Panda Christmas Party

Candy Land Time!!!

Also known as--M.A. is here!

Checking out the birthday haul

You'll notice Larkin worked up such a sweat that she had to take her shirt off before all the gifts were opened. She and Logan both were pretty pleased with all the fun new gifts!

Happy Fifth Birthday, Larkin!!!

Whew! It has been a day. Larkin had her birthday party this afternoon at a new play center in Austin called Catch Air. We had a great turn out, and the staff did all the set up and take down. So it was a win all around. About the only mishaps were a miscommunication about the number of kids we would have, resulting in a smaller room and lack of seating. And then our "party coordinator" asked me if I cared how she set up the candles on the cake. I said I didn't care, meaning I didn't care where on the cake she put them. She evidently took that to mean "put all the candles all over the cake" rather than to just use 5 candles. So poor Larkin had to do a little extra huffing and puffing.
The party place had an underwater theme, so I put crazy fish masks in the goody bags. The kids seemed to like them. We are all exhausted and proud of our five year old!

The tree has been trimmed

Choosing a Tree

Chee chee dumpies

Logan has discovered the deliciousness that is Jimmy's chicken and dumplings. We made it back to Austin with some leftovers, and she's been requesting "chee chee dumpies" pretty much at every meal, including for breakfast and for made-up meals like "second dinner."

Conspiring

Or just watching a show on the phone while the Egg Bowl was on the big TV...

Minions Celebrating Birthdays

We had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Larkin and David last night. Larkin will turn 5 on Dec. 5th and David will be 6 on Dec. 18th.

Crashing the Picture

M.A.!!!!!

Can't trust Lex Luther

Last night John came in the kitchen dressed as Batman at the same time Marvin was coming in from another door. I saw John and said, "Oh! It's Batman!" Meanwhile, David, looking at Marvin, said ,"no, that's just Lex Luther." John took it to heart, apparently, and kept his distance for much of the evening.

Thanksgiving Riddler

Precious Cousins

This is our first visit to Vicksburg that Logan and Mary Claire have really been old enough to interact. They are intrigued by each other, and it is absolutely adorable. Happy Thanksgiving, indeed.

We made it!

Hitting up the toy box in John and David's room made up for the nine hours the girls were stuck in their carseats yesterday.

Catch Air with Friends

On Saturday I took Larkin, her friend Lucy, and Lucy's brother Jude to the place we have booked for Larkin's birthday party this year. On the exact opposite end of the spectrum from last year's quaint little farm, Catch Air is all bright lights, loud music, and tall things to climb. While I certainly had a headache by the time we left, the kids had a blast.