Ivy Christmas

 Someone got caught wearing Pappy's boots...looking a little guilty Ra!!

 All those cute cousins!!

 Pappy and his girls.

 Raleigh modeling one of her new "princess dresses."

 Her new Minnie outfit...So precious!

 Minnie Mouse cuteness has doubled!!

 The two David boys.

 Super fly Thaddaeus!!

 Grammy does such a fun job of finding fun presents!!  Yay for Rudolph suckers that light up!!

We had Christmas with the Ivy side of the family back at Thanksgiving, but I wanted to post our Christmas pictures with the all the others.  We had a great time celebrating the dual Christmas and Thanksgiving.  It is so fun to watch all of the kids interact with each other.

Christmas in Houston

We had a great time making a quick trip to Houston for the holidays.  I always feel so bad because by the time we get finished with all the Christmas festivities with Clint's job, we are pretty tired and my family tends to get the tired, worn out Ivy's for Christmas.  We had a good time, although we didn't get to stay as long as we liked because we had to come home to finally move into our new house!!!

 My dad trying to read a Christmas story to all the kids before we opened presents.  Everyone had someone from the nativity scene to hold...somehow baby Jesus got lost, or maybe was being fought over.

 Sweet Raleigh and Pop.

 Yippee!!! Her very own camera.

 Raleigh and Daddy painting nails after opening presents.

Christmas at our House

I am so excited that we seem to have traditions taking form with our immediate family at the holidays.  This year we added onto our Happy Birthday Jesus and pajamas party cute special stocking stuffers (everybody got underwear...that's right...underwear).  Raleigh also understood a little bit more the three presents thing after daddy read to her about Jesus and his first birthday.  I really wanted to do an advent tree, but we barely got a tree up for us with the "moving game" we were playing (We had no idea when we were going to close on the house).

 Raleigh opening her pajamas at our "Birthday party"

 The pj's that Raleigh picked out....yes, that is a cat with sunglasses!!

 Thad's pj's.

 Raleigh opening her Rapunzel doll.

 Thad is showing off his new clothes.  Honestly, he is just happy to be here.  Love that boy!

 Clint's new watch.  It is named "Ironman." We name all of his clothes to help with the color blind issue.

 Mommy got new boots!!

 Raleigh got tap shoes...help us all....the girl taps up a storm...without ceasing!!!

New tradition in full swing....Raleigh is super pumped!!!

Christmas at our home this year was so fun, but I can't hardly wait till next year!!!  We will NOT be moving this year at Christmas and can invest all of our energy into the holiday season.  So, So, So Excited!!!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas and a Happy New House!!

Many of you know, but if you don't...we moved!!  Yes, AGAIN!!  I know you are wondering if I need to be medicated or if I just get excited about chaos around me.  The answer is no and maybe.  This is our 10th move in 8 years, so maybe medication could be in order for me. Ha!!  Believe it or not, I am really excited about this house.  It is a great balance and mix of all of the homes we have lived in.  It has plenty of room and closet space(Like our previous new homes), but also has places where we can add "our personal touches" (Like our previous fixer upper homes).  The back yard is HUGE!!!  Hopefully, I will keep you updated on all of the changes we make as we go.  Right now, we are still unpacking.  It has taken much longer than usual to unpack with my extra little "helpers" around.

Away in a Manger

Ok, everybody rock your babies!!!  When you hear this phrase in our house lately, you know that is your signal to get ready to sing.  Raleigh LOVES to sing, especially Christmas songs.  Here is a video of her singing Away in a Manger.  Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!!

Baby Jesus and Mary

For the Christmas play at our church, Thad was baby Jesus.  I was a little nervous about him playing that role, because kids are sooo unpredictable and I didn't want him to be known as "the fit throwing" baby Jesus.  It was a SUPER BUSY weekend.  I think I filled up my car twice just going back and forth...crazy!!  Thad did an awesome job!  He only cried one time...he grabbed Mary's hair and then got his hand stuck to her hair, but other than that, many people didn't even know that he was a real baby.  Clint was also one of the main characters and did a fabulous job...Raleigh kept calling him Cowboy dad.

 Raleigh and her "cowboy daddy" after one of the shows.  It was so hard for me to look at Clint with eyeliner on! Ha!

This is what Thad looked like after most of the shows...tired.  I feel terrible about not getting a picture with him and his "parents," but I was so focused on making sure he was happy that I totally forgot.

Big Sister  was not happy that she was not asked to be in the play with all of the High School girls.  Honestly, she was down right offended...so dramatic!!  The whole week before the play and the weekend of the play Raleigh made it her goal to be in the play just like her dad and brother.  She would wake up everyday with a new plan of how to be in the play.  Our conversations in the morning would go a little bit like this, "Mom guess what?"  "I am so excited about getting to be a Shepard today in the play!!!"  "Isn't that wonderful?!"  Oh, that sweet little girl of mine.  We would get to the play and she would find out she had to go to the nursery again...and again was highly offended.  Her time finally came when she got her chance to shine.  The last day before Christmas break at her CLC class, they did a little presentation and Raleigh got to be Mary.  She did fantastic!!  Thad was also baby Jesus again at the nativity scene at CLC for all of the parents as they came in.  He did amazing (he was a pro at it by then)!  It has been so fun to have Mary and baby Jesus at our house this Christmas!!

 Here is Thad as  baby Jesus...pretty precious if you ask me!!  I felt bad for Mary and Joseph, parents kept asking them personal questions about baby Jesus...sorry guys.

Here is our precious little Mary.  Somehow baby Jesus was replaced by Raleigh's pig, I have to believe that Mary had a little bit to do with that. Ha!

Here is the first part of their program.

Here is the second part of the program.

Thaddaeus "the warrior" Ivy

This is the nickname that all the junior high boys have given Thad.  I think they honestly believe the things that Clint tells them about Thad (chewing on barbwire, killing buffalos, etc).  Thad is the sweetest baby and doesn't do any of those things...yet!!!  Our little warrior had his two month check up last week and did very well.  I don't remember his exact stats, but he weighed a little over 12 lbs (75%) and was a little over 24 inches (off the charts tall, OVER 100%).  We hope that he continues to grow tall in stature, but still keeps the sweet spirit that he has about him.  He is also extremely laid back and loves his sister...although he has learned to keep an eye on her at all times. Ha!

Marathon Man

If you know Clint, you know that he has never really been a runner.  He would actually describe his running form like a baby giraffe (very unstable and legs everywhere).  He played basketball and baseball growing up, so running to him was a form of punishment.  If you know me, you know that my family has always been runners from early on.  When we got married this is something that we found we could do together recreationally without fighting too much.  So we would run several miles a couple times a week together (we were still young and it didn't take much to keep our bodies in shape).  After I had Raleigh and gained enough weight to have 6 children, we decided to train for a half marathon.  It was tough, but we did it and thought we would continue running like this for a long time.  Until someone got a crazy idea in his head...Clint decided he was going to run a marathon!  Unfortunately, I was pregnant with Thad, so I had to skip training with him...honestly, I was SO glad that I had an excuse :)  All of his hard work paid off when he completed his first marathon in Dallas the first weekend in December.  We were so proud of him!!  The weather was terrible and he ended up running with a fractured foot, but he finished well and is even talking about running another one.

Here he is getting ready to start...sporting a beautiful trash bag trying to keep dry because of the rain 

My dad and I had so much fun going and finding Clint at different mile markers.  This was Clint at about mile 9.  I wasn't ready to take a picture...he is the guy in the red hoodie at the top of the picture. 

Here he is a little bit later...he is now in the maroon hoodie. He kept changing clothes that we would give him in an attempt to stay dry.  PS- the people ringing the cowbells were a little bit over the top in their enthusiasm, sorry if it is annoying.

Here he is freezing in his finisher shirt!! 

So proud of our Marathon Man!!

Giving Thanks

This year for Thanksgiving we celebrated at our house.  It was pretty low key, but really wonderful to have Raleigh an Thad's cousins and grandparents all together.  We ate a lot, laughed a lot, and had a wonderful Thanksgiving/Christmas combo!!  We are pretty sad that we won't see Grammy and Pappy until sometime this summer, but we had some great time with them while they were here. 

Our little Indian ready to welcome her family!

A view of the kids table

 We also had our very own special Thanksgiving parade (Thanks Kar for being a good sport).

I am going to wear a white dress and get married

 
This statement has been heard a lot around our house the past few months, "I am going to wear a white dress and get married to daddy at NaNa's wedding!"  Raleigh has been prepping for her big job of being a flower girl at my sister's wedding.  She is still a little fuzzy about why she didn't married to daddy, and is still making plans to do that soon, but did a great job as a flower girl.  We made the trip down to Houston (our first long trip with Thad) and spent the weekend preparing for the wedding, having a wedding, and recovering from the wedding.  It was wonderful!  Natalie (NaNa's real name) was beautiful and so was the wedding.  We had a great weekend.  Clint flew back early to be at church on time and I made the adventure back to Dallas with the kids a few days later after we got a little bit more sleep.  Raleigh is still talking about getting married to her daddy...let's hope it stays that way for a while!

Our attempt to get a family picture at the rehearsal

My parents and all of the grandkids

One cute flower girl!!

Daddy and his princess

Raleigh and mommy

Daddy and Raleigh watching all of the people arrive

My sweet husband and me

Our handsome little Thaddaeus