Christmas with The Drake's...

On the Sunday before Christmas, Mamaw took us all to breakfast at the Richardson Hotel. We had a great breakfast together and then headed to Mimi and Papaw's house for presents and more wonderful food. :) Thank you to Mimi and Papaw for everything, we enjoyed spending the time with everyone. Mimi with her 3 grandchildren looking at the gingerbread houses.

Emmy and Mamaw...

She was the only kid not running around when we attempted a picture.

Mimi and Papaw got her this Little Cottage. Let's just say she loved it! She is such a little Mommy and loves to "play" house already. She also got new baby dolls, which she tries to put all in the little cradle!

Tate got this neat train table from Mimi and Papaw. He loves pushing the trains on the track and playing with the cars.

Papaw and the kids taking a quick nap in the house. Tate is so funny when they play house because he takes on the "man" role of mowing the yard, killing the ants in the garage and taking out the trash while Emmy changes the diapers and does the dishes. So funny!

On a side note, Brad and Molly announced on Christmas Day they will be welcoming a new little one in August. I hear Brody B. is very excited to have a new little brother or sister! We are excited to welcome a new baby into the family! Congratulations, Auntie M and Unc B!!

Nana and Papa's House...

We started our "Christmas Tour 2008" at Nana and Papa's house on Saturday night. We went to eat some yummy Mexican food, then went to Nana and Papa's to open presents. The family at Nana and Papa's house.

Nana and Papa with all their grands and great-grands.

Tate "riding" boots...the ribbon on Boots' head was the rope/halter.

What a good sport!

Emmy and Honey at dinner.

All the kids...

Boots and Banty with their grands.

On Friday night, Boots and Banty came to look at Christmas lights with us. Don't' be fooled...it was about 70 degrees and we were all burning up in the flannel pajamas! We had the air conditioning on in the car. :)
Boots reading "The Texas Night Before Christmas"


More Christmas pics coming soon...

Ballerinas and Fish...

The Friday before Christmas, Brad and his good friend Philip took Emmy and his daughter Ari to see the Nutcracker Ballet at Fair Park, so I decided to take Tate to the Dallas Aquarium. Tate and I had a great time looking at all the animals. Brad said Emmy enjoyed the ballet and sat in his lap the whole time. Emmy all dressed up and ready for the ballet.

Emmy and her Daddy

Tate with the penguins. He told me they were his "favorite".

He was not too sure about the tank with sting rays.

The Ducks and Turtles are coming...

Tonight the kids were re-arranging their furniture around the front door. When I asked what they were doing, they said, "We are watching for the ducks and turtles." So, I guess in the rare instance a duck or turtle passes by our front door, they will be there to watch them. Goofy kids! They get all their stuff arranged just right...

Playing the waiting game...so far, no turtles or ducks have walked by...
we will keep you updated...

They also had their Christmas Party today at school.

Here is a picture of all of us at the party.

They got to eat yummy cookies (Mimi's sugar cookies-Thanks, Mimi!), drink juice boxes and they did a book exchange. I know they will miss school for the next two weeks during the Christmas Holiday.

The Nativity...Revised...

While the kids were playing at Mimi's house, they were very interested in the nativity scene she has out in their room. Of course, they had to add their own twist to things...

(this took about an hour to finish)... As you can see, there was lots of hay in the manger...there were many more animals than originally thought (pigs, lions, tigers, horses, a cow, and a sheep)...horses were watching over Baby Jesus... and the (wounded) lion, with a huge band-aid on it's back, was conversing with Mary, Joseph and the Sheppard...
Tonight we took the kids to see Christmas lights in the neighborhood and Emmy said, "I saw Baby Jesus...and Mary and Joseph...and the Sheppard, too!"

Polar Express

Tonight the kids wanted to watch "The Train Movie" (Polar Express). I put it on for them and they decided to arrange their chairs "like a train".

Emmy kept complaining because she could not see... Tate was VERY excited about the movie.

Tate relaxing a little, so Emmy could see the movie.

They put the chairs this way and Tate said..."Wanna talk, Sissy?"

Playing

Emmy checking out an ornament off the tree.

Tonight when we were watching the movie and they were talking about the North Pole,

I asked Emmy where Santa lives

and she looked sraight at me and said, "The mall!" Too funny.

The Trains at North Park

On Wednesday, Honey (Aunt Julie) took the kids to North Park Mall to see the trains. The kids had a great time looking at the ducks, turtles and trains. Plus, they got to throw "peee-nies" in the water. Thank you, Honey, for showing Tate and Emmy a great time.

They love spending time with you and your gang! :) Watching the ducks and turtles
Emmy in her Santa dress. (Thank you Mimi for the cute outfits!)
Tater

Watching the trains

Posing in their train hats

We Miss Our Daddy...

Here at the Greene house we are missing someone very important this week...DADDY!!! He is hunting this week and we are really missing him. The kids don't have anyone to wrestle with and Mommy has no one to help with the "mouse situation" in the garage. (Let's just say, he owes me! :) ) We are so glad Daddy is having a great time, but we are ready for him to be home. After all, how could he possibly stay away from this thing we call "the craziness" much longer. The silence in the wilderness must be driving him crazy. :)

We love you, Daddy...come home soon.

Oh, Christmas Tree...

On Friday night, we decided to put the ornaments on the Christmas tree, so we got the kids dressed in their cute pajamas (thanks, Mimi!) and started putting the ornaments on the tree. The kids enjoyed it for a while, but got bored with it quickly. I did manage to get some cute pics...


Just for comparison, here they are last year with the tree...

Where's Emmy?

I have a question, why do we (parents) think it is a "fun" idea to take our children to a crowded mall full of screaming children and ask them to wait in line to sit in a strange man's lap and take a picture?

It just sounds crazy to me, yet I did just that today. I was positive Tate would have nothing to do with him considering the whole way to the mall he would say, "I do not like Santa. I do not want to see him!" While Emmy said to Tate, "I will hold your hand, Tate." We get to the mall and there he is all dressed in red sitting in a large green chair. Tate is still telling me he does not like him and Emmy is saying she wants to see him and ask him for a baby. Well, it comes time for our turn to see the man in red and Tate walks up to him, gives him five and crawls up next to him and starts up a conversation about trains (what???), while Emmy is having to be coaxed by Mimi just to walk on the red carpet Santa's chair is on. So, in the end, we had Tate making a best buddy and Emmy in tears because she did not want to be within 5 feet of Santa. Tate got a small coloring book from Santa and he thinks it is the best thing ever. He has told me that Emmy did not get one because she did not like Santa. Maybe next year... Tate still looks unsure in the picture,

but I think he was more afraid of the lady taking the picture than Santa.

A Cowboy Santa and a Snowman with a Penguin...

OK, Brad and I broke down and did something we said we would never do...we got not one, but two blowups for the yard this year. A Cowboy Santa Claus and a Snowman with a penguin inside. The kids were VERY excited to put them up when Brad came home yesterday, so we bundled everyone up and headed out to the front yard. At first, Tate was excited to "help" Daddy and I put them up, but the excitement soon turned into, "I don't like it...I want to go back inside to play with my animals and barn." So, he decided to stand at the door and watch us from inside. He was not happy about the new additions to the yard, until he saw that Emmy was not scared, then he (slowly) came around to the idea and started posing next to them in the yard. All ready to help out Daddy.

(Don't ask about the attire!)

The Cowboy Santa is up!

Maybe these things aren't that bad after all, Sissy!

Helping Mommy put in the stakes.

Posing with Daddy

Do you see the snow?

(Emmy told us, "You can't touch the snow, it is inside")

Emmy and the Penguin

Tate at the end of the project.

On another note, I put the tree up yesterday during the kids nap so we could put the ornaments on together, and Emmy was scared of it when she woke up. She said, "Turn out the lights and put it up. I don't want it." When Tate got up, he said, "A Christmas Tree...I like it!" Go figure!!