Santa

On Tuesday before Christmas we headed downtown to see Santa at Neiman Marcus.  We didn't have to wait too long and the Santa was so good...and so was the photographer.  We got some good shots, but the photographer got some even better ones that I will have to scan in.  The kids were not scared at all and sat right in his lap and told him what they wanted.



 Patiently waiting their turn.

 "I want princesses and more purple pom poms"

" I want a huge Buzz Lightyear"

 Playing around while waiting for me to get our pictures

Polar Express

We decided to brave the cold and head for the Polar Express in Grapevine.  It was fun for the kids, but I wish we had more time to explore the downtown area. 

Here are the kids watching the show before boarding the train

 Mommy and Addison

 So cute... I love this picture!

 Daddy and "Glader"

 Another really cute one!

Why a picture of random kids you might ask?  Well, during the show they had all the kids come up on stage to help sing Jingle Bells.  Glade didn't want to, but Addison did. So I took her up there hoping to get a cute picture.  Well, she went up there and headed straight for the back...so you couldn't even see her. She went straight to one of the girls that was singing in the show.

Here you can see Addison coming off the stage.

 Guess who it is?  It's SANTA!!!

 Glade is excited, it's just a funny looking picture.

Sparks family Christmas

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with my family.  It was so much fun to have everyone here and be able to have fun and relax together.  We ate a lot and had fun playing at the park.  Denise you will thank me for not putting any pictures of us on here!

Glade and Addison being silly with Dylan

 Glade and Pappy

 The PURPLE POM POMS!!!

 Can you tell they love Christmas?

Inspecting all the goods!

Funny Addison Song

Many of you know that Addison loves to sing.  She is always singing something and it usually involves some words that she just makes up.  She gets that from her Daddy, who will be singing in church and add in his own words.  Today we went to the post office to get stamps for our christmas cards.  While waiting in line she started singing her own version of Santa Clause is coming to Town, followed by Jingle Bells.  The people in line behind us were definitly entertained.  She continued her singing tonight after her bath.  We had been singing Stand Up and Shout it if you love my Jesus...most of you know the song.  Well, here is Addison's new verse to the song.

Stand Up, get naked if you love my Jesus.
Stand Up, get naked if you love my Lord.

I am not sure how well this verse would go over in Bible Hour or Preschool Chapel. 
Can I go ahead and ask for prayers for her as a teenager?  Because this nakedness is NOT okay!

Thanksgiving

I know this is way late, but I am waiting on some clothes to get done washing so I thought it would be good to get caught up on my blogging.  I have a lot to do so check back often.  I have lots of posts to get to!

We spent the week of Thanksgiving at my parents' house.  My dad spent half of the week in the hospital with a blood clot in his leg.  On Tuesday before Thanksgiving mom and I drove my aunt to Houston so she could meet her husband...it was a LONG trip, one that won't happen again...but that is another story!

So much for getting it done.  Blogger is being slow uploading the pictures.  I didn't get half of what I wanted uploaded, so I am using what I have and will try again later.  I am ready for bed!

Taking some pictures.  The kids asked to go out and take pictures!

Oh, the cat!  My parent's neighbors have a cat and the kids loved it...well until the cat bit them both.  I have to say it does not disappoint me that the kids are not fond of cats now.

 Gingerbread house time!

 Sparks Family Photo

 The kids all had a great time helping Grammy hang the ornaments on her tree.

 Addison being her cute self!

I have more, but will try to add them another time!

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks to Chera at chera25.com

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was our Feast at preschool. The kids were Indians this year and sang 1 little 2 little Aliens...Indians! They were both pretty shy and kept their hands in their mouths. I guess a nervous habit these days. They also got to eat a feast of chicken nuggets, cheese cubes, crackers, pretzels, marshmallows and carrots. YUMMY! After the program and feast my WHOLE class left with their parents. That has never happened before! I was able to help take down the book fair and clean up my room a little bit. We are out of school next week and I couldn't be more excited! We will be spending the week at my parents' house. I am looking forward to some yummy food next week!

Practicing the song at Chapel.

 

 Waiting to get on the stage.  Look at Glade, all relaxed just leaning on the pole.

 Who can eat their whole hand?  Glade and Addison can!

 Daddy's here!

 Mommy and Addison

 My two most favorite boys!

 The whole family

 Daddy and the kiddos

Wordless Wednesday

Our first family camping adventure!

This past weekend we took our camper out for the first time as a family.  The kids had a blast.  We learned a lot about what we need when camping in the future.  I will give you the run down on how our camping trip started.  Friday morning Tim and the kids took the camper to the state park we were staying at.  He forgot the extension cord so he couldn't plug it in and get the lights and such going, but no big deal.  He had to come home anyway.  While they were doing that I went to the store to get all the supplies and food we still needed.  I got an electric heater, because the weather was going to be really cold.  We got everything packed and loaded so that when Lily got picked up we could leave.  It was about 5:30 and we headed out...only to find the highway completely shut down!  There are only two main roads to get across the lake and when one is shut down, the other might as well be!  So it took us just over an hour to get from our house to the other side of Rockwall.  UGH!  We got to our campsite at about 8 in the dark of course.  We set about unloading and getting things hooked up.  Glade and Addison were messing around in the camper and Glade fell and got a nice big bump and cuts on his head!  The breaker kept tripping in the camper and the heater was blowing cold air...even though it was turned off!  We figured out how to fix the breaker, got us some dinner and settled in for the night.  It was SO cold.  The little heater was not enough to keep up with the temperature.  We set the heater in the camper to 50 thinking it would stay turned off, but no, it blew cold air throughout the night!

The kids slept until about 8 the next morning.  We had breakfast outside and then headed to the dollar store for a broom, some batteries and a few others little things.  When we got back we took a hike to the other playground in the park.  Then hiked around the lake- which is REALLY low to get back to our site for lunch.  On our hike we saw lots of animal tracks, bones and shells! 

The kids kept handing us shells to carry.  We had our lunch and then all settled in for a much needed nap.  After the nap we played around the campsite and got dinner ready.  What can be better when camping than roasting hotdogs?  We had hotdogs and then roasted the biggest marshmallows I have ever seen!

  They are called campfire marshmallows and are about 4 of the normal ones in one huge package!  Addison chose not to eat one and just ate the chocolate. 

Glade ate his and had it all over him. 

 His jacket had to get washed!  After the sticky smores we got ready to head to the showers.  Glade and Tim went to the boys and Addison and I headed to the girls.  Addison refused to shower.  A long time ago, she got in the shower with me and played with soap...well it got in her eye and now she won't have anything to do with the shower.  It is not easy wrestling a little one all soaped up.  They get slippery!  She showered while screaming bloody murder.  We headed back to our campsite for some popcorn around the campfire. 

 By this time Glade asked to go to bed!  He was tired!  So we tucked them into bed in a warm camper...we figured out the heater.  Tim and I sat around the campfire for a while so the kids would go to sleep.  When we went in to bed though, the heater was blowing cold again.  I guess the propane ran out.  It was much warmer Saturday night though so it wasn't too bad.  We had a great camping experience and can't wait to do it again!

Some other fun stuff:

Glade wished on a star and wished for a bike with two wheels not four because he is a big boy now!

He also said his favorite thing about camping was playing football.

Riding his bike.  He rode his bike a lot!

In the great outdoors!

Addison enjoyed playing in the dirt.  One of the reasons we had to go buy a broom on Saturday!
Her favorite part was going to the bathroom...hmm...even though she hated the shower!  She wished for purple pom poms when she wished on the star!

The scary spider we found on the trail to the bathrooms.

Addison putting on a show for us at the stage. 

Playing Red Light, Green Light in the middle of the road.

We are hoping for many more camping weekends like this one!  If you enjoy camping where do you go?