Birthday Boys

Both of my boys have January birthdays.  On Garrett's actual birthday, Britt spent the entire day with him at school.  He was a parent volunteer called the watchdog.  The schools are trying to get positive male role models to help out during the day.  I love this idea!  Britt had a great day and Garrett loved having his dad up there.  For his birthday dinner Garrett got to invite one friend to eat at Joe Willy's with us.  All the kids love this restaurant.  The food is good but they also have games.  I think that is their favorite part.  They each got a bag of quarters to spend while we were there.

 The kids had their quarters and were ready to go.

 Garrett and Jackson

Britt's birthday is two days after Garrett's.  Poor guy!  I always feel like we don't celebrate it like we used to. We had a little party for him and the kids helped me make a cake.  Garrett decorated it.  It was lovely.  My parents did come into town for Garrett's party and kept the kids that night and we went out to eat.  It was such a nice treat to have a sitter.

 Happy Birthday Dad!

For Garrett's birthday party we went to Texas Skatium.  There were so many parties going on and it was a mad house up there, but all the kids still loved it.

 Happy 6th Birthday!

Gaitley loved skating too!

New Puppy

Yes, we are crazy!  We got a new puppy a few weeks ago.  It seems like just when everyone is finally sleeping through the night we have another baby.  Well, not this time!  It's a new puppy instead.  I guess we needed one more thing to keep us up at night.  Actually, he is pretty good and was almost potty trained when we got him.  He is a four month old Maltese and just as sweet as can be.  Garrett named him Cash . Compared to our crazy, hyper lab this puppy is perfect.  We still love Marley but she is still pretty crazy.  The kids wanted a pet they could love on and Cash is perfect.

Spearman

We were lucky enough to spend an entire week in Spearman during Christmas break.  I absolutely love going home.  It is a totally different world from where we live now.  Things move at such a slower pace. I love all things my kids get to experience while we are there.  My parents, Britt's parents and three of my grandparents still live there.  I have such great memories of playing in the snow, going hunting with my dad and spending lots of time with my grandparents.  I wish my kids were around these special people more often.  But since we are not we take full advantage of it when we are there.  Lucky for us, there was snow on the ground when we arrived.  That made the trip even more fun!

Gaitley loved the snow!

Garrett did too!

Snow angels!

It was a little too cold for Gracyn.  Brrr!

Garrett with his new bow and arrow.

Lance, my grandad, Garrett and Britt

Ice Skating

We always try to take the kids ice skating sometime during Christmas break.  This year we went to the Galleria.  They had such a great time!  It was Gaitley's first year.  She was so excited at first but when she stepped on the ice it scared her a little bit.  We finally convinced her to give it another try and she loved it.  Poor Britt had a sore back for a few days from bending over to keep her up.  Garrett was a pro.  It didn't take him long to catch on and was so speedy I could barely get his picture. Gracyn had just as much fun watching from the side. 

Christmas Dance Performance

Gaitley had a dance performance at her dance studio a few weeks before Christmas.  She did so great!  She absolutely loves dance!  I was so proud of her.  I didn't really know what to expect.  Last year when we went to watch her run at field day she completely froze and wouldn't do anything.  I was really hoping this would not be the case this time around.  Thank goodness it wasn't.  She stood up there the whole time and did all the moves and was really pretty good.  I definitely think I have a girly girl on my hands and we are going to have lots and lots of dance performances in the years to come.