SANTA!

Every year we take all the cousins to visit Santa.  This year we opted to go see him at GP's bank instead of the mall.  We had no wait, free pictures and it was outside.  Win, win , win.

GP and his little Red Raider

Ally girl was thrilled to see Santa

 And...here's the best we could do.  

In Ryan's defense he had just come from basketball practice and was starving.  Like the rest of us, hunger sends him into a downward spiral.  

 awkward angle and weird shadows but hey....free!

 This little cutie keeps me smiling! It was her real birthday, and she kept telling me, "I'm 2" :)

 "How are these ornaments attached?"

 one a little timid one loving it

 ohhhh candy canes!!!!!

 and then it gets a little crazy.  Coyt and Crew were having nothing to do with Santa, everyone was talking at once, getting hopped up on the free cookies, candy canes and wait Cookie cake for Caroline?? where, when??

 hilarious

 and award winning!

 but wait, there's more.  

For your entertainment I give you the Purdy Cousin 2012 Santa pic

so many comments.  Enjoy!

Brady's EIGHT months

My sweet little Christmas baby boy is CRAWLING. ALL. OVER. EVERYWHERE! He is in love with the Christmas lights and will go as fast as he can to them every time he's in the living room.  He still moving slow but he gets where he wants and is very proud of his new trick! Here are some shots of my precious 8 month old.

He's very curious and puts any and every thing in his mouth

Most of the time he looks like this, he's drooling and cutting more teeth.  He has two teeth that popped through last month.

 little cutie

 Ohh what's this.

 yummy rattle

My three Christmas Angels 

 Mr. Smiley

 Such a handsome little guy

 Plank:)

Happy eight months little boy! We love you very much.

The Studio pictures

 We had a wonderful experience with the Studio girls, Shelly and Lindsey, at our family photo shoot.  We had not had pictures taken of our family since Ryan was 2!!! It was time and painless.  Shelly's brother has this gorgeous property in Crawford, and the minute we all stepped outside it was very calming and wonderful.  We did a Christmas mini- and got to pick 6 of our favorite shots and own the jpeg.  I was really happy with these.  If you need new pics I'd highly recommend them.

Salado Christmas Stroll

Last week Mark was working in Salado signing up business owners and several of the owners mentioned the Salado Christmas Stroll that was happening on Sat. and Sun.  Keeping true to his spontaneous nature he mentioned that he'd like to take us to this event and we headed off to Salado.  Here's a little back story on my wonderful spouse.  He has been working like a maniac this year so his family can attend the annual President's Club trip.  This year the trip is to San Diego and my kids have been talking about this trip since last Spring.  In fact a story about my kids made the national NFIB newsletter!  Since we had Brady in April and Mark coached baseball last spring he was a little behind in his new business sales this year.  Now remember he has worked in field sales for NFIB for 13 years and has made President's club every single year.  It's a very hard job and I really don't know how he does it day in and day out.  He loves it (most of the time) and has a lot of freedom and loves that each day is different.  Anyway...my kids knew that this year's trip was in California, and they wanted to go.  Ryan has wanted to go to Legoland for years, and Ally and Ryan BOTH want to go to Disneyland, so they created a NFIB sales chart for dad--- that is proudly displayed on my bedroom wall:).  They made it in June and every day since then they ask Mark how many sales he made and then go fill in another box.  It's been a lot of pressure on my sweet hubs but as of today he only needs FIVE more sales to earn his trip.  Proud is an understatement.  I am so in love with this man who works so hard for his family.  WAY TO GO MARK!!! That's 275 new business sales every year PLUS renewals which equals 950 total sales credits.  And he's done that for 13 years.  So impressive.  I could never walk into a small business, cold calling no less, and talk the owner into joining NFIB, but he does that every day! The kids and I are SO proud of your accomplishments Mark.  Love you.

Here we are at the Salado Stroll.  Check out our little man! He loves his stroller and being outside.

 Ally was getting excited for her carriage ride

  A quick stop to the kettle korn stand...which was seriously the BEST I've ever had.  These guys are out of Austin and know how to make some yummy Kettle korn.

 What's up momma?

 And they're off...

 And no stroll would be complete without some crazy light up over-priced seizure inducers!.  If only you could hear Ally's, it sings too....

 Thanks for an awesome time Dad...yep, Ally just says Dad now.

It was a really fun night that ended with a delicious steak dinner at Cheeves Bros. in Temple, with the kids, one in his PJs!!:) 

Thanks again Mark, go get your last 5.

Thanksgiving at the Lake

This year we started a new tradition, we had Thanksgiving at the Lakehouse.  We had a great trip and a wonderful day of eating, playing and chatting.  I was a little nervous about all of us in one house but I was pleasantly surprised and loved it!
{This first picture is out of order but who cares right?! Ryan's thankful letter. I love that boy so much!}

We walked in and Aunt Cary had the Thanksgiving craft ready to go.  It's not Thanksgiving without a fruitloop turkey right?!

 Sadly, this is the one and only picture I have of Brady on his FIRST THANKSGIVING! I did not do a good job with the camera this holiday.  Hopefully I can redeem myself on Christmas.

 My boys

 We love Honey

 Beautiful girls

 Ally making a neon bead bracelet, she's VERY into all things crafty which is very fun.

 The Smith fam rockin' some orange.  Caryn always has her boys looking very handsome.

 It was such wonderful weather (thank goodness), and this was pretty much what the kids did all day.

 Don't remember what was so funny?! Lila must have said something hilarious!

 These three had a great time 'dipping' their toe in the water

 And these two....well I think these pics speak for themselves:)

I am BEYOND blessed and have SO much to be thankful for.  I hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving.