Last Days of Our Colorado Trip! (And Christmas Goodies.)

Wow! It's Friday! Time flies when you're busy and it's Christmastime. Thought I would get my last Thanksgiving Break post in here before I get too far away and forget what I'm talking about, ha!

I believe I left off on Black Friday, which is otherwise known as the official no-guilt-first-day-of-Christmas-season-Friday! I went to Park Meadows early in the morning (one of my great loves in life) and came back to my parents to find these cutie kids making a gingerbread house. (A ghetto gingerbread house being held together by fancy black string.) Haysie worked on that thing silently for over an HOUR it was so funny.

I died laughing when one of my friends texted this over. If you don't know the Enneagram, you probably should. (I'm a "1" (SHOCKING), and have a "4" and a "7" wing, in case you were wondering. I'm either super fun or really emotional and want everything to be perfect either way. So, I'm basically crazy.)

Spot on!

On Friday night, we went to South Glenn in Littleton to eat pizza, enjoy the lights, and see the new Grinch movie and had the best little time! We saw several ice sculptures including Mr. Grinch himself (that none of my kids wanted to be photographed with....you will see a theme here)....

There were quite a few characters walking the streets. I liked this snowflake and her willingness to stand and pose while strangers took pictures. 

We ate at Parry's which was very, very good (yes, even Julie's cream cheese-dolloped pizza!)

The following photos are SUPER awesome (and the people in them will probably be mad at me) but they're all I've got so we're going with it!

Jeremy is the only one who smiles for my photos.

After dinner we walked around the little square which was all lit up and blasting Christmas music and it made me so happy. Man I was made to be a nerdy Mom at Christmastime.

We danced and watched the ice skaters....

Listened to the carolers....is that a word? (I love carolers!)

And Hayes finally smiled for a photo!! (While refusing to wear his coat!)

Lily LOVED all my kisses....

And was not sure what to think of Elsa---lots of stares and "no" head shakes, ha!

Lily was, however, very enthralled with the "dance troupe" that performed to (what else) "All I Want For Christmas Is You)".

We finally hauled all those kids into the theater to enjoy The Grinch which I would like to confirm is super cute! We made it through scream-free, tear-free, and nap-free, which is actually very surprising.

It was a great evening and a perfect way to start off the season!! 

On Saturday before we left, my Mom took the kids to yet another park (we are park enthusiasts in this family) and they had a blast and got nice and tuckered out before our late-night road trip back to Texas.

So thankful to my parents for putting up with our crazy family, and for giving me a Bryan and very appreciated break when we come and visit! It was a great, great week.

More videos from our week on YouTube!

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In other news, I have been very busy playing Christmas Elf and getting our home and tree and gifts and food ready for Christmas. I'm an exhausted Christmas Elf. But it's okay! (Usually!)

I have a bad habit of screen-shotting all the good ideas I see.  This homemade peanut brittle gift is for Valentine's but wouldn't it be adorable on a cute Christmas cookie sheet with some pretty red ribbon?

Tucking that one away!

I think I might actually be doing this one for our neighbor gifts this year. Maybe. There is just something about a kraft pastry box that makes all baked goods 1000% more sweet. 

(Search her Instagram if you want the recipe--it looks surprisingly easy and I'm excited to try it!!)

And last share of the day.....THIS MAGIC.

Hi, my name is Katy and I have a nerdy obsession with The Rockettes. Netflix used to have this version of the Christmas Spectacular that was free to stream but they took it off this year (HOW dare they?!), so I just HAD to order it (thanks, Amazon.) If you want something easy to watch while you're baking of wrapping presents, look no further! 

I hear Parker very "aggressively" saying "FOCUS, Hayes!", so I should probably go and be a parent!

More later! Happy weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am currently sitting on the couch in my pajamas watching the Macy's parade and enjoying the smell of onions and butter cooking (the BEST) and thought it would be a great time to pop in and share some of our memories from the past week. We have had so much fun. 

I'm going to attempt to use as few words as possible because there's lots to do today....so we will see how this goes!

We headed to our dear Lubbock on Friday for a busy weekend. On Saturday, me, Judy, and Lily Mae ditched the boys and went to one of my FAVORITE events of the entire year: Holiday Happening!! Like every other year, this year did not disappoint one bit. Geez I love Christmas music and shopping.

Lilybug was in her Christmas best and actually did really well---mostly on account of a much-needed stroller nap that allowed us some uninterrupted shopping. 

I am aware that this scene makes some people crazy, but I am not one of those people. 

There is nothing better!

We shopped till we dropped (and collected and few new favorites for my closet!), and then headed home to freshen up and head over to Friendsgiving with our fabulous Lubbock crew. 

I don't feel too left out yet thanks to our running group text, but being with these girls (and their husbands) in person is so bittersweet and makes me miss them even more! We love this bunch.

And we love ALLLLL of these babies. 

We left Parker and Hayes at my in-laws house so I felt like a really awesome parent only having to pay attention to one child.

The whole group! (Minus the Taylors and the Allens and about half of our kids!)

Lily and her future husband, Easton.

We loved getting to see our Grammy and Bee all weekend as well! Their house still feels like home and makes me so happy.

On Sunday, we got the treat of going to Monterey and enjoying a great worship service before catching up with so many sweet friends. We spent the afternoon eating, napping, watching football, and selling stuff on Trading Up because I really like to haul junk from Dallas to Lubbock and add unnecessary things to my to-do list but hey! I made like $160 so I was excited about that. 

On Monday we DROVE THROUGH THE NIGHT (yes) and arrived in CO exhausted and happy for my parents to take our crazy kiddies off our hands!

They made a park trip and probably did a bunch of other things while me and Bryan slept and then we got ready for: FAMILY PHOTOS! Yay. Actually it went fairly well with the exception of Lily is was determined to keep both paci and blankie in hand for all photos.

After photos we drove over to Hacienda for our usual (and now sentimental) dinner of Quesochangas and my new favorite: bacon-wrapped-shrimp. We also got to meet Laura's BOYFRIEND John who is every bit as nice as I hoped he would be! It's so weird to have grown up sisters. 

After dinner the "big kids" went to see the new Harry Potter movie which we thought was AWESOME.

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Yesterday, I caught the cutest moment with Lily Mae curled up beside her Nonnie on the living room floor fast asleep. 

SO DANG SWEET.

We mostly just hung around the house (and it was amazing) and then Bryan and I snuck off on a date! We were *super* creative with our date and headed to the mall to eat at the Cheescake Factory and enjoy some pre-Black Friday shopping. We had so much fun and I always love to be reminded of how much I like being with my husband! I also love Park Meadows decorated for Christmas! (I have no photos of this outing but thought it was worth the mention.)

While we were gone, the kids "helped" with Thanksgiving preparations which I'm sure required ample amounts of patience from their aunts. (Pictures are once again courtesy of my Mom.)

And that's about all I've got. I LOVE this time of year and I LOVE THANKSGIVING!

More videos on YouTube!