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 :)

the past few

Collin had his 3rd birthday party on the weekend before Halloween. Every other weekend it's been beautiful- this weekend it was FREEZING and windy. I really thought nobody was going to come and it was just going to be us having a party (or freezing to death) by ourselves. But he had several friends come (although not all of them stayed to the end) and he was very happy. So that made me happy :) 

I borrowed my mom's SD card because mine was full (of course) and she took it home with her, so I'll have to do another post later with full pics. We ended up taking all of his presents home with him and he had big fun opening them all up.

On his real birthday we baked him a cake with 3 candles. 

Photo-bombed. Makes me laugh every time I see it!!

The next day we went to a "Carnival Festival" as Caleb would say- but Collin couldn't say festival so it turned into "vegetable". All of his candy that he got was "vegetable canny". I love to hear him say it so I keep asking what kind of candy he got. And yes, we still have plenty of candy around here.

Cute, cute little harvest festival at a sweet church. All of the proceeds went to missions, and you could "trick or treat" through the mission booths. 

 C sang in big church with his Kingsingers group. Keith and I looked at each other at the exact same moment and said, "When did we have a kid old enough to sing up there?" Seriously, he's half grown y'all. And on another note, while I didn't get many good pictures, I did learn how to use my zoom lens. Finally!

 

C wrote a poem about our jack-o-lantern:

I am a pumpkin

sitting on the table.

And waiting to be a Jack-o-lantern

Boo!

He also wrote 1st and 2th so you'd know which came first and seconth :)

My bud and his sweet teacher Mrs. Ellingson. She's the bomb, y'all. She and some of the other teachers dressed as "Toddlers & Tiaras". Hilarious.

That night, we did a little trick o treatin'.

 

 The Shivers gals showed up and then the party really started :)

 

Look at us!! Best friends for almost 20 years. Love this gal. She makes everything we do together fun and special.

Yeah and this guy too. He's pretty alright.He tells me I'm hawt on a regular basis, so that helps.

Do y'all remember coming home from trick or treating and sorting out your loot? I do. My mom has pictures of us doing the exact same thing. So fun. 

This past Thursday night Ashley and I took our kiddos to see Disney on Ice. Of course we needed some Mexican beforehand. Ashley and I almost always eat Mexican. It started back in the day when we ate Mexican once a week at the restaurant across from our school. Ashley taught a little boy who's parents owned the place and he always hooked us up with free food. And I taught a little Vietnamese boy who's dad did nails at a shop down the street. We got the hook-up there too. Those were the days!

I caved and bought the boys those ridiculously expensive swords. I told Ashley I wouldn't and then I did. Oh well.

This is how awesome our seats were. Sooo close. I did good y'all. I'm pretty sure that's why Collin sat as still as a statue during the whole thing. After taking Caleb to a few things here, I learned the hard way that you might as well go ahead and pay for the good seats. Makes for a much better experience when they are totally engaged in the show!!

So that was our past few weeks. I am blessed, y'all.