SANTA..."I know that guy!"

Another family tradition that we were able to celebrate with our whole family this year was the Southern Lights at the Horse Park and meeting Santa. This year we were able to check out their petting zoo. It was a pretty cool petting zoo! Very exotic animals...kangaroos, porcupines, Sabu, Yak, Camels, Zebras, etc... We could not resist and pass up the photo opportunity with these elves...

We finally got to meet Santa. A funny story: A few days before our scheduled meeting Santa at the Southern Lights Colten and I were shopping at Meijer. We saw Santa in the "Christmas section" of the store. There was no line and no crowd. (He must have just gotten there and no one knew it.) So I asked Colten if he wanted to go and talk to Santa, his response..."No mom, that's a fake Santa." I asked him how he knew, and he says, "He's wearing tennis shoes mom. The real Santa wears black boots!" So he finally got to talk to the real Santa, and he was wearing black boots. Onah asked for a truck like daddy's, Marie asked for a new dress, Colten asked for nerf stuff, and Izzy cried for mommy!

Tree Shopping 2011

For the second year we headed to Barker's Christmas Tree Farm in Lexington to hunt for the perfect tree. This year we were super excited because our whole family was together to enjoy the Christmas traditions!!!!

And....we're off! Everyone in the wagon.

Whew! That didn't take long! Found the perfect one!

Time for daddy to cut the tree...this is his favorite part. Izzy wants to help :)

Matt gives Onah a shot at sawing the tree down. Team work, everyone got a turn.

While the tree is shaken out and tied up we get to enjoy a candy cane by the warm fire. Marie and Onah were freezing! Haha...

Decorating the tree. Onah and Marie couldn't figure out how to put on the ornaments and Izzy kept taking them off as quick as we put them on. By the time Christmas got here the bottom 1/4 of the tree was bare! I think next year we'll get a Scotch Pine that has really sharp needles!

It was fun to let Onah and Marie hang their own ornaments on the tree this year.

The finished product! It was a little crooked :) So proud of our work! I promise there are tons of ornaments adorning the tree you just can't see them.

Thanksgiving

First stop is Grandma and Papaw Huff's where we get to pile on top of Jordan! Love cousins! :)

And we get to try on lots of cute stuff that we take from Aunt Sabra! :) The best was a pair of earrings that my sister Sabra got for me when Matt and I were dating, they were horse earrings, cause she new I loved horses so much. Well, she forgot that my ears weren't pierced. You know she held on to those earrings for so many years (8+) until now so she could give them to my daughter?! How sweet is that! Love sisters! And Marie loved her earrings!

On to the farm @ Grandma and Papaw Lee's where we are so fortunate that Aunt Christie takes wonderful pictures to capture fun moments!

Running on the hay bales is one of the kids' favorite things to do. Jackson, Onah, and Carter are having a great time.

A stop by the pond to see the ducks. Izzy's favorite animal cause she can say it well and make the sound really well!

Riding the four wheeler! We were blessed with an unseasonably warm Thanksgiving so we had lots of fun on the farm!

My beautiful daughter! Gonna break hearts some day!

Colten chasing cousin Jackson.

Look out below!

Onah playing 'peek-a-boo' with the camera. He loves having his picture taken!

My tom-boy Izzy. She loves the outdoors! Couldn't keep her in, and since grandma gave her an early Christmas gift she was outside in the dirt all day! All the kids have their own slick boots and they are the only type of shoes we take to the farm cause I know anything else will be ruined so everyone had slick boots except Izzy. Grandma found some for her and so now she can be wild and free with the best of them! She loved it!

Colten hunting for the first time.

Hide your children, get off the roads, look out, the boys are on the four wheeler!

Colten loves playing with his cousins. Here he is with Jackson. We can't wait till they move closer and we get to see them more often! :)

Hunting

So Thanksgiving at the farm turned out to be some fun for the boys. Matt and Grandpa Lee took Colten hunting for the first time. Despite the cold and early mornings Colten found a new love. But they did not have the first timer's luck. No deer, but they did see several. Better luck next time!

Gotta love that reflective gear! Daddy and Colten ready to hunt some deer.

Colten and Papaw Lee pose for a picture. He will cherish memories like these forever!

Keeping an eye out as they head to their spot.

I love how 'grown up' Colten acts when he gets to do 'grown up' stuff like this. He was so excited and it was a great time to spend with just he and daddy! He'll never forget it!

Some Firsts....

Here are some firsts in November of 2011...

Colten lost his first tooth! The tooth fairy brought him $5!!!! It was some special tooth cause the next one only brought in a quarter! :)

Well, this wasn't her first trip to the ER (her second), but it was her first time getting 'glued'. Didn't want to do stitches cause she'd pull them out, but Izzy fell in the bathtub and cracked open her chin. Had to be glued together. This girl's gonna be our Evil Knievel!

Not a 'first' but 'THE CUTEST' Batgirl! The boys love to dress up and wrestle daddy in their superhero costumes and Izzy found she loves to join in on the fun too!

Colten decided to get his first tattoo...the ink, Sharpie....artist, none other than Uncle Bill of course! He thought he was the coolest kid on the block with that snake drawn on him, and the gator of course!