Merry Christmas 2011

This year we celebrated Christmas with the Hobgood clan, which meant 7 kiddos, ages 5 and under all crammed into the same house for three days straight.  It was fun, intense and so worth it!  We spent Christmas Eve at our house and enjoyed several bowls of soup, several gingerbread cookies and a little snuggling on the couch, which watching "Alvin and the Chipmunks."

 My friend, Kylie, sent Molly this adorable Christmas tutu.  She was very pleased about her first dress-up!

 Santa came to our house for Owen, Wyatt, Molly, Logan and Laila.  He surprised Wyatt with a Bat Cave (and some action figures to go in it).

 Laila got the gymnastics costume that she had been hoping for....

 Molly got a baby and a stroller, and she knew exactly what to do with it.

Both Owen and Logan asked for Star Wars stuff (plus other miscellaneous weaponry...they are such boys).  I just had to include these action shots.  I love the serious looks on all the boys' faces as they pace around with their grabbers, light sabers, pirate knifes, etc. If you don't already know to do this, try clicking on one of the pictures and you can see a closer view:-)

After the Christmas morning fun, we headed to Pueblo for Christmas Day fun.  There was some cute sibling hand-holding in the car.  They actually do this all the time.

 Molly had a ball running around in Linda and Shep's house. 

 After everyone was organized and accounted for, mad present opening ensued!  Once again, I love Owen's face.  He was opening a Star Wars Transformer from Logan and Laila.

 Wyatt loved his "Christmas crown".

For the first time in many years, we took family pictures.  We could not get all the kids to look at the camera at the same time, but no one was crying!

 Brenda had a great idea to get the kids involved in a craft before dinner.  They made personalized placemats.  Our little pirate really loved this activity.

We followed up Christmas with a Belteau Christmas in Monument on New Year's Day.  It was almost impossible to get pictures because Molly kept running towards the stairs, but we got a few cute shots. 

Happy 1st Birthday, Molly!

On a very snowy December 22nd, Molly Katherine turned 1!  We were supposed to celebrate with the grandparents over lunch, but everyone was snowed in, so we celebrated with our little family of five.  Molly really loved opening presents.  She got a picnic table (which she loves to climb on...yikes!)...

 ...some walking ducks (Wyatt might like these more than she does!)...

 ...and a new book...

 We made her pastel angel food cupcakes.  The best cupcakes ever, according to Josh!

Molly had never tried any sweets before.  We discovered that she likes them!  She INHALED her cupcake.  The frosting was really pale pink, so the boys decided to call her "pink Santa."

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Snow Day!

It finally snowed enough to play outside in snowsuits.  Yahoo!!

Happy Thanksgiving...plus Molly is 11 months old!

Our little Molly is 11 months old! She has been walking for a couple of weeks and LOVES it!  She keeps herself busy walking, climbing up the stairs, playing and reading.  She loves books and will turn the pages, point to the pictures and babble, just like a big kid.  She now has 5 teeth and is about 17.5 pounds.  She is a great eater, trying most foods...even broccoli!

We had a great Thanksgiving Break, with Josh off for the entire week.  One of the highlights of the week was going  to a climbing gym in Colorado Springs.  Owen took a climbing class with one of his buddies, and Josh and I climbed with friends.  It was our first time climbing in YEARS and we all had a blast!

We also had time to play at home, building Trio creations and being "brave cowboys", as Wyatt says.

We made a "thankful" tree this year.  Josh, Owen, Wyatt and I added a handprint with something that we were thankful for every day, for 10 days.  This is the finished product.

We spent Thanksgiving in Monument this year.  We played, both inside and out, most of the time.  It was nice enough to be outside without a coat!  Josh and I had time to do an epic Christmas shopping trip, the boys (including Josh and Pop) saw "Puss in Boots", and I caught up with a high school friend.  It was a wonderful holiday!

Molly has mostly been working on walking this month, so here is a little video of her "achievements."  You can see how excited she gets at the end of the video when she finds books.  She sure loves reading!

Get up, Stand Up

Molly is officially walking!  And standing up on her own and taking a few steps before falling (which is hard work considering all the chaos she has to walk through!).  Each day, she improves, so we may have a GREAT walker on our hands by the time she turns 11 months next week.  Until then, enjoy this little video of her progress!

A Very Hobgood Halloween 2011

Our Halloween started off with the annual JDRF sugar-free Halloween party.  It was a beautiful day at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs.  There were tons of fun games, a pinata, and pizza inside, but we mostly took pictures on the grounds.  The boys were very excited to be in their costumes (Darth Vader and Anakin, who is the younger, "good" side of Darth Vader).

 Later that same day, we went to a family Halloween party at a friends' house.  Josh and I dressed up for the first time in years.

 Here's our cute little cat!

 They had a pinata, too.  It was much too tough to break with a light saber, but little "Anakin" had to give it a try!

On Halloween, Owen had a "Books on Parade" day at school (the whole school brought books containing their character and had a parade through the school), followed by trick-or-treating in our neighborhood in the evening.  Molly was too tired by the time night fell to go door-to-door, but she sure had fun being a cat earlier in the evening!

It was beautiful weather for trick-or-treating and family pictures by the pumpkins.

There were many, many light saber battles between our light and dark sides of the Force.

 This picture is a slightly fuzzy, but I just had to share a shot of the little cat tail in action!