sweet baby girl.

"What's your name?"
LilliAnn: "Princess"
"What's my name?"
LilliAnn: "Barbie"

Love this sweet baby girl!

Reid rocks!

Reid dressed himself today!

December 23: Just one present...

Reid was begging me, so I let the kids open one present each before Christmas.

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 Reid helped LiliAnn open her puzzle...

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and Reid opened his Buzz Lightyear gun. Because this was the first present he opened, and because he only opened one present, he was over-the-moon excited about this nerf gun! He jumped up and down and said, "Mom! This is my best, favorite gun!" He wanted to sleep with it, but before he closed his eyes he handed it to me and said, "Mom, can you put this someplace safe for me until I wake up?"

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I really liked how the kids seemed to enjoy the "one" present that I let them open early. Probably because they weren't overwhelmed with a pile of toys that they opened, threw behind their back, and then moved on to the next package. I think that next year I'm going to let the kids open one present per night on the week before Christmas. I think that by doing this they'll be able to actually enjoy opening AND playing with each toy or gift!

December 22: Christmas at Missy's

Christmas at Missy's...chaotic, crazy, fun, entertaining, exciting...but how could it be anything else? We had 6 kids - 2 four year olds, 1 three year old, and 2 one year olds! We went over to Missy and Melvin's house a couple of days before Christmas, so this was the first presents this year that the kids got to open...hence, they were VERY excited to open presents!!! This meant that they didn't eat very much of their dinner and they were running around like little crazy people! Missy cooked a delicious Christmas meal and had tons of presents for the kids to open!

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 I can't believe we actually got a couple of decent shots of the six of them!

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Missy always buys the best presents! Reid got a G.I. Joe and a G.I. Joe Gun, as well as tons of clothes and some cute pajamas! LilliAnn got a Cabbage Patch baby doll, a Cinderella Collector's Edition Barbie, kitty cat pajamas, and some adorable clothes from Baby Gap!

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 The aftermath...Missy passed out all of the presents and the kids were throwing trash, baby dolls, clothes, G.I. pieces, EVERYWHERE!

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 The girls were so cute playing with their baby dolls!

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 Lil loved that her doll came with a "ba ba."

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We had a great Christmas at the Noey house! Thanks Melvin & Missy for a yummy dinner and lots of fun!

December 21: The Very First Christmas

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My mom bought this wonderful book for the kids last year. It's a recordable book and she recorded herself reading "The Very First Christmas." 

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One weekend when we were out at the lake, she read the book to Reid and LilliAnn. LilliAnn loves talking about baby Jesus! She would get the baby Jesus from our nativity scene and carry him around with her.

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 Such a sweet picture

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My children are so blessed with such a wonderful Nana! My mother is the most Godly, angelic, selfless, kind, understanding, generous, humble, strong, and courageous woman that I know! Words cannot even describe how amazing she really is! Thank you mom...you are one of my life's greatest blessings. I thank the Lord every day for giving me you as a mother.

December 20: Reindeer Crunch

Ok, so I can't remember what we did on December 20, but one day in December we made Reindeer Crunch...and that was one of our family Advent activities, so I'll posting about it here! I needed to take a snack for LilliAnn's holiday party at dance. I needed something quick and easy and realllllly cute...finally, I thought about the Captain Crunch snacks that Terry, that works at the clinic, makes and I knew this was just the thing!

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 The kids were excited to help! They each got to help dump all of the ingredients into the bowls! However, most of the Captain Crunch ended up on the floor!

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 She was very serious about her job.

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 Doesn't this look yummy? I got the Captain Crunch with crunch-berries and picked out all of the colors except the red and green ones. Then I added red and green M&Ms to give the snacks just a little more Christmas color!

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 We melted the almond bark, poured it over the mixture, then spooned it out onto wax paper...Voila! How easy was that??

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 They were so tasty and so addicting!

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I put them in clear treat bags, and then the next morning I tied red and green ribbon around the top and added a picture and personalized message. What adorable little Christmas snacks for dance class!

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MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT!

A little something for you to much...

Here's a bag of Reindeer Crunch!

Merry Christmas

LilliAnn 2011

December 17, 18, 19: Branson

The weekend before Christmas, we decided to take a little family get-a-way to Branson. My parents and my brother Kassidy went with us...I called it the C0-RO Family Vacation! We were so excited to be able to spend some quality time with Kass...we hardly ever see him now that he's so busy with college! None of us had ever been to Branson during the holidays and we had heard that it was absolutely gorgeous! Branson is ranked as one of the top holiday destinations in the country and we couldn't wait to see the 4 million Christmas lights at Silver Dollar City!

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We got a suite at the Hilton on Branson Landing. The suite was amazing, with two huge bedrooms, a living room and kitchen, and a patio that overlooked all of the shops of the Landing. This was the first time we have ever stayed at the Landing and we were extremely pleased. We'll definitely be staying there again! I loved being able to walk outside our hotel to all of the shops and restaurants, and Reid loved watching the fire and water show!

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Sissy girl - all ready to start her vacation!

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Reid wanted to go "play" at Bass Pro...Jeb was already exhausted! 

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He was great at shooting the targets!

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And sis tried on a few raccoon hats! 

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My little cuties!

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Precious baby girl!

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We went and saw The Miracle of Christmas at the Sight and Sound Theatre on Saturday night. It was an amazing production about the birth of Christ that included live animals! The kids did pretty good until about halfway through, then they got pretty restless. It was a great way to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and think about what it might have been like when our Savior was born. After we got back to the hotel from seeing this show is when LilliAnn broke her finger! See this POST!

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We spent all day Sunday at Silver Dollar City! It was absolutely gorgeous during Christmas time! They had lights on literally EVERYTHING! My favorite thing was the wassail! Wassail is a traditional holiday drink, a little bit like a apple cider/punch. It was so warm and tasty...I just couldn't get enough! My mom loved it too! She was standing next to the stroller, taking a drink of it, and she burst out into song..."everyday I'm wassailin'... wassailin'." Hahahaha!

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FLASHBACK 2010 - Our little family at Silver Dollar City just one year ago! Look how much the kids have changed! 

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The giant Christmas tree at the entrance...it does a musical light show when it gets dark.

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Reid played some shootin' games...

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Nana watched the stroller and drank her wassail while we rode some rides.

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Jeb and Reid on the elephant ride! 

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FLASHBACK - 2010: Reid and daddy riding the elephant ride just one year ago!

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We rode the pirate ship! This was one of Reid's favorites!

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Reid threw some darts...

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Sissy's first ride this year...the frog ride!

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Reid and mommy rode too!

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Ridin' the bugs...

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FLASHBACK - 2010: Reid riding the bugs just one year ago!

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Riding rides is exhausting! Sissy took a nap for a couple of hours!

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How cute are these gingerbread men?

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My adorable parents!

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And my little brother...

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Silver Dollar City was so pretty as it began to get dark!

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Waiting the ride the Silver Dollar City lighted train!

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Fun on Papa's shoulders!

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This was Reid's very favorite ride! It is a boat ride where you ride through an old "mine" and shoot prisioners, A.K.A. "bad guys!" We had to ride it three times!

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Sissy liked it too! She rode this ride last year when she was only 4 months old...it was her first ride ever!

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Next we went to make stuffed animals...sissy decided to sit down with some of her new "friends!" She absolutely LOVES all baby dolls and stuffed animals of any kind!

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Putting stuffing in sissy's pink poodle

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Hugs for bubba while we wait to see Santa!

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Reid was really excited to tell Santa, once again, what he wanted for Christmas. LilliAnn, however, was NOT having it! She ran from him!

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He whispered to Santa that he wanted a wakeboard and a rope.

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As we left, we wrote a letter to Santa and mailed it to the North Pole! Reid was sure to sign his name!

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Our last ride was the "Silo pulley." You had to use the rope to pull yourself to the top of the silo!

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The ONLY ride we could get dad to do!

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Can you tell we had been here almost 12 hours at this point?!

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Beautiful!!!

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This was my favorite part! The LIGHT PARADE!

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LilliAnn absolutely LOVED the princess! She even got to give the princess a hug! She would say, "my princess, my princess!"

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The most important part of the parade! The Nativity Scene!!!

The Greatest Gift of All

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Before we left, we decided to watch the musical light show.

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The next day we did a little shopping at the Landing.

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Then we headed to the Dixie Stampede show! We went to this show last year while we were in Branson and it was our favorite thing that we did! We couldn't wait to see the Christmas version of the show this year!

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I'm allergic to horses and started sneezing and itching horribly during the show! I had to take a Benadryl, just like last year!

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My little munchkins dancing in front of the hotel Christmas tree!

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Typical...

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The Christmas tree at Branson Landing outside of our hotel room!

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LilliAnn had to wear this splint, but she was such a brave girl!

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Heading to the room after Dixie Stampede...bow & arrow and horse purse in hand!

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What a fun, Christmas family vacation! Hopefully, we'll get to come back next year!!!