Christmas with friends

This Christmas season has been FULL of fun with friends. Here is a small attempt to capture a few of the fun experiences we have had with our cherished friends this month.

First, we got to go to Annie and Sutton's house for a morning of gingerbread house decorating and brunch in our pjs! It was over the top! Annie went ALL OUT to make sure each child had the opportunity to decorate an awesome gingerbread house! The kids also had a fun book exchange and Porter got the most amazing Christmas activity book! It was a super fun morning and a memory I will never forget!

Another tradition for the past 3 years is our annual play group Christmas party. The boys came decked out in their red and green attire and Porter gave his buddies a new scarf which they all showed off in this photo attempt! :) These boys are more like brothers and get along wonderfully! It is so nice to be able to get together with our group and the kids love it as much as we do! Thanks for hosting such a fabulous time, Alli!

At the play group party, instead of exchanging gifts we do a service project withe the boys and this year was no different. We chose to all contribute money to buy a goat for a family through World Vision. We wanted to have a tangible way to enforce what we had done, so several creative moms came up with the fabulous idea for the boys to make a goat ornament and that way they will always remember what they gave this year. We will continue to give an animal through World Vision every year as a group! I LOVE IT!

Another fun outing we had was with our friends, Andi and Avery. We took the kids to Northpark to let them shop the new Disney store, eat lunch and enjoy the great Christmas music and wonderful decor. They were in heaven "shopping" together! They are the best of friends, if you can't tell. :)

Then, last but definitely not least, we took the boys to have their picture taken with Santa. Porter has NEVER come close to any Santa, much less had his picture taken with him. But when his buddies went with him, he was no longer afraid! What a priceless memory! We are extremely blessed!

That's all for now folks! Now, to put on MY Santa hat! :) I will continue to document our Christmas journey soon and try not to forget these precious moments together.

Christmas with a 3 year old is the best gift anyone could ever get!

Merry Merry CHRISTmas!!!!

GRATEFUL

Before I move on to post about the crazy fun Christmas season we are having, I MUST remember the incredible Thanksgiving we had this year. The picture above pretty much sums it up.

FAMILY.

We enjoyed every single aspect of our families, as a family. It was the first time in a long time that we got to see everyone, on both sides. Uncle Tom, Aunt Monica, Tommy, Ashley and Alli were in town from Indiana which made for a fun time with cousins! Thanksgiving was filled with games and toys and sweets! The kids had so much fun together and it was great to get some family pictures which are hard to come by these days.

The day after Thanksgiving, we drove to Gilmer to spend more time with my immediate and extended family. We had a great time at Mia and Poppy's and loved seeing Dee too. We also got to have a huge Thanksgiving feast at the farm at Grandad's house, with the best southern food you have ever tasted! (plus an adventure hike through the woods and an exciting ride on the new go cart. Thanks for the fun time, Mark!)

We are so so soooo blessed and we are very grateful for these special Thanksgiving memories!

Fall in East Texas

We recently made a quick trip to East Texas and enjoyed the GORGEOUS Fall they are having. The trees were absolutely beautiful! Porter gets so excited when we make a trip home and he starts looking for the "tall trees" as we get closer to Mia and Poppy's. There's a little church next to my parents' house and every time we passed a church Porter would ask,

"Is that the Brumley Church?" If he asked me once, he asked me 100 times! The older he gets the more he enjoys his time in the country. But, who could blame him? There is always a new adventure. This time, it was jumping in piles of pine straw, playing with Efurd and Tipsy (the cats), painting bird houses, getting "chewing gum", and laughing with Mia and Poppy about any and every thing!!!!

Our "Toy Story" Halloween

Halloween lasted all month at the Carroll house this year. It is BY FAR Porter's favorite holiday. He gets SOOOOOO excited about every single Halloween experience!

Our October was full of pumpkin patches (so many I lost count), costume day at school, pumpkin pancakes with friends, carving Jack-O-Lanterns with the Harris family, roasting pumpkin seeds, eating a Jack-O-Lantern pizza, making orange playdough, icing pumpkin sugar cookies with Mia, giving and receiving pumpkin cupcakes (yummmo!), painting pumpkins, decorating the house for Halloween, practicing trick-or-treating, having a Fall party at school, The Great Pumpkin Hunt at school, a carnival at Nanny and Pop Pop's church, playing dress up in costumes (Pooh, Superman AND Buzz) at Mia's house, neighborhood Halloween party, and last but not least,

GOING TRICK OR TREATING AS BUZZ, WOODY and JESSIE!!!

Whew! We will have to save up our energy for next year's adventures! We all had a blast and I think we lived up to Porter's expectations of a true "Toy Story" Halloween!

just because....

....my Daddy is so proud!

Big # 3!!!!

Porter absorbed every single event surrounding his birthday this year and LOVED and CHERISHED every little thing! :0) He could not wait for his birthday and he was super excited about the John Deere birthday party theme!

He was so precious waiting for the mailman to bring his birthday cards every day and talking about his friends who would be coming to his party. HE WAS SO EXCITED! The anticipation was killing him!

He was so proud of the birthday cards we hung on the door in the kitchen. He loved the early "surprises" he found on the doorstep. :) He could not wait to go pick up the birthday cake HE had chosen for the party. His grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and precious friends went above and beyond with their creative gifts this year! It was all too much fun!

Just take a look at how his very special 3rd birthday unfolded. It was a perfect day fit just for him and he is so lucky to have so many people in his life who love and celebrate who he is! :)