Christmas {2011}

This holiday season came out of nowhere- and was gone just as fast. Whew.
We had a lot of fun this year. We started some traditions a few years back and have continued them this year.
We drove around and looked at Christmas lights, we baked cookies (and choc. covered oreo reindeer!) and we watched A TON of Christmas movies! I also made a Christmas ornament of the boys thumbprints, that I found on pinterest.com. It turned out SO cute!
The boys had an awesome Christmas. We celebrated on Christmas Eve this year because Kyle drove all three boys to Dallas- to surprise his parents! He pulled it off, too! They even arrived in time for Christmas dinner!
The big boys got ipod touches for Christmas and lil Austin got a tricycle! They were all happy boys! Uncle Nathan, Grandpa and Grandma got them an Xbox 360 with Kinect! They were so happy! Awesome gifts.
They also got new nerf guns and Texas Longhorn sweatshirts, which they packed up with them to take to Dallas.
When Brendan got home, he had taken over 350 photos/videos on his ipod. LOL
Some photos of our holiday season!

{decorating the tree}

{our Christmas card photo}

{visiting with Santa!}

{Christmas Eve}

 ^and Daddy's turkey fryer in the background. he can't wait to use that thing!

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

Brendan is {9}!!!

Happy Birthday, Bren!! You are 9 now and you just had your first sleep over! You, Peyton and 2 {wild} friends from your class. I felt really sorry for teacher A LOT today. LOL
Brendan, you are really turning into such a strong, independent young man. You are so funny- you love to make people laugh.

Here is a little snapshot of you at this age--
You are in third grade, Mrs. Kircher's class, with your great {wild} friend, Carson.
You love listening to music on your ipod shuffle- your favorite right now is Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO. You love to dance to this song. Well, every song with a good beat, really. :)
You are very competitive; you love sports. Football is your favorite. You played for the first time this past Fall and LOVED it!
You are trying so hard to learn to skateboard and you are getting better and better each time! You love your ripstick scooter, too!
You are a pretty good gamer- you love playing your DSi and the Wii. You just got Zelda for both systems and are very excited about that game!
You really enjoy reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books (and watching the movies). Those keep you reading.
You are doing okay in school- could be better. You have a few distractions in your class this year, but I really hope that this improves for the second half of the year.
You are a fun, energetic, very smart and loving kiddo, Brendan. I love you so much!
(I also really enjoyed giving you NINE spankings and a *pinch to grow an inch*)

^i love A's expression in this pic! he really wanted a nano bug! ;)