Christmas Card Pics

We needed some recent pics with all the kids in them for our Christmas card so we got the kids dressed up and put them in front of the tree for a fun photo session!

 Bradley posing with Meggie's doll.

Getting warmed up...

That's right Meggie and her doll are dressed alike... I'm so cool!

Baking Cookies

Every Christmas we get together with my family and we each bring a different cookie or candy recipe and the ingredients needed for that recipe and we just spend the day baking... by the end of the day we have tons of cookies and candy.  Since we're in VA this year we were not able to cook with everyone else, but we decided to make some cookies ourselves.  The kids love to help in the kitchen (especially Kyler) so we made some Neiman Marcus cookies.  They turned out good and the kids had fun helping me make them.  Meggie especially enjoyed tasting!

Dirt Bike Gear

We got the boys dirt bikes for Christmas (crazy... I know) and they were very excited when the gear they ordered online arrived.  They looked like pros in their get-ups.  We did end up having to return both of their helmets because they were too small... the Stills head strikes again.

Williamsburg, VA

Since the weather has been pretty cold and we've been stuck in the house a good bit we decided to take a trip down to Williamsburg.  We went to Colonial Williamsburg and spent the day walking around there.  We found a couple of things that the kids thought were neat, but for the most part it was not very interesting to them.  However, we also stayed at Great Wolf Lodge and they LOVED that... we kept it a surprise and they didn't know what it was until we got there.

 The Jail was probably the most entertaining for the kids (and Ben).

They especially loved the bathroom area.

Kyler got mad at the water park because he was not big enough to do the knee board ride and this is Meggie "loving" on him to make him feel better.

We got to listen to a story and then it snowed on us in the lobby of the hotel.

The boys planning something at the water park.

 Meggie had a great time in the wave pool... we tried to get some pictures but most of the ones from the water park didn't turn out well (bad lighting for pics).

I did take these two videos below of the boys going over this obstacle corse thing:

Kyler on Logs

Bradley on Logs

Kyler's Crazy Outfit

Kyler got himself all dressed up and came into my room looking like this...

Black Friday

My first trip out on Black Friday was with Allison and her mother-in-law and we went to Wal-mart at 5am... it was so amazing I told Ben and Mama they had to go just to witness it so the following year we did just that... I think it scared Ben for life (I'm surprised he ever went back in Wal-mart!)  Since then Mama and I have gone every year... Karah has come a few times and she can hang pretty well.  But, this year was a first... Grandma decided that she wanted to come with us so we could help her pick out some gifts for all the kids.  So, she loaded up with us and we headed for Wal-mart at midnight, then off to Target where the line was so long we decided not to wait, Toys R Us (arrived about 2 am), snack time, back to Target (arrived at 4:30 am) where we got our stuff and got in line and it was so long we left again, Lowe's, Dick's, back to Wal-mart for the 5 am sale, and then back home.  I think that was about right... it was all kind of a blur.  I crawled in Bed around 8 am on Friday morning.  But... Grandma held out as well as we did!  I hope I get around half that good when I'm in my eighties.  I took my camera because I had planned to get pictures throughout the night, but the only time I thought to bring it out was as we were loading up after leaving Toys R Us.

The rest of the day was a little more peaceful... after a few hours of sleep I headed out to the farm to meet up with Ben and the kids.  They had a great time spending the day with cousins.

 Noah, Samuel, Bradley, Jeb, Cooper, Kyler, and Caleb

 Kyler brought Sticky to show him off.

Bradley did a little photography while we were there.

He is pretty good at getting people to ham it up.

Sticky's New House

Sticky got a new home... he has moved into a plant that has much more room for him to climb around and many more leaves for him to hide in... he really seems to like his new habitat more than his old one... I've already spent too much time trying to find his sneaky rear!