Balko Christmas & more

We had a great Christmas. My Dad surprised us with a visit & the kids loved having him here to celebrate with us. Corey was off work for 2 weeks & we had a blast being lazy, hanging out & doing our traditional Christmas activities. We went Christmas shopping, looking at lights, Trail of Lights, Barton Creek for a train ride, baked sugar cookies & decorated them, baked Jesus a birthday cake and much more. My sister even came for a visit after Christmas. Here is Christmas, Balko style & some more pics from December.

Lauren had some sort of virus or something over Christmas as she wasn’t herself - she wouldn’t even take her paci. I’m not convinced that she didn’t bite the heck out of her tongue as something was clearly wrong with it. Needless to say, she wasn’t cooperating for a family pic! I guess that’s one for the photo album!

Corey & Dylan at Trail of Lights.

Train ride at Barton Creek

Alyssa & mommy going to a mommy/daughter semi-formal.

Alyssa & Zoe (Jeff & Kristy’s dog). We baby-sat her while they were away.

One of these days, I'll get a good picture with all 3 kids!!!

There she is -- she does exist!

Bring it on!

Lauren didn’t care about any other presents after opening her own magna-doodle!

Santa!

The cousins “rockin-out!”

What a great 2008!

Misc. December Pics

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from December 2008.

Dylan taking a nap with his hooded sweatshirt on his head.

Lauren has been sitting on the potty some, no tee-tee yet, though.

Christmas Card CRAZY!

Getting a picture for this blasted Christmas card is about to drive me crazy. We have tried 3 times, YES, 3 times & I am not happy about it. I have turned into scrooge! I won’t ruin your card by posting the pic that actually made the cut, but just know that it took blood, sweat & tears to get the pictures I got & I am still NOT happy. Next year we are going professional despite the cost to just to keep my sanity. Here are a few pics from the 3 photo sessions! It just baffles me that my smiliest child won’t smile in the pics, Alyssa looks like she is trying to poop & Dylan looks like a giraffe. I just want them to look normal, like they do every day -- not like their eyes are bugging out of their head, their chins sticking up, fake smiles etc. Did I mention this made me in a horrible mood?????!!!!!

trying to escape...

I seriously considered sending out a pic with 2 of my 3 kids!

Picking your nose always makes a good pic.

everyone’s tired, even mommy!

That’s it -- like I said, I probably took 150 pictures to get the one you are getting & I took the the best 2 out of 3 kids pic....I wasn’t going to post it, but I have to-- just to let you know that Lauren always smiles, but her face is & was clearly my mood getting these blasted pics!

The WISE Man

Dylan had his preschool Christmas program tonight & he did awesome. The director of his preschool commented to me today that she thinks he may have found his niche -- a performer. She was right -- he couldn’t have done any better. He told me he was one of the wise men, but I had no idea what to expect -- actually, I expected him to wear white with a white hat on his head. I have no idea why as that doesn’t portray what the Bible says nor what they look like in any story or play I’ve ever read or seen. I almost lost it when he came out in his Wise Man costume. He was absolutely adorable! Take a look at my Wise Man.....

Okay, watch him perform. He does really well, but also note the little boy in front of him -- he cried the whole time!!! :(

video to come...

Oh Christmas Tree!

It was so much fun putting up the tree & all the decorations this year with the kids. I have never seen a child as excited as Dylan with all of the stuff. He was digging through boxes, pulling things out, playing with it, etc. He even broke 3-4 ornaments playing with them. We finally had to make ornament “rules” just for mommy’s sanity & superglue usage. We surprised them matching jammies & they loved them!

Lauren found a friend --

Dylan even got out the screwdriver & replaced a few batteries in some of our toys/ornaments. He is quite handy these days -- who knew a 4 year old could do that!

Taking a rest, listening to some tunes on their ipods after decorating the tree -- I guess they were wore out!

Birthday Girl

We celebrated the big day with a small party in OKC. Some of the family came & Natalie and Matt came with the boys.

Eating yummy cake -- such a big girl eating with a fork these days!

Riding her new bike.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great weekend in OKC for Thanksgiving. We saw the family, a few friends, ate lots of food, celebrated Lauren turning 2, & went fishing (previous post). They kids even got to open their Christmas presents from Grandma Joy & Aunt Pam. They were in heaven!

Taylor & Alyssa

another artist in the family??? Just like big sis!!

Taylor had a sleepover & we ate popcorn & watched a movie.

Enjoying a story from Papa.

Guv & Lauren

Fishing Trip

One of the highlights from our trip to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving was Alyssa and Dylan got to go fishing for the first time with their Papa. They had a blast and can’t wait to go again!

Papa teaching her how to cast.

She’s already a pro!

Papa finally has a fishing buddy!

Her BIG catch!

His BIG catch!