Day After Christmas

We went out the day after Christmas to open presents with Yates' side of the family. We had a lot of fun hanging out, playing games, the kids got to get pulled behind JD's Rhino on tubes and of course eating good food! There's always lots of fun times when we all get together and this was no exception...we got mooned by JD, had some Nintendo DS Guitar Hero and X-Box 360 fun and enjoyed watching a rare sight...Yvonne gave Nick a Christmas present this year...it was nothing big, but the fact that a present was given was a surprise in itself! Nick felt a little guilty for not having gotten her anything, so when he and Yates went to go get sodas he bought her a chocolate covered cherry. He brought it back to her and told her Merry Christmas! We all had a good laugh! We had lots of fun with all the new babies...Titan, Jaybin and Mylie were all born within 3 months of each other and are getting to be old enough to have fun with!

Christmas Day

The kids woke up bright and early Christmas morning...alright no earlier than normal, but I still think 7:00 AM is early for them to be up. We got right up and started opening the haul. Although things were tight this year, I think the kids made out just fine (to say the least). Yates and I had agreed we weren't buying any presents for each other this year and we stuck to it. We only had gifts for the kids and it was so much fun! We ended up actually spending less (even though we had a third child to buy for), we just scaled back the presents themselves and got them things they needed and let the grandparents and Santa get them the toys!

Tucker got rollerblades and a Mario Kart game from Santa for his Nintendo DS Lite that magically reappeared a few weeks ago! McKinlee got a Disney Princess scooter from Santa and Titan got a Jumperoo. They all LOVED their Santa gifts! Titan spent about 3 hours Christmas Day alone jumping in his new little toy...that kid LOVES TO JUMP!!!

The kids all got new BEAUTIFUL RAG QUILTS that my mom had made for them to fit each of their beds. Since Tucker and McKinlee are in the same room for now she made them both match the wall color in their room so they will complement each other, but still be definitely boy and girl for when they have their own rooms. Poppa Nick got all the kids new cowboy boots and NanaVon bought them Wrangler's and shirts (except for Titan who got a new swimming fishie crib toy and a knitted hat). Poppa and Nana Murray got Tucker a huge wooden Anaconda jointed snake with paints to personalize it, McKinlee got an Ariel round chair, Titan got a fireman's hooded towel and we got a glass pitcher with a recipe for some Lavendar Lemonade...I'm excited to try it!!! I have yet to find something that Momma Murray makes that I don't like. We got Tucker some new church shoes and McKinlee needed shoes period so she got tennis shoes, brown shoes and black shoes for church. She's been wearing a size 5 and we've known for awhile they were too small, but have kept putting off buying new ones. Well, when I went to try on size 6 shoes they were too small too!!! EEK!! We ended up buying size 7 shoes...the poor girl has been wearing shoes 2 sizes too small and hasn't said a word! Tucker got a new coat and Star Wars shirt, McKinlee got a Baby Alive doll that is "potty training" and Titan got a LeapFrog toy that teaches him parts of the body. They all got books, Tucker and McKinlee's were sticker learning books and Titan's was a cloth bear book with rattles. The kids all got lots of games from cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. It was a fun day and I promise the kids played with EVERY SINGLE THING they got that day! Thanks to everyone for a GREAT CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas Eve

We hadn't taken the kids to see Santa this year (or any of his helpers). On Christmas Eve, our friend Brandon called and asked if the kids had seen Santa. I told him no. He said his dad was dressed in his suit and just sitting in his car in front of his house and wondered if I'd like him to come over to see our kids. Of course I said YES! It was so fun...he came right in and McKinlee ran away as fast as she could and said she was scared of Santa. Tucker immediately said, "You're not the real Santa!" He played right along and said that Santa has to have lots of helpers, while neither confirming or denying that he was Santa. It was great! We finally forced McKinlee to sit on his lap (only because Tucker and Titan were going to sit with her). She did okay and then it was Titan's turn to freak out! I kept telling the kids how lucky they were that Santa came TO THEIR HOUSE!

McKinlee continued to be scared the entire rest of the night. When Yates tucked her in that night she told him that she didn't want Santa to come back to our house. She didn't want any presents. Yates told her that Tucker would take all her presents if she wanted him to have them and she told him that would be okay. She just didn't want Santa anywhere near her! How sad is that? Well, of course he snuck in anyway and left her a little gift.

Thanksgiving 2008 Collage

Since it won't blow up to view it if I put it in the actual Thanksgiving post. :)

Thanksgiving 2008

There are lots of updates below so don't stop at this first one!

What a fiasco! We had Thanksgiving at our house to help with the travelling for the two of us with little babies! It's a holiday that we're supposed to give THANKS for...I surely am...I'm giving Thanks that it's over! j/k I have a lot to be thankful for and my family rates #1 on my list! It was a lot of fun to have everyone (minus my sister who exercised her right not to come) at my house! It was a full house and every bed was all filled up but we had lots of fun hanging out and enjoying all the grandkids. Little Dax and Titan are only 2 weeks apart and they're both TANKS...I thought Titan was a big boy until I saw Dax. He outweighs him by at least 1-2 lbs and is longer. Such cute little cousins! Enjoy the pictures stolen straight off my brother's website...thanks for taking all the pictures!!! We went to the park and let the kids run around, went to Mesquite for all-you-can-eat crab buffet and watch some moto-cross at the track there, enjoyed our traditional deep-fried turkey (and had hardly ANY leftover after dinner was over), we juggled kids so those who wanted to could all go see Twilight and ate lots and lots of yummy food!!! Yates had to work, but they were good about letting him come home occasionally during his shift to eat and enjoy family!

What a helper!

I was washing Tucker's blankie the other day and obviously I wasn't getting it in the dryer fast enough for him. He decided to "help me out". This is what I caught when I went to see what he was up to.

P.S. After being lost for almost 10 months, we have found Tucker's Nintendo DS Lite!!! Santa got it for him last year for Christmas and he only had it a few months and it disappeared. It was on the list for Santa this year, but since it has now been found Tucker has had to adjust his "wish" list!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Our annual snowfall happened this last week and the kids took advantage of it as always! We hauled the snow stuff out and they have been out there for the last 3 days frolicking. The other little boy by Tucker in the pictures is a little boy that we've been watching for about a year and a half and the kids just love playing with him!

Tucker made a little snowman all by himself after he came home from school on Monday and asked me for a carrot for it's nose. I got him the carrot and then had to go nurse Titan. He came back in and needed a hat/scarf for Mr. Frosty and I told him he was going to have to wait for just a few minutes while I fed Titan. I finished and he went outside to check and his poor Mr. Frosty had tipped. He was so upset with me and told me, while choking up, "If you had just got me his hat and scarf he wouldn't have tipped over!" I felt so bad for him!

McKinlee is 3!

I'm home sick today, so what better time to update our blog? McKinlee just turned 3 and she was so cute. She's old enough to really enjoy the "special day". She's been waiting and waiting to turn 3 because she'll get to go to school when she's 3 (too bad that's not until next August...poor thing)! McKinlee is still so little! At her well-child visit last week she weighed 28 lbs (10% percentile) and was 36.5" tall (25% percentile). She got 2 shots and was so brave for the first one and then had a minor meltdown for the second one.

She is still Miss Independent and will absolutely REFUSE to let you help her do anything. She's a "big girl" and can do it herself. She's completely potty trained and has only had 1 night-time accident since she decided to start using the potty full-time. She loves to do anything her big brother is doing and gets upset if he won't let her play along. She is such a sweet little girl and loves to ask us to "snuggle wif me" when we're putting her to bed. She talks very well for her age and is pretty easy to understand. She likes to discipline us when we do "naughty" things. We don't let the kids use "naughty" words like stupid, shut up or butt. I was talking to Yates this morning on the phone while the kids were eating breakfast and said, "butt" and Tucker immediately caught me and told me not to say the "b" word. McKinlee piped up and said, "Yeah, mommy don't say a "b" word!" She loves to make Titan smile and laugh and is so proud that she can do it. She has always been phsyically beautiful and she gets commented on it everywhere we go. We sure love her and are so glad that she's a part of our family!

Happy #3!