DEA Christmas Party

This is technically our second annual DEA Christmas party. Last year we had one person who did not have a last name of either Keough or Keaton show up. Of course, we had only two employees at the time. It was quite a big deal to us. We were moving up.
Fast Forward to this year. Our bash was held at Michael's, which is reserved for anniversary's for us. It was a fabulous time!! Sucha great group of people that work there. Such fabulous gifts. Everyone had a great time.

You know, cuz they are the owners.

The girls of DEA.

The boys of DEA. We don't know where Eddie was.

But the highlight of the whole thing for me?

My babies had their first sleep over and we stayed the night in a hotel. This hotel, as fabulous as it was, the highlight is that it is ATTACHED to the mall. So I woke up on the last Saturday before Christmas and was able to stroll leisurely to the mall without fighting traffic, or getting in a fight over a parking place, or forgetting where I parked my car. It was FABULOUS!!!!!

Christmas Card Photo

My babies. They are getting so big. It is very truly heartbreaking for me. Our annual photo blunders did not actually turn out, because they have learned how to smile and are just super sweet, they can't take a bad photo anymore (knock on wood). My princess.

Even Shane, looking all tall. Good photo. Hmmmm.

Look! There is smooby. Just last year all he would wear is his transformer face. Look at him now. He can take a picture. He can look right at the camera and smile. :( sniff. It's strange that makes me sad, but it does. Sucha big boy.

It was a real tough decision between the family photo and just the snowman. I'm not sure why the family won over this one either. I think it's because I cut off his arms. Next year though. You can count on that!!

My babies. Getting so big. How is this happening???

More of the tree....

Well, of course our Advent Calendar. The kids LOVE this. Helps them count down, plus most of the time they get a peice of candy before school. Miss thing helping decorate the tree.

This is my favorite ornament. Well, one of. It's a mama baking cookies and trying to keep her two little elves out of them. That's pretty much my kitchen from now until Christmas.

One of Riley's favorite ornaments is the long santa. I don't know where that came from . I normally don't buy skinny santas., but there he is anyway.

PS - by the way. LED lights for the tree....very bright. VERY. I mean unbelievably bright. Crazy bright. I'm talking airport runway lights. Won't be doing that next year.

Our Christmas Tree, Cont.

Home Depot - with rows and rows of trees has never let us down, even for those few years I shopped at Marvin's to save a buck. Plus the farm did not sell pointesttias. Terrible marketing if you want my opinion.

Riley felt very much like a big man helping Dad and all - even without actually cutting it down.

And helping put it on top of the car.

It is fabulous, this tree of ours.

Christmas Tree shopping

Well, here it was, the second week of December - time to get our tree. Dave was actually "off" from work that day, so suprised us all with a trip to the Real tree farm to choose our own tree and actually cut it down. Very exciting...but I'm not so sure the kids understood it. They went for the cutest, smallest tree. Not exactly what we were looking for. Riley understood that we needed a larger one than Adyson had chose. See??

All these trees to choose from. It was mind-boggling. All these different varieties.

And of course a hay-ride to see the reindeer.

Very exciting day in the Keough house. When we finally did decide on a tree, of course, mama likes them big, it turned out it was about the equivalent of a car payment. Off we headed, treeless, to Home Depot, who has never let us down.

Christmas Jammies

You all know how I love me some holiday themed jammies. Seriously, I think I might have a problem. But who cares? Look how cute they are!!! Matching Christmas Jammies!! LOVE IT!!! Bruiser, can you please get your big white butt out of the picture?

The Christmas Parade 2010

MMMmmmmm........hot chocolate~ Me and my two babies. My sweet sweet babies. And my obnoxious Christmas Sweater. And the jingle bells in the ponytails. She LOVES them!!!

Two delicious Hot chocolate mustaches. Flavor Savors.

There is nothing sweeter than these two holding hands. Just sitting there, watching the parade and holding hands.

Another successful Christmas parade.

Eubie Eubie

This is our first year of The Elf on the Shelf. I'm quite excited about it. It's been two days and so far I have not forgotten to move him. Yes, sometimes on the rare occassions they like to sleep together. Yes, sometimes I let them sleep in the shirts they wore that day. Look at those little faces!!!!!!!

Here they are choosing the name. They were all quite funny!

Eubie Eubie. The Happy Elf's cousin.They get up every morning and come looking for him. It is the sweetest thing EVER!!

Thanksgiving, 2010

I always like to start out the beginning of the holiday season with a nice Christmas/winter themed breakfast. Burning the pancakes was not part of the plan, but it sure did work out nicely for their hats. Right? We tried our hats at a new Dallas Cowboy themed Christmas card photo. Let's just say we will not be going that route.

Look at my boys! Working together to cook us a fabulous meal. How great is that?

Before I had viewed the prevoiusly metnioned Dallas Cowboy Christmas photo, I thought we might try a different venue....you know, cuz my family LOVES when I make them take a million pictures....DURING the Dallas game. Anyway....we are not actually missing Riley, see his feet there? Under Bruiser??

Ah! A fabulous meal cooked by my fabulous men. I am so very thankful for my little family.

And yes....those pumpkins are little place-cards! How cute is that?? Thank you Martha Stewart!

Fall in Alabama

Not to worry, I will photoshop the scooter that is sticking out of his head in just a tad. Probably should have done that first. Ok---probably should not be in the front yard in the first place.

Oh, this little girl loves her some fall leaves!!

And any time they are this close, and both smiling and laughing AND you can catch it on film is a very successful photo session.

A regular Sunday at the Keough house

On Sunday's Riley tries very hard to stay away from the maddness. He rarely succeeds. The madness I refer to is the princess with a manicure.

Gulf Shores

A day off in the middle of the week. One day. Hey! Let's go to Gulf Shores. We've lived here for nearly six years and have never been. It was just starting to get a bit cold, so the weather was absolutley beautiful! I was already planning my next trip down there before we left. We LOVED it!! Riley - who doesn't like water, outdoors, or getting his hands dirty had a fantastic time!! That is a volcano/castle by the way.

She is a little fish.

"Aren't you going in the water Mommy?" No way! Much too cold for me.

My three little loves.

Disney Princesses on Ice

The whole thing was a suprise and for the three months after we bought the tickets - I just wanted to tell her. And when we would see the commercials on TV - I just wanted to tell her. I was so ready to explode the night before. I just HAD to tell her. I decided to wait until after we dropped Riley off at school to tell her about our girls day out plan. It all started with donuts. We sang on the way there. Some of the stuff from the radio - some of the stuff from Disney movies. It was a TON of fun!!

By the way, that is chocolate milk in there...not coffee.

Oh my gosh! This was her face the WHOLE time! She was so super excited! Every time a new act would come out she'd say, "Look Mommy, it's (insert Disney Princess name here)." And she would Clap, Clap, Clap at the end of the scene. It was magical!

The $15.00 cup of fozen water. Whatever....it made her very happy.

It was fantastic to spend the day with my little Princess just spending the day making her happy. We went shopping afterwards and bought her a new dress. Headed out to lunch, then off to pick up Riley from school. One of the best days ever.