Christmas with the Lackeys'

We did something new this year. Usually we all go to North Carolina before Christmas and have a get together with my Mom and Daddys side of the families. This year however, they decided to come to us because of how difficult it is to travel with our crew. My grandparents were already here, so the 16 of us joined together at Moms house. We had a fun time! Gracie and Wiley enjoyed playing with their cousins, Dillon, Matthew, Lindsay and Leslie. Gracie also loved playing ball with Uncle Scott! Wiley liked playing with his Tonka trucks with him too. We had Calhouns Ribs (A Lackey favorite!) The funniest part of the day for me, was Wiley. He sat at the table with my Nanny all day like an old man! It was hilarious! Aunt Wendy got Gracie a Little Mommy Gotta Go Doll, the doll that pees in the potty. It has been a huge hit. She also got Wiley a remote control car, he loves to chase Gracie with it but cries if he is chased, its mean but funny! Imagine them aggravating each other. We played Chinese Christmas, and had a wonderful time! We wish we lived closer to them, I know I could sure use the girls help! The kids would love for them to be close to us!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was awesome! Gracie woke and up wanted to wake Wiley up too. The kids walked into the living room and went wild! They both hopped into their Power Wheels to see what Santa had brought! It was so much fun to see their little faces that morning. After listening to the radios in their cars and seeing what was in their stockings, they opened all of their presents. Gracie was a little more into the presents than Wiley, she was ripping them open quicker than we could hand her another one! After all of the presents were open, I, as I do every year, made a huge breakfast and my Grandparents and Mom came over to enjoy it with us. Later on that afternoon we went outside to ride our new cars. It was fun!

Pictures from Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve

We had a fun filled Christmas Eve. My Grandparents were in from North Carolina and they joined us for our day. Early that day we went outside and sprinkled the reindeer food we had made for Santas reindeer on the grass so they would have a snack when Santa came to our house. We also made cookies for Santa and laid his "HoHo Cocoa" on a special plate under the tree for him. Bobby convinced Gracie that Santa might want a few Krispy Kreme donuts too! We all got into our Jammies and read a few Christmas books and went to bed!

Gingerbread House

We made and decorated our Gingerbread house. We started this last year when Gracie was able to do it. They loaded the roof down with candy! I bought extra candy because I knew most of it would go in the mouths and not on the house! And it did! I think Daddy ate all of our M&Ms. Our little house turned out beautiful! We also did a Nativity Scene made out of Gingerbread, which was very fun!

Christmas Pictures...

Princess Grace

My sneaky little girl found a pair of scissors in a drawer that she knows she isn't supposed to be in. Bobby sees her going into her room rather quickly, which most of the time means she is doing something she shouldn't be. I'm sure you can tell where this is going. He goes in and I hear "Oh no, your Mom is..." by this time I am in her room and see Bobby holding a HANDFUL of LONG hair...I mean a HANDFUL. She cut a chunk out of it! I held her up to the mirror and said, "Gracie, look what you did to your hair." She said, "Yep, I got a pretty haircut." I asked her why she did it and she said "It was in my eyes, and I'm a Princess." Oh geez...thank goodness for hairbows.

On a lighter note...Bobby and I went out to finish our shopping lastnight, and we opted to do it all while we were out which adds up pretty quick. I heard him many many times tell people "My wife thinks she has a blank check from Donald Trump." Or another popular one of the night..."My debit card it gonna have to go on life support!" What he fails to say is he was the one throwing toys in the cart all night!

The Latest...

We have been so busy for the last 3 weeks, but we are loving it! I have finally caught up on the last month of episodes of Jon and Kate that I have missed during middle of the night feedings. Everywhere we go, people ask us what its like having 3 kids so close in age, and I tell them it is the most fun you could ever imagine but sometimes its just pure chaos. The other morning I was taking a shower and I was thinking of everything I needed to do, and thinking about Christmas and I don't know what all. I used my body wash as shampoo and my shampoo as body wash. I realized what I had done and had to start all over! Thats what having 3 kids so close in age does to your brain! We have been getting ready for Christmas, and we read the book, "The Elf on the Shelf" Gracie was really into it Wiley on the other hand could care less. We placed our elf high up in our Christmas tree so he could "watch" and see if they were being good. Gracie sat under the tree and watched him for the longest time, and finally she said, "Mommy, that elf is ugly" and now totally ignores him!

Wiley decided he had to boof (poop) in the potty, yes the pink potty we have. So far he has done it twice. I have no idea where he got "boof" at, but its funny to hear him.

Gracie and Wiley were being mean to each other and today Gracie yelled something out to him and Bobby said "Bug, either be nice or go to timeout, its up to you" and Gracie said, "I'll go to timeout." And she did.

On our way to get pictures made last week, I needed to stop at The Rabbits Foot to get Gracie some new bows. Bobby asked me why we had to go there again when we were just there a few weeks ago and before I could get it out, Wiley said "for a bow" Maybe I should cut back a little on my bow runs!

New Pictures of the Kids

And then there were FIVE!

Gage Carson is here finally!! He was born November 24th at 8:09 pm. and weighed 7lbs and 11 ozs. He is perfect! He was 20 inches long. We are so thankful he is here and it is over! It was however a difficult delivery, his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice and his heart rate was dropping with every contraction, I thought Bobby was going to hit the floor. Everything turned out just fine though. Gracie and Wiley are really taking to being a big brother and sister! Gracie is just like a little Mommy to him and Wiley is a little rough but getting better. When we got home it was already dark, and we were a little stressed out trying to get THREE kids out of the van and it freezing cold. Gage was in his carseat and Wiley went over to see him, well Gage let out a little cry and Wiley took off down the hall running as fast as he could! It was hilarious!

Remembering...

On Thursday November 13, it would have been my Dads Birthday. It has been 3 years since he passed away, and we miss him badly. His birthday is always the hardest day for me to get through because I always remember he made such a big deal out of our birthdays. He didn't make it to see Gracie be born, but he was with me the whole time. I believe in "signs" and I prayed one night while I was pregnant with Gracie that I would know what she was going to be (I was going the next day and wasn't sure if they would be able to tell yet) Daddy told me in a dream that she was going to be a beautiful and perfect blue eyed blonde little girl and she was! She was born exactly one month before he had been gone for a year. I knew he was there with us that night! Next thing we knew Wiley was on his way and I thought it would be impossible to feel Daddy with us the way I did with Gracie. But I was wrong, Wiley was born at 11:13 (Daddys birthday is 11/13) I remember such a hard delivery (NO working epidural and a LONG labor) and when it was over I was so happy that my Daddy was a part of it again. I was so thankful! So here we are now, another little boy on the way, we're told it could be any minute and my contractions are getting worse, I go to the dr Tuesday morning. Wouldn't it be something if Gage Carson-Frank (after my Daddy) was really born on his Birthday! I know he would be so proud of his grandkids and we always talk about how they would be spoiled 100 times worse than they already are by my Mom, and they are pretty spoiled now! He was the best Daddy, and I know he would have been an even better Granddaddy! Something so neat to my Mom and I...every year at this time, right before his birthday, Mom has an azaela in her front yard that blooms, and it only has 1 bloom on it, its the same azaela every year. I think that is just so sweet....

Halloween

We had a very fun Halloween this year. First thing, Gracie and Wiley woke up to a Halloween surprise. Gracie got a Halloween Mr. Potato Head, Dora panties, a shirt with matching sunglasses from Gymboree and some Kit Kats. Wiley also got a Halloween Mr. Potato Head, a counting book about a Monkey, a new TN hat, and some Goldfish crackers. They loved it! We then made Halloween cookies when Nini got here. Halloween night we headed to The Lorenz house to go trick or treating. I stayed back and handed out candy while they walked around, which was fun because I got to see a lot of the kids from when I worked at LES. We had a great time!

Disney On Ice

Friday morning, Mom, Bobby and I took the kids to see Disney On Ice. Mom was originally going solo, but I couldn't miss it and I knew it would be the last time I would get to do anything with Gracie and Wiley before Gage was born. Wiley LOVED it, he liked the Monkeys and waved at them the whole time. Gracie was so into it we couldn't talk to her, she of course loved Minnie Mouse and got upset when it was time for intermission. I personally enjoyed my Dippin' Dots the best! Gracie talked NiNi (like it was hard) into getting her and Wiley a Mickey and Minnie souvenir. We had a fun morning, and we have already ordered tickets for the Circus that is coming in January!

Halloween Costume Preview!

We wanted to see what the kids Halloween costumes looked like and couldn't wait until next week, they were really cute! Bobby calls Gracie "Bug" and I call Wiley "Monkey" so I guess it fits them perfect to be a ladybug and a monkey!