Best Christmas Ever

According to Austin and Kamden this was the "best Christmas ever"! I would have to agree it was pretty good! On Christmas eve, we went to church for the candle lighting service. This was our first candle lighting service to ever go to and we really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we went to eat at Chili's and drove around to look at some Christmas lights. The entire time we were gone we were tracking Santa. By the time we got home, he was in Canada so the boys were anxious to get to bed before he came to the United States. :) Before bed, Heath read them "The Cajun Night Before Christmas". They loved it.



Luckily, they made it to bed before Santa got to Arkansas because he left lots of presents.

Here they are checking out all their loot from Santa.


We went to church on Christmas morning and then came home to open more presents!!


Do you think he was just a little excited over this gift? :) This is the present he wanted the MOST. A flat billed Texas Rangers hat. At one point during the Christmas season he told me "you don't have to get me anything else if you'll just get me that hat". I believe he wanted it BAD!

And here is Kamden with his MOST wanted gift, a Bop-It.

The most UNwanted gift...SOCKS!!! I have been telling them for months not to be disappointed if they get socks for Christmas because they always wear theirs outside and tear holes in them. HA!!

WWE!!!!!!!!!!

Airsoft Guns!!!

They also got I-Pods but I don't have any pictures of those because they had to go on a 'wild goose chase' to find them so I was videoing. I wrapped all their accessories separate with a note on each one of where to find the next present which eventually led to the I-Pods. They had so much fun finding all the presents.

Tomorrow we leave for Louisiana to spend some time with our families. We can hardly wait. While we are there Austin will turn 10 years old!!

Happy New Year from the Neal's!!!

Under The Weather

I guess we've kept Norman too busy this Christmas season; he's feeling a little under the weather his last few days with us.

School Parties

The boys last day of school was on Wednesday. They both had parties. Surprisingly, they were at different times so I was able to attend both of them.

During Austin's party they had a present wrapping relay race. Here is Austin taking his turn wrapping the box.

Branson

As I mentioned before, we went to Branson over the weekend and had LOADS of fun! We left Friday morning from Searcy and we went to Silver Dollar City when we got there.

Here is the traditional SDC Jail picture. Just like last year, Kamden is still not too sure about the sleeping prisoner in there. :)

The Flooded Mine. You have a laser gun that you have to shoot targets as you ride through the flooded mine. This is always a competition with all the 'big' boys to see who gets the highest score. I'm not sure who won this year but here is Austin and Kamden shooting some targets.

Heath and Austin on one of those wild rides. I am so thankful Heath likes to ride those things because I just don't think I could do it.

Me & Kamden waiting on Fire In The Hole. This is their most favorite ride in SDC. I think we rode it about 6 times while we were there.

We happened to see the fire chief from the Fire In The Hole ride so the boys got to have their picture taken with him and Jazz the dalmation.








Kamden and I think the smores are the best thing about SDC. You get to roast your own marshmallows and instead of putting them on a graham cracker they are on chocolate chip cookies. YUM!!

Saturday night, Kamden and I went to the Dixie Stampede with Dustin, LaRay and Lawton.

Baking Memories

Last weekend we had our family Christmas with my family in Branson. Everyone came to our house to stay a few days before we went. While they were here we baked cookies and made LOTS of memories!

This is what happens when everybody wants to be the boss! :)


Lawton had flour from head to toe!

Nonnie had loads of help!!

Hard at work.

Lovin' some sprinkles.

Kamden showing off his decorating skills!

Kamden's 1st Field Trip

On Monday, Kamden had his first field trip of kindergarten. They went caroling to some of the banks around town. He was so excited; they have been practicing all their Christmas songs for weeks. The trip went well and he even brought a little souvenir home from the bus ride. Are you ready for this........a mouthpiece from the bus floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I nearly died when he showed me that thing! It went straight to the trash and he went straight to the bathroom to wash his hands. :) He's lucky I didnt bring out the bleach! :) Needless, to say we had a lesson that afternoon on things you pick up and things you DON'T. He said he didn't put it in his mouth. I can only hope that is the truth.

Special Award

Austin received the Student Of The Week award on Friday. They present the award each Friday in the cafeteria during lunch time. Obviously they do not let the parents know about the award so I wasn't there to see him get it but here is his picture after the fact.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We woke up this morning to... SNOW!!!! The kids had to go to school and it was almost all melted when they got home but it was beautiful while it lasted.

Our house

In the backyard.


This is the view from the top of the hill/mountain by our house.

This is just an old barn I passed by taking the boys to school. I thought it was pretty.

Yum-O

Saturday night, Kamden and I decided to bake some cookies while Heath & Austin watched the LSU game.

Kamden had to 'sample' the Reese's peanut butter chips.

Nobody can bake cookies without licking the beaters.


So serious!

He's Back!!!!

Norman! Oh how we've missed our little scout elf, Norman. He came back from the North Pole last week and this year he has been a little mischeivious with some of his 'hiding' spots. :)

He had a little fun with the toliet paper in Austin's bathroom one night.

Thankful and Blessed

We were so blessed this Thanksgiving to have some of my family come and visit. We, as always, had a great time. I didn't get too many pictures of the weekend (we were too busy shopping, I guess). Here are a few of the pics I did get from Thanksgiving day.

Nanny Sharon started the day getting her exercise on the trampoline with the boys.

Kamden spent his money Maw Maw gave him on a kaleidoscope. When Nanny looked through it she saw Santa at the North Pole but for some reason Kamden couldn't see him. :)

The Turkey Basters!



Thank you Lord for such great memories of another Thanksgiving!!

Learning to Read

Kamden can read!! One of my favorite things about watching the boys grow up is seeing them learn to read. The smiles on their faces when they 'get it' is absolutley priceless!! We have been working on sight words since the summer so this week I decided to pull out the ole "Dick and Jane" book. Kamden was SO excited that he 'could read' and now that is all he wants to do. I hope that attitude doesn't change but I'm sure it will. :)

Trick or Treat

Yesterday was a 'sugar-filled' day. Austin and Kamden both had parties at school. Austin didn't really want me to go to his party (imagine that!) so I went to Kamden's (at least he still loves me!) So they both came home with a bag full of candy and party favors. Last night, Heath took them trick or treating on the golf cart around the neighborhood. They had a blast and they got so much candy they had to come home to empty their baskets before they could go to the other side of the street. I stayed home and passed out candy. It was a little too chilly for me outside plus I enjoyed the peace and quiet. :)

Kamden at his school party.


My 2 favorite trick or treaters!!

Can you say CAVITIES?!?! (I better start looking for a new dentist NOW.)

Checkin' out their loot! :)