The Courter's Christmas Party!

Yesterday we went to the Annual Friends and Family Christmas Party over at our friends house, The Courter's.  It is something we all look forward to each year and it is a ton of fun.  There is lots of food, sweets, conversation, and play.  Each family draws a kids name and that is who we are responsible for buying a gift for.  Austin, Kayden's Buddy, drew Kayden's name this year and he got Kayden a very cool book and truck. Kayden loved the truck, we had to open it right away!

It is fun to watch over the last 12 years how the families have grown.  It started out with just the adult children, then as couples got married it started getting populated with kids.  Now there are 7 kids total ranging from ages eight to two.

Ok, so enough talking, here are some pictures!

Train

Kayden and I had a play date my best friend from High School and her daughter, Haleigh.  We met at the toy train inside the local mall.  Kayden just loved running around and he have a great time.  He played so well and had so much fun.

I took my camera with intentions of taking some fun pictures of him and Haleigh, but got in trouble from security.  Apparently taking pictures is extremely prohibited in the play area.  Ok, I can understand, but still, I was bummed.  Luckily I was able to take a few pictures before getting into trouble.  Next time I'll have to be more discreet and use my cell phone camera like every other parent there!

Ok, so here are some of the pictures I was able to get before getting shut down.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Over the weekend we prepared for the Christmas by putting up our decorations and tree.  Kayden had a blast looking at all the things and helping put the tree together (we have an artificial one!).  Then last night we were able to decorate it.

Here are pictures of Kayden decorating the tree.  I have a feeling the tree isn't done being decorated, he has already rearranged the ornaments many times!

The first ornament to be placed on the tree.

Santa Parade

My niece, Katie, was in a parade today with her Cheer Team.  She had a lot of fun and we had a lot of fun watching her.  Kayden did so well standing there watching everyone go by.  He did really well and had so much fun.  He just kept waving at everyone and got excited when he saw the different floats.  It was cute.

We really got lucky with the weather.  It was COLD, but it wasn't raining and the sun was out, so we were happy.  Doesn't get much nicer around here this time of year.

Here are some pictures of our day.

We took Monkey with us, and of course he had to have a jacket too.

My nephew, Collin

My niece, Ashlie, Kayden and Monkey.



Katie is the one on the right.  Because of where she was standing I had a hard time getting a good picture of her.



It was so cute, Kayden just went up to Ashlie and hugged her and held on to her for a few seconds.  It was such a nice gesture.

I had no idea mules could get so big.  They were huge.

And a Santa Parade isn't over until Santa Clause passes by. 

Thanksgiving

We hope everyone had a GREAT Turkey Day, we sure did.  We stayed home and cooked and enjoyed our family.  It was fun.  Kayden had a WONDERFUL time with Aunt Donna, she is just a big kid herself!  It was a lot of fun to see them giggle together and play together.  I thought for sure Kayden would sleep in until 7 today from all the running around with Aunt Donna, but nope, he was up at 5:45!  Oh, well.

We were suppose to eat dinner at 3, but it was a little delayed because the turkey wasn't done cooking.  Ooops...No one minded waiting for the turkey though, no one was interested in eating a raw one, so we gave it about another 45 minutes and then enjoyed it when it was cooked through.

We all enjoyed having each other around for the Thanksgiving Dinner.  It is great to have such a wonderful family.

Here are some pictures of our Turkey Day!  Hope everyone enjoyed theirs.