Christmas in H-town

Granny and the great- grandchildren

Last weekend, we traveled to Houston to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Ben always gives me a hard time because we have like three Christmases with my family...just one more than his might I add. My brother took one for the team and drove my mother and Granny. Dustin said Granny sat in the front with him and retold the same story over and over and my mom sat in the back singing Lady Gaga the whole way. God love em. My uncle, who is closer to my age than my mother's, has two little boys who are 7 and 4. So Davis and Wilson had a lot of fun playing with them.

During these trips to Houston my mother travels to Wal-mart/Target at least three times a day on average because she's so excited that my uncle's house is only a mile away. We're used to driving at least 3o minutes to get to the nearest Wal-mart around here, but by the time you wait at the 50 red lights between the two points you've wasted thirty minutes anyway. Needless to say there's a lot of Wal-mart shopping on these trips.

Riley, Davis, Walker, Brianna, and Wilson

Matt's little boys both got bow and arrows so we all went outside for target practice.

Davis standing by where he hit the target.

Even Granny took a shot at it.

Counting Down the Days

This is our family elf, Eli. He came to us last Christmas right after Thanksgiving. Every night after getting some good dirt on the boys he uses his magic to fly back to the North Pole to tell Santa all about if they've been naughty or nice. When he returns early the next morning he is always in a new spot. The boys love to look for Eli first thing each morning when they wake up. The only thing about Eli is that you can't touch him (or he'll lose his magic) and Santa will not allow him to talk to the children. He can, however, listen to your Christmas list and report it to Santa. Every now and then I will catch Davis or Wilson whispering to Eli what they want for Christmas. Last night Eli came in extra handy when he was hanging out in our dining room during dinner and Wilson refused to eat his red beans and rice. I just reminded that little deviant who was watching, and I have never seen him lap up dinner so fast. If I had only had an elf when I was little then maybe I would have received the white kitten I wanted instead of the stuffed one Santa left me, or the Barbie Ice Cream maker that I asked for that my friend Katie Stephens got down the street. I tried to tell someone that he dropped it off at her house by mistake. I'm still sore about that one! Hopefully these elves will prevent any more of Santa's mess ups in the future.

This is our homemade advent calendar. I found the idea in some magazine I was reading and thought it was too cute! It sure beats the 70 dollars I wanted to spend on the one from Pottery Barn. I just went around the house collecting miscellaneous socks from all of our drawers and used jute string, thumbtacks, and clothes pins to put it together. Here we have mixture of hunting, skiing, baby, (I had the pink baby sock leftover from a school art project...no pink babies here)running, white, soccer, t-ball, dress, and christmas socks I picked up at the DG just for festiveness. The plan was to put candy or small toy in each of the socks for the boys, but I've missed a day or eight. I could probably just find a few small forgotten toys from our play room and they wouldn't know the difference. I guess Wilson had the same idea because on morning he put Davis's C3PO in a sock and told him to look in it.

Thanksgiving Visit

I don't have much to write for this post, but I wanted to share this picture. The baby, Mary Ellen, belongs to my BFF from high school, Ellie Axford, but doesn't she just complete the picture? I think we need some pink in our family. The boys have been asking for a baby sister since last year's Thanksgiving in Dallas where they spent time with baby Edie (Ben's cousin Ann's little girl). Anyway, I got to visit with Ellie and her family over Thanksgiving. In the brief time we were there, Ellie's husband Tommy managed to convince my boys that the rocket pack they want for Christmas is not only obtainable, but that it will actually make them fly. Thanks Tommy, I'll be returning the favor. Also, I posted this because I know Ellie is a loyal reader of my blog and is going to take the next step and actually become a follower. AND if she doesn't everyone who reads will know about it and frown upon her treasonous defiance.