Christmas

We had such a great time this year for Christmas. We got to spend lots of time with family and just relax and have fun. We still have not had Christmas with John's family so that will come later and we are really looking forward to that. The weekend started with the Cowboy Christmas Ball that John's band plays at every year. It is 3 nights long and we always have a great time. The kids get to come because it is a family friendly place. It makes for a long night for the babies but they have fun while they are there. This year the Walkers came to the ball on Saturday night. Emma and Luke were some dancin fools! We were so glad that they came. The rest of the time was spent eating and hanging out with family. And of course Santa came. I will miss Luke saying, "Santa comin??" over and over and over. He was really excited about it. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

My Family at the Christmas Ball (John is in the background because he was on stage.)

John playing

Us and The Walkers at the Ball

Luke and Emma Dancing

My Brother and his wife with the kiddos

Christmas Morning (nice hair)

Every little girl needs a glo-worm

After Christmas morning bath

Cousins at the Park

Meredith and I took the kiddos to the park today to try and get some new pictures of all of them. It really wears you out to try and get pictures of kids this age. I think we ended up getting quite a few good ones. Meredith took all the pictures and I was the crazy one behind the camera doing everything possible to get the kids to smile. So far the girls have been the hard ones to crack. The boys are pretty good at the smiling thing.

Mr. Luke

Miss Kate

Kate and Hayden playing with keys

Luke and Ella giving hugs

Sliding

All four in the swings. Luke and Ella are getting a little too big!

Cheesy Grin

Kate on the go

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving this year was spent at home with two sick kids who had the stomach bug. Although we missed getting to see some of the family, we actually had a relaxing day enjoying the snow and I got a head start on decorating for Christmas. The family brought us tons of food so we didn't have to miss out on that. The kids started feeling better over the weekend so we ended up getting to see both of our families. Here are a few pictures!

The Powell Family out in the snow

John's mom, Tara (John's sister) and Meredith(Sister in law)

My kids enjoying Thanksgiving in their PJs

Luke and Cousin Ella reading to each other. They love to play together!

Kate asleep in the swing at church. I just had to take a picture because that never happens.

Miss Kate

I found her in her crib hugging her baby monitor. Apparently she had pulled up and leaned over the crib to snatch the monitor from the table next to her crib. Guess it is time to move the mattress down!

More Halloween

We took the kids trick or treating last night to see grandparents and greatgrandparents. Here are more pictures.

Kids with Granna

Luke with Mur

Halloween

All of the Halloween festivities have started! This past weekend we went to the Wylie Fall Festival. Two things I learned: Don't buy fleece costumes for your kids in West Texas. The poor things were sweating after five minutes. I also learned that a two year old could care less about playing the games, he just wants the candy. All in all it was fun. Our church also had Trunk or Treat on Sunday. That was lots of fun to see everyone dressed up. Anyways, here are some pictures!

Finally

Well, I have finally decided to keep up with a blog. Mostly because I thought it would be a great way for me to keep up with journaling about the kids and our family and also because I just love reading everyone else's blogs so I thought it might be fun! So here it goes.

Let me update for those of you who don't know what is going on in my life. John and I have two kids.

Luke-2

Kate-7 months

They have been such a blessing to our lives and we are trying to soak up every moment with them. John and I just moved back to Abilene. John is enjoying his job here and I am staying at home with the kids. Hopefully I can keep up with the blogging!