Time to decorate!

Let the decorating begin!  The day we got the tree we brought it and let it sit for the night.  Maryn loved  helping Daddy cut the netting off.  Daddy had lots of help!   There also seemed to be a little dance party going on with some Christmas music :)  The next day we trimmed the tree!  I was a little scared about Cormac near the tree...he was quite fascinated by it! So we decided to go mostly plastic and plush ornaments this year.  We'll bring the fragile ones back next year :)  I love now that Maryn remembers ornaments and Theo is super excitement to touch all of them.  Hooray for Christmas!!

I'm sure Cormac was wondering, "why is there a tree in our house?"

Helping cut the netting off!

One more helper :)

dance party!!!

The little reindeers 1st Christmas!

So excited to put the star on this year!

Maryn putting up her first ornament!

Theo's chose a bus to put up.  He just wanted to play with it and
was not happy it was to stay on the tree:)

Cormac's first ornament...a fire truck!

Smile little elf!

Another little elf!!

The finished product...I love the tree at night!!

I love this picture...so in aww!

off to the tree farm

Once again we made our way to Piney Acres Tree Farm to pick the perfect Christmas Tree!  The kids were super excited, especially Maryn to take Cormac for the first time.  It was a pretty cold day, but we bundled up and enjoyed being surrounded by all the fresh pine.  It took us awhile to find our tree...they all start to look the same after awhile!  Theo loved the bumpy wagon ride and he and Maryn both loved the cats in the barn. While we waited for them to trim the tree we warmed up with some hot cocoa, popcorn and cookies.  Since the farm is considered a "long" trip the kids know they can watch a movie.  We listened to Christmas music on the way and then on the way home they watched a new movie "Jingle All The Way". I love this tradition!

Maryn and her new friend, the cat.

The cat made sure to keep it's distance from Theo! 

This year they offered carriage rides out to the trees.  Maryn loved
petting the horses.

Ready for our tractor ride!!

I feel like Cormac is looking at Theo for reassurance...not sure he is going to find it!

hmmmm....where is our tree??

Stomping through the trees!

Yea! We found the perfect tree!
A little smaller this year, but less to fall right? :)

Daddy has the big job of cutting it down!

Daddy and Theo

Daddy and Maryn

Mommy and Cormac

The two of us...we rarely capture one of those anymore!

Waiting for the tractor to come back.

mmmm....cookies!

Daddy and Cormac

Such a big cookie for a little boy!

awww...fresh air and a full tummy :)

Ready for the ride home...
best part of the trip according to Maryn, "the tree and hot chocolate"

I think someone is going to fall asleep on the way home :)

Still working on that huge cookie :)
Theo's favorite part of the trip, "the tactor...bumpy, bumpy!"

The new travel home movie and first Christmas movie of the season :)

a very thankful thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, Cormac gets the picture spotlight!  I never seem to get many pictures at Thanksgiving unless its one of the kids firsts.  We spent Thanksgiving evening with Jeremy's family and then the day after with mine.  So nice to be able to split them into two days rather than doing both in the same day.

While I'm incredibly thankful for the beautiful family God has given, I am especially thankful for this little blue eyed boy this year.  What a joy to love him...what a special gift!

Annual Butler Weekend Extravaganza!

Once again the weekend before Thanksgiving, we joined into the fun for the Annual Butler Weekend Extravaganza!  I think this was year 11?!  We are now up to 17 kids between 7 couples! Although this year one family was not able to make it :(  We still had a great time and love that we have been able to keep this tradition up for so long.  The fun started on Saturday morning with the girls having brunch at Tulip Noir...yum!  So great to catch up without any interruptions!  Don't worry the guys got their time too in the afternoon for drinks.  That evening the Ososki's were gracious enough to open up their home to the craziness for the ornament and book exchange.  The pizza, juice, wine and chi-chi's flowed freely :)  Tis the year for many "steals" during the ornament exchange which kept things interesting!

On Sunday, we met back up at the Burnett's for brunch.  The dad's had a pretty spirited game of football going outside with the kids.  Such a great weekend!!  

(My pictures are a bit out of order...maybe because I took very few and stole most of them off of Elizabeth's blog!  Thanks Ebeth :)

Waiting so patiently for their turn to pick a book!

A pizza picnic

The kiddos!  

Maryn helped Cormac open his book :) 

Hello Dads!

Thank you Veggie Tales for entertaining while the parents had their ornament exchange:) 

Such cute mamas!

Girly Day :)

The first weekend of November, Maryn and I went wtih my mom and grandma to Lousiville to the Princess Diana exhibit at the Frazier History Museum.  Maryn was pretty excited I think mainly because she thought she was actually going to see a princess :)  It was neat to see many of Diana's outfits that I remember seeing in pictures.  Plus they had her wedding dress which was gorgeous.What a great exhibit and tribute to a beautiful woman! It was a fun girly day :)

a warm afternoon at the zoo...for November!

You don't get to many opportunities to go to the zoo in November, so we jumped on the chance when we heard it was going to be in the 60's!  Extra bonus that Daddy got to go with us :)

Playing catch up!

So I am incredibly behind on updating our blog!!  My goal over the next couple days is to get it back up to speed and hopefully keep it that way.  Sorry to those that follow along...I'll get you caught up on all the craziness :)