Trains!

One of our new holiday traditions (since starting a family) has been to visit the Trains at NorthPark. It's an elaborate choo-choo exhibit with 1,600 feet of tracks. The tracks travel through Dallas city landmarks as well as other more well-known national landmarks. My favorite miniature scene is of Fair Park, which of course includes Big Tex. The holiday exhibit benefits the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas.

The boys love checking out the scenes and following the trains around. This year I had a special surprise for them - their own railcar! It was fun searching for our railcar - they will even run it on the tracks for you! The boys were super excited about it and were even more thrilled when they realized we could bring it home.

Found it!

And little H enjoyed it as well!

Four Months - Hayden

Another month of our sweet baby girl and we could not be more in love with her!

We took her to her four month well visit last Wednesday and she weighed 11lbs 11oz (15%) and 24.25in (50%). Tall and skinny. She is actually the exact same size (minus one oz) that Ryan was at four months - these two are seriously like twins!

This little lady is such a delight. Her sweet little blue eyes light up when she makes eye contact and I just want to eat her up. She has been rolling from her stomach to her back and just started rolling from her back to stomach. She sometimes gets her arms stuck which makes her a little upset but overall she totally loves laying on the ground and watching the chaos that surrounds her.

Not much has changed on the sleeping front. I feed her last around 7pm and then Kevin gives her a bottle sometime between 10 and 11. Little lady will still only take about 4oz max...we have tried to give more but she just quits. oh well. On a good night she sleeps until about 4am and then back down until 6:30. She is still taking a couple morning mini naps, a long afternoon nap and a mini evening nap. Sooooo...that's a lot of napping. I think it is going to be so much more difficult to get her on a schedule because we just don't have the flexibility...but I am sure she will adjust as needed!

Happy four months baby Hayden - you are a doll and we are so in love with you!

VMG Christmas Party

Another fun night out at the annual VMG holiday party!

My mom watched Hayden while Ryan and Grayson had a sleepover at Gigi and Papa's!

It was a repeat of last years party - casino night at the Omni! We had a great time - I even won a prize! woohoo! 

Santa 2014

We made our annual visit to Santa and of course the kids had mixed feelings about him. I thought by going a little early for story time it would help Grayson warm up to him...

We waited in line for maybe 30 minutes? Not sure...but it wasn't bad. Our ticket time estimated 1:30pm, but we were able to get in line around 11:30 so we kinda lucked out. Gigi came with us which was super helpful as she entertained the boys so they didn't go bonkers waiting in line.

Ryan was very excited and even brought Santa a letter. Grayson...well I am not sure he really knew what was going on. He was happy right up until he sat in his lap...then he lost it. And well, Hayden...she just does whatever. 

Cuteness!

Merry Christmas!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures done in October and I am loving how they turned out....I am sharing some of the ones that we didn't use in our Christmas card. Enjoy :)

Ryan was in an amazingly good mood...which was awesome!

Grayson was a little crabby...but Chelle was able to get some smiles :)

Check out these handsome boys!

Such sweet boys.

His hair is a little cray cray in this pic. He totally needed a haircut but I forgot and then didn't want to get their haircut right before so we just rolled with it...

I was kinda bummed that I forgot a bow for this little lady but oh well..there is plenty of time for bows. 

And our sweet little family! I am always amazed at how Chelle Cates can capture such calmness in the midst of total chaos. 

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent our Thanksgiving break down in Katy with my family and had such a wonderful time. I am working on a post detailing our trip! For now...here is our Thanksgiving day!

Starting the day out with some yummy turkey cinnamon rolls!

The boys loved them!

Facetiming with Uncle Nick, Vanessa, Pro Yaya & Pro Papu in Florida. So excited they will be joining us in Dallas for Christmas!

Thankful for this man!

And this sweet little guy!

Papu and Ryan frying the turkey

Little Miss Pumpkin and her daddy!

My sweet little girl!

Hayden's first Thanksgiving...McDonough, party of FIVE. 

Pretty flowers

The spread. My mom basically made it all - she's kind of a super woman! Super mom - love her!

happy boys!

Such a wonderful day celebrating everything we are thankful for!

The Tooth Fairy

So it finally happened...Ryan's tooth came out. Remember last year when we were in Montana and we had a little fall....well that poor little tooth has held out until now.

WHERE: at Playgroup (Perry & Kelby's house)
HOW: The kiddos were playing in a bedroom...with the lights out. They were all happy and entertained so who were we to stop them. Apparently some toys did a little flying and one flew right into Ryan's face. Poor little man was not quite sure what was going on, all he knew was that there was blood. Initially he wasn't thrilled with his tooth coming out - he wanted me to put it back in. However, byt the time we got home he was pretty proud and so excited to show his dad.

Ryan was excited for the tooth fairy to pay him a visit - he said he was going to try and catch her when she came. So cute.

He was a happy little man with his tooth fairy receipt and $1.