech at Cowboys Stadium the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we decided to get tickets. I was really excited to be going to a Baylor game and especially excited about going to Cowboys Stadium. When my mom found out we were going, she suggested we just stay two nights and have a weekend away. And then she offered to pay for the hotel(as an anniversary present). Of course, I said YES!!!!

Our plan was to leave Friday morning and head to the Allen outlets. Then we realized it was Black Friday and found several great sales so we bumped up our departure time to around 5am. At 11:00pm on Thursday night I still wasn't finished with laundry and packing and knew it would be at least midnight before I could go to bed. Getting up at 4:00am to shower and get ready didn't sound like much fun. I knew I would do better just staying up all night versus only getting about 4 hours of sleep. So, we decided to leave Thursday night, since most of the stores at the outlets were opening at midnight. We left our house around 11:30pm and got to Allen about 1:00am. The parking lot at the outlets was completely packed, with no parking available. They had additional parking about a mile away, with shuttles to take you over to the stores. So, that's what we did. This first picture is us on the charter bus, waiting to be shuttled over to begin our shopping adventure.

We shopped and shopped and shopped, finding some really great deals. The longest we had to wait in line was about 45 minutes at Gymboree. Other than that, our wait time was less than 5 minutes. About 5 or 6:00am, cars in the parking lot seemed to be disappearing and the crowds of people seemed to be diminishing. We stopped for a short breakfast break and then continued shopping until about 8:30am. Here's the packages we had accumulated so far.


We then headed to Edwin Watts and Golfsmith. Then we ate lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Jeremy had heard great things about this burger joint, and it didn't disappoint. Pretty tasty!!! After lunch, we checked into our hotel about 12:00, went to bed and slept until 5:00pm. We got up, showered and headed out to dinner at Abuelo's. Definitely one of the best Mexican restaurants I've eaten at!!! So far, our Friday was very productive!!!!!

Saturday we slept in until about 12:30. I can't remember the last time I've slept that long. After getting dressed in my Baylor attire, we made a stop by Sam Moon to do a little more shopping and then made the short drive to Arlington and had a late lunch at Pappadeaux. Definitely one of our favorites!!!

After a delicious meal, we made our way to Cowboys Stadium. We got stuck in so much traffic trying to find our lot to park in. Once we got in, we parked relatively close to the stadium and waited in more lines to go through security. Once we made our way in, we quickly found our seats and couldn't wait for the game to begin. We had so much fun at the game cheering for the Bears! What an exciting game!!


Sunday we slept in, packed up and checked out. We stopped by the Galleria, walked around and didn't buy one thing. Can you believe that after our shopping weekend, we were able to walk out of the Galleria with not one package?? We made our way to Mesquite and stopped at Target to get the girls a surprise. I had completely forgotten all weekend to look for them something. And, what kind of parents would we be to come home with nothing for our girlies? There was a Five Guys Burgers and Fries restaurant very close to Target and so we just stopped in there again for a quick lunch. This time we got the Cajun fries, which were so so good!!! Then it was time to make the trek home to see our girls! What a fun weekend to spend time with my husband!! I enjoyed the alone time, but of course, missed the three C's. Thanks Nana and Papa for helping make this weekend possible! Can't wait for our next weekend away!!!

Veteran's Day Program

This year for Veteran's Day, both Camden and Claire's schools were having a program honoring veterans. Unfortunately, the programs were at the same time. I hated having to pick one program over another and since my dad is a veteran, I hated for him to have to choose between his grandkids. Fortunately, Camden was a good sport and said it was ok if we wanted to go to Claire's program. Camden's school is doing a Christmas program in December so she said we could just come to that one. Jeremy did manage to go and watch Camden at her program and my friend, Leslie, was able to get a picture of her singing. I hated to miss Camden's program, but since this was Claire's first big program I wanted to be there for her. She did great and knew all the words and motions to the songs! What a fun morning! Happy Veteran's Day!!

Carlyle waiting for the program to start


Papa introducing himself as a veteran of the army


Carlyle and Papa listening to the kids sing

Claire showing Papa and Carlyle the card she made

Claire and Jaxson

And, here's Camden singing at her program

Baylor Homecoming 2011

This past weekend was Baylor Homecoming and the girls love going every year to see the Bears. We usually go down on Friday and spend the night, but this year we decided to head down early Saturday morning. And, oh it was early. We had to leave early enough to get our Shipley's donuts..an annual tradition!! We were on the road by 5:30am. Silly me thought the girls just might go back to sleep, since it was dark until we arrived in Waco. Yeah right!! They were wide awake, anticipating how much longer it would be. We pulled into the parking lot of Shipley's around 7:30am. We all enjoyed our breakfast of sugary sweets!!




After filling our tummies, we made our way over to campus. We set up our chairs and blankets to save our viewing spot for the parade and then headed into the bookstore to do some shopping for souveniers. The girls picked out a Baylor stuffed animal and Camden just had to have some Baylor tattoos for her face. I got my share of goodies, too. Thanks to my sweet hubby, I got some pajama pants, t-shirt and a cup. My mom actually got me a few things too, but it's for Christmas. After getting our goodies, we went back out, right in time for the parade to begin.



Baylor has some of the most amazing floats!!! I was actually float chair one year for my sorority, Chi Omega, so I'm a little partial to the floats!! I know first hand how many long hours, tiring nights, and hard work goes into making these fabulous floats!!




Another float


And another

How cute is the Radio Flyer red wagon!





Hanging out in front of the bears!

The bear is shaking off the water after getting wet.


Swinging away in the green and gold swings!!

After the parade, we made our way to Ninfa's for lunch...one of my favorites! It was so yummy!! We had such a great day at Baylor and I loved getting to share such a special place with my family! I love that the girls enjoy spending time at Baylor and I love that Jeremy and my parents enjoy this special weekend, almost as much as me!! Already looking forward to next year!!