Christmasy

Justin got some new tools (pre-Christmas Christmas gift) and decided to make my dad a butterfly house.  Here it is. He did everything....holes and all. I thought it turned out great!

 A friend gave us a family fun night at Chuck E Cheese.  It was the kids 1st time going and they had a blast.

 Elias got to enjoy some of the rides too.  He was enthralled with the marshmallows on this one.

 We stayed the night with my folks one night and Olivia decided to have a coloring contest for us. She drew all the castles and we had to color them.  She and Isaac were the judges. See if you can figure out who did what.

Again, Olivia drew the castles. Not a contest, but still fun.

 Then we went to Dollywood to enjoy the lights and see an ice skating show. Justin and I got to ride the Wild Eagle for the 1st time. Front seat. In the dark. Very cool.

This is just another thing that Justin made out of legos that I think is way cool.  It's a train station for squinkies. I'm constantly amazed at his creativity and engineering skills with the kids' toys.

 My friend  Katie and I took our boys to the kids' science center in Oak Ridge.

 Fun with trains, a play house, rocket ship and more.

 The fire alarm got pulled (school field trip was there) while we were there so we had to wait outside for awhile.  We had lunch and played on the playground. 3 fire trucks came, but there was no fire. Oliver was certain he "saw smoke coming from the roof".  Isaac made sure he told Justin when he got home from work.

 Olivia's last day of school before Christmas break was only 1/2 day so after I picked her up, I took the kids to the zoo for the indoor Christmas activities. We saw Santa and made an ornament.

 There was not a whole lot to play with so we didn't stay long.

We had Christmas with my parents before we left for Missouri. Elias liked all the paper and bows.

 There we are. THANK YOU very much Grandma and Grandpa for all the awesome gifts!

 There it is again.

 Merry Christmas

 This is what happens when Justin goes to the dollar store for some of the kids' Christmas presents.

I must say, we did have some great laughs with these teeth.

Elaina, Funny Poses, and Daddy/Daughter Dance

We took one of O & I's friends to the Living Christmas Tree.  The show was a little long so we left early and had some fun around the Sunsphere. This is the beginning of our outing in the car.

I love our son!

We ran around in circles inside the sunsphere, although not very long because it was like a furnace up there. They stopped for a group picture.

The reason I like this picture is because it reminds me of being at the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset with Justin 6yrs ago. Smooch!

To the playground we go! Then dinner at Taco Bell. It's fun to watch the kids play together. They all get along so well.

Funny poses: This is us waiting on Justin at Home Depot.

Now he's ON the dishwasher. Maybe next picture will be him IN the dishwasher???

This is apparently how you are supposed to brush your teeth.

And then...

Singing to his food before eating. I have really enjoyed Elias because he "sings" with me a lot, especially cuddling at nighttime.

We went to a Christmas parade a while back. Actually, two. Our candy stash is now full again.

We found Elvis. The other funny float that went by was a boxing ring with 2 WWF wrestlers really hamming it up. It was so entertaining I forgot to take a picture.

And the most precious of all....Justin took Olivia to her first Daddy Daughter Dance at school.  They had lots of fun and Justin made her feel very special.

Catch Up and Mustard

These are a little out of order....and from Thanksgivingish time....but still wonderful memories!

We took our first family bowling trip over Thanksgiving break.  Kids LOVED it! Although, Isaac may have loved the deer hunting video game a little more.  At times he would roll the ball, run away and starting shooting the deer with the gun before he ever saw how many pins fell over.  Maybe he'll get a shooting scholarship for college???? Elias liked the big colored balls!

 Her pushes were ever so gentle and took the longest to go down the lane. Thank goodness for bumpers!

 What a spin on the ball!

 Decorating for Christmas the day after T day. I thought this was cute. Elias now officially can climb all the way up the stairs all by himself! What a blessing it was the other night when Isaac & Olivia watched him crawl up the stairs and then all went into the playroom and played for 15min while I was able to get dinner started!

 Hanging out with G&G to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree downtown Knoxville.

 Thanksgiving Day.  Olivia made all these things at school.  She was supposed to be in the picture, but had a meltdown with something and opted out of it.

 We played washers outside since it was such great weather.  Do you like our nice tuffet of grass?  J planted grass where the trampoline had been all summer. That's the kind of grass we wish we had all over the yard! We will get there...one circle at a time! 

 Awww....

 Laughing at something...

 The table without any food. I finally pulled out my china & crystal we've been trying to sell for 5yrs. They may just become our everyday dishes!

 Sitting around thinking about soccer.

 How does every kid know how to use the dishwasher at such an early age?

 Amazing he only took out 1 book to read.

 Justin took all the kids to the zoo one day while I had to work.

 He's also into cooking & dishes now. I'm so glad he can stand!

 This is the best shot I could get since he REALLY didn't want me to take his picture. But his outfit and shopping skills cracked me up.

 Visit with G&G on Grandpa's birthday.

 Birthday Straw Blowing.

 Getting cleaned up for Grandpa's birthday party.

 Birthday Bike Ride.

 Making Grandpa's cake. The Hickox favorite!

 Doing the birthday work in the yard.

 There's the birthday boy! 60something!

And just a random game of family candyland. Seems like Isaac always wins everything.

It's THE BIG 01 !!!

Elias had 3 small baseball cakes that Tami made; two with white icing and one with chocolate.  Yum!  They were AWESOME!  Nice job babe!  One for Elias and two for the rest of us.  Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the party.  Thanks for being a part of it!

Happy Birthday to ELIAS JAMES!!!  We love you!!!

Elias didn't want to leave anyone out.  What makes me smile even more at this picture is that Elias's tongue is out too.

(Tami will probably add more pictures of the birthday soon.)

Yep, here they are... his cake before it was destroyed.

The onlookers cheering him on.

Carefully opening presents.

 It didn't take long to learn this one ('flute').

 We're waiting on more balls to fill the new pool.  It was a little bigger than our last one. Makes for a fun wintertime activity.

 He got a puzzle that makes animal sounds from Gramp and Nana. It works by light vs dark and scared me the first time I turned the lights out late at night and the cow mooed.