Arrrrgggghhhh - Emmett's 4!!!!

I can hardly believe that my baby boy turned 4 today!  While he still plays daily with his trains and cars, pirates are a new love for him.  In that spirit, we had a really fun pirate themed party with pirate pizza, arrrrrrhugala salad (a pirate's favorite vegetable you know) and a pirate birthday cake.  His gifts were (you guessed it) of the pirate variety :)  We had to pry the ship out of his hands with promises that he could play with it just as soon as he woke up tomorrow.

The kids had fun choosing gifts for him.  Kate was really excited to buy him the pirate spyglass and was even more excited to see how much he loved it!

Jackson loves his little brother so much.  He is a great example for Emmett, most of the time.... :)  Jackson is a very giving young man.  He went out on Black Friday with a full wallet and carefully picked out this birthday gift for Emmett and Christmas gifts for his family.

New Family Pictures

We couldn't get Emmett to smile for the life of us.  He is usually such a happy guy!

All of the cousins...

Looking so grown up!

Big middle schooler

Ava wanted her own personal photo shoot I think.

Finally got some REALLY cute candids of this little guy!

Christmas Advent 2012

Well, it's here...the Christmas countdown has begun.  This is one of our favorite traditions each year (closely followed by the turkey shoot).  Here's what we have in store...

1. Go to Patti's Cajun Christmas Party
2. Decorate the tree
3. Donate canned goods to the school
4. Make hot cocoa and watch a movie
5. Send Christmas cards
6. Make popcorn and cranberry garland
7. Sing Christmas carols
8. Go to see Rudolph Puppet Show
9. Make candy cane pizzas
10. Make paper snowflakes
11. Go to Jackson's orchestra concert
12. Have Emmett's birthday party
13. Start the 12 Days of Christmas giving for a friend
14. Make gingerbread houses
15. Go Christmas caroling
16. Read Christmas books by the fire
17. Go to the Fox Theater and see How the Grinch Stole Christmas
18. Go to the Temple and see the lights
19. Drive around the neighborhood and see the lights
20. Deliver neighbor gifts
21. Go see A Christmas Carol at the Alliance Theater
22. Go on a carriage ride through Piedmont park
23. Make and decorate sugar cookies
24. Read the nativity story
25. Take family picture and watch old family Christmas DVDs