Little Les

Andy calls Addy little Les.  I'm not sure she really looks all that much like me, but on this particular day, she was copying everything I was doing, and she really was a little Les.

Ethan turns 5!

Ethan wanted a superhero birthday party for his 5th birthday . . . surprise, surprise, surprise.  Instead of limiting it to just one superhero, we decided to invite all superhero's to attend.

We made a really fun invitation for his party.  He thought it was AWESOME to dress up like Clark Kent/Superman and take some pictures for his party invite.  I think it turned out pretty darn cute.

This year we decided to have a friend birthday party.  I don't know how, but I've lost all the pictures of the party, except for present opening. :(

Anyway, here are the gifts that he received from friends.

The next day we had a party with the Family. 

 Grandma & Grandpa Trane

 Grandma & Grandpa Allen

 Mom & Dad and Addy gave him a skylander game for the Wii

Grandma and Grandpa Allen gave him a tape recorder and tapes for his birthday.  He's recorded all sorts of stuff.  It can be a little worrisome.

And of course, Uncle Gary gave him the biggest gun he could find in the store.

Christmas

Christmas morning was super fun this year, as both kiddos were excited to see what Santa had brought.  Here is the loot before they opened anything.  

 Ethan was ready to start tearing into presents right away.

Addy on the other hand saw this crib and that pretty much did it for her.  She really wasn't interested in opening any other presents.

 I finally started opening for her, and once she saw this little minnie mouse toy, she decided she just might want to play with it!

 Ethan asked Santa for the bat cave, and here he is opening it.  He was thrilled beyond belief to get this present, and has been so cute playing with all the good guys and bad guys.

 Addy got this cute little pop up minnie mouse boutique.  This is the ONLY time she's sat in it at all since Christmas.  As you can see, she has a binki in her mouth.  She got a bag of baby doll stuff, and this little gem was in the bag.  She found it and popped it in her mouth and wouldn't take it out.  not sure what the fascination is with the binki lately, because she never even took a binki as a baby.

 Here's another of the cool bat cave.  It really is quite an awesome toy, and we've had fun playing with it.

 Santa also brought ethan this really cool navy boat with all sorts of guns and army guys.  He's enjoyed playing with this in the tub. :)

 We got the kids this awesome remote control car.  They can drive it, or you can drive it with a remote. I think Andy's had more fun with it than the kids have, but they seem to like riding around in it.  You can even plug your ipod into it and play music.  Pretty cool.

We also gave them a game to play as a family, and a few games for the wii that they can play.    

I gave Andy a pretty awesome fishing tackle box for Christmas, and Andy gave me a crafting table to add to my craft room.

It really was a fun christmas morning, and we sure enjoyed opening presents, and playing with new things.

Bateman Family Christmas Party

For the annual Bateman Christmas party we always get together, have a fantastic dinner, do a craft activity of some sort, and then we always read the Christmas story from the bible and have the kids play the parts.  This year was the first year that Ethan wanted to participate, and he got to be Joseph.  He was super cute, and helped Mary in with the baby.  Addy wouldn't really participate, but couldn't help but get involved when she saw all the attention they all were getting.

 After the nativity, we open a present from Grandma Bateman.  Ethan got this cute dog that shoots these balls out of its mouth.  He'd had a lot of fun with it.

 Addy got this super cute little lady bug backpack.

 And then my Aunt Janet made all the kids hooded bath towels.  Addy is laying on hers here with her lady bug back pack as well.  Her towel is also a lady bug and is super cute.  She uses it every night at bath time, and looks adorable in it.

Mr. man refuses to believe this is a bath towel and was determined that instead it is a blanket.  So, he's worn it quite a bit and even sleeps in it.  It's a super cute dinosaur! :)  Thanks Janet for all the work on these.  They are super cute.

We had a ton of fun at the party!

Allen Family Christmas Party

We had a lot of fun at the Allen family Christmas party this year.  Thanks to Jen & Ricky for organizing it this year.  We had dinner, and then Santa came to visit the kiddos.  Addy still wasn't too thrilled to see old St. Nic but was good long enough to take her present from him! :)

 Ethan on the other hand was thrilled, and sat on Santa's lap and asked for a Hulk action figure.  Well, Santa already knew he wanted it, and when he unwrapped that box and saw Hulk I think he almost died!

 After Santa left we did the white elephant exchange for the adults, and we all had a great time!

 Here is just a super cute pic of our little miss at the party!

Santa Picture

One day after work we ran the kids over to the mall to get pictures with Santa and let the kids tell him their wish lists for Christmas morning.  Ethan was thrilled beyond belief thinking he'd get to see Santa, so he was more than willing to venture from his normal super hero attire into something that looked a little nicer.  Little Miss on the other hand was a joy to get ready for this moment. Andy had her all ready and then she spilled rootbeer all over her shirt, so we stopped at JC Penney's to get another one.  She wasn't thrilled at all about changing, and then when she saw Santa, she lost it.

Once we were done and had purchased the pictures, she pointed to Santa and was really excited that she got to see him.  Anyway, we hope she'll like him a little more next year! :)

My Birthday

For my birthday this year Andy got me one of these babies! 

I'm in love with this machine and have already made several fun projects with it.  It cuts vinyl, paper, fabric, etc.

On the night of my bday, we went out to joe's crab shack.  I of course, had a huge bucket of crab legs.  It just doesn't get any better than crab legs!  Ethan wanted to try the crab too, so we got him a kid bucket of crab legs.  After one bite he decided he was not a fan.  The rest of us thoroughly enjoyed our seafood! :)

Twinkle the Elf

This year, twinkle the elf started visiting our house.  He came right after Thanksgiving and has been hiding all over the place.  He mostly just sits somewhere quietly to watch over the kids, and then at night reports to Santa about their behavior during the day.  He played a trick on us one day . . . he hid in the same spot twice.  So, Ethan politely asked him if he'd move spots if he went and hide.   Luckily, Twinkle was able to move while Ethan hid.  The kids both really enjoyed getting up in the morning and finding where Twinkle was hidden.  Here are a few of the spots he hid in while he stayed at our house:

In the Leaves

Little Miss Addy sure loved playing in the leaves this fall.  She'd pick them up and throw them all around the yard, and would only come in when she was "too code".  Love this little munchkin.