Thanksmas

I'm not sure who coined the phrase "Thanksmas" but I saw it on several people's facebook and decided that it aptly described our holiday at the Boyds. We had a great time on Friday celebrating a combined Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was so great to be able to spend time with all of Daniel's brothers and sisters. Everybody (and their significant others) were all in attendance. We had a great, fun-filled table! The boys played their annual football game, which I am happy to report involved some flags this year. Daniel said the played a combo game of tackle/flag, but in the past it has always been full tackle. So grateful that nobody got really injured!!

After stuffing ourselves full of great food, we exchanged Christmas gifts. Miss Kenna absolutely LOVED her MegaBloks. She thinks they are the greatest things ever and has played with them non-stop ever since we opened the present! If we pick them up and put them back in the bag, she will carry the bag over to you saying "hep tower" (help tower), because she wants you to open the bag and help her build the tallest tower. We have stacked and stacked today! Great gift Jackson! Kenna loves it!

Luke thought that Kenna's purse and cell phone that she brought from home were pretty fun...every little boy needs a picture carrying a pink purse!

And then my camera battery died! Oh well, it was a wonderful day and I can't wait to see everyone again soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daniel had to work today so Miss K and I made a trip to visit Daddy at the fire station. The guys were in the charge of the turkey and the other families all brought sides and desserts...we ended up with quite the Thanksgiving feast!

Kenna loved playing in the fire engine.......and exploring the inside of the engine, of course, Daddy had to intervene before she figured out how to make a call to dispatch.

After some fun times at the station, Kenna and I made a quick visit to my aunt and uncle's house where my grandparents were visiting. Miss K ran around outside and kept us all entertained for the afternoon.

Hope everyone enjoyed their families today!

Tree Lighting

Saturday evening we joined Jon, Mandy, and JD for Santa's arrival and the lighting of the tree at the Village of Allen. I was surprised they were having it this early, but we really enjoyed the beautiful weather. The organizers had several craft tables set up for the kiddos, complete with face painting, etc., but there were SOOOO many people there! Our little ones were not going to be too interested in waiting in line so we worked our way up to see the reindeer before taking a break for dinner. Kenna thought the reindeer was pretty cool.

After eating, we went back out to watch Santa turn on the lights for the Christmas Tree. Kenna was absolutely amazed at all the lights. I kept trying to get her to look down at me from her perch on her Daddy's shoulders, but that meant she was taking too much time away from the tree!There was also Christmas music playing and the lights were blinking in time with the music. JD and Kenna danced together for a little while, but I was too slow to get the pictures.JD thought it was pretty neat too! I loved how excited he was in this picture!This was the best group shot I could get of the kiddos and their daddy's.... I love the holiday season and I am so excited that we get to celebrate Thanksgiving in just a few days....can't wait!!

Muleshoe Memories

This past weekend, Kenna and I made a quick trip to Muleshoe to stay in my childhood home once last time. My parents are moving into a new house "in town" and are leaving our house out on the farm. I am very excited for them and can't wait for them to get settled in the new house, but I am also a little sad that they are leaving our old house!

We had a great trip and Kenna did really well on the flight there. We spent the day Saturday playing, resting, and looking around their new house. I can't believe they will be moving in just a few weeks! (I also can't believe that I didn't take any pictures of the current house....guess I will have to took back through my old pics...I know there are some somewhere!!) Miss K has always loved their new house. Even when it was just in the framing stages, she would run through all of the framed walls, just having fun. Just because the house is finished doesn't change that any at all....she kept playing and playing! She convinced her Uncle Cade to show her how to open the windows and then he sat her out onto the back porch and she took off! She loved being able to run and run.

Abbye and Kenna both had fun playing in the new 'backyard.'

Can you see the tiny hot pink speck in the distance and the lighter colored pink speck following behind (but a little closer to the camera)? That would be Kenna running from her Mommy (because she thought it was funny....she was giggling like crazy!) and Abbye trying to catch her. My sister took the picture from the back porch. I'm the one going after them both. Those two are definitely going to get into some trouble in the future!

Sunday was my mom's birthday and we spent the day celebrating before we had to come back home...and I didn't take any pictures of that either (I didn't do a very good job with the camera apparently!).

Kenna did great on the flight home as well...especially considering our flight was extended by quite a bit! Because of weather/heavy rain in the Dallas area, we ended up circling in the air for about 15-20 min before being diverted to Oklahoma City for fuel. We were lucky and were able to refuel and take right back off toward Love Field, but that still meant that our flight that was supposed to land at 5:05 actually got to Dallas around 6:45. Thank goodness my daughter is a good flier!! She just sat in my lap, ate animal crackers, and read books the entire time.

Thanks everyone for a great weekend!

Kenna's favorite chairs

There are several places in our home that Kenna has decided are a few of her favorites. The first is the chair in our living room. This is the same chair she was playing with the pillows in in the last post. Last night she was very content to sit, eat her dinner, and watch "Mi Mouse" (Mickey Mouse). She actually very rarely gets to sit in the living room to eat (she is usually in her high chair at the table) but there are some nights when daddy is at work that a grilled cheese that she can feed herself in the living room is about all this preggo mommy can handle! :) Her other favorite perch is the back of our couch...yes, the back of the couch, and, yes, her daddy taught her this one. She loves to climb onto the back, hang out for a while leaning against the wall, and then go down the "side" (slide) onto the seat to then start all over again.

She was so excited I was letting her do this last night while Daddy was gone that she did it over, and over, and over. I loved how her little jean skirt kept getting all up around her waist....it was too cute!

She is always so full of energy and so much fun to watch!

Hide-n-Seek

Kenna has recently gotten into playing hide-n-seek...well, kinda! She loves to cover herself up and then pop her head up every now and then to make sure that we are still looking for her. I kept trying to take her picture when she was completely covered because you could still see her feet sticking out, but she always looked out right when I snapped the picture.

We have so much fun with this precious little one!

Happy Halloween!

Kenna had a blast last night, getting to dress up like a monkey again. She doesn't really understand the concept of Trick or Treating, so we dressed her up to pass out candy to people who came knocking on our door. She thought that was so much fun! Several people that we didn't know made 'he' comments at Trunk or Treat last weekend so we decided to add a bow to her outfit! She loved giving all the kiddos the candy that came out of her basket. Even after they walked off to go to another house, she would stand at the door holding out candy.

In between visitors, she would take her hood off and run around playing, but as soon as the doorbell rang, she would take off running toward the front door yelling "canny, canny, canny." It was so cute!

My two favorite comments of the evening came from some 8-10 year old trick or treaters. One ran off yelling to his mother - "There's a little monkey giving out candy!". The second was very impressed with our candy choices - "You are good people. Y'all give out real candy."

Glad to know that we are good people!

Hope everyone had a fun, safe Halloween!