Wrapping up 2015

James's long time friend Dave and his wife Mel came to town for Christmas break, so we tried to get together with all the old crew as much as possible.  One outing was to the Perot Museum, and the kids always love it -- the dinosaurs, the kid play area, the area where you can race animals.   

Our good friends Chris and Cassie invited us to a Mavs game, so we made a date of it!  We even won, so that's a plus.

On New Years Eve, we went to Dave's parents' house and played games and ate too much.  I can't believe Bri, Mel, and I are all due within a month and a half.  Bri is due early March, Mel mid March, and me mid April.  We're only off on the genders though because James and I like to provide future dates.  They're both having boy and we're having a girl!

The boys had to take their food baby pictures too...

And because I haven't posted any of our family pictures from this year, here are some of my favorites.  My friend Emily Dorman took them, and I love them so much!

This is our last picture as a family of 4!  On to 2016!

Christmas

This year was so much fun with the kids.  They were at perfect ages for all of the Christmas magic.  Hazel would see things on TV and write them down on her list, and she even made a list for Grayson.  They loved our elf on the shelf Lollie and looked forward to finding him everyday in December.  Hazel may have been a little too serious about our elf because one time she saw a cousin touch Lollie, and she flipped out.  I assured her Lollie would come back because it wasn't someone in our family who touched him.  My parents were actually able to come up for Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day, so we were happy to have them join us for a little bit!  Mom and I made Christmas Eve dinner (it's always fun to cook together), and Matt's family came over that night after their service project to enjoy the yummy grub with us.

That night Mom told the Christmas story.

Christmas morning was perfect!  The kids didn't even wake up really early!

I got James some things for the media room and a Mavs shirt, and he got me a speaker (I always listen to music while cooking), external charger (my phone is always running out of batteries), and a promise to make me a bookcase for the main room.  I'd say he won this year.  Luckily I told him to get a few tools for himself because I can never decide what's best and he always knows how to get the good deals.

We gave my parents a simple "White Christmas" basket with all kinds of white items, and then we added our family photos and a drawing of the Houston temple from Hazel.

We saved the jeep for last, which they thought was awesome, of course!

Then we finally had breakfast, which Dad loved -- baked French toast with yogurt and berries.  The kids loved it too.

Grayson had to do his dinosaur puzzle a few times that day.

Then we went to Matt's and played with the cousins.  The little boys were serious about ping pong!

James helped put together Fofo's jeep, and Eva and Devin were excellent helpers!

It was a beautiful day outside, so the kids took numerous turns rolling down the cul-de-sac hill, and James tried to scare me as he tried out a few toys with flip flops... downhill.  

That night Grandma and Grandpa Palmer came by and we exchanged gifts and played, which ended our perfect day!  It's so great to live by so much family!

There were many highlights of the day, but 2 of our favorite quotes from Hazel summed up Christmas:

"This is the best day ever!" (said casually while driving the jeep)

and when Grandma Palmer asked her what her favorite part about Christmas was, she replied,

"Being with my family."  Hearts melted!  Even after all the toys and presents of the day, she remembered what was most important.  I have to agree with Hazel that it was one of the best days ever.

Christmas Prep

We did lots of fun activities in preparation for Christmas.  We read tons of Christmas books, went to James's work Christmas party, drove around to see the lights at Frisco Town Hall, listened to Christmas music constantly, went to a cookie exchange, and had a fun party with friends.

A Christmas party isn't complete without an owl, snake, penguin, possum, and flamingo!

At the Nylanders' we had delicious scones and hot chocolate, and we played some fun Christmas themed games.

These were my rolo cookies I brought to Jackie's house, where we ate loads of sugar and watched a chick flick.

And here are our Christmas angels on Christmas Sunday.

Although not pictured, we used the advent calendar in The Friend to tell the Nativity story to the kids at night as well.  They loved it.  I also played the piano for one of the songs for our ward choir, and it was a good experience thankfully!  I'm glad I participated too because that was the last Sunday as the Wylie 2nd ward.  A new Wylie ward was created, and we were moved to the Wylie 3rd.
On to Christmas!....

Date Weekend

Dennis and Barbara have been gearing the kids up for a sleepover at their house, and we finally found a weekend that would work!  It was kind of a late anniversary/babymoon weekend, but whatever the reason, it was great!  We dropped the (ecstatic) kids off to meet Grandma and Grandpa at Chuck-E-Cheese in Plano, and James and I headed off to Nebraska Furniture Mart for the first time.  That store is ginormous, so I'm glad it was just the two of us walking around it all.  Afterward we checked into our hotel and headed over to James's work holiday party.  They had great food and we had a chance to catch up with all of his coworkers.  It was also nice because the hotel was connected to the building where the party was, so we just walked back to our room and slept in the next day.  For breakfast we ate at Breadwinners and then James set up a couples massage for us.  We finished up with a movie, the last of The Hunger Games, and we were happy to get back to our precious little kids!  Grandma and Grandpa said they did great and even slept well too.  They had so much fun that Grayson didn't want to leave!  I'd say that was a successful weekend.  

We ordered way too much food at Breadwinners.  This cinnamon roll "appetizer" could've fed both of us for breakfast.

This was the HydroMassage after our regular one.

Meanwhile at the Palmers'... park date, puzzles, coloring, shows, and gingerbread houses!

Grandma & Grandpa Hayes

Back in May we got a call from my parents while we were on vacation in Florida.  They set up a family conference call and I couldn't imagine what it was for.  My dad had just retired the previous December and they had been serving as weekly temple workers since then.  The news was not what we were expecting, but it sounded like the perfect calling for them.  They had been called as the Houston temple President and Matron.  They obviously were shocked and overwhelmed but happy to serve.  Their 3 year calling was supposed to start in November 2015, but in all the check ups they had to do (as you would to prepare for a mission), a test showed cancer in my dad's prostate.  I'm emotional just thinking about it again because I am so grateful they were required to have these physicals done in preparation for the calling.  I know that my dad wouldn't have gone to the doctor otherwise because there weren't any problematic signs or anything.  So anyway, the doctors and my parents decided surgery was the best option, so they got him in as soon as they could, which pushed back their start date a month.  In between all of this were many prayers, a priesthood blessing, fasting, etc., and we were blessed enough to have everything go as smoothly as it could have.  I know my dad was watched over and blessed because of faith and prayers.  They called a great temple presidency, one of the couples being old friends, and I'm excited to hear about all the experiences they're going to have.  I couldn't be more grateful for this calling for several reasons, but one of them is selfish - they're only 4 hours away for their mission.  I'll take it!

It's a.....

A few days after Thanksgiving, I had a sonogram and had the option of finding out the gender of baby Palmer #3.  I thought I wanted to wait and have it be a surprise, but James wasn't really excited about that option.  I kind of agree with him... it's a surprise at some point either way.  Anyway the main reason I chose to find out was to figure out what to do with Grayson's room.  If a boy, I would buy 2 little beds for his room, but if a girl, I would get Grayson a queen sized bed.  Hazel kept saying she really wanted a little sister, but we all were happy either way.

During the sonogram, I had the tech whisper the gender to James and me so we could surprise the kids outside.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but the kids shot out PINK silly string!  

IT'S A GIRL!  

We're all tickled pink.  Love that little girl already.

Thanksgiving

All of the Hayes side was able to make it down to Beaumont for Thanksgiving this year.  Usually at least one person can't make it, so it was a real treat to have everyone there!  It was also the last big family holiday at my parents' house before they started their temple calling in Houston, so that made it extra special as well.

My parents' prolific orange tree was a big hit amongst the grandkids -- a grab and go snack whenever you're outside!

The older girls planned a cousin fashion show, and Aubrey did all the hair and makeup.  It reminded us of the fun things we used to plan in the backyard as kids like the famous "Mouse Circus".

It's too bad Ty's eyes were closed, but this is still a cute picture of 3 cute little boy cousins!

While the littles jumped around elsewhere, the dads took a turn with dodgeball and the dunk area.

Here are some of the girls with their cute turkey cupcakes!

On Thanksgiving day we prepared and ate a delicious feast, although I didn't take any pictures.  I guess we were too busy devouring it all.

On the last day, we went to an inside amusement park in Silsbee (or something).  It was a huge warehouse in the middle of nowhere, and it was a blast for the kids. 

So this ride wasn't Grayson's favorite.. he cried the whole time.  It actually was a pretty fast, rough little rollercoaster.  Whoops.  All smiles before takeoff!

All month we added feathers to our turkey (thanks, Joey) of things we're thankful for.  They loved making him super colorful, and I loved hearing their lists.  I'm so grateful for my whole family!