Molly likes lolly pops too

Good morning Molly!

Good morning Molly kisses

Athens Christmas lights

Annual Christmas lights drive!
Sign of the times/conversation of the night:
(In approaching the blues brothers scene)
The 6 year old: "Look. It's Justin Bieber."
The 8 year old: "yea. And Justin Timberlake!"

Wow buddies. Wow.

Ho Ho Ho

A little something fun that Rob has been able to do while working with Ozarka is help Mellew Productions on the events held in Tyler.  Andrew and Rob have had some good runs in the past with these events but this one tops them all! All of us were able to participate this year (I'm not pregnant nor am I responsible for an infant - first time in a long time!).

His precious heart

As I struggled to interpret "fafrit" I was plotting my approach in reminding him that we have practiced this word (and "thegn" things) and that if he would just take the time to sound it out, his attempt would be much closer to the correct spelling. Then. Then I kept reading...

Good golly! Who cares if his spelling is off. This is all that matters!

A birthday getaway

Robbie had big plans in a getaway night for my 30th - but as the ice kept piling up I learned that every detail of the day/night he had planned was to be canceled. I, however, was simply loving his thoughtfulness and was soaking up the alone time i was getting with my guy! Our delayed start kept us snuggled up at home with some sweet little men but got us off just in time to make it to Dallas for some adult adventures;)
It was a winter wonderland of a drive - what you see on the news re: iced highways in this town is very real. 

We've never seen anything like this - 3-6" of compacted ice.

Walking is just as precarious as driving. We just happened to take some back roads through deep ellum and found ourselves at Robs first stop on his original checklist: All Good Cafe great breakfast and enjoyed skating from and back to our car.

Antique shopping was the plan for the day but everything was a) closed or b) we could not drive to. The ONLY let down I have about these closures is this:

Wisteria (epic bummer). I've waited since the spring to get to this store. I. could. Cry!

Aside from my wally world closure like experience, I genuinely was okay with our icy escape. We safely made it to Hilton Park Cities where we discovered something great - one block away, a little biz we like to frequent: Marshalls! And a mega Marshalls at that. Who needs antiques when you have mega-marshalls?!

We skated our way around Park Cities and were lucky ducks to find that the sushi restaurant was open.
We skated our way back to the hotel Grain bar for thick dark beer and champs

Rob refuses to take selfies - I snuck one ;) Did you know "selfy" is now in the dictionary?

What the dr. ordered

(minus the tree skirt)

Annual Nannie&Co bake-athon

I still have 7 posts from our trip to share but I've been too lazy (still exhausted) to upload from the camera.
Nannie is here! Even after all the time in DC caring for Grandma, she made her way to Tyler for our annual Christmas kickoff/birthday celebration. She's THE most amazing!
We spent the morning bundled up shopping, enjoyed Wasabi for lunch, snoozed while Will napped, and once the bigger boys were home we baked the rest of the day - this is exactly what we have done every year! Usually dinner is out while the kids are at the Christmas pj party at church but someone failed to sign up this year;) so, bundled up at home we'll stay! Testing or self control surrounded by all the baked goods. ..

Tennessee (part 2)

We had a great sleep last night! Bahaa. Really, once the neighbor kids shut it down at 1:30am, we enjoyed some restful sleep. We had a leisurely morning around the hotel and got out around 11:00.

"Beebee do want juice?"

Rice popcorn sales were last week and the boys had fun sharing all of the flavors while soaking in some good ole Shrek.

 

We detoured through Knoxville, TN and loved the little bit of time we spent there.  

 

The Smokey Mountains weren't as big as I had thought but made for a beautiful drive toward Virginia.

Tennessee (part 1)

We arrived at our hotel at 9:30 pm after having left Tyler at 8:30am. It was obviously a long haul but Im impressed that not only did we arrive with all children (I was sure we'd find ourselves selling off at least one), but we had a really good time and lots of laughs. That's not to say we didn't live out some "moments." Oh, we had a few of those - like the one where I realized the thunderous noise i was hearing was all of the boys (3, 6 and 35 years) mocking the screaming baby. I  absolutely love those moments. ;)
It was dark pulling in to Chattanooga but from the hilly drive I can tell we will wake to a beautiful scenery.  And hopefully a beautiful Starbucks.
Tonight we are especially thankful for a safe and pleasant drive - and some sweet snugly boys!

Desert in bed

crossing the Tennessee border, past the point of crazy

Georgia

We'll be in Georgia for a whopping 20 minutes.  Just enough time to get a good dose of crazy up in this Tahoe!

In a game of "guess the animal"

Robbie:"I'm thinking of a group of animals, they're wild and there are 3 of them"

Andrew "got it! Alvin and the chipmunks!"

Alabama

We're trekking through Alabama. I stopped by rocket fizz this week in search of some fun snacks for the drive. Super success! They had these old fashion guys that my brother and i used to get every time we'd visit Grandma in D.C. The boys worked on their Alabama activity pages and gave this candy a shot.  I don't remember Will and I ingesting the amount of paper my boys did in eating this stuff.

I could sense the rowdy recklessness stirring in the back - but not to worry ;) Turkey Bingo was up next with an infamous prize to be had.  Even though it was only 5:30, it was plenty dark for glow sticks!
Let the party begin

Mississippi

Just about out of Mississippi! We stopped in Jackson for some playtime and lunch.  Once we got close to Meridian the scenery started to change a bit - finally! If we didn't know any better, we would have thought we were still in East TX!

Louisiana

Louisiana

Lord, I pray that our trust in your will and plan be firm.  That we are able to rest in these words!

It's not easy, but I wanted trade it for anything!

Fall

Sweet spot with Molly watching the leaves fall like rain.  Thank you Lord for the changing of seasons.  It brings a feeling of refreshment; a sense of renewal; a clean slate. And Lord knows I (frequently) need opportunities to start fresh!

Teeth - 0

Daddy-3

A missing top tooth is way more exciting than missing bottom teeth!