more stressful than college final exams

a photo session with three kids is basically a nightmare (especially if one of those kids is beckett).  choosing the outfits, dealing with the moods, not looking at the camera, running off into the wilderness, sweating, etc.  the stress of it all could kill you. here are more pictures from our christmas card photos that i peer pressured my friend into taking. getting five people to look and smile at the same time is no easy task but she did a fab job!  there are  even more than this but i will spare you :)  

i had originally scheduled our pics with another photographer for december 15th...cause that's enough time to get them back and then have cards made for christmas right?  not even close.  so that was when the peer pressuring began.  i never cancelled my december 15th appt though...and as that date appraoched, i decided to keep it for fun (what was i thinking!?!?).  emery and beckett got sick...i pushed it back 2 days and actually had them taken yesterday.  IT. WAS. HORRIBLE.  emery was still sick...and sooooo fussy.  awful.  i really wanted one of the kids with brandon in his santa suit and that FOR SURE didn't happen.  i didn't even care if they weren't smiling.  but screaming wasn't what i had in mind :)  i will be sure to post the meltdown pictures on here...i am sure they will be hilarious...

merry christmas????

by the looks of our advent calendar...merry christmas!  "someone" went into the study, took down, and opened EVERY box left.  shocking, right?  nah...not when beckett is involved...oops!!  said his name! like you hadn't figured it out :)  there were 8 boxes left.  ellis is heartbroken.  she tries to encourage good behavior out of him...she tries everything..."beckett- santa is watching"..."beckett- sparkle is going to tell santa"....he couldn't give a shit.  truly.

boxes and toys scattered about...

we are in recovery mode here @ the exnicious house.  beckett was sick...got me sick...and then emery got sick.  yuck!  misery.  ellis is a freak of nature.  NEVER sick.  in 3 years of school, she hasn't missed a day.  all i want for christmas is for everyone to be healthy.  please santa!  is that too much to ask ??

santa...take two

we went to brunch with santa at redstone golf club last weekend...always a good time.  sadly, i didn't get as many pictures as i would have liked :(  three kids to keep up with...you know how that goes!!  here is beckett on the train with his hero, uncle grant.

kids having a very serious convo with santa...ellis finds something new to discuss with him every time she sees him.  and it is always something "santa" doesn't have for her...yet :)

we sat emery in there for a picture...all of my good smiling ones were blurry.  why do i ever take it off auto!??!

and beckett...in heaven "decorating".  i caught him spooning the sprinkles into his mouth instead of on his cookie!

thanks bebe and bo!!  and grant, emily and brad for making the trip out!

emery + santa = love

it wasn't love at first sight as you can see in the first picture.  she looked at him...staring...thinking...who are you?   then she turned to the audience of people watching for her reaction and LIT UP!!!
 

 thrilled...

brother got a turn...

and ellis...

my friend in the neighborhood has people come over for brunch & pictures w/ santa (in your jammies if you want)...and accepts donations to an orphanage in mexico...fun stuff...

can you tell liz and i went shopping together?

 we then went straight to get our tree.  yes, in the jammies.  an old man @ lowes looked at my three kids still in their jammies and said "that. is. fantastic."  we then went home and started decorating :)  it takes A LONG TIME to decorate with 2 little helpers.  they were in competition..."mom, who hung theirs in a better place on the tree?" AFTER EVERY ORNAMENT!  i would, however, like to give a special thanks to emery who waited to start crawling until AFTER decorations were complete :)

see that purple sparkly number at the bottom there?  that would be our tree skirt :)

my shutters have really come in handy lately...

drink and craft.  craft and drink.  it's what we do in the burbs :)  i am exaggerating (a little)...but we do love getting together for projects like the advent calendar you see below.  cute right?  10 friends, 250 boxes, and lots of little trinkets to fill those boxes.  it was fun...and what's even better is that the kids love counting down the days till christmas by opening a box every morning.  silly putty, peppermint chapstick, pez, and so much more...well, enough to fill 25 boxes.  kinda scary being reminded EVERY morning how close christmas really is and how much i have left to do!!!!!!!!

merry and bright!

 it has been a crazy week!  yesterday was the mothers against cancer luncheon...such a great group of women working for a great cause...pediatric cancer.  i have been on the committee for 6 years (i think??) this year my fabulous friend, liz, and i were talked into taking over a position on the board.  sponsorship (fundraising)...yikes!  and with 5 children 4 years old and under between us, we have time for that sort of thing, right?  well, we made time...and totally kicked ass :)  Sponsorships start at $300.00 and go up from there.  MAC usually has five $5,000 tables that are bought.  this year we had lucky number 13!!  before the luncheon even took place, our total in sponsorships was $120,000.00  i am exhausted!!  saturday night i was out till 3 a.m. (not for charity- for "holiday cheer").  sunday we were getting ready at the country club for the luncheon from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m.  yowza.  back at the club for 8:30 a.m. on monday and home around 8 p.m.  sooooo worth it though.  i will do a post on the luncheon soon...it was so much fun!!!

and because of the luncheon, i decorated for christmas before december first!!!  i knew i would be too tired after :)  i went totally crazy this year and used pink, purple, blue, green and red.  my kids LOVE it.  i used to do "pretty"...this year- FUN!  candy and loud colors!!!!

since it's now december....

i will do a real quick thanksgiving post!  we headed to austin...and celebrated game day style @ the house...with 50 of our closest friends :)  not so thankful that the aggies won the game...but so very thankful for my family.  beckett thinks texas wins every game so he was extra thankful...

here they are w/ an inflatable turkey my mom bought @ the nutcracker market...

matching aprons too :)  don't worry- emery has one waiting for her!

 my future sister-in-law made cute turkey cupcakes...

 pumpkins too!

 it was cold!  but no rain....

 beckett would live in austin w/ uncle grant if i let him...

 first game of washers...

 emery stayed warm :)

 still proud to be longhorns!