I think I caught a butterfly.....

We have these beautiful pure yellow butterflies that come and nest on our lantanas and petunias.  Kate and Wesley have chased these butterflies around for weeks and I explain that it is impossible to catch one.  I guess Wesley likes the challenge because he came running up to me this weekend and guess what he had!!  And just for the record, we thought he may have 'hurt' the butterfly but it was released into the wild again and flew away beautifully!  Hopefully one day Wesley will be able to catch footballs with as much precision and vigor!

100 days of School (Kindergarten)

Today is Kate's 100th day of school!

She has been so jazzed about this day for weeks ever since they mentioned it in class.  She has been marking her calendar off each day and was excited about their 100 day party.

This is the poster she made in school with 100 'things' glued to it (buttons, sequins, candy, toothpicks, etc).

She also made her own poster to take to school and she used 100 fruit loops and made a rainbow.  It was so cute!  So cute that I didn't even get a picture of it before she ran it out the door this morning.  They must be showcasing her home made poster because she hasn't brought it back home so I snuck a picture of her class made one.  I love to see her get so excited about these special milestones.  I am even more proud of the fact that she can count infinitely and can do addition and subtraction which is way more than expected in Kindergarten.  Go Kate!

My boys

Both Wesley and Jake were being very cooperative with the camera the other day so I snapped a picture of my boys......

 Then a few days later, Justin was resting and his buddy decided to join him.....such a sweet picture (and for the record...I think Wesley looks IDENTICAL to me when I was his age!)

 Absolutely favorite picture of the boys!
Wesley is a very sweet boy and loves giving us kisses jsut randomly.  This morning as I dropped him off he gave me tons of kisses before he got out of the car.  Just a very sweet heart!

And for the record, the pink blanket in the picture was Kate's Christmas present from her Uncle Scott and Aunt Michelle and Ashley and Hailey.  EVERYONE loves it!  Very soft.  What is super cute is that Wesley will try to take it from Kate when they are laying around and Justin always tells him to find another blanket because its PINK and that is for GIRLS......hmmmmmm....looks like Justin couldn't resist its softness either!

First Pics of 2011 - We are going to LOVE this year!

We rang in the new year with our Beeville cousins (Mary Grace and Cade)!

In this picture, all 4 kids are on a 'hunt'....earlier in the evening Uncle Robbie went out 'hunting' with them.

 After a long night of hunting, the boys were hungry!

 It was Pajama time and Kate was ready for hugs....whether Mary Grace was ready to get one is the question  :)

After a long night of partying...my boys were zonked on the couch!

Wesley's most used gift so far from Santa Claus was his Crayola Easel....unfortunately its been used mainly by his lovely big sister who is quite the little note writer these days....and we aren't talking love notes (at least not to mommy...she has had nothing but wonderful things to say to her daddy - go figure!)

'I am not talking to you' was what I woke up to after telling her to get out of the bathroom when I was taking a shower and she was letting all the warm air out  :)

'I do not like wesley'...well that is pretty self explanatory

Kate and Sally....her American girl doll

 Kisses..whether you want them or not!

 I love this guy!

Kate and Sally wearing matching bows to church!

Kate posing for a picture that was soon hijaked by Wesley

First Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Wesley was such a big boy when dad pulled his tooth.  It was barely barely hanging on.  We went to the dentist just yesterday and he said that it would only be a day or so (and he was right!)  

Kate was so excited for him!  The tooth fairy came to visit and put $1.00 in his tooth fairy pillow (which is the same tooth fairy pillow I had as a kid).

The down side of the whole tooth shebang is that you aren't supposed to lose your teeth at 3.5yrs of age (that is a typical 6 or 7 yr old thing).  So Wesley isn't emotionally mature enough to really appreciate the excitement of the tooth fairy and his little gifts.  So when he woke up the next morning he was grabbing on to his $1 but then gave it back to me and its been hanging on the refrigerator ever since.  I'll have to remind him and see if he wants to get something for his big whopping dollar!

Merry Christmas From The Peters

Every year I try to include a picture of the kids on our Christmas card and I find myself wondering every year 'When will they be too old to put on our Christmas cards?'

And every year, I'm able to capture an absolutely priceless picture of my sweeties.  So to answer my own question...they will never be too old to put on Christmas cards (but they may become more rebellious and less willing to smile for a photo op like this one which was included on our 2010 Christmas Card).

Santa's brownies and Coke have been left, he has been tracked on the computer and should be making it our way in a few hours.  Justin is already asleep on the recliner so looks like Mrs. Claus will be doing the delivery this year.  :)

Gingerbread Cookies......

What comes to mind when you think of Gingerbread Cookies? 

 

Well after Kate's Christmas program at school, I will forever remember the cutest gingerbread girl EVER!

The Industrial Elementary West Christmas Program was amazing!  The kids did an amazing job.  The 3rd through 5th grades had an amazing play.  Kate was fortunate to share the night with MiMi and PaPa who drove all the way to see her sing 'Gingerbread Cookies on my tree, taste so very good to me.......'

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas - Part 2

I love our Christmas tree...it was the best (after Christmas) purchase I ever made a few years back.  Its prelit so the no hassle with the lights.  And Kate helped me decorate this year and we have so many momentous ornaments and now some hand-made ones.  They are precious!  The tree is in kitchen b/c we have huge kitchen with a huge window to the front so perfect placement.  However, we will have to move it into the living room before Christmas day so that we can open presents from Santa and sit in the living room.

 This is the cutest snowman that Wesley picked out for Kate at Hobby Lobby one day.  And yes, that is my wonderful husband in the background cooking dinner!

 We had some extra decorations that we always put on top of our TV in years past but Justin got the new flat screen so that is not an option this year.  So what better place to decorate than the aquarium and the lights on top make the aquarium look so nice at night!  Even fish need to holiday cheer in their lives!

A Santa decoration my grandma gave me years and years ago...I love it!

 We don't do fireplaces in our family (I can barely get Justin to turn the heater on at night when its freezing outside) so we don't have a fireplace mantle.  But we do have shelves and I got the cutest stocking holders.  For the record Vanessa has never had a stocking so this will be a special year for her!  Only took 24 years!

 And here are the lights!  Side view.  Our garage peak can be seen from the front of the subdivision when you enter so we just had to put lights on this side.  Next year we will keep adding more.

 The front of our house

 The cutest little chicken family that Kate picked out

 Our front door wreath...and I am a horrible picture taker..our house is not falling off the planet it was my amateur photo skills and the fact I was wearing flip flops on a cold wet ground when I took this picture  (smile!)

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

We found the cutest little Christmas shirt for Kate and she's been dyign to wear it and this weekend we finally got into the Christmas spirit! 

Justin (and his little helpers) spent most of Saturday afternoon putting lights and decorations on the house and it ROCKS! I haven't had a chance to take a picture of the house at night but I will do that soon and share.  Let's say that our house can be seen the minute you enter the subdivision!

It pays to have nifty equipment from work that allows for very quick and easy (and safe) Christmas light installation

Cat in the Christmas Tree?!?!

Our family tradition is to put up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  The tree was up and decorated Saturday.  Immediately when Whiskers came into the house he found the Christmas tree and has loved laying under it ever since.....I snapped this picture of him sitting pretty.  He hasn't tried to run up the tree but he has pawed at some of the ornaments and he has attempted to bite the light cord so our new routine is to cut the lights off when he comes in the house...we don't need a fried cat or a scene from Christmas Vacation the movie!

Kate then decided to put her stuffed kitty cat on the tree and see how long it would take me to notice....

It is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas around our house!  Love this time of year!