Ho Ho Ho

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but the Wood house is ready for Christmas.  And, when I say ready, I mean READY!

I've more than doubled the number of Christmas trees.  Yes, we went from two to five.  What was I thinking?!?!?  It's a lot of work.... which is exactly why it's already done.  I want to enjoy it for as long as possible!

Walker and Everly are huge helpers and even got new trees of their own!  

Wow, were they excited!

Here's Walker putting the star on his BLUE tree!

He let Everly help!

He's so proud!

And, here's Everly putting her star on her PINK tree!

They both loved working on their trees... making them just right!

Then they helped with the big, fancy tree!

They did a great job putting some ornaments down low.

Then it was on to the "kid" tree!  They did a great job putting all their special ornaments on it!

Can you tell how proud they are??!  I love how all the ornaments are at the very bottom, all bunched together.  They were so serious about placing every single one.... it really is the perfect "kid" tree!

I love having a beautiful, festive, Christmas house!

Zoo Lights!

So, if you pretend that it's cold, does it work?  NO!  On Sunday night we went to the preview party for Zoo Lights!  The invitation said the attire was "winter warm",  ha!  It was 80 degrees, humid and not at all holidayish! All that being said, we had a great time.  It's a very neat event.  And, especially fun when you get to go without the crowd!

Here are some fun pictures.  Awesome face paint!

Two cute kids in front of beautiful lights.

So fun on the carousel!

Giraffes are awesome.  We didn't get a picture with the real ones, so this fake one will have to do!

So many lights!

I don't know if you can tell, but there's a train behind them.  This was a very cool display.  Walker and Everly both loved watching them!

Such a fun night!  The kids went to bed very late that night, but it was worth it.  I love this time of year!

Enjoying the Lake

Earlier this month we got to enjoy a fabulous weekend with the Blackburns at their lake house.  It was so fun being back with such wonderful, life long friends!

And, the best part...  Bessie oldest son, Finn, and Walker were fast friends and had a blast.  Somehow, Everly was able to keep up some of the time!

Aren't they so cute:

The little buddies got to go on a fishing trip!

And, Walker caught his first fish:

Awesome!  He was so proud that he caught the biggest fish.  He and Finn were so cute, because Finn was so proud that he caught the most!

I love this picture of all of us.  I've know all these Blackburns for all my life.  And, Josh since the 6th grade.  We laughed a lot and told lots of old stories!

And, this picture cracks me up......

I have so many memories of Bessie Poo... playing at each other's houses and going to Six Flags.  It's crazy to me that we are now raising babies instead of playing with dolls!!!

And, I have to share this picture of Clark and Josh.  Clark was a great sport.... he heard way too many old GP stories! 

Saving my favorite for last:

These two played from 8am to 8pm.  They never had a cross word and had a blast together.  Walker keeps asking when we are going back to Finn's house.

Boys will be boys!!!  Love it.

U is for Uncle

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but my little boy melts my heart.  He is so tender and sweet.  Sometimes the things that come out of his mouth amaze me.

This just happened an hour ago.  I have to share right now, so I don't forget a detail.

Everly was napping and Walker was telling me about his day at school.  This week they are learning the letter U.  He told me, "U is for uncle."  I told him that was so right and thought that would be the end of that.  

But, then he said, "U... like Uncle Googie.  I miss Uncle Googie." As you can imagine, the waterworks started.  I couldn't help it.  I told Walker that I miss Uncle Googie so much.  Then he wanted to know where he was.

Wow, pretty deep for a Wednesday afternoon.  I told him that we wouldn't see Googie anymore because he's in heaven with Jesus.  He wanted to know why.  I told him I didn't know why, but since he was with Jesus, it didn't matter.  And, even though we miss him, it's good that he's with Jesus.  And, someday we'll all be with Jesus.  I love his little almost five-year old heart.  He seemed to grasp what I was saying and then said, "I'm happy that Remy is with Uncle Googie and Jesus."  Melts. My. Heart.

Walker reminds my family so much of Googie.  The way he looks, the way he acts, the way he runs.  We all talk about it... a lot.  Soccer has especially brought it out.  Every Saturday there's some kind of a "he's just like Googie" remark.  I started to worry... does this bother Clark?  I mean, every father wants their son to be just like them.  Of course I didn't want this to upset him, so I asked him, "does it bother you that we are always comparing Walker to Googie?" Clark gave a typical Clark answer.  Totally selfless, compassionate and sweet.  He said, "it makes me happy that yall have such a great reminder of your brother.  It doesn't bother me at all."  Wow, he really is the best.

And, there's no doubt that Walker has a ton of his Daddy in him.  Both are amazingly sweet and very thoughtful.

Everly and I are so blessed by the men in our lives!!!!!

Learning Bible Verses

My baby boy isn't a baby anymore.  He can now memorize Bible verses!

I've never been shy about raving about our church.  But, goodness, how can you not love a place that makes a point to teach your children!

Way to go Walker! We are so proud.

Feasts with the Beasts

My sweet friend, Sara, works in development at the Houston Zoo.  She is great at her job and because of her, we've seen some cool things at the zoo!  

Ove the weekend, we went to a VERY fun event called Feasts with the Beasts.  Dozens of Houston restaurants set up booths and we got to sample lots of delicious food.

The always fabulous, Sara, got us VIP tickets, so it really made the evening fun!  So glad I got to see her!

Our friends, Trudi and John came with us....  I ended up with a picture with Trudi, but somehow we forgot about the boys!

It was a different and fun way to have a great double date!

Halloween Fun!

It has happened.... Walker and Everly are at the age where Halloween is big fun.  They loved dressing up for school and absolutely couldn't wait for the festival at church and trick or treating after.

I have to say.... Spiderman and Minnie Mouse are pretty darn cute!

They had a great time playing every single game possible.

Daddy got held up at work.... they were so excited when he arrived!

 (I seriously LOVE this picture of Clark.  My handsome husband!)

They did every craft.... so serious!

Fishing for candy...

I think they loved the bean bags the best!

Crossroads does a great job.... the kids got tons of candy and had a blast.  But, more candy needed to be found.

They got to trick or treat at a couple of houses:

And, then the real fun began..... checking out all the loot!

It was a great night.  Like I said... they are are at such a fun age.  Have I mentioned how excited we are for Christmas!?