It's all fun and games...

until someone gets hurt!  Luckly, no one got hurt this time.  Just wanted everyone to see how much baby sister loves her big brother. :)

De-fense!

Last week, our friend Ronnie got Stephen and Eli tickets to a Mavericks game.  It was Eli's first time.  He LOVED it!  He got scared when the lights went out and they announced the players.  Daddy had to get him french fries to make it better.  They made it to half time before Eli got cranky.  He has been running around shooting at his basketball goal and yelling/growling "De-fense" and "Go Mavericks!"

Eli & Daddy heading out to the game!

Eli & boo boo - almost the same height! :)

Shifty eyes

Big smile from the suite!

Eli, his fake smile, and Daddy.  Still a good picture though.  :)

 Lets go Mavericks! (they were still warming up.)

Close-up!

Eating the french fries after the scary introductions.

Look how high I can reach!

Thanks so much for the tickets Ronnie!!

Holiday Express

Last week the Kansas City Southern Holiday Express Train stopped in Wylie!  I'm not really sure why they chose Wylie, but there was a good turn out so maybe they will come back!  There was a really long line to walk through the train so we just look at all the lights outside.  We didn't even know about it until that afternoon so we got out there kind of late and I didn't get many pictures. 

Here is the train as we were walking up.

 Jillian and Eli in front of the train.

 Baby girl watching the fun!

Grandpa, Eli, & Daddy

Cute face on the front of the train.

Mommy and Jillian.

Eli's got mail!

Eli got a surprise in the mail from Meemie & Papa!  He loves getting mail!

 Guess I better get used to this "fake" smile he gives us when we ask him to smile.  I don't think it is going away anytime soon.

Loving the Mickey Christmas shirt.

He loves the Biscuit the dog books!

The Very First Christmas book from Hallmark.  Papa recorded himself reading the book for Eli.

Telling us all about his Biscuit book.
 

Eli trying to figure out who is reading his book to him.



A very distracted "Thanks Meemie & Papa for my surprise!"

Treats!

Stephen got a hankering to make rice krispie treats the other night.  Eli wanted to help.  Not a lot goes into making them, but Eli still had fun. 

Eli's fake smile

Eating his first marshmallow ever. :)

Daddy showed Eli how to drop the marshmallows in and not touch the hot pan.  Can you see his little hand at the top of the picture?

Trying out the Christmas cookie cutters on the rice krispie treats.

Eli loved helping but we couldn't get him eat one.  We told him it was like a cookie, but he still wanted nothing to do with it.  What a funny kid.

Adventure with Grandmommy!

Last week we went out to Santa Land in Tyler with Grandmommy to look at all the lights!  We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel first.  Eli loved his grilled cheese and the singing dog Grandmommy bought him (he sings Christmas songs.)  The weather was great so we rolled down the windows and listened to the designated Christmas music station as we drove through the lights display.  They had some of the lights coordinated with the music.  We went pretty early on a weeknight so there weren't many other cars and we could go at our own pace.  Eli loved it!

 Lights strung through the trees.

Merry-Go-Round

We aren't really sure why Santa appears to be naked and taking a bath in that leaf, but the elves seem to be having fun roasting marshmallows.

Poinsettias

Eli's favorite - Football and helmet in the sports themed section.

Santa and reindeer!

 Cowboy boot in Texas themed section.

The start of the religious section.  Mary and Joseph coming up to the inn (I think.)  And a palm tree.

Nativity scene.

Jesus ascending.  Position reminded us more of Superman though with his hands and arms straight up in the air.

We had fun Grandmommy!  Thanks for the adventure!

Santa!

This year we saw the Santa at Willow Bend again.  He is so nice to the kids and very authentic looking! :)  We got there about 10 minutes before they opened and were third in line so there was almost no wait!  This is key for my kids.  They had a very nice Narnia display throughout the waiting line, but since our kids are a little too young to appreciate it we just by passed it altogether.  We didn't get very good smiles from them, but there were no tears so I consider it a success!

Eli waiting patiently.  :)

Jillian waiting patiently.

 Smiling at Daddy!

Eli talking to Mrs. Clause.  She was super nice and did a great job keeping the kids minds off the short wait.

The official picture.

 This picture isn't very good because I snapped it very quickly.  I don't think you are supposed to take your own pictures of Santa.  But Eli was having such a sweet conversation with him I really wanted to capture the moment, even if the moment is blurry. :)  This is the little booklet Santa gave him.  He told Santa he wanted tools, but it sounded more like "toos."  So cute!

Chillin in the stroller before leaving the mall.