Greetings From Montana!

Snow! Cold! Brrrr!!! We love it!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We've been in Montana since Christmas Day and will be flying back to Texas tomorrow. It has been a wonderful visit with Grandpa and Grandma. They made sure to have plenty of snow for us. To enjoy some pictures from our trip see the 4 posts below this one!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Santa came to our house a day early this year. He's a pretty nice guy, accommodating Christmas Day travelers like that. He brought Coleman a Bat Cave and Bat Copter and Spence a remote control choo choo train.



Nana and Poppa were at our house to celebrate with us. We went to Christmas Eve services at our old church. It was nice to see everyone, and of course the service was beautiful. Then we woke up Christmas morning at 4:00 to leave for the airport.

Allie's first airplane trip

The boys watching a movie on the plane

The flight went pretty well. We just lost one stuffed penguin and left one puddle of urine on seat 6C. Once we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's, it was present time!

One of Allie's favorite gifts was a rag doll

Coleman and Spence each got Army blankets. They were super excited!

Coleman said this was the best Christmas ever. I have to agree with him. It's such a blessing to be able to spend time with both our families. And this year was special because Allie made our family complete! Merry Christmas!

Sledding!

What should every kid from Texas get to do at Christmastime? Go sledding! Luckily Grandma had lots of winter gear for us: heavy coats, mittens, snow pants, and snow boots. And Grandpa knew the perfect hill to slide down. Coleman, ever the thrill seeker, loved it! Spence wasn't too sure, but he went down a few times.

Dressed for the occasion

Ready to slide!

Daddy and the boys

Daddy and Spence

Coleman going by himself

What an adventure!

More Good Times In Montana

Not only did Coleman enjoy sledding, but he's become a real game lover. Aunt Jeani sent Coleman a game called The Ladybug Game. He's had so much fun with it! He found a checker board and asked Grandma to teach him how to play checkers. Then he saw the Chess pieces and asked what that game was called. He wanted Daddy to teach him how to play Chess. So Daddy did! And Coleman knows all the moves and is starting to learn strategy. He tried to get Grandma and Mommy to learn Chess, but our brains couldn't handle it! That will have to be a Daddy game! He's also been playing Sorry and enjoying it. But I can't get over him understanding and enjoying Chess!

An intense game of Checkers

Allie is also enjoying her visit. Here are a few pictures of what she's up to.

Bathing in the kitchen sink

"Walking" around in her bear suit from Uncle Brent and Aunt Dre

Snow baby!

Her 5 minutes in the snow

Great Northern Carousel

On every trip to Grandma and Grandpa's, we visit the Great Northern Carousel. The boys liked it more than ever this year. Coleman always wants to ride the dinosaur that looks like his dinosaur Puso. And Spence chose the frog for his first ride. Even Allie got in on the action!



Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for always having such fun activities for us to enjoy on our trips to Montana!

Merry Christmas From The Piks

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! I hope you are enjoying this wonderful season. This has been an amazing year with ups and downs and blessings galore! There have been many changes for our family during 2009. If you follow this blog, you know most of what has happened to us this past year. From silly little daily incidents, to the challenges of raising three young children, to major life events. I record it all here! If you are new to the blog, I've linked back to some of this year's posts throughout the letter.

This past week I've been thinking about what to include in this Christmas letter. I was rereading some posts from last year and saw that by mid-February I was already sure that this would be a Christmas letter kind of year! We had started out the new year with a trip to the ER. On January 1, 2009 I dislocated Spence's elbow and Brian had to take him to an emergency clinic. I initially thought I had broken his wrist after grabbing his hands and swinging him back and forth. The doctor diagnosed him with Nursemaid's Elbow and was able to pop it back into place. A few weeks later, Coleman was diagnosed with an inguinal hernia and surgery to repair it was scheduled. But a couple of weeks before his scheduled surgery, he woke up crying and in pain. After a call to the doctor, we decided his hernia had become incarcerated and we had to rush him to Texas Children's Hospital for emergency surgery. The procedure went smoothly, although it was a little traumatic for Mommy, who was about 21 weeks pregnant. Those two events would have been enough excitement to last the whole year!

The first half of 2009 I spent being pregnant. I tried to enjoy every minute of it and laugh about crazy comments I heard from people. We decided not to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. I thought that was really fun. Coleman wanted a sister, and Spence was hoping for a brother. Brian thought we would have a boy, and I didn't have a feeling either way. We chose the names Cooper Bradley for a boy and Allie Vaughan for a girl. We were both surprised to hear my doctor say, "It's an Allie!" Allie arrived on June 17th, 2009 at 7:27 a.m., 6 days before her due date. It has been so amazing watching the boys love on her over the last 6 months. One of the first things Spence did when we brought her home was to bring her his favorite blanket and cover her up with it. And Coleman hasn't stopped kissing her yet. They definitely love their little sister!

The summer was a big adjustment for us, going from 2 kids to 3. We had lots of visits from family to help out though. And before long our family of 5 became our new normal. I can't even remember life before Allie! I truly feel like the most blessed Mommy of all.

In September, we rented a beach house close to Galveston to celebrate Rita's birthday. It was a wonderful family reunion! The 5 of us, Rita and Gale, my Mom and Dad, Brent and Andrea, Rita's brother-in-law Lyle, and Rita's niece Rhonda and her husband Mark all had a wonderful weekend of relaxing, hanging out at the beach, and walking around Galveston. I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful family. We only wish more family members could have joined us! Hopefully we'll get to do this again.

We signed Coleman up for soccer this past fall. It took him several games to warm up to this new situation and decide it was fun to play. But once he started, he didn't want it to end! It was great to watch him play and have a good time. He scored two goals, and one of them was even for his team!

At the end of October, Brian's company ran out of money. He continued to work for them for a few weeks, but when they were unable to pay him, he decided to leave. Since then, Brian has been working hard on some new ventures. He started up a company to sell the oral cancer device that his former company makes. He has several salesmen under him and is doing a great job! Also, he and a former colleague are starting up their own medical device company. He has a job offer from another former boss, but we have to wait to see if the grant money comes through. This has been one of those times where we have had to cling to our faith in Christ and know that He has us in His hands. He is taking care of us and has great plans for us.

The kids are a constant source of entertainment and keep us on our toes! Coleman will turn 5 on January 12th. He is smart, funny, and a great big brother. Spence turned 3 in November. We are in the middle of potty training, which has good days and bad days. I have to say it is one of my least favorite Mommy duties. He is our messiest child by far - always covered in either chocolate, yogurt, or snot. And Allie is now 6 months old. She is such a happy, laid back baby. I guess the third one just has to go with the flow! They are our biggest blessings!

So as we are in the midst of this most glorious holiday season, we celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ our Savior. And as we see the end of another year, we thank God for all our blessings. We praise Him for the highs and lows. We place our faith in Him to carry us into this new year and meet all our needs. What a wonderful feeling to know that He has amazing plans for us in this next year. He has amazing plans for you and your family as well, and we pray His blessings in your lives! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Please leave a comment even if just to say, "Merry Christmas!" I love to see who is reading about our family!

Catching Up

Wednesday we spent the day with Candice, Paul David, and Judson. We had so much fun! The boys all entertain each other while Candice and I enjoy visiting. It's great! We'll have to enjoy ourselves before the babies become mobile! I got a couple of pictures, and you can go to Candice's blog to see more. She's a much better photographer than I am!

Our sweet little June babies (I think we've decided on an arranged marriage. Maybe some time in 2032?)

All the kiddos

Thursday night was Coleman's school Christmas program. He was Joseph! And what a precious little Joseph he was! Of course there were no speaking parts, but he sat at the manger with Mary and sang and did the motions. The program was really cute. I'm sure Brian will post some video later. But for now, here are a few pictures.

Coleman as Joseph, surrounded by wisemen and shepherds (we didn't have a view of Mary from where we sat)

He sings! He moves!

Later in the program they took off the costumes and sang for us again

And today is our 11th anniversary. Happy anniversary Brian! I love you! We combined our anniversary trip this year with the beach house getaway we had back in September. Today we were just kind of lazy and lounged around. Brian's present to me was cleaning out the garage so I can park my truck in there. That's what I asked for!

Tomorrow I'll post our Christmas letter. Hopefully I can get my thoughts together a little better than I've been able to today.

CCP From DD

Oh yeah, it's the Chocolate Chip Pizza from Double Dave's!

Spence, aka Messy Marvin

It is so delectable, yet someone manages to get more chocolate on himself than in his mouth! That's our Marv! Just a coincidence that he had that shirt on. And that I happened to have my camera in my bag.

Happy Birthday Brian!

Happy birthday to the best husband I've ever had! OK, so that doesn't really mean much. How about this:

Happy birthday Brian! You are an amazing husband and Daddy. I know things are a little rough right now, but you are handling it all so well. I am thankful that you know our future is in God's hands. However, you also know that you can't just sit back and something will fall in our laps. You are using the intelligence God gave you to make things happen! I am blessed to have had you stalk me 12 years ago, marry me 11 years ago, and have 3 wonderful children with me over the past 5 years. I love you and hope you have a wonderful birthday!

A Tradition Continued

Last year we "elfed ourselves" and shared it with everyone. This year we have a new elf in our family! Check out our two dance videos below!

Our Family of Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We've Been Elfed Again!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Lovely Christmassy Pictures

Our stockings are all hung by the chimney! Allie's isn't quite finished. I need to put an "A" on it.

Just kickin' back!

Enjoying a spoonful of cereal

Coleman took this picture of us. Pretty good I thought! Excuse my look. I'd been to the gym.

And I'm going to take a moment to brag. I've been working on our Christmas cards and I have THREE pictures of all THREE kids that are usable! I can't believe we even got one good one. It's a Christmas miracle!

All They Want For Christmas

Monday we went to see Santa. Look how they all sat on his lap and had pleasant looks on their faces! The only one not looking at the camera is Santa!

Coleman asked for the Bat Cave and Bat helicopter. He wondered how Santa would know to bring the Bat Cave for little boys and not the one for grown-ups (since there's a Batman cartoon for kids and a Batman movie for grown-ups, he assumes there are separate Bat Caves also).

Spence asked for a remote control choo choo train. He told Santa we have a choo choo train, but it's not remote control.

Allie just played it cool and followed her brothers' lead. I hope Santa will bring her some socks that will stay on or some leggings!

Money Saving Tip

I really can't believe how awful I've been at doing something to celebrate Christmas with the kids each day. I thought since I put it in writing here that I would stick to it. I can't use the excuse that it doesn't feel like Christmas. We had snow! I'm not sure what my problem is. Not that this is a good excuse, but I feel so unorganized. The Christmas season comes along every year right after Thanksgiving, but for some reason I always let it sneak up on me! I finally put out some decorations last night, and we'll go get a tree some time this week. I found the Advent wreath, but I must have thrown out the candles (I'm sure they melted in the 120 degrees heat of the attic). I can only say that I will try to do better. I want this season to be a special one for my kids - more than presents and Santa. A time where they celebrate who Jesus is and what He means to us. I better get my act together, because they aren't going to get that from watching Rudolph and seeing all the toy commercials!

On to something else...
Since money is tight around here, I'm always looking for things to cut back on. Do you know how much kids' haircuts cost? It's ridiculous. I've cut Coleman's hair several times and given Spence a trim once or twice. Yesterday I gave them both haircuts. That's my money saving tip of the day: Cut your kids' hair yourself!

The part that I haven't quite mastered yet is the bangs. Actually, I'm not much worse than the professionals from the kids' haircut place whose name I won't mention. And I saved $30! I also cut Brian's hair. That leaves all the money in the haircut fund for me! Not to be selfish, but I just can't cut my own hair.

And what is just as cute as pretty bows on little girls? Tights! We bought Allie a pair of tights on clearance several months ago, and she wore them for the first time today.

Allie in her pink tights and monogrammed bloomers

I Don't Believe My Eyes!

Today will break records! Snow has never fallen in the Houston area on or before December 4th. It's already starting! To my northern family and friends, please excuse my excitement over this phenomenon. This just doesn't happen here very often. The boys are beyond thrilled. I just hope I can find enough warm clothes to pile on them! I'll be giving some updates throughout the day. Starting now!

8:30 a.m. - Not sure if it is sleet or snow, but it is falling. It isn't cold enough for it to stick yet, but it looks so pretty falling from the sky. I canceled Allie's childcare reservation for the gym.

10:30 a.m. - BIG SNOW! The Christmas sweaters are laid out and the chili is on the stove!

11:30 a.m. - Snow is accumulating! Here are a few pictures. We dressed the kids up and tried to get a picture for the Christmas card.



2:00 p.m. - There's a fire in the fireplace!


3:00 p.m. - Time for a snowball fight!

Bah Humbug!

My first bah humbug moment this season:

Trying to get the Annual Christmas Pajamas Picture

Things you would have heard me say if you had been in the room:

Look at me!
I want to see your eyes!
Don't you want a cookie?
That smile looks like you're in pain!
You've got to hold on to Allie!
Don't let Allie fall over!
Why did you let her fall over?
No, she does not like it!
You may not get your cookie!
Sit up straight!
Get back here!
Last picture!

Out of 23 pictures, I think I got one I can use! Every year I take the kids' picture in their Christmas jammies and then have mugs made for Grandma and Nana with the picture. Don't worry Grandma and Nana, that picture won't be on your mugs this year!

Christmas Pajamas Past:

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2007 - Photo shoot over!

Christmas 2008

Christmas - Day 2

Tonight at bedtime I tried to tell the boys about Advent. I explained how it's the season that we get excited about Jesus' birth. I found some activities to do with them throughout Advent, and as soon as we get the decorations out I'll set out our Advent wreath (we missed the first Sunday of Advent). It didn't go so well tonight. Coleman had an attitude problem and Spence was interested in his I Spy book. Maybe tomorrow will be better!

Since that wasn't so interesting, let me share with you about my brave little man. Last week Coleman started allergy shots. He has so many allergies that he has to get two shots each time. Then we have to stick around for 20 minutes to make sure he doesn't have a bad reaction. He'll get his two shots once a week for about 23 weeks, then he'll be to the maintenance level and can go a little longer between shots. Last week I had to drag him into the room, hold him down, wrap my arms around his upper body and my legs around his legs. That was the only way to keep him still and not hitting or kicking the nurse. Yesterday I didn't even tell him we were going back for more shots until we turned on the road toward the office. He was pretty calm, and when he was called back for his shots I didn't have to chase him or pin him down. He stood calmly while the nurse gave him a shot in each arm. This can't be easy for him. I know I would be bummed if I had to get two shots every week. I'm just proud of my little guy!

Coleman said something funny last night when we were talking about the meaning of Christmas. He was asking about the gifts the Wise Men brought to Jesus. I told him they brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (I trusted spell-check to fix those last two!) I said those probably weren't gifts he would like to get. Coleman said, "I would like to get gold. Then we could play pirates with our swords and put the gold in a treasure chest!"

On the First Day of Christmas...

Yesterday I said that I would try to come up with something special to do on my blog during the month of December. As I was thinking about it, I decided what better to do than look at Christmas through the eyes of a child. Well, actually two children. More specifically, Coleman and Spence. I don't have a set plan for each day leading up to Christmas, but during the month I will ask them some of their thoughts on Christmas. So here is the first day of Christmas. May this season bring you joy and peace and a deeper love for Jesus, the true reason we celebrate!

Christmas Through the Eyes of a Child - Day 1

Today I asked the boys, "What is Christmas?" Here are their answers:

Coleman: God's birthday
Spence: Mommy's birthday

I think Spence was trying to come up with his own answer and not copy his brother!

Thankful

We had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I had such a good time with my family that I forgot to pick up the camera very often! My parents and my uncle, aunt, and cousin came to our house. Brittney, my nine year old cousin, kept the boys entertained. They had a great time playing together. And my Aunt Kathy kept Allie smiling by holding and loving on her. I felt like I got a real vacation! We even found a few deals on Black Friday. Not at 5 am, although I was up!

Now I'm ready for Christmas! The weather is nice and cool today, Christmas music is on the radio, and decorations are going up all around us. I can't wait to see what it's like to try to get three kids to sit on Santa's lap and look at the camera at the same time! Two years ago I did the Jesus Blog, where each day I wrote about a name of Jesus. I want to do something different to bring glory to Jesus this Christmas season, but I'm not sure what yet. I'll try to figure it out by tomorrow! Until then, here are some pictures from the last week.

Thankful for cousins - Spence and Brittney

Thankful for doughnuts

Thankful for chocolate-covered 3 year olds, and for napkins

Thankful for happy babies