love 'em

just thought y'all might like a little pictorial of the holiday fun the polk boys are having (those are my favorite posts to read. the ones with lots of pictures!) it's been big fun around here.

we made our annual bass pro shop trip to see santa. we went around 3:30 on a tuesday afternoon and it was PERFECT. we walked right up, no lines at all. santa had plenty of time to chat and visit and of course get the all important "list".

collin was all shy for about two minutes and then he was like, "i want a four wheeler and a truck and a pirate ship and a dirt bike and a..."

and i'm sure y'all won't notice this, but collin doesn't wear socks anymore. he can't get that line across his toe just perfect so he just hung it up and refuses to wear them. being able to remember these things is going to be the best thing about this blog one day.

C lost a tooth!! it was kind of a big deal. i wasn't sure how much the going rate for a tooth was, but according to the tooth fairy it's five smackeroos. that tooth fairy must be ballin' to be rollin' all that cash.

C had his first grade christmas program. it was precious in a way that only a first grade play can be. afterwards his teacher had a "cast party" complete with a chocolate fountain. 

i was kind of in awe of the things first graders will dip in chocolate. cheetos?

snaggle tooth.

 we whipped up some sugar cookies. excitement abounded.

 it's kind of a once a year event. obviously.

 here's the finished product. we ate them ALL within two days. pretty and yummy.

that sunday night we had family worship at church. it was perfect. 

these boys have been buddies since they were in the nursery.

 my mom came into town on tuesday, and that night we took the boys to canton. i'm a big canton fan. christmas or anytime really.

C had his christmas party the next day. collin was just another member of the class :)

i crashed meredith's class party too since her mom couldn't come and then i was awesome and checked them both out of school. we hit the park and chic-fil-a and watched movies all afternoon.

 the kiddos exchanged gifts when ashley came to pick mere up and C achieved his dream of receiving a cross bow. he was PUMPED. i'll have to get a picture and post it later- he's done everything but sleep with that joker.

that's it. i love these little guys and my big guy and i love this holiday. i think the next post i make will more than likely include Jesus's birthday :) yay!

we got spirit, how 'bout you?

Christmas spirit that is :)

our deep freeze bit the dust so we ended up having to buy a new one. i turned the box into a playhouse complete with Christmas lights stuck through holes in the top. yeah, i know. i'm awesome like that. the boys have played in that sucker like crazy!!

we went to the Christmas parade last week. i tell ya, i love a small town parade. jeeps, tractors, motorcycles, old cars, camels, horses- basically if you can stick a wreath, lights or a sign on it you can be in the parade. the kiddos had a big time.

we laugh at these two whenever they are around each other. they've been friends since they were little bitty fellas and they truly speak their own language. lots of inside jokes.

we have a few of our own too!

sweet daddies.

look!! it's santa! well, his backside anyway.

we made these little sticker advent thingies and about 3 times a day collin drags up these chairs and says, "mama, tell da story." so we point at each person, animal or thing and i tell da story :)

we started this interactive nativity last night. it's called "What God Wants for Christmas". it comes in a box with little presents inside, a book, and a pop-up stable. each night you read a part of the book and open a present containing a piece of the nativity. the boys LOVED it. it is high anticipation around here for tonight's reading and present opening. i got ours off of amazon- here's a link if you're interested: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1602004285/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

when we finish this i'm planning on wrapping up all of our christmas books and letting them take turns opening them. 

yeah, i got the spirit :)

holiday happenings

this year for thanksgiving we traveled to tuscaloosa and spent 4 glorious days with my parents. i say glorious because keith and i turn into fat slobs from eating and watching tv and ignoring our children :) it's my parents fault, they keep saying, "we'll get that!" "i'll take care of him." "you rest!"

it's funny how when you're a teenager your parents are after you to not sleep late and do chores and be responsible and when you get older and come to visit they're all please sleep late and don't help and don't worry about your children. 

we usually go to my gran's house for t'giving but she's injured her back, so we stayed at my mom's. gran sent mom a ton of food, so we had gran's cooking at my mom's house. 

this is my favorite thing on the planet. (it's fried okra for you yankees.)

the Lord was praised.

how many kids can say they swam on thanksgiving?

c and keith had a big time in the woods this year. they spent every morning and most evenings out there. if you travel far enough back from my parents yard you hit lake harris. i won't show you all of their pictures, but i'll say keith polk was happy happy happy.

they day after thanksgiving we went to my gran and papa's house to visit. 

so thankful for these three. although we aren't blood kin we are kin of the heart and i think that's more important. 

my cousin jodi brought her two little boys who are about the same age as my two. they had big fun.

another reason my boys love my parent's house- the empty lot next door!!

i managed to capture this cute shot for our christmas card photo. usually when i plan to take pictures it turns to crap, but this year they did well. i think they're growing up and that means they respond to bribes a little better than they used too :)

when we got home we went to get a christmas tree. usually we go to the tree farm but neither of us (keith and i) were feeling it so we just trucked it over to da home depot. c's in a phase when we take his picture. can you guess what that phase is??

we usually buy a 6-7 foot tree but they didn't have any of those so we bought a 7-8 foot tree. it's kind of griswold-y size wise but it's the prettiest tree we've ever had.

we watched "charlie brown christmas" and put up the ornaments. the boys loved it!

i said i wasn't going to do big decorations but then i got started on the mantel and i just couldn't stop. my inspiration was a picture from southern living. i'm in lurve with it but keith says it's much. who cares what he says anyway? he's not going to decorate it :)

our elf henry is back. his name used to be "hangry" but a grown up caleb has insisted that his name be "henry". this little guy is BY FAR caleb's favorite thing this holiday. he rushes every morning to find him and giggles with delight at his antics. collin on the other hand is MAD at him every morning and fusses about whatever he does- especially if he's touching any of his toys. the other morning he was riding a jeep through our snow village and collin yelled, "you leave my jeep ALONE!!! you not touch my jeep!!" he snatched the jeep and threw the elf across the room. we think it's funny to watch so we anticipate it every morning :)

i have been sewing like a MAD woman. to the point i'm totally sick to death of it. i've felt a lot of guilt about the amount i've had to do- but oh well, it is what it is. we cut off orders after thanksgiving at dec.1 and i still had 16 pairs to do, plus a few baby gowns and other items.  whew.

the other nights i made the boys "grinch" pancakes before we watched the grinch movie. they're not pinterest worthy, but we thought they were fun. it's the little things :)

alrighty then, i think that catches us up!