Grandpa GG

Kevin's Grandpa (lovingly referred to as Grandpa GG by the great grandchildren) passed away the week before Thanksgiving. The funeral was held the week after, and Kevin was able to fly to Utah to be there with his entire extended family.  I was sad that the kids and I didn't get to go, but I am so glad that Kevin had that experience.  He always had a special bond with his Grandpa, and Bob was so sweet and kind to me since the day we met, which was actually a really funny story.

After moving back home a few days before Christmas in preparation to serve my mission, Kevin flew to my house.  He spent a day or two at my house (I think), and then I drove him to Bakersfield where his extended family was together for the holidays.  When we walked into his Aunt Shelly's house together, the entire family was sitting in a circle in the living room.  Talk about intimidating, haha.  I had a seat, and then Grandpa (Bob) says, "Okay, we can all go around the room and ask Katie two questions."  He was obviously joking, but I was nervous nonetheless.  He then asked me if I liked boating.  That was the test, I guess, haha.

We have shared a lot of special memories with him and Bobbi over the years, and I love that our children know and love their great grandparents. For the funeral, they put together a video presentation with pictures.  As I looked through years of pictures, I was grateful that I have pictures of when they came to Texas for Brooke's baby blessing, when they held Colby for the first time, and lots of memories in between.

He will be missed, but we know that we'll see him again!

fall leaves

With Fall, comes the leaves!  They all seemed to fall off our tree in just a few days, which meant that it was time to start a leaf pile.  Colby jumped in the pile for a solid 40 minutes while I strung lights on our front two trees.  

We played some more once Brooke was home from school, and to say that my kids enjoyed it would be a huge understatement.  I love that they could entertain themselves forever just playing in the leaves together.  They had the occasional fight about who would jump first, but for the most part, they got along :)

We opted to leave the pile out, which meant that we had more fun the next afternoon.  More leaves had fallen off our trees, so the pile was growing.  The kids waiting patiently for me to get the pile ready, and when I tried to snap a quick picture, this is what I got...

Such weirdos, haha.  But the next few pictures were too adorable and totally candid.  I love these kids so much.

When they tired of jumping, they moved onto "leaf angels", and burying themselves in the leaves.  Just the thought of it makes my skin crawl because I'm scared of spiders and such, but they had the time of their lives.

We're loving Fall around here :)

thanksgiving break

Brooke had the whole week of Thanksgiving off, and I'm so glad she did!  We filled it with lots of fun, and one of our highlights was going to the Fort Worth Zoo. The kids really wanted to feed the giraffes, but holy cow, it's expensive!  It was $6 for a bundle of lettuce, which was actually only 3 large pieces.  Only the tallest giraffes could reach the lettuce, but they weren't shy about getting it from the kids. Brooke was brave and held on to her lettuce as the giraffe used his long black tongue to get it from her hand. 

Colby, on the other hand, had the most disgusted face and everyone around us was cracking up. He didn't like the long black tongue, and he didn't like that the whole experience was over in like 3 seconds.  They both wanted to feed them again, but I told them that it was too expensive.  They kept asking, and when I asked if Colby wanted to use some of his birthday money, he immediately said yes.  Maybe that's weird to make him pay for it, but I want them to understand about money and only buying things that they really value.  In this case, it was lettuce, haha.

After getting the second bundle, I instructed the kids to tear the lettuce into small pieces so they would last longer, and I gave Colby two pieces since it was his birthday money.  I was putting my wallet away just as the giraffe came over and used his long tongue to grab both of Colby's pieces before he even knew what was going on!  It was kind of ridiculous, and when I asked Colby why he didn't move away, the guy next to me said, "It's not his fault, the same thing happened to me."  Hahaha, such sly giraffes.

Since we were going all out at the zoo, I decided to buy the bird seed sticks as well, and luckily they only cost $1.  It took forever for the birds to warm up and approach the sticks, but Brooke and Colby both really loved the whole experience.  We spent a long time in the aviary, and I loved watching my littles do something new.

We spent 4 hours at the zoo, and it was really such a beautiful day together.  

The next day was Thanksgiving, and the day started with an early morning boat ride. Kevin's cousins Quinn and Cameron came down with Papa, and we had a smooth morning at the lake.  Kevin and the boys took turns surfing and wake boarding, and Brooke took a liking to Quinn. 

We came back to the house to get showered and ready for the day, and since we were running low on time, I asked Brooke to wash the fruit for me.  Not only did she wash all the grapes and strawberries, she asked me if she could cut them all.  I took out the strawberry stems for her, but she did the rest herself!  I just adore this girl, and was so grateful for her helpful heart.

Jerry and Bev were hosting dinner, so we headed to Flower Mound to help finish preparations and enjoy the meal.  As always, we took a few family pictures before we ate...

The kids colored on this cute table covering Auntie Mel Mel brought.

Doesn't this look delicious??  Everything was SO good!  I can say that because I only brought the fruit and sweet potatoes.  I definitely got the easy assignments.

Cute girls with their fancy stemware...

We all ate way too much, but pie is always a part of Thanksgiving, right?  Kevin made himself a pie sampler, and I took a sample from his sampler, haha.  I was just too stuffed to eat much more than that!

Cutest turkey on the block...

The day after Thanksgiving, we began decking the halls for Christmas and the kids were very involved in the whole process.  I loved filling my home with the sounds of Christmas while my kids played together. It all seemed to go pretty quickly, which pleasantly surprised me.

That evening, we met up with all the family to see Ralph Breaks The Internet.  As we drove to the theatre, Brooke informed me that she wanted to sit by Quinn :)  She was pretty disappointed when I told her that the big boys were going to a different movie. But the disappointment didn't last long as soon as she met up with her cousins.

Saturday was the long-awaited Disney on Ice show, and Brooke chose to wear her Merida dress.  I tried to do a fancy princess hairstyle on Brooke, and she totally loved it.  Mom win :)

Brooke kept asking Colby if he wanted to dress up, but since he only had a knight costume, he said no.  About 30 minutes into our drive, he decided that he DID want to dress up, but that he would wear his puppy costume "to be warm".  Hahaha, I explained that he would have to dress up next year. 

This is the third year that Grandma and Papa have treated us to the Ice Show, and it's been a really fun tradition!

I love seeing the wonder and amazement on their sweet little faces..

Uncle Roy, Aunt Celine, Cameron, Quinn, Katelin, and Michael all joined us as well, so we were quite the party...

On Sunday, we brought the Christmas tree down from the attic to complete our Christmas decorating.  I love our tall, beautiful tree!  I prefer the white lights, but any chance the kids got, they would switch the lights to colorful.

And last, but not least, Brooke and Colby used their Home Depot kids to create cute little gingerbread men to hang on their bedroom doors.

And just like that, our break was over!!

motherhood

Sometimes motherhood feels exhausting, but it can also be the best thing in the world!  I take so many pictures, but when I capture genuine smiles on my kids, my whole world stops and I feel so grateful for that moment.  I love looking back on those pictures because I can see the joy on their faces, and it brings joy to my heart.  It makes me feel like I am doing something right as a mother.  That my little humans are happy.

My kids can test my patience, but they also have the best personalities and make me laugh every single day.  Seeing their little minds work, hearing their thoughts, being the recipient of their love and affection, and watching them grow makes motherhood beautiful. 

I love you, Brookie and Colby boy!

sneak-a-peak

This was our third year of doing the Prairie Lights Sneak-A-Peak, and it was so chilly and fun!  We did the first one in 2015 when Colby was a tiny baby, missed 2016 because it filled up before I registered, went in 2017, and again this year. The temperatures were in the low 30's, so we wore MANY layers of clothing to keep warm.  

We met up with the Hawkins and Smiths at the starting line, but took the evening at our own pace.  You walk through the 3 miles of light displays, and the kids love being able to see everything up close and personal. W brought the double stroller in case the kids pooped out, and I'm glad we did because they both took turns riding in it.

When we got home, we took a few more pictures because I loved our race shirts :)  We took our "girl team" picture, as Brooke calls it, and then it was time for the "boy team."

This is the pose Colby picked out, haha.  He really cracks me up with his antics. I love our little family so much and am grateful for the fun holiday traditions we've started.  The race always occurs the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so it's a fun way to get into the holiday spirit.

Here's to next year...

thanksgiving program

Can you spot our little girl? (She's on the far right, three rows up from the bottom.)  There are SO many kindergarteners at Brooke's school, and they put on an adorable program for Thanksgiving! It started at 8:30 AM, so I planned on just staying after I dropped Brooke off at 7:50.  That was, until I forgot Colby's shoes at home.  I did't realize until we were en route to school, so after drop off, I hurried home to get them.  Well, that was a mistake.  It took way longer than I thought it would, and when we arrived back at school, the place was PACKED.  Bev had stayed the night as well to attend Brooke's program, so all 3 of us hurried to the auditorium to get a seat.  We had to sit in the back, so of course I was bummed.  I should have just carried a shoeless Colby and avoided the trip home :/

But once the program started, it didn't really matter anyways  Each of the 6 classes sang a song, and then one of the teachers read a Thanksgiving story, and each time she said "pilgrim woman", or "pilgrim man", all the kids dressed as that character said a little phrase.  Brooke was a pilgrim woman, and her line was, "mercy me", said in a high pitched voice.  It was pretty hilarious.

At the end of the program, they allowed the parents of each class to come to the front to take pictures. I was saved!!  I still got cute pictures of my little girl :)  She chose to stick her tongue out while signing "I love you", haha, but I made her do a normal smile as well.

Something about the turtleneck reminded me of myself, and I dug up this old picture that my aunt sent me.  I had to do the side-by-side comparison to show how much we looked alike. In general, she favors Kevin's looks, so I kind of love when she looks like her Mama. 

Since Bev was at our house for the day, we headed back to Brookie's school to surprise her for lunch.  Mission accomplished, she was definitely surprised!

I love that Brooke has a sweet relationship with Grandma.