Flights of Fancy

 After one of our outings, Jared made the mistake of tossing one of the boys onto the love sac in the media room. I say "mistake" because that immediately opened the floodgates of "my turn!" It sure made for one of the more memorable photo shoots of the trip though. The camera especially loved Andrew's flights of fancy.

 There he goes!

 Not all kids land on their feet...

 Derek was thrilled with all the adrenaline, excitement and physical interaction. He's such a boy.

 Preston ventured up the stairs to join us

What sweet cousins!

 David acted as official cat wrangler while the other kittens waited their turn

I wish I was still small enough to experience this for myself. :)

Christmas Morning

 Christmas morning was bright and snowy! It was wonderful to sleep in since none of the kids were really old enough to insist on presents at 6 am. Derek even slept in til 7:30! Tammy made some seriously yummy English scones, hot chocolate and apple cider. It was a feast fit for Santa for sure. After breakfast, Jeff read the nativity story out of the book of Luke while Tammy gave us a visual using her pretty nativity (with some assistance from Emeri as the guiding angel). Then Jeff passed out gifts for the grandkids, we gave brother/sister gifts and Colton passed out his gifts to all of us from Mexico. What a wonderful morning!

Bryce has discovered his fists

Bryce was a great hit with all the cousins, but especially with Isaac.

 

2 months old!

The guiding angel!

 

Patrons of the Heath Family Theater

The boys were entranced with the whole production

 Thick as thieves

 Andrew attempted to dismantle the tree

 Derek couldn't believe his good fortune

 Matching RC motorcycles! Let the battle begin!

 Nowadays you have to break out the powertools to even get the toy out of the box

 Almost too busy to say "cheese" for mom. :)

 Translation: "The Grandparents' House"

 Mitchell and Austin got super cool swords with inscriptions on them - Austin's reads "Don't use me without reason and sheath me with honor." Mitchell's reads "You taught me to pee now I want you to drown." Oooookay.... apparently that last one is a common saying among Mexican work crews...at least, according to Colton.

 I decided to wrap Derek's presents inside out so you could see the pretty colors when it was unwrapped. Then I decided to play the name game on the front so I could remember which gift was which. :)

There were lots of happy...

 ...smiling...

...adorable faces this morning!

 Preston, of course, was more enamoured with the duck now that Logan was absorbed in other gifts. :)

This was the best gift of all! Grandpa and Grandma Wade surprised us by coming for a few days before Christmas! It was AWESOME!!!! Grandma brought amazing cookies, caramels and peanut brittle that were gone within the week (that's saying something considering there were 4 cheesecakes and multiple cakes and pies in the house). We love you Grandma and Grandpa!!

Gaylord Texan Christmas Display

 We went to see the Christmas lights at the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine on Christmas Eve. Derek was enamoured with all the "Santa Claus trees" and pretty lights. I think I read a sign that said over 12,000 ornaments were used in the decorations. It was CRAZY cool! There were lots of different decorated scense, like the Alamo at Christmas, the Riverwalk at Christmas, Santa's Boots, a full-size gingerbread house and TRAINS! It was hard to tear Derek away from the trains to go look at other displays. We got separated early on but it was a fun family activity all the same.

 What a handsome husband I have!

 We loved seeing the sights

 I cannot get over how GORGEOUS those lights are!

 Liz and I suddenly found ourselves separated from the group... and the kids! :D Of course the logical thing to do is document it with some silly stunts...

Aren't her orange skinny jeans fun?!

Peekaboo!

 These two disappeared for a good long while before we found them in the throngs of people

 Derek was stuck to Papa like glue

 I can't help but think of Vin Diesel in "The Pacifier." Too funny guys!

 This would've been a great family picture if Derek were with us.

 I love my sisters!

 Twinkle twinkle little stars!

 Derek was scoping out Papa's cheek for a kiss

 It was just so much easier to put kids on shoulders after a while. There were a TON of people.

 Derek was more impressed than this, but I love this picture.

 Uncle Colton is already a big hit with the kids.

 Of all the trees, lights and displays, this was my favorite.

King-sized or Santa-sized?

The Battle Against Thumb-Sucking

This kid is so going in the brig! I have tried everything from pickle juice to nail polish to rewards (for not sucking thumb) to punishments for sucking it. Now we're trying the masking tape method. So far, some improvement has been seen. Mostly, it just makes me laugh when I have to find a new way to tape his thumbs.

Try #1: tape on thumbs only. Fail. He peels it off in a few minutes. Grrr...

Try #2: Taping thumbs to his palms. Fail. Took longer to peel it off, but still came off.

Taping thumb and forefinger together. Sucess! He can't peel it off, haha!

Crazy dress up day. His "purse," lunchbox full of toys and Dad's flip flops. 

Beautiful baby blues!

He didn't like taking pictures for very long. :)

Look at these precious babies! I can't imagine what it would be like if they were twins.