The Halls are Decked!

It is an annual goal to have the house completely decorated for Christmas by Thanksgiving night. This year we decided to take Thanksgiving day easy. We enjoyed a lot of time with my (Kristin's) family. My parents cooked for everyone. Daddy even passed out around 6 PM because he went to bed around 1 AM and woke up around 5:30 AM to start cooking again.

Friday we woke up with full intentions of putting up the tree in a timely fashion. That was until Phillip messed his back up again right after putting the tree stand down. That's right! We still had the entire tree to go! He took a muscle relaxer finally and decided to try to work through some of it. Halfway through the process, my parents called to see if we wanted to go to the movies. My cousin, Dani, came in from Georgia where she's a freshman at Wesleyan. Our house was much closer than her parents' in Texas. It was the first time either of us can recall seeing one another. I believe they visited once when she was a baby, but it has been a while (to say the least). We all went to see The Blind Side. We loved it! Typically, we don't even bother with wasting money at the movies, but this was totally worth it!

We came home after dinner and Phillip finally passed out from the muscle relaxer. I finished the tree and wrapped all of the gifts we have already bought. It took until 3 AM that morning, but I finished (for now)! I even got all of Phillip's stocking stuffers all wrapped up! As it turns out, I was completely comfortable wrapping all of his gifts knowing it would take an act of God to wake him.

Here are a few pictures from this year's decor!
This is the first year we have had stockings (it took me this long to find ones that I liked). I was quite excited to find these after Christmas last year, and even more excited to hang them this year! Phillip's stocking is the one on the left. It's definitely stuffed!

This year's tree. Phillip was quite tired of the glitter and ting-ting. I think he believes trees are suppose to be all boring. Mom gives me lots of fun fillers from the florist. I am trying a new tree topper idea that I saw recently. I don't like angels or bows or stars (or have yet to find any that will work with our decor). We'll see how I feel about it at the end of this season.

I love this time of the year!

Daddy's Boy!

Mason is never ever allowed on the furniture, but tonight I was too consumed with a lesson plan to notice his sneaky maneuver. Phillip was amazingly helpful today during all of my catch up homework. He spent the day doing laundry while watching ESPN. Here's how I found my boys this evening when I looked up after submitting my lesson.

I have no idea how that big pup balled himself up to fit in such a small area, but he did! He loves his daddy!

5 Year Old Wisdom

As many of you know, I (Kristin) have been babysitting two little boys a couple of evenings a week for the past two years. Quinn, the youngest, just turned 5 a couple of weeks ago. Tonight he didn't want to eat his vegetables with dinner. This is normal with Quinn. His older brother, Barrett (7), gave him some encouraging words: take a bite and chase it with the chocolate milk. (Where they learned the concept of chasing things is beyond me.)

After sitting at the table alone for a while, Quinn looked at me and said, "Mrs. Kristin, I'm stuffed!" Knowing this would be another battle of wills, I picked up my armor and replied, "Really?! No way! Are you ready for dessert?" Of course his face lit up with delight as he replied, "Yes ma'am!" I laughed, "Tricked ya! If you have room for dessert you have plenty of room for your peas and corn." Quinn, never one to be out-witted, looked and said, "BUT I have 2 stomachs! One for dessert and one for non-dessert stuff. The dessert one is empty!"

I know you aren't suppose to laugh at them, but I died laughing right there.

Lazy SC Weekend

This weekend we decided to head down to Florence for a long overdue visit with Phillip's family. Brandy, my college suite mate was able to meet us there on Saturday morning since Will was on call for the night (we missed you Will). She brought their new puppy, Sydney. Oh poor Sydney had little hands pulling at him all weekend. :-) He's precious.

Logan and Taylor, our nieces, meeting Sydney for the first time.
Obviously, Sydney is teething.
Logan loves animals!
Sydney went for his first swim in the pond. Mason wouldn't get out.
Something Brandy enjoys when she visits Florence. :-)
Sydney looks like he's praying for mercy.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.
I've always asserted that this is, by far, the best way to handle Taylor.
I'm an aunt.
This is going on the fridge soon. Love it!
Cheesing before the festival.
Spider Taylor...blue undies showing and all!
Phillip helping the short one with a little boost.
She wanted a blue flower on her face.
Brandy was trying to show Taylor how to make bubbles...she's an expert aunt.
Brandy and Phillip have a special bond (emphasis on "special").
Typical Taylor
She didn't realize it, but there was no way she was going to win this battle. Mason loves his bottles.
Logan being all goofy.

Uncle Phillip and Taylor with their "necklaces."
Taylor wanted to take a picture, so I gave her something to document.