The Holiday Season!!

Every year, it seems the month before Christmas goes by way too fast. I am looking forward to a day (probably way in the future) when Pat will not be in retail and we can enjoy the holiday season a little more! :) I always make a point to atleast go to zoo lights. The boys were super into Christmas lights this year. We drove around our neighborhood and visited 'special' houses every couple of days. Since the kids are older, I got some craft books at the library and we did a couple of Christmas crafts. Mostly just ornaments. It was so fun when Sawyer would come home from school with all kinds of holiday stuff that they made. I kept everything!! My mom still has an ornament that I made when I was 4 and I just love it!!

Every year we are able to go see Santa at the school where my mom teaches. It is so nice not having to stand in line at the mall!!

It is our family tradition to get together with my Mom's side of the family for Christmas Eve. I absolutely love it. Sawyer and Thatcher have so many great cousins just their ages. And so do I!! :) I love getting together with everyone and exchanging our gifts. It is never anything big. Just a small present. This year I made cookies and I made the women in my family scarfs.

On Christmas Eve my parents spend the night, so they can be here Christmas morning to see the kids open their presents. We usually just lounge around all morning, opening presents and then playing with them!! Then, in the afternoon, Pat's Grandma, and his brother Geoff came over for a wonderful dinner of honeybaked ham.

We had a great Christmas this year. There is nothing better than seeing Christmas through the eyes of your children.

I totally loved this peacock at zoolights!!

The komodo dragon.

Putting cookies out for Santa.

Putting out Santa's magic key so he can get into the house!! ;)

Santa's presents just waiting to be discovered.

...and the stockings were hung by the chim... wait...well... they were hung anyways!!

Playing with some new toys.

Making our rice krispy treat house.

The 2nd Annual Littler Family Day at the Zoo!!

We have started a Littler family tradition of going to the zoo the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Most of us have zoo memberships, so this is a great FREE family outing!! We go to the zoo a lot, but the kids always love to go with their cousins. We had so much fun!! First we went to an animal training show. Then we saw the new Komodo Dragon. Then we checked out monkey village. After lunch, we did the children's zoo. It was recently revamped and I was shocked to see how nice it was!! It used to be all dirt, but now it is nicely paved and landscaped!! If you haven't been to the zoo in awhile, I highly suggest you check it out!!

Watching the show.

After the animal training show, you could leave a tip, and this bird would take your money!!

All the younger cousins. Opal, Sawyer, Adeline, Thatcher and Emerson.

I just love this pic!!

This peacock was just walkin' around!!

Papa (my dad) and Thatcher.

At the children's zoo, their was a cow that you could pretend to milk!! Water actually came out!!

Thatcher and Adeline eating some cotton candy.

Brushing some goats at the petting zoo.

The kids checking out a horse.

This windmill was just huge!!

Stingray bay.

Birthday Boy!!

Thatcher's actual birthday was after his party this year. It was really hard to come up with something fun to do on his birthday. Even though he had a party, I always like to do something special the day of. First we went to Toys R Us and let him pick out a toy. This was really hard. Sawyer already has all the stuff I would normally get for a 3 year old. We must have walked around for about 20 minutes before deciding on a play tent. Next, we took him to the mall, to go to the candy store. He loves sweets!! Then we went on a carousel ride. Then it was off to Krispy Kreme for some free donuts. After that, we took him to get his favorite dinner... Burger King!!

Opening up his Toy Story placemat and dishes we gave him the morning of his birthday!!

Hope you had a great birthday Thatcher!! We love you so much!!

Thatcher's Birthday Party!

Poor Thatcher was sick the whole week up to his party. I was totally afraid that we would have to cancel it. Then, the morning of his party it rained and rained. I was so worried that the party would have to be inside. The thought of having 30 people, 11 of which were under the age of 6, in my house still scares me!! ;) But, luckily Thatcher was feeling great, and the rain went away!! He had so much fun!! He hasn't had a party since he was 1 so this was his first big birthday party just for him. We had a pinata, which he called his Buzz Lighthair pun-atta. It was so cute!! He was so funny as he opened his presents. He got so excited over the cards and the gifts... just for him. Then when we did the cake, as soon as we lit the candle he blew it out before we even started singing. I think he had a great party!!

I couldn't find tattoos so we did face painting!! Sawyer had a planet!!

The pinata was a pull string!!

Sawyer always gets it!! This is the 3rd time he has picked the right one!!

He got so excited about this giraffe card!!

He is looking at Sawyer as everyone is singing to him.

All he ate from his cake was the frosting... using his finger.