Mitchell's 4th Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MITCHELL!

We had so much fun celebrating Mitchell's 4th Birthday! We spoiled him from dawn 'til dusk :)

Starting with his favorite breakfast - cinnamon rolls Cinnamon rolls are his point of comparison for all foods..."I like this almost as much as cinnamon rolls." We rarely have them for breakfast because I honestly think they're better suited as a dessert, but anything goes on your birthday!






We then went to Chuck E. Cheese's for some gametime fun!

Macallan was a good sport riding around in Mommy & Daddy's arms.

Maverick was a big fan of the horse! He rode it over and over and over....

Next up is lunch at Winsteads with Grampy. They give free skyscraper icecream malts on your birthday, so we all celebrated Mitchell's birthday with him :)

Grampy then took Mitchell on a special trip to Toys R Us to pick out his birthday presents. I think they both enjoyed it :)

After coming home with his new loot of toys from Grampy, we cooked Mitchell a special birthday dinner meal. We tried to make his favorite things, which included BBQ chicken sliders, baked beans and cheetos and invited Grampy and Sherri to join us. He polished off his first plate and asked for more, so I think we succeeded! Dinner was followed by a homemade Tank cake, which he loved!

He opened a few presents from Jacob and I after dinner, including a laser tag game which Maverick and Mitchell (and Jacob) have been entertaining themselves with ever since!

We capstoned the day with a brotherly bath!

We enjoyed our day with our 4 year-old so much! He has been such a good boy lately, and such a big helper with his brothers. He constantly entertains us with his "Mitchell-isms". We can't believe it has already been 4 years since we welcomed him, making us parents! We let him stay up later than normal just to try to get the most of his special day! A special day for a VERY, VERY special boy!

2011 Christmas Card

 

MeRrY cHrIsTmAs! :)

Christmas gets better and better every year!

Here is a picture taken shortly after Santa's departure.  Wow - he was generous without getting too out of control :)

As you can tell by the glow from the new fish lamp that Santa left for Maverick, the boys were up EARLY!

 

Thanks for the camera, Grandma and Grandpa Bays.   As you can see below, my brother and I both like it, but my mom did hear me complain that "I just can't get a good shot."  Hmmm...where could he have heard that?

 

 We LOVE remote controlled vehicles! :)

 

We love them a little more than our dogs appear to like their candy cane rawhide bones.

 Mav likes his new cell phone too...maybe that will keep him from demanding mine?

Little Macallan was a good sport from his 1st Christmas!

 

Mav loves his new Cozy Cab...I foresee Macallan liking it too!

 

Hooded bath towels double as costumes in our house :)

 We had a few toy wars, but the boys played nicely together nearly all day!

 This is just to prove that we weren't ALL smiles on Christmas!

 (Look at that dirty face!  I guess Santa left him some goodies in his stocking!)

So much for all of those pricey toys...the boys had just as much fun playing with a box.

My Dad and Sherri joined us for some Christmas fun and a yummy meal.  We had so much fun that the boys zonked out early Christmas night.

.....still with smiles on their faces :)

 

Macallan's Debut as Baby Jesus

We were so excited and honored to allow Macallan to be Baby Jesus at our church's Christmas Eve service.

Here is our family of 5 prior to the service (we bribed Mitchell to smile nice or else Santa put him on the naughty list...seriously, he's never been so cooperative for a picture!!!)





Pastor Adam is holding Macallan on stage and there is a close up of Macallan on the screen in the background. Luckily Macallan was a good little boy...he just layed quietly in Adam's arms as he preached.

Adam then laid him in a manger.


They showed a shot of the top-down view of Macallan laying in the manger on the big screen. He didn't fuss...just looked contently at Adam and listened to him.

When Adam was done, he called me on stage to get the little guy.

Each year, we conclude the Christmas Eve service with a candle-lighting ceremony. The sanctuary starts pitch black and they start with one single flame and slowly we share the flame with our neighbors until every single person has a lit candle. We typically don't have front row seats like we did this year! Here are Jacob, Macallan, Dad and Sherri with 3,000 lit candles behind them. Isn't it beautiful?



What a special story to share with Macallan for years to come!