Pre-Christmas Update

Hello all! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season so far. I just thought I would post a little update about the family before Christmas, since I know we'll be busy with all of that and so will all of you. :)

Peyton Update:
She now has FIVE teeth!! We went from no teeth to four teeth on December 7 and as of December 13th, she got another one! What's so funny is that four of her five teeth are all on the top! AND she apparently has the "Chapman Gap" between her two front teeth which I think is adorable! She looks just like her Cousin Cate when she smiles ;) Also, she is still babbling and trying to talk to us, but usually just says "ooooooo" and "ahhhhh". She's trying. She is also pulling up on everything now, so I know standing and walking is not too far behind that. I started weening her off of formula at 9 months (just like I did with Hayden) so the only formula bottle she gets is her bed time bottle. She eats baby food for all her meals and snacks on puffs and pear juice in between. She LOVES her puffs and it is the funniest thing to watch her eat them! She does this new "head bobble" thing that resembles Stevie Wonder when she eats and when her daddy shakes his head at her and it just kills me! So blessed to have her in her lives; I can't remember life without her.

Hayden Update:
He is such a big man now! He dotes on his sissy, but sometimes he gets a little carried away and hugs her a little too hard, haha! His obsession with dinosaurs has only increased, so I'm hoping Santa brings him that remote controlled dinosaur he wants. ;) He wants to do everything by himself like pick out his clothes and dress and undress himself...hilarious! He cannot wait to make Christmas cookies for Santa with me and he is really excited to see if Santa eats them when we put them out on Christmas Eve. I have it on good authority that Santa will only eat chocolate chip cookies, but I think we reached a compromise when I suggested sugar cookies with red and green M&Ms, so Hayden and I can use cute cookie cutters and sprinkles. Hahaha. I can't believe this is our "baby's" third Christmas and that he will be THREE next month! He changed our lives three years ago so much for the better and we have been so blessed to have him in our lives too. I love this little guy!

Spencer Update:
My semester ended and I am very happy to report that I made a 4.0 this semester! I am so excited and pleased that all of my hard work aid off. Now I have to get through another full course-load next semester in addition to studying for my Master's Exam that I will take on March 29. I have already started studying for this exam and am currently reading Paradise Lost for the first time (I know I should have already read it, but I purposefully avoided it like the plague and now I know why) and then I will read Moby Dick over Christmas break. I am also hoping to meet with the Director of the English Department at one of the Alamo Community Colleges here about a job for next year as an English professor. I would LOVE to get paid to do something that I love and also get a pretty great schedule out of it too! I wouldn't be working 8-5 5 days a week all year long, so I would have holidays and summers with the kids which is GREAT!

Davin Update:
Davin has been working his butt of since September! He has been home maybe an average of 2 nights a week since then up until last week. He has a reprieve from his collections until the first of January, but he still has some other work to do at a couple of the ranches between now and then. I personally can't WAIT for him to be home every night with us! Hayden always asks me "Um Mommy, where Daddy?" when he's not here; it's so cute. This has been a very busy, but exciting year for him as he started his collections business with Phillip, Venado Sires. He loves what he does and I love that for him, it is just very time-consuming work. We are VERY proud of him and all of his hard work.

We are spending Christmas at home this year (ever since Hayden was born we decided to start alternating one Christmas away, and one in our home--compromising since Davin spent every Christmas of his childhood traveling to Arkansas and I spent every Christmas of my childhood at home, so we figured this was fair and gave the kids the best of both worlds!) and are very excited! We are going to go to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church and have dinner with my parents and cousins (my parents would have been here anyway even if they didn't live here now because they knew we weren't traveling this year--just like they came to us two years ago for Hayden's 1st Christmas. Then he four of us will go home and put out goodies for Santa! I'm think of maybe reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the kiddos before bed...Then Davin and I can't WAIT to watch the kids come into the living room Christmas morning and see their faces when they see the tree and everything! How FUN!! That's just going to be priceless. We are also going to host Christmas dinner at our house for my parents and possibly my brother later that day---i LOVE cooking holiday food! It's so exciting since this is Peyton's 1st Christmas and we are eager to see what she thinks about it. I predict that she will eat all of the paper and bows, haha! Then a few days after Christmas we hope to have Christmas with Davin's parents and Amber and Carson and the girls! That will be so fun; the kids get two Christmases, awesome! I'm not sure what we are doing for New Year's/Davin's birthday, but hopefully we will figure something out soon!

We have some super exciting times ahead and will really end 2009 right! We hope you all have a blessed holiday with all of your loved ones! Look for LOTS of Christmas pics after next week ;)
Love to you all,
S:)