First snow for Max

Max was getting 3 new teeth in this day.  But I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get him outside for the first snow of his life and for possibly the last snow of the year!  Don't worry, I bundled him up and he was drugged up on tylenol.  Yes, I'm such a good mom!

Christmas cookies (& grandpa's visit)

This year we had our friends, the Jacobs, over to help decorate sugar cookies. Do you like Liam's puddle of frosting, I mean cookie decorating? While decorating the cookies, our neighbors came Christmas caroling to our house. I invited them in for cookies, at which point I turned around to see Liam lapping up frosting from his cookie like a dog. So much for making our invite for cookies seem appealing.
And below is our mystery Christmas shape. We decided it looked more like a dress (although Chad later enlightened us that it was a reindeer), so our friend Karen made a lovely smiley face head to top the headless body.
And these pictures...my father in law came for a short visit. (He was actually here for the cookie decorating too...I just didn't get too many pictures). I thought it was funny- Liam never sits here at this side of the table, especially when he has a movie on! But he wanted to hang out by his grandpa.

Warning!

Some nudity is contained in the following post.

Foggy winter morning

Max- 8 months old

Ya, don't mind the food stains on the shirt. I wasn't planning on taking "8 month" pictures. I was just hanging out with Chad in the basement while he was figuring out wiring stuff and I thought, 'Hey, might as well try my hand at some Christmas-lights-in-the-background pictures!'. So I did.

Bolivar Christmas Parade

This past Saturday was the town's annual Christmas parade. We went with our friends the Byers. It was cold...but a lot of fun! Can you not tell he loves firetrucks? But apparently not as excited about firefighters. :) Max was ready to be done by the end of it all! It was cold. And Liam...he was fine with the cold as long as it meant he got more candy.

Black Friday festivities

Instead of black friday shopping we went and saw the Brett family singers in Branson. We had a lot of fun! And it was good wholesome entertainment, which I'm glad to support.
And afterwards we ate at Lamberts, known for their unique way of serving (for example- when you want a dinner roll, you raise your hand and they throw it at you from across the room). But we took the experience a step further and aat with 12 squished in at a table of 8 and we carefully balanced a sleeping toddler across our laps and juggled a needy baby back and forth between the two of us.

Thanksgiving festivities

This year we had our Thanksgiving day feast at the LDS chapel in Stockton. Fun times!
Four of us sisters had babies within months of each other. It was fun to get all the cousins together for a diaper picture...even if some where still learning to sit up :)
...and the proud mamas :)

Cousins

My sister Lynnae & her husband Ryan stayed with us this past week for Thanksgiving. We both had baby boys around the same time so it was so fun to introduce them to each other for the first time, even though they're both still young. I wondered to myself if these two were friends up in heaven prior to coming to earth. And their actions seemed to say, 'Hey bud! There you are! It's good to see you! Glad to see you made it down okay!'.

"Cousins are your very first friends...Nobody will understand the craziness of your family better than your cousins."