Our Trip to the Dallas Science Place Museum

Today we went to the Dallas Museum on Natural Science or The Science Place with a friend of mine that I use to teach with and her boys, along with a friend of hers and her kids. I had never been to this museum but heard it was really great, and it really was. There were lots of hands on stuff for the kids to do and the whole bottom floor is for younger kids and they had a blast! I highly recommend it to anyone with kids of any age. You get a pretty good idea of the vastness from our pictures. I used a slide show since there were so many great pictures to share.

My Lego man...

I gave my aunt and uncle the suggestion of getting Cooper some Lego's for Christmas in hopes that this would be something he would be good at, and would be challenging for him. I asked them to get the 'kit' type one's that have step by step instructions on how to build it. I wasn't sure if he was old enough for them, but when we had some quiet time while his brothers were asleep...I got it out for us to work on together. I had to try not to tell him what to do, and just let him look at the instructions and do it on his own. He did GREAT! There were several times that I had to correct one of the steps he had missed, but on the majority, he followed the instructions just right, and when I had to step away for a few minutes, I came back and he was done!

I always sort of knew that Lego's would inevitably be part of my future, but it use to seem so far into the future. Seems like a weird milestone, I know, but this is just another step for Cooper being a bigger boy. I know I shouldn't be so surprised at how well he did. He tends to catch onto things pretty quickly, and this was no exception.

I guess this means that I'll be stepping on these little suckers for many years to come...Yippe!

The goal...

One piece at a time...

Working very meticulously...

So far...so good!

The finished product! So proud of himself!

Diaz Family Christmas...

We spent the first part of our day with Day's family. It was great to see everyone and catch up. Here are some pictures of the whole gang.

A serious pose...

A silly pose!

Let me back up....again:)

I forgot to post about our annual playgroup Christmas Party. As most of you remeber from previous playgroup posts...we've grown exponentially, but still manage to have fun! The kids had a book exchange and the mommies did a gift exchange for the first time. This was just another reminder of how blessed we are to have each other and our kids happen to have fun too:)

Playing 'musical books'...didn't go quite as planned, but everyone ended up with a book they could enjoy.

Ben and mom checking out the new book.


Luke and Ethan working on a "Look and Find".



This was the best shot I was able to get. Not everyone is looking, nor super happy about having their picture taken...(Conner, Chance, Jackson)but you get the idea.




Conner and Mabrie getting in their hugs goodbye.
God love'em!

Christmas has arrived!

I love this face! That's what it's all about! Pure joy!

Conner stood in awe!

Cooper jumped for joy!

Carter checking out the hockey set that Santa left.

He didn't care about anything else. We had to force him to

sit down and look at the goodies in his stocking.

Conner getting a good look at his loot!

Getting a good game of hockey going!

Cooper knew he loved this, but had no idea what

it was...too funy!

My look of total shock when I realized that Day

had gotten me tickets to see Celine Dion on the 5th

of January. This was a anniversary/christmas

combo gift, and I was totally surprised! He bought

the tickets back in Feb. when they went on sale. He's

pretty good at keeping a secret, I'd say! He had even more

surprises up his sleeve, but I'll save that for a later post.

This was the scene after all the fun was said and done.

We had a great morning and we are blessed beyond

measure to be able to give our kids a Christmas that

is so full of joy!

Christmas Cookies w/ Mimi and Pawpaw

Last year we made cookies for Santa in Alabama, so we continued the tradition this year at my parents house. Carter didn't quite get it, but enjoyed eating all the icing off his cookie. It was lots of fun and the older boys did a great job! This will be another tradition we hope to continue for many years to come.

Carter's ready to roll! -------- Everyone hard at work.



Happy bakers! ------- Carter, where's your dough?



Showing off their handiwork!


All done baking...now time for the decorating!

Carter doing his best ------ Then sharing some with Pawpaw

A little sprinkle here, a little blop there...

Taaaa Daaaaa! Aren't they beautiful! Santa will be very impressed!




On Christmas Eve they get to open one gift which is always matching pj's. Here they are putting out their yummy cookies for Santa. Couldn't you just eat them up?

Gingerbread House Tradition...Year 2

This was our second year to build and decorate a gingerbread house. Granted, it all came in a kit..pre-made and all I really had to do was add water to the icing mixture. But around here, the less work the better! Last year Carter wasn't old enough to help, but boy did he 'help' this year! We finally had to strap him into his booster seat to help avoid any 'mass destruction's'. He was very anxious to help, but very wild in his attempts to put candy on and was mostly in charge of putting the gum drops on the bottom of the house. Cooper and Conner did a great job at following my directions and have not stopped asking when we can eat it. I have a feeling it will be more fun with each passing year.

Getting the roof all iced up...and no Carter isn't wearing any pants, but at least a diaper.

Carter getting a little angry at being seat belted away from the action.

Now doing a great job at placing the candy on the roof.

Carefully and methodically placing the colored balls

on the swoopy pattern mommy put on the roof.

They really did have a blast and it turned out great.

The finished product!