College Week

Ford and Jake's school recently had College Week.  Each day was a different theme and we had fun dressing the part.  Ford and Jake love Texas Tech or Mommy & Daddy's school.  Hopefully we will have 2 Red Raiders in the future! 

Guns Up!

Red Raider Jake

Red Raider Ford

College Week 2012

Weekend Fun!

Recently, we took "Big Lightening" over to the parking lot across the street for a drive.  Ford and Jake were being really good about taking turns.  They have almost as much fun watching each other as driving. 

We also brought our remote control cars.  It is so much more fun to do those in a big open space.

Daddy got a new smoker, so our weekends are full of outdoor activities while our dinner cooks.

Soccer and Marshmallow guns

Bubbles!

We went over to Gigi and Granddaddy's to pick up some of Daddy's old toys, specifically Legos.  We got several sets then Ford and Jake both found something else they really wanted to bring home as well. 

Jake picked Figment, which was Daddy's stuffed animal from Epcot.
 He has slept with it every night since.

Ford found a Mickey figure and a car. 
The car was built by Daddy & Granddaddy when they did Indian Guides.

Working on Daddy's Space Legos.

Some toys are timeless . . .

New Years Eve!

Early in the day, our friends Kendall and Kellan came over for a little bit to play.  Kendall is about 1 1/2 years older than Ford and Jake and they actually let her boss them around.  It is pretty funny to watch them play.  Sweet Kellan tries to keep up with the big kids, in no time, he will probably be running the show.

Kendall, Ford and Jake playing on the swing set. 
Yes, it is December 31st and we are in shorts!

Such a sweet boy!

We had a little New Years Eve celebration later on.  Ford and Jake had party hats, noise makers and drank Shirley Temples - they are not crazy about the carbonation. Jay and Holly (or "Uncle V" & "Aunt Holly") came over for a bit to visit.  A little later (around 9 pm) Ford and Jake did a countdown for the new year, then bed time!  

We also put on a show with our really cool guitar shirts - you can literally play music on your shirt.  Mommy kind of wants one too :)

Happy 2012!  We hope it is filled with blessings!

Post Holiday Fun

We planned to take "Big Lightening" out for a test drive in the parking lot, but it started raining.  We had to quickly make new plans for 2 disappointed boys.  We decided to have some shooting practice in the garage with our new cap guns, marshmallow guns and bubble guns.  It was a blast!  We also built some cabins with our Lincoln Logs.

Grandma's birthday is December 27th and we love birthdays around here, so we had everyone over for some cake!

Grandma and Grandpa wanted to take all of us to North Park's Trains.  We found out a few days after Christmas is the perfect time to go - no crowds!  The displays are amazing and so detailed and the perfect height for the kids.  There was New York City, San Francisco, Grand Canyon, and of course Dallas.  Jake could hardly speak the entire time, he was just taking it all in.   Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, it was a great time!

The Fair Park display made you feel like you were right there!

Jake really wanted his picture by the big train.

Happy Ford

Happy Jake

Jake loved the floor views of the trains, this one had a Thomas Engine. 
He could have sat there for hours and did not want to leave.

And one more picture of our silly Ford . . .



Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas and merry it was in the Hansard House.  Clay and I were woken up at 5:30 to Ford saying "Guys, it's Christmas, there are presents . . ." We all walked out together to see an abundance of gifts from Santa.  The boys didn't know where to start, they were checking everything out. 

Santa came!!

After looking at all the presents, they went over to see if Santa ate his cookies
and grabbed their stockings.  Yes, even Jackson was a good boy.

 Big Boy Bikes!!

Ford got his remote control car - he had only been talking about for months! 

 Jake got Lego Lightening and Lego Francesco -
 this was the gift that Jake had been talking about for months.

Ford taking in all his new stuff!

A big happy face on Christmas morning!

Santa left one last surprise in the garage for Ford and Jake.
Jake is in pure shock!

It is actually a 1-seater, but they both squeezed in to give him a try.

After opening gifts, the boys slowly went from toy to toy to get it out of the packaging.  We had a big breakfast and a nice relaxing Christmas Day at home.  Grandma and Grandpa came by in the morning to visit and see what Santa brought.  Gigi and Granddaddy also came by to do the same.  Ford and Jake were excited to show them all their new stuff.

We took the remote control cars over to the parking lot
across the street to do some racing!

We also took Lightening for a quick test drive in the drive way/garage.

Later, we had our first turkey dinner at home as a family.  Then once it got dark, we went over to Aunt Kimberly and Uncle Glenn's to visit and see Christmas lights in their neighborhood, which are the best lights in Plano.

We then came home and got ready for bed.  It took the boys a few days to really open and play with all their new toys.  It was a very Merry Christmas full of blessings! 

Christmas Eve 2011

We are so fortunate to have all of our family close by. We actually got to see everyone on Christmas Eve. We went to Gigi and Granddaddy's house for lunch and saw Great Granny, Aunt Phyllis, Great Papa, Millie, Aunt Jill, Uncle Billy, Grace and Brooke. We exchanged gifts and played.

Christmas Boys!

These are the only pictures of Ford in his sweater vest,
he took it off as soon as we got to Gigi's and refused to put it back on.

Ford really wanted to sit at the little table for lunch.
So he did and everyone else was at the big table.

Jake is ready to eat!

Jake gave Great-Papa a nice hug :)

 

Another set of twins!  Okay, not really, but matching sisters - Aunt Phyllis and Gigi.

Great-Papa, Granddaddy, Daddy, Ford and Jake

Our little family.

We then came home for a little nap and then went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner with Aunt Kimberly, Uncle Glenn, Blake and Benjamin.  All the boys had a great time together.  Blake put Baby Jesus in his cradle and Benjamin recited the Christmas story.  Ford and Jake decided to be his back-up and copied his moves and repeated parts of the story.  It was so precious.  We also exchanged gifts.

Getting 4 boys to pose for a picture is nearly impossible!

The Nativity Story by Benjamin; Props by Blake; Back-up by Ford and Jake
The video is priceless!!

Opening presents.

A marshmallow gun armed Santa . . .Yikes!!

It isn't Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's without the trains!

All the boys decided to help, Grandpa was being brave
and let them have turns with the controls.

This needs to be Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas card next year! 
It's life with 4 Grandsons and a crazy dog!

A little better . . .

We drove by a few streets to look at some Christmas lights and came home to get ready for bed.  Ford and Jake were so excited to put out cookies and milk for Santa.  We said "bye" to our friend Eddie the Elf (since he would be going back with Santa) and listened to our "Night Before Christmas" book that Granddaddy recorded last year for us.   Then Ford and Jake got snug in their beds with great anticipation for the morning!

Getting ready to read/listen to Night Before Christmas!