Merry Christmas from the Easterlins!

After opening presents for over an hour (and then spending another couple hours taking the stuff out of the boxes and inserting batteries)...

We headed to Josh and Adrianne's. I made a delicious squash casserole. Apparently, Chloe thought it smelled like a dirty diaper...

We had a great time and great food.

The Watkins', trying to recall all 7 dwarfs.

Charlie with brain freeze from his ice cream.

Christmas parties

Charlie's Parents as Teachers party and Chloe's Girl Scout party were both held at school on the same day. How convenient for me! One was in the cafeteria and one was in the gym. One hour apart. It was like they planned it just for the Easterlins!
Chloe, Anna and Sydney

Charlie wants to be a Girl Scout!

We got just a dusting of snow this morning. Just enough to be pretty, not enough to be dangerous!

Chloe's first grade play

Christmas on Candy Cane Lane:

The red candy canes and green candy canes are debating which color is better. Santa picks red and the Christmas trees vote for green. Luckily, Mrs. Clause has been busy in the kitchen designing a red/green candy cane, reminding us all that we are the same on the inside and Christmas is about acceptance. How sweet.

Chloe was a red candy cane and did a wonderful job. She had a couple solos in the songs and remembered all her lines. We are so proud of you!

tree's up!

We got the Christmas decorations out today. Now how am I gonna keep Charlie out of the tree?

Happy Turkey day!

This Thanksgiving, the kids and I drove down to my parents house. It was a hard decision to leave Chuck at home because he had to work. We missed him a lot, but had a really great time.

Welcome to Oklahoma... now pay up! I think I payed $16 for the privilege of driving on their turnpikes this trip. Literal highway robbery. Crazy!

My back seat navigators... taking a break:
Home sweet home...

On Wednesday, we went downtown to watch the Ft. Worth herd cattle drive.Very cool! If ever in the area, I recommend this event.

We played on grandpa's motorcycle.

Enjoyed the warm weather at the park...

And stood in long lines at Six Flags. Line after line after *%$@#&?! line!

The girls had a really good time, though.

Charlie... not so much. He was really good, though. He tolerates a lot from us.

We had to investigate a few sales at the mall.

Standing in line at the 30 year old microwave for our left over turkey on Friday!

... and then back to the 'real life'. So sad.

Thank you grandma and grandpa for letting us come and visit you!

Have you hugged your Veteran today?

Speaking of veterans, our niece, Sammy, visited a couple weeks ago. She unexpectedly had to have some surgery while working at Ft. Leonard Wood. She is enlisted in the Army right now. They gave her a couple weeks leave to recoup, so she came to stay at our house. She felt pretty crummy for the first few days, but recovered pretty quickly. Then we had some fun!!!
We visited Ameristar Casino...

The Brewery...

Charlie wasn't too thrilled with the brewery tour...

until we got to the Hospitality Room for some samples. That's my boy!

Happy Birthday, Chelsea! She turns 14 today. have a wonderful day, baby!

And lastly, thank you, Chuck for your service!

My latest project

Adrianne had an Uppercase Living party a few weeks ago. Essentially, they are big, elaborate stickers that you stick on your walls to decorate. A few curse words and a glass of wine later, this is my finished product. I also did Charlie's toy box. I have one more sticker for my door, but decided that I was DONE! Maybe another day... maybe not :)

Happy Halloween!

Aren't they cute? Note the curl on Charlie's forehead! Chuck was very proud of that.

AAARGH! I think I see a ghost in the window!

How fun! Jumping in the leaves.

My Autumn Angels :)

Chloe-isms

Chloe had to stay home today because she caught the "Red Eye". Unfortunately she has pink eye. We seem to get that a lot. She has now got her "eye drips" for 24 hours, so she should be fine to go to school tomorrow.

Yesterday at church she said something cute. We play a little game where make a list of things that we love each other more than. ie: "I love you more than chocolate ice cream". "Well, I love you more than going to Six Flags". This can go on for hours. Well, yesterday Chloe wrote on her bulletin "Are you okay with me loving God more?" Of course, baby!

Mommy's little pumpkins

What a beautiful weekend! Highs were in the 60s, and the sun was shining. Perfect for pumpkin hunting! Thank you to Josh and Adrianne (the professional artists) for having us over for pumpkin carving. We had a great time!