January 2015 (and some February, too!)

January FLEW by, and we are already more than half-way through February!  Here is a smattering of pictures from the past month and a half...

New Year's Day is always celebrated with homemade Japanese food and games with Eric's family.  I look forward to it all year!

Jonathan and Heather and Jacey and Cooper visited for Christmas.  It was a great visit, and hard to say goodbye.  I miss seeing these five all together most of all.

DRAGONS are all the rage right now!  Eli spent a good chunk of his Christmas break playing with them.  I love watching him and listening to the sound effects.

I love seeing this too.  Though he be crazy, Hank is a really neat addition to our family.

Eli's class had "storybook character day," where they dressed up as a character from a book and then read the book to the class.  The boys are in the picture below.   

This is a bad picture, but moments like this are some of my favorite.  I love looking out the window and seeing these two (Timothy and Eli) talking and laughing and playing together.

More from the "boy with dog" photo series...

We finished January with a Sidekicks game.  Eli LOVES watching indoor soccer!

Last weekend we went camping with our good friends, the Ninos.  The weather was mild and sunny, and we had a fantastic time!

The Wilson boys.  :)

I like this picture.  My favorite thing in the entire world is to hike around the lake at Daingerfield with my family.  

This looks like an advertisement for Ulta.  :)  Ethan and Eli had a great time playing together.

My boy.

My boyS.

I love this picture of Eli laughing.  He looks just like Eric.

The golden hour.

Eli LOVES "Baby Jacob" and spent much of the weekend entertaining him.

Our favorite spot in Texas!

And that wraps up January and half of February!  :)  Love to you!!

December 2014

The final post of 2014!  Crazy!  Heavy on the photos, per usual.  Sorry.  :)

We spent a fun day doing Christmas-y things with two of Eli's favorite friends from school, Victoria and Elise.

We went to "Christmas in the Park" at Westlake Park with our friends the Ninos.  

This is, of course, a horrible picture, but they had a bunch of bounce-house-type slides and obstacle course things, which the boys loved.  

They also had a "Grease the Grinch" game where the kids got to shoot this guy dressed up as the Grinch with paint balls while he ran around and hid behind things in the field.  That sounds ridiculous all typed out, but Eli loved it.  :)

He rode the mechanical bull a few times, too.

And we finished the night off with pony rides.

Look how big our little puppy is!!!

The leaves are finally falling in Texas, and I think the whole neighborhood's worth has blown into our yard!

Eli and Timothy decorated their "treehouse" for Christmas.  :)

And we decorated a bunch of cookies!

And delivered the cookies to Greenway, where our sweet friend Ms. Vergie lives.

My little shepherd, prior to the church Christmas musical.

In action, and looking confused!

Post-performance with Timothy, looking a little worse for the wear.  :)

Eli's first grade class on the last day of school before break.

Eli had the flu right before Christmas, so we had a few slower mornings at home.  

The boys wanted their faces painted like "dragon-trappers."  (They are SUPER into "How to Train Your Dragon" right now.)

Early Christmas morning...

My favorite part- stockings!

I loooooove the expression on his face when he first walks out to see the presents.

He got roller blades, which have gotten MUCH use already!

He also got a toolbox with a bunch of "real" tools from Eric, also a hit.

Opening stocking gifts...

Post-presents.

The Mannings have been here for Christmas, which has been so fun for all of us.  Here are Eli and Jacey on Christmas morning:

Skater.

Hank likes his Christmas present.

The kids have spent so much time together this past week!

They all had a sleepover at my parents' house last night, too.

And that's it for 2014!  Happy, happy new year, with love!

November 2014

These are turning into monthly blogs- sorry for the infrequency!  Nevertheless, here is November in pictures!

We started the month off with a trip to Daingerfield with the family.

This was Hank's preferred seat in the car (all while Eli slept!):

The trees were turning the weekend that we were there, and it was gorgeous!

The boys did plenty of fishing...

There was lots of soccer and football playing...

This was my view, cuddled up on a blanket with my mom and my puppy, watching a gorgeous sunset while my family played football in the distance.  PERFECT!!!

My sweet Eli.

Campfires at night are some of my favorite camping memories.

Eli and Hank and I got to see a really pretty sunrise together one morning.

Beautiful!

I LOVE these three boys!  And they LOVE each other.

Of course, the boys boated.

And played more soccer...

And I got to hike around the lake lots of times, which is one of my favorite activities in the world.

More pretty scenery...

A rare picture of the two of us!

And a family picture, complete with our newest canine member.  :)

Eli's class put on a Thanksgiving program, which was adorable.

 My little Indian.

And Thanksgiving Day...

Our Thankfulness tree!

Last weekend we took our annual trip to the Christmas Tree Farm.

I love my family.

The end!  :)  Now on to December!!