Christmas party and playroom!

We celebrated Christmas with the Adair's last night.

The kids have been so excited to give the Adair kids their gifts. I think we spent the whole dinner telling the kids not to tell each other what they got each other! :)

The kids got to dip and decorate pretzels. Fun and yummy!

Kylah was enjoying it!

 That's my kind of decorating, Kylah! :)

 The boys were concentrating pretty hard on what they were doing.

 I tried to get a picture of the big boys opening their gifts from each other, but they were moving too fast!

 The littlest ones were pretty cute opening their gifts, too. Norah was pretty happy with just the paper!

 The girls were sweet and gentle when opening their presents (completely opposite of the boys!)

 I don't think these two could be any sweeter!

And we actually got all 6 of them in a picture!

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In other news...we are really enjoying our new house. Having an extra room (play room!) really makes a big difference. Instead of bringing all of their toys into the living room and making a big mess there, the kids can get the toys out in the playroom and make a big mess in there (where I don't have to see it all the time!)

It seems like Joey and Kylah have really been enjoying playing in their new house.

I am always amazed at how creative they are when they play and the things they pretend to do.

Here is Joey being Stan the Handyman (carrying bathroom rugs!), while Kylah was Miss Pattycake.

 One view of the playroom. We have a mini TV in there so we can put movies on for the kids if we need some quiet time! :)  It's great to have room to put some of these toys.

I really shouldn't be blogging right now, when I have laundry to finish and packing to do, but I needed a break.  :)

Wish us luck on our long drive to Ohio (Joe wants me to test the Benadryl out on Norah...)! We are looking forward to a fun Christmas with my family!

Away in a Manger

The cutest version of Away in a Manger that I've ever heard! (You may want to turn your volume way up to hear her.)

Christmas concert

Whew...what a weekend! We have moved (most things) into our new house. We are loving the extra space already, but we still have a lot of boxes to unpack!

But, first things first.

Joey and Kylah had their school Christmas program on Tuesday night.

Kylah was front and center, so we got some great pictures of her. Kylah sang her little heart out. It was fun to see her perform. She was so serious, and she knew every word and every action.

Joey also did great. He was in the back, so it was a little bit more difficult to get a good picture of him. But, he is a little performer, too, and did all the actions!

Joey sang in a little trio. He did great, of course! The microphone wasn't very loud, but you can hear him if you listen really closely.

Kylah was so much fun to watch. This video really says it all...

Joey and Kylah had some great supporters come watch them.
Nana drove all the way from Kansas just to see the (30 minute) concert! Somehow I managed to forget to get a picture of her with the kids, but we appreciated that she drove 4 hours both ways to come see them perform!

The Adair's came to watch too.
Joey is always excited to see Connor.

What beautiful little girls Kylah and Audrey are!

And Matty is always loving to Norah! (You can see Nana in the background holding Norah...that's the only picture I got!)

The three cutest kids I know!

Christmas is coming

We have started the Christmas festivities around the Manthe house.

Unfortunately, we are moving this weekend, so the only Christmas decorations we have up is the small Christmas tree in Joey and Kylah's room. (unfortunately for it being Christmas-time, NOT unfortunately for having a new house!)

However, we are still getting into the spirit!

Yesterday was a big day:  we had the first snow of the season, we decorated Christmas cookies with friends, and then Joey and Kylah had their school Christmas program last night.

I only have the pictures of the cookie-making from my phone right now, but I will blog about the rest soon!

Kylah was surprisingly really good at cutting out the cookies from the dough. When it came to decorating, she mainly wanted me to put the frosting on and then she did all the sprinkles.  :)

Joey also did great at cutting out the cookies from the dough, and he had a blast being creative with the icing and sprinkles!  It was a big difference from last year to this year.  He didn't need much help this year at all!

I promise to blog soon about our other fun activities from yesterday.  Did I mention we're moving on Friday??  Yeah, we are so not packed yet...

Way to go!!

Ozark Orthopaedic Physical Therapy was voted best physical therapy in Northwest Arkansas by Celebrate Arkansas Magazine.  (Joe is the director of this clinic!)

Way to go, babe!

(If you want to see the proof, you can click on this link.)



Love my girls...

***UPDATE:  Due to the overwhelming number of comments I received on this post, I just wanted to make it clear that the top picture is Norah and the bottom picture is Kylah at the same age. My nurse thought they were both Norah, so just thought I'd make that clear.
Now feel free to ooh and ahh and comment!  :)

...in the same outfits! :)

Manthe Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Joe's family this year. It was a nice and relaxing holiday with lots of great food!

Thanksgiving was a beautiful day.

Norah spent a little time with Grandpa.

James got out one of his old army men games and played with Joey. They were pretty funny to watch, and Joey had a great time.

Joe is the official "turkey carver." He would make his Papa proud! I think this was his smoked turkey from the Green Egg. There was also a bigger turkey that was cooked in the oven. We never have to worry about running out of food at the Manthe house!

Here is almost everyone gathered around the Thanksgiving table. We missed you Josh & Val and kids, and Jeff! Gotta love the kids' table. :)

I should have taken a picture of the food: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy (I made homemade gravy...I think I won Joe's dad over, but I'm not sure about his brothers!), stuffing, green beans, cauliflower and cheese, Val's sweet potato casserole, homemade rolls, and fresh cranberry sauce.

YUM!

These two had some fun together this weekend. They are starting to interact a little bit more, which is so fun to see. (Doesn't Naomi have the best eyes ever?!)Here they are "talking" to each other. Always have to have something in each of their mouths...




Joey and Kylah got to help Nana decorate her tree. Nana has an awesome tree with ornaments that each actually do something when you push a button. The kids love it, and they loved getting to decorate it. (Good thing, because we might miss out on having a tree here at our house this year since we are moving in a few weeks.)

Saturday night we all went to Power Play (think a bigger ChuckECheese or Dave & Busters). The kids always have fun, and always get to ride some fun rides.

Kylah is a fan of the swings.

Jason was the only one brave enough to go on this ride with Joey (actually he was the only one that didn't think he would get sick with all that spinning!) :)

Fun Dip and prizes at the end!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I got some good naps in. The kids had a great time playing. We all ate some great food. And we spent a lot of fun time with family. Couldn't ask for more. On Saturday I was telling Joey that I needed a hug because I felt like I hadn't really seen him for a few days (he is just go, go, go when we are at Joe's parents). He told me he would cuddle with me when we got back to Arkansas. :) I guess he just didn't have time for that there!