Celebrating with Cousins

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we sisters and our crews began the evening by celebrating Vicki's 29th (wink, wink) birthday at Ria's restaurant. Our group consisted of: 4 sisters, 4 husbands, 2 boyfriends, 5 nieces, 5 nephews, 1 great nephew and 1 great niece...shew that's a lot...I hope I didn't forget anyone! It was yum (I had the filet) and we practically had the place to ourselves (that's what happens when you eat with the blue hairs!) but it did make it very easy with kids. They even gave us the back room all to ourselves which is nice when a 2 year old can't stay seated beyond the appetizers! Tammy even found time to stop in to see the doctor to have her toenail looked at! (She's the efficient, time-management sister!) :) Afterwards we gathered for dessert at Jackie's house and let all the cousins open their gifts from each other. What a hoot...paper was flying so fast I barely caught a picture of what was given! Here are some funny pictures from the gifts exchanged that evening:

Kyle, Kelsey and Nolan...right in the middle!

This picture cracks me up...look at Kyle and Luke's eyeballs!

Can anyone identify this child?!

I think she likes it but she shied away from my camera.

This titanium necklace is sure to improve Luke's baseball game! His lips say it all!

Wild thang! You make my heart sing! This was a hard gift to give away...I wanted one for myself!

Who likes Mizzou? Nolan? You don't say!

Dane's little footprint on a trivit made special for Kelsey! Go Tigers!

New workout pants for Lauren! She tells me they are her favorite!

Super Dane!

Nolan's footprint turned into a horse's face for his Aunt Vicki.

"Hotdog!" Enough said!

Mizzou Tigers vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders Football 2011

What may now be the last time the Missouri Tigers and the Texas Tech Red Raiders meet (since Missouri is SEC bound) had to no doubt be the football game to end all football games! The day started out on the right foot when Drew's old college cheerleading coach (that's right, Drew was a college cheerleader!) gave the boys and us a ride on the golf cart behind the stadium to see all the "goings on". Even better they got to ride in the helmet car too! After cheering for the Tigers and booing the Texas Tech bus we returned to our tailgate where we met up with all of the Wilson extended family members as well as my family members (Jeff, Kelsey and Kyle) to throw a football around and maybe enjoy a beverage or two.

Before the game began Nolan and I stood in line to get former Missouri Quarterback (and Southlake Carroll Dragon Quarterback) Chase Daniel's autograph! Nolan was sure to let Chase know that not only was he a Tiger fan he was a Dragon too! What's more cool is we found a picture of him and Chase on the "We are Mizzou" Facebook page. Nolan's almost famous!

The game wasn't going Missouri's way most of the 4 quarters until the very end. For whatever reason we decided to take the boys and sit by the band in the end zone. Tigers pulled ahead near the very end of the game but Texas Tech was driving the ball down the field. With what seemed like an inevitable touch down happening right in front of us the Missouri defense intercepted the ball and well, that was all she wrote! Mizzou Wins! (I tried not to rub salt in Dave's wounds...he's not a fan of watching Tech play in Missouri.)

Family Picture!

The boys in the helmet car!

Sweet picture of Luke

Kelsey and her (spoiled) Godson!

Nolan smiling for the camera

Chase Daniel with Nolan (notice Chase is wearing his Texas Rangers ball cap!)

Drew and baby Dane

I had hoped to make this a Christmas card picture but this was the best I could capture. The color of the sky kinda said it all...blahhhhhhh...

Great Grandma and Nolan...he's always happy to cuddle up with her for a photo!

Wilson Family Pictures

I find taking family pictures incredibly hard! Trying to coordinate 5 wardrobes and getting everyone to smile is hard enough, to top things off the day of this family portrait I received a call from the school nurse stating that Nolan had chipped off a good portion of his bottom tooth at recess that day. Oye! The good news is he wasn't hurt and the tooth doesn't show in pictures, bad news is that it was a permanent tooth! In any case, these are some of the pictures from our photo session in November when the trees were absolutely the best color they could possibly be (in Texas that is!).

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

Sometimes I can't decide if the kids are more excited about Halloween or Christmas! This year Nolan provided me with a challenging costume request...he wanted to be the black bomber Angry Bird. After exploring my options for purchasing a costume (waaaayyyy to expensive plus they were sold out on every website I checked) I ended up making one for him. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! I also made Dane's costume. This year he was a monk (NOT Obe Wan Kenobi like some people thought...clearly they weren't Catholic!) and I made his costume as well. As you can imagine there aren't many child sized monk patterns available so I had to be creative and instead found a little red riding hood costume! Luke proved to be my low maintenance costume request for the 2nd year in a row...he wanted to be a ninja and we just so happened to have a black karate uniform that was given to me by a friend. We added the orange belt (which he earned in Karate) and voila...costume complete!

A trio of boys! Nothing like dark costumes on Halloween night that screams safe, right?!

My little monk who took a vow of silence!

Nolan as a black bomber Angry Bird...he had the coolest costume at school (or so I was told)!

Luke as a black ninja...not too intimidating in this picture tho!

Dane was out getting his loot!

This picture cracks me up. Can you see Dane questioning the witch statue? He was NOT getting any closer!

Hall's Pumpkin Patch Cont...

Because I am usually the photographer I had to show off a few pictures of "me" with the boys! Promise...these are the last set of pictures!

Love this!

Everyone's looking! Yippee!

Me & Nolan

Me and Lukey!

Hall's Pumpkin Patch Cont...

More pictures from the pumpkin patch...

Maybe it's because I'm a farmer's daughter but I do love how the light is shining through the corn stalks!

Nolan taking care of Dane...Luke doing what he does best, cheesing it up!

Drew and Dane smiling for me...This picture shows off Dane's big, bright eyes!

Having fun!

Too pretty not to include! Isn't nature amazing!

Hall's Pumpkin Patch

Year after year we are drawn to visit Hall's Pumpkin Patch. And next to Christmas, I probably snap the most pictures at this location than any other. I think it's the harvest colors that get me. Our wedding was in October, I love to have the boys pictures taken outdoors in the fall and it makes me reminisce about home particularly fall festivals with yummy fried chicken, green beans and soft bread.

Not one child is looking in this picture but I love it anyway.

Nolan being the great big brother that he is...always making sure Dane is taken care of.

These cut outs are always so funny!

Getting ready to conquer the corn maze! Dane cracks himself up!