Christmas Time!

WOW! Christmas was so fun this year!! We stayed VERY busy with 5 seperate Christmas'! Like always, Landon got very spoiled by our entire family. He got so many nice things. It was so nice to spend time with our family. We are so blessed!

We started off the Christmas celebrations baking cookies. Landon LOVED rolling out the dough, pressing down the cookie cutters, and icing the Christmas cookies. Santa enjoyed eating them!

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Our first family Christmas was at my mom's house in Granbury on the 23rd. Landon got lots of stuff from mom, including his first pair of skates and a toddler scooter!

On Christmas Eve, we went to Chris' mom's house. This was a VERY special Christmas because my brand new neice, Olivia joined the family! She is only 2 weeks old, so she didn't do much but sleep and eat, but it was wonderful to see Jessica and Beau (bro-in-law and sis-n-law) beaming with excitement about their new joy bundle! Landon was spoiled over there, as well. One of his most favorite presents came from Grandma...his very own mini golf-cart!

Eyeing the Christmas goodies!

Santa surprised the kiddos and brought gifts to Grandma's house!

Landon woke up to lots and lots of presents from Santa on Christmas morning! He must have been a very good boy! Just some of the things Santa brought were a huge train set/table, a mini Thomas the Train couch, and a basketball goal! Landon was ecstatic! 

After we played with Santa's toys, we headed over to Chris' dad's house for yet another Christmas.  Check out all of the presents under their tree! We ALL get spoiled over there!

Lastly, on Christmas evening we went to my Grandma's house to have Christmas with my dad. By this time, I was over taking pictures, so this one of Chris and Landon playing with the train will have to do. I really wish I would have taken more because Landon got the cutest gift from them. It is a train that he can ride on that has it's own track. It's rather large so I'm not sure where it's gonna go yet, but he sure did love it!

WOW! Christmas sure was fun, but momma's ready to relax now! I'll be updating on the twins very soon....I have a Dr. appt. this week.

Seriously?

Wow...the Cowboys SUCK!

Just felt the need to say that.

I'll be posting about Christmas here in a little bit, so stay tuned.

Landon's ABC's

Landon is so funny singing his ABC's. I'm going to attempt to post a video of it. Enjoy the cuteness!!

Geeeez...that took forever for that to download...or is it upload? Oh whatever...

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!!!

I don't know how this picture got stuck at the top of this post, and I can't get it to move. Anyway...this is me and a few of my closest girlfriends at The Lonesome Dove Wetern Bistro. Em's husband threw a surprise b-day party for Em's closest family and friends, and we had such a nice time. The food was amazing and it was so nice visiting with my ladies and their hubbies. I highly reccomend this place if you are looking for fine dining. It's down in The Stockyards.

Can you tell in the picture's below how happy Chris and I are??!! It's because we found out some amazing news that day! I had another growth scan (high-tech sonogram that I get once a month) on Wednesday and found out some great great great great news!!! We are having 2 baby girls!!!!! We couldn't be any happier!! Landon is going to be such a great big brother to 2 little sisters. We are beyond thrilled. We also found out that it is looking like I only have one placenta, which means the odds are that they will be identical. At first, they were thinking I had 2, but not anymore. They are very healthy, thriving babies. They are the perfect size, about 6 inches long each. One weighs 8 oz. and one weighs 9 ozs. All of their body parts are forming perfectly and their organs are functioning just as they should. We are very thankful! As of right now, their names are Emily Grace and Ally Kate. Chris loves Emily, I love Ally, and the middle names are the middle name's of our grandmothers. What a blessing these babies are! The pictures below are just a mix of fun ones I wanted to share...

I know the 3 pictures above are basically the same, but I couldn't decide on one, so I just shared all three! These were taken at The Lonesome Dove for Em's party and it was also the same day we found out about our daughters! My growing belly is 18 weeks along!

Chris spent 6 straight hours in the freezing cold putting lights on the house. They ended up looking great! Good job Daddy!!

We went to the Parade of Lights on the Granbury Square the day after Thanksgiving with my mom. This was Santa on the last float. Landon LOVED the parade. It will definitely be a family tradition for now on.

Landon looking cute at Mimi's Cafe for lunch last weekend.

The family on Thanksgiving. Landon was not participating in picture-taking that day. He still looks adorable, though!

Decorating for Christmas

Reading a Christmas story after decorating the tree

Now all we need are some presents!

He was so good at putting the ornaments on!

Helping daddy get the tree all ready before we decorated it

I couldn't keep him out from under the tree :)

We decided to decorate for Christmas a little early this year. I love love love the holidays, and I think my  house looks so pretty and festive when it's decorated, so I thought we'd enjoy it a little longer this year. This year is the first year Landon has really understood "decorating the tree". Last year he just kinda watched us, giggled, and messed around with the ornaments. This year, he actually helped decorate the tree. He was so cute putting on the ornaments and digging through all of the Christmas decorations. He kept saying, "Santa did that!" everytime he saw a snowman, santa, or reindeer. Now if I could just keep him from taking the ornaments off of the tree and trying to redecorate it.

Don't forget to look below...there is another blog I just posted. 

Also...I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! There are so many things for us all to be thankful for this year! Eat lots of good food, and I hope to see lots of great pictures of everyone's fun!  

Like Father Like Son

Look at these two...Landon is JUST LIKE his daddy. They even sleep exactly alike. Ever since we got back from Vegas a few weeks ago, Landon has wanted nothing to do with his bed...so needless to say, he's been sleeping with us. He got spoiled sleeping with his Grandma's while we were out of town, so rather than fighting the sleepless battle, he's just been crashing with us lately. We are in the process of getting his big boy room ready with a big queen size bed, so we'll just transition him back into his bed once his new room is ready. My little secret is...I LOVE him sleeping with us! Even though I love it so much, I know it's better for him to be in his own bed. Anyhow...I just thought this picture was cute. I snapped it one morning last week when I was getting ready for work. I just love my boys so much!

Barney

Barney is Landon's idol. I'm pretty sure he loves him as much as he loves his mommy and daddy :) So, when he made a suprise visit at Hayden's birthday party, Landon was beyond excited. He was a little weary at first...I think he was just confused about why Barney was there in real life. Once he warmed up, he had so much fun dancing and singing with Barney and all of the other children. What a great party, Hayden! Thanks for inviting us!

I need to get better at this...

This is at dinner at our hotel, The Venetian. One night we ate at The Grande Luxe. It was yummy!



Daddy and Landon watching the Mav's game tonight.



We went to Chuck E. Cheese tonight. It isn't my favorite place in the world, but Landon absolutely loves it, so we try to take him every once and a while. I learned one thing tonight, though. I won't be going back on a Friday.



Barney and Landon riding a train.



A few days shy of 4 months pregnant! The top of the bump is sticking out further than the bottom. Weird. Maybe that means the baby on top is pushing out or something???





I really wish I could find time to blog more often than I do. I'm just so tired by the time I get home from work, fix dinner, clean up, bathe the child, and do the whole bedtime routine, all I want to do is pass out. Maybe next year when I join stay-at-home mommyhood, I'll find more time during naps or something. We'll see.

Anyhow...things have been great around here. Chris and I went to Vegas last weekend and had so much fun. He was in a golf tournament the whole time, so I shopped everyday while he golfed. When his round was over each day, we would rest, shower, go out for a wonderful dinner, and then gamble the night away. We didn't really win, but we didn't lose much either. I bought myself a new $400 Michael Kors purse for 1/2 off, so I call that winning. Plus, I bought sooooo much other stuff too. One night we saw "LOVE" at The Mirage. It's the Cirque de Soliel show that is performed to all Beatles music and it was absolutely AMAZING. It is the best show I have seen in Vegas by far. I'd go back for just one night to watch it again. You MUST go see it if you get to Vegas sometime. Landon stayed with his grandmas while we were gone. He got totally spoiled and loved every minute of it. Although, he did miss us this time. He asked about us several times, which was new. When we went to Italy over the summer, I don't think he ever even knew we were gone. I guess he is becoming more aware of things as he gets older.

Speaking of Landon, he is just as precious as ever. The terrible 2's aren't as bad as people say. He definitely is very independent...wanting to do EVERYTHING himself. He will throw a little fit if I do something he wants to do. So to avoid this, I try letting him do just about everything himself...if he's capable and it's safe, of course. It has added a good 15-20 minutes to our morning routine. It takes about 5 minutes to get one sock on. Other than that, he's pretty well-behaved. Miss Kendall says he's the most well-behaved child in his class, so that's very good to know. She also says his speech is very advanced. At his age, he should be putting 2-3 word sentences together, but Landon is putting 5-6 word sentences together. He has had a huge language explosion (as the doctors call it) in the past few weeks. He talks and talks and talks and talks. Lets just say our ride home from school no longer consists of music. Instead, Landon tells me all about his day. I absolutely love listening to him speak. In a way, I'm a little sad, though. He is becoming such a big boy. His "kokit milk" is now "chocolate milk", his "Thomas Tane" is now "Thomas the Train", and his "cool" is now "school". I am so proud that he is speaking so well, but a part of me misses his sweet little baby words. I guess I'll be getting much more "baby stuff" soon though...which brings me to my next topic.

My pregnancy is going great. I am now 15 1/2 weeks...just a few days shy of 4 months pregnant. I am definitely growing in the mid-section. I'm doing pretty good with my weight, though. By this time last pregnancy, I had already gained like 25 lbs! What the heck was wrong with me!!?? I must have been eating like a cow! I have gained about 9 lbs. this time around so far. The doctor says I should gain about 40-45 lbs. with twins, so we'll see if I can do that. I gained 55 with Landon, so it's probably gonna be very hard. Atleast I'm off to a good start, though. The nausea is over, but I'm still completely exhausted. I remember getting a burst of energy around 13-14 weeks last time, but that isn't the case with this one. I also didn't have 874 things to do when I got home from work last time either. I would just plop down on the couch when I got home every night. My butt doesn't see the couch cushion during the week these days. That could also be a reason for not gaining as much weight this time. Who knows....I better stop talking about it or I'm gonna jinx myself.

Well, I think that's all for now. I'm gonna post a few pics for you to see. I'm gonna try and label each one like I keep seeing in other posts, but I don't know how, so I hope it works.

My little golfer

Halloween was so much fun this year. This was Landon's third Halloween, but the first one he really understood and got into. We went trick-or-treating at several houses including a few of the grandparents, some friends, and a few of the teachers that I teach with. Everyone thought he looked absolutely adorable in his old-timey golf costume. I know you will agree when you see the pictures of him. After we went all over town trick-or-treating, we went with Chris' dad and step-mom to Mac's for dinner. Landon didn't get to bed until midnight!! He wasn't even fussy, though. I guess all of the candy gave him some extra energy. Anyhow...Halloween was a success and now it's onto Thanksgiving and Christmas...my most favorite time of year.

Another Fall Carnival and Baby News

Wow...it has been too long since my last post. I need to get better about this....it's just the time that I need to find. I am just so busy these days. I guess with the holidays approaching and a busy work schedule, this time of year is just hectic. Thank goodness I will be staying home once these babies get here. I don't know how I would be able to juggle teaching and raising three babies! I can barely manage with just one! Not really...I know I'd find a way to do it, but I sure am glad I don't have to. Anyhow...things have been great around the Stark household. I've spent most of this week's evenings getting ready for my garage sale, which is tomorrow and Saturday. Hopefully we can get rid of some of this junk. Whatever we make, we are taking with us to Vegas next weekend. Yep, that's right! We're journeying out to Sin City again. I swear we can't stay away from that place. We love it sooooo much! This will be my 7th time to go. We are staying at The Venetian which is super-duper nice. I am very excited, yet sad to be leaving my little luvbug behind with Grandma. He'll probably never even know we've left cause he'll be so spoiled the whole time. It'll be a nice vaca for the 2 of us to spend some nice quality alone time together.

Soooo...I went to my appt. with the multiple birth specialist yesterday and everything looks great! He did a whole lot of measuring and other stuff during a pretty lengthy sonogram. My 2 little babies are doing just perfectly. They are exactly the size they should be, they have all of their little limbs and their overall anatomy looks perfect. He couldn't quite tell the sex of the sweeties yet, but he said in another 3 weeks we should know for sure. I will be 16 weeks by then. I had forgotten how amazing it is to watch your own sonogram and see a growing baby. Seeing 2 was even more incredible! They were so cute, laying right on top of one another. They are exactly the same size, and I have 2 placentas. Having 2 placentas doesn't really rule out anything. One placenta would rule out fraternal twins, but with 2 placentas, they could be fraternal or identical. We'll just have to wait and see. I will be thrilled with any of the 3 possible combinations. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress.

Onto Landon....he has been a busy busy boy! They have been doing all kinds of fun Fall and Halloween stuff at his school. He has been bringing home all kinds of crafty stuff they do everyday. Tomorrow is their big Halloween Party. They get to dress up, have a parade, play games, and eat pizza and goodies. He will have a blast. I am so thankful that he loves his school. Last weekend we stayed pretty busy. We went to The Harvest Moon Festival down in Granbury, where my mom lives. Landon had a great time riding all of the little rides at the midway. You really can't tell from his facial expressions in the pictures that he's having fun, but he was. He just hates cameras...I mean hates them. I'm thinking he's gonna have to get over that cause I'm not stopping the picture taking anytime soon.

This weekend will be a busy one, but super fun! Of course Friday is Halloween so we will be some trick-or-treating fools. Saturday is our big group picture. Let me explain...my best friend Johnna does photography on the side and she has arranged for all of us girls (my best friends from high school) to all meet at Veterans Park Saturday morning with our babies for a huge group picture. Kendra is even coming all the way from San Antonio for it! There are about 12-15 girls and about 12 babies/kids. I hope we can all fit in the picture! It will be an absolute miracle if we actually get a shot where everyone is looking at the camera. However it turns out, it will be a lasting memory that we will all cherish forever. On Saturday night, we are going to a family birthday party, and on Sunday afternoon, we are going to Ben's 1st birthday party. Ben is Johnna's sweet lovie. It's gonna be a busy, but great weekend.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Be looking for Halloween pictures. I'll be posting very soon. Also...the pictures are small. If you click on them, they enlarge so you can see them better.

You got the right stuff, baaaaabyyyy....

Some of my girfriends and I went to see the New Kids on the Block Reunion Tour last night at The American Airlines Center. I had no idea what a blast we would have! I swear it was the most entertaining concert I have ever been to! I mean, it's NKOTB...so it doesn't take the cake for the best (that's more like Coldplay or Gwen), but I think I had the most fun I have ever had at a concert. Just imagine a sold out AAC full of middle-aged women screaming at the top of their lungs and dancing uncontrolably. We were SO CLOSE to them! We actually had 2 seats...section 109 on the floor and a suite (won by Kelli's mom). So we were back and forth, back and forth. Although I didn't get in till 1:00 am and I woke up with no voice, it was sooooo worth it. They put on a great show of mostly old school songs like The Right Stuff, Hangin Tough, Step by Step, etc. So much fun! Enjoy the pics...I included one of my 12 week belly. It's getting rather large :)