Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving plans didn't quite turn out the way we wanted.  We were planning on driving to Abilene the Friday before and staying until Wednesday, then going to Graham to see Matthew's side and driving back home on Saturday.  A bad ice/snow storm came through over the weekend in Amarillo, Lubbock, and Abilene and by the time it would be warm and safe for us to get on the road it was Tuesday, which didn't leave us with enough time for family.  If we are going to drive 12+ hours, I want to be able to stay for at least a week!

We were all pretty upset that we couldn't make it to Texas, so Granna decided on Sunday to book a flight and surprise us on Monday.  We were all shocked and happy to see her!  We spent the few days she was here shopping, getting massages, going to the movies, playing games, and cooking Thanksgiving dinner.
I am very thankful for our families, our health, our friends, and that I am growing a healthy baby.  Crazy to think that there will be five of us next year!

We went to see Frozen.  My new favorite Disney movie!

Helping Granna cook for Thanksgiving

I love the way she looks at him

Update on Mason and Evie

Mason

love him

We had his parent/teacher conference last week.  His teacher said he is a great friend, is respectful, has excellent manners, and is a great example to others in the class.  She said he is quiet, but confidant and that she has seen his confidence grow so much lately.  She also said that his attention to detail is extraordinary and that he is a perfectionist.  I am just so proud of him.  I know that as parents we think Mason is the sweetest, but it is so nice to hear it from teachers too.  His art teacher said that he is the sweetest five year old that she has ever taught.  She said that he is a five year old gentleman, and that is what our society is missing today in young boys.  Such a proud mom moment!
I am so glad that we decided to hold him back and give him this extra year.  He will no doubt be ready for Kindergarten in the fall and hopefully have even more confidence.  His sweet teacher said she knows that he needs extra time to finish projects because he wants it to be perfect, so she lets him take all the time he needs.  I know he won't always get this, but I am grateful for it now.
His physical and academic development is right on track and even ahead of where is should be.  He loves outdoor and active play.  Some of his other favorites are art, blocks, class pet, library center, puzzles, science, and writing center.
He is definitely all boy right now.  Last year he played mostly with the girls, but not anymore.  His school friends he plays with the most are Isaac, Laith, and Gavin.

ready to ski

He still loves sports.  I was planning on signing him up for basketball, but he said he didn't want to play.  This is the first time he has said he didn't want to play a sport, so I listened and didn't sign him up.  Maybe next year.  He is already ready for soccer and baseball to start again.  Matthew took him to get skis, so I hope he is a good skier by the time the winter is over.

Evie

One thing I haven't mentioned on the blog is that she graduated from speech in October.  When she started in April she said less than five words.  In August she was saying around 50 words, and by October it was at least 400-500.  She talks non stop all day long.  God is laughing at us worrying about her!  Who knows if she really needed speech or if she was just taking her time like she did with crawling and walking.  I love hearing her sweet voice and all she has to say.

She woke up the other day and said she had sweet dreams.  Matthew asked what she dreamt about and she said, "babies and princesses!"  That about sums up her life right now. (plus books)

Give her a baby doll and books and she is a happy girl.

When you ask Evie what she did at school she will say "played babies and books" every single time.  Her teacher said this is true.  When they have free choice, she gets a baby and a book and sits in the chair and reads.  She is learning and growing in playschool and I just love her teachers.

I have never called her a princess as a nickname.  We call her all sorts of names, but princess isn't one that stuck with us.  Well, she has figured out that she is a princess on her own.  We can tell her anything, for example: Evie, you are beautiful, smart, funny, silly, nice, etc and she will always say "no I am a princess"  It cracks us up!

We were talking about the baby the other day and she kept saying that she was the baby.  I said you will be the big sister and she said "no I am the princess baby!"  We might be in trouble when the baby gets here!  :)

I was taking a picture of how long her hair was, then I noticed what she was doing in the reflection.  :)

Another thing she has picked up from somewhere is fishing for compliments.  She will be so sweet and tell you that she likes your shirt, shoes, necklace, etc but if you don't say that you like something of hers, she will say, "what about me?!"  Oh man this girl is going to give us plenty of headaches!

fun day at the zoo

They love the tree.  They could spend all day looking at the ornaments.

my sweet loves

Thank-fest

The Brown's had a great idea to have a Thanksgiving dinner with our friends over at their house last night.  Mark smoked the turkeys and everyone else brought side dishes and desserts.  We had around 25 adults and 18 kids ages 7 and under so it was a lot of fun and chaos.  We had two babysitters come to help out with all of this kids so that we could all eat and visit a little bit more.  I hope this is the first of many "thank-fests" in the future!

Jeff, Jamie, and Shep

Mason is the only "big" boy of the bunch.  He doesn't seem to mind playing with all the princesses though!

Anna, Leslie, Shannon, Mike, Andrew, Natalie, and Seth

The Vantage wives- Natalie, Leslie, me, and Jamie.  So thankful our husbands work together and we have all become such great friends.

Colorado Springs Weekend

We had the best weekend in the Springs.  Matthew has been so busy at work that we hadn't seen much of him in two weeks.  We decided to take the kids on a surprise getaway since Matthew had Friday off.  We went to the North Pole amusement park first.  This place was awesome!  It is definitely up there with one of my favorite things we have done since moving here. 

The best part was the weather and no lines.  I don't think it would be as much fun if it were cold and crowded.  The kids were fearless and rode all of the rides.  Since there were no lines, they could just ride the rides over and over again without ever having to get off.

The first thing we did was go see Santa.  Mason actually talked to him this year and told him he wanted a red Power Ranger for Christmas.  Evie was terrified!  After we got the picture she kept saying all day, "no more ho ho again!"  ha!  I'm glad I got this cute picture though!

priceless!

This slide was a big hit.  Mason had to go down 20 more times before we could leave.  Matthew said there were 45 steps up to the top.

Poor Matthew had to go on all the spin rides since I couldn't.  I think he was pretty nauseous by the end of the day!

I was so shocked that Mason went into this haunted house not once, but five times.  I'm pretty sure he kept his eyes closed the whole time though!  :)

Mason was scared to go on this one, but Evie loved it.  It spun so fast it made me sick just watching it!

Mason rode this, but was not a fan.  Again, Evie kept saying "this is fun daddy!"

Both of the kids loved the roller coaster.  Matthew said he had to keep Evie in a headlock because it was jerking her around so much.  Her bow even came undone and he caught it in the air.  She loved it!

Mason rode this over and over again too.

We spent about five hours at the park and then headed towards our next surprise...a hotel.  Mason loves  staying in hotels, especially when he gets to sleep on a pull out sofa.  ha!  What made it even more fun was that it had an indoor pool.  We went to eat at Outback and then came back for swimming.  I was so proud of how well they both can still swim.  Evie was swimming to the edge and pulling herself out of pool and Mason still had good swimming strokes.  The water was pretty cold, but they loved every second of it.

We woke up on Saturday and headed home. It was a weekend I know we will remember for a long time.  I love love love doing fun things like this with my sweet family!

all ready for bed after a long day.  Poor Evie was so tired her eyes were swollen and red.