Thanks-mas

When Chad and I were engaged, we set into motion the "Holiday Schedule".  Although it didn't happen one year, we have made every effort to stick to our schedule.  We alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas each year for each family.  This year we spent Thanksgiving in Tulsa with the Greens/Laughlins and we will spend Christmas in Memphis with the Bryans/Camerons (and all of my high school friends that I have missed so dearly!).  Since we will not see the Laughlins again, we went ahead and celebrated Christmas with them as well.  It was a joyous Thanks-mas and here are the many photos to prove it!

Before we left on Monday night, I was trying to pack (it's not an easy task to pack two adults and three tots) and I just let the girls tear our den to bits.  Harper said it was a "park".  They were having fun and it kept them busy for quite a while.

I love the look of pure joy on Reese's face!

Harper being sassy

Oh, the faces of this girl!

The kids slept great in the car and woke up in Tulsa the next morning!  PJ's and a movie were an appropriate morning activity.

Reese spending some quality time with Papa and Hank

We received these fun shirts from Nan.  A friend of our family has a great little business that makes these cute shirts.  This is the only decent picture of all three of our little turkeys!

Twins

Tilly enjoyed the girls' new chair

The cooking began early on Thursday- here Craig, Blake, and Sarah Laughlin are making the noodles.

Busy Bees

I used these honey crisp apples to make . . .

. . . THIS apple crisp.  I was proud of my contribution.

  

This was a BUSY place on Thanksgiving Day.

Preparing for the feast!

Harper was killing some time before the big meal.

Mmmmmm.  Just some of the spread

Our best attempt at a family pic

Harper made sure that EVERYONE saw her "bear bottom"

Now to start the Christmas portion of our day- Blake played Santa

Can you tell that she's a little bit excited?

Reese was clapping for joy!  Yay for Thanks-mas!

Vicki, Sarah, Cash, and Sue enjoying Thanks-mas

We played "pass the Cash" all weekend long.  Craig and Katie were trying to teach him to say "Hook 'Em Horns!"

Harper waited SO patiently until it was her turn.  She looks so anxious!

We closed out the day with a Thanks-mas funfetti cake.  What is Thanks-mas without funfetti?

Obviously Reese enjoyed it

All in all, it was a wonderful week.  We feel so grateful for such wonderful and loving family members!  Next stop, Nan and Pop's house!  Merry Thanks-mas!

Inside Adventures

As the weather gets colder (we had snow flurries on Monday!), we have to get more and more creative with our inside activities.  You can only have so many dance parties before they get old.  So, for Cash we caved in and purchased a Johnny Jump Up.  Chad loved playing in one of these back in his day (according to Sue), so naturally we thought Cash would love it.  We also returned our exersaucer to its rightful owner, so the little man needed something to stand in!  Anyhow, he's still perfecting his bounce and getting the hang of it (pun intended).

I love how his little legs look!

Just hanging around

Now as you know, the girls also have their "room time" where they get creative.  Today, I came in to find them sitting like this:

Harper said they were, "watching a movie and eating spaghetti."  I thought, "Awww, how cute.  I must get my camera and take a picture!"  Then I took a closer look.  I said, "Harper, what is that in your mouth?"  She replied, "It's spaghetti, Mom."  To which I said, "Ok, but what IS that spaghetti?"  To which she said, "It's Reese's bow."  What was formerly a cute bow is now spaghetti.

The spaghetti

Sad day for the bow

This was Harper "pausing" the movie

Cheeeeeese

Our final adventure before nap time was creating a Tent City.  Harper loved crawling under all of the blankets, while Reese enjoyed tearing them down.

Blankets and curtains make for a fun afternoon

Loving the tents

Runaway bottom

Peek-a-boo

Tearing down the city

All in all, it was a good day.  I'm thankful that my kids can have fun and be creative in any situation.

Twilight Moms

*Disclaimer- this post doesn't contain any pictures of the kiddos.  Sorry Grandparents!

So after a tumultuous morning of the dogs running away for an hour, I was finally able to start my morning.  The girls were having room time and I was in desperate need of caffeine.  I finally settled in with my coffee and a mountain of laundry to watch Regis and Kelly.  I was a little bit excited to see that they were having Robert Pattinson on their show today.  

Robert Pattinson

Now, if you've been living under a rock and don't know who he is (ahem, Liz), he is the teen heart-throb and star of the Twilight saga.  If you don't know what the Twilight saga is, then there is nothing I can do for you.  

Anyhow, I digress.  SO, Robert was smoldering and trying to look mysterious when Regis and Kelly drew his attention to a row of women in the audience.  They were TWILIGHT MOMS.  They even had sweet bedazzled shirts similar to this:

I chuckled and thought about how funny it was that these women who were CLEARLY 40 and up were SO dedicated to these books/movies that they had shirts and were squealing like middle school girls!  Then, another thought crept into my mind . . . am I a Twilight Mom?!?!  No, my immediate thought was NO.  I mean, I read these books while I was teaching 6th graders.  I got them for Christmas and read all 4 books within a few days.  No big deal.  I wanted to have my finger on the pulse of my students and what they thought was "cool" literature.  I also used sentences and paragraphs out of these books as writing samples (some were samples of good descriptive writing, and some were samples of BAD writing).  I mean, it was strictly for work, right?

THEN I started thinking about the fact that if I didn't have 3 tots to take care of, I would DEFINITELY be at a midnight showing of New Moon tonight (so I definitely have the mom part).  I also think that Robert Pattinson is somewhat handsome (for a younger man, of course).  I also sort of liked the books (they aren't literary masterpieces or anything).  I also would say that I'm on team Edward (mom, you will have no idea what that means).  I also read all 4 books in a few days.  So, am I a Twilight Mom?!?

I would say to some extent, I might be a mild version of a Twilight Mom.  No, I'm not going to wear a bedazzled shirt of any kind and I'm not going to hang anything with any likeness of any character from the movie in my room.  I will go see the movie and maybe read the books again one day.  I am simply a fan, so don't judge.  Who's with me?  Anyone?

Fancies

Harper has long been obsessed with her little princess shoes, which she refers to as "fancies".  It feels like we own about 273 pairs of these shoes.  I also recall days of squeezing my feet into similar tiny shoes when I was younger.  Today Harper decided to teach Reese how to work the fancy shoes.  Reese was a natural.  Harper was strutting so hard that she ended up with a blister.  It's tough being sassy.

"Ok, Reese.  Put this one on your left foot."

Harper has worked with the posing a bit more than Reese

Mesmerized

Love it

Reese is a little ham!

Happy Wednesday from our fancy world to yours!

Reese's Big Day

I first must give major snaps to Chad for his ghost-blogging!   Wasn't his video montage the best?!  Way to go, Chad!  SO, today was a big day for our little Reese. We started the day at the doctor for Cash's 4 month check up (yes, he's already 4.5 months old) and Reese's 18 month check up (yes, she's already 19.5 months old).  Reese weighs a whopping 27 lbs. (77%) and is only 32 in. long (46%).  SO, she's basically a chunky monkey.  She took her shots like a champ and after having some blood drawn (my LEAST favorite part of the day), we were on our way.  Here's a look at everyone enjoying the doctor.

Waiting on Dr. Dove

Being a good big sister

Chillin like a villain

After nap time, Chad woke Reese up to go get her FIRST haircut!   I mean, she didn't really NEED her hair cut, but Chad just thought she would be too cute with a little bob.  Don't you think he was just MADE to be a father of girls?!  He was SO right.  Reese's cut turned out SO cute.  Here are a few before/during/after shots.

Before the big event!

Love that sweet mullet

Hmmm.  Zebra?  On a baby?

Chad said she was so quiet and pensive during the process

Not sure what to think

It's getting shorter!

Time for a blow dry!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

How cute is she?

Bob from the back

SO, today was quite the adveturous day for our little Reesey.  She's a delight EVERY day, but today she was extra sweet.  I think that new bob might get her out of some trouble this week!

A Fun Video

This is just a short slideshow of our lives to some fun music. We are a blessed family!

Come And Get It!

Here's an average day of meals at the Green house.

LUNCH: The girls were dancing around in the den and waving hand towels around.  Why, you ask?  Who knows.  BUT, Harper quickly suggested that they sit on their towels and have a picnic lunch in the den.  Great idea, Harper!  Anything to spice up our daily routine is welcomed.  SO, here's our fabulous quesadilla picnic!

Reese has learned how to say "cheeeeeeeese" for the camera

Harper showing off her gourmet quesadilla

As long as this child has food, she's happy

Boomer and Winston anxiously awaited a single crumb

Cash got in on the action. . . the girls LOVE to rub his head

Baby communication is great

Pondering

Posing

The whole picnic gang

DINNER:  Here's the scenario- Chad is coming home late, I needed to go to the grocery store two days ago, and little girls get GRUMPY when they are hungry.  The answer?  PANCAKES and POPSICLES.  Enough said.

They had blueberries in them, so they were a tiny bit healthy, right?

Popsicles are also made of fruit, right?

Sometimes, you just have to live a little.