Family Pics 2009

Christmas Mangum Style

Christmas morning the kids were up at (as Henry would say) o'dark thirty. As you can tell from the pic they are still sleepy! It's a good thing the camera wasn't on us because we REALLY look sleepy. Santa came and brought everyone something that was on their list. Kenzie got her Icecream playdoh (even though she wouldn't tell Santa herself), Garrett got a ton of Legos and Marley got her camera. I guess that it pays to be nice all year!


After our Christmas morning we went over to my moms and had a delicious Christmas dinner and opened more presents! We had a great time visiting with everyone.
Mom
Gram and Grampy
Grandma and Curley
Rylee, Jordan and Tyler
Tracy
The kids fighting over a giftcard from a white elephant giftcard game that we play. Who knew Starbucks would be so popular!

We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas holiday! The Mangum Family

Christmas Eve Fun!

Every year the kids beg to open a present on Christmas eve. A few years ago, we let them open one which was Christmas pajamas that they can wear that night. The tradition has continued and now even mom and dad get new pajamas. I wrap all of the pajamas in the same size box and same wrap so they can easily spot them. As they were waiting to open their presents they started wrestling. Too cute! Garrett is usually the first to have his on as he strips down right there on top of all the wrap. This year Makenzie got pajamas that match her bitty baby. She was thrilled! And here they are in their pajamas...


They each got to make their own reindeer food. Makenzie added EXTRA glitter to her oats to make sure they wouldn't miss it!

Christmas eve wouldn't be complete without leaving cookies and milk for Santa. We made homemade sugar cookies and had fun decorating them. Everyone got to pick out one cookie that they made for Santa.

Christmas Stuff

We had a blast making miniature salt dough ornaments this year. Everyone painted their own creations. We tied some to Christmas presents for family and hung some on the tree.

This is our newest tradition! Meet Jack B. Nimble (aka Jack). This little elf watches children's behavior during the day and reports to Santa at night. Each night when he returns from the North Pole he is in a new spot. They (including Henry) race each other out of bed to see where he is. Jack has gone back to the North Pole but will return next year after Thanksgiving. We highly recommend this little guy. We had a blast! http://www.elfontheshelf.com/

We even made a Gingerbread House. I think that they ate more candy then they put on the house!

Christmas with Cousins

Amanda and Makenzie






Aunt Wendy, Uncle Brett, Amanda and Emily came to visit. We had so much fun visiting with them. We can hardly believe that Amanda is in Kindergarten and Emily is already 9 months old.

Emily
Rose

Birthday Babes

Makenzie turned 4! I can't believe that our baby girl is already 4. She was so excited to have her birthday that she could hardly wait. She was very specific on what kind of cake she wanted....a pink (strawberry) rainbow cake with flowers on it. And as you can see...she got one. We went to McDonalds for dinner, went to the movies to see Princess and the Frog and came home for cake and presents. She got her first barbie of many I'm sure. She had a great time!





Dinner out with the Grandparents. More cake and more presents.

Marley turned 13! Say What? We're the parents of a teenager? How time flies when you're having fun. This year we got off easy. She wanted an iPod touch and negotiated that for no birthday party. She got a little nervous when she got down to the last gift and it was a big heavy box. Mom tricked her by adding workout weights to the box! We did end up spending the evening at the mall eating at Chick-Fil-A and shopping...two of her favorite things!

Christmas Traditions

Our annual family Christmas picture after the tree is decorated. It was fun watching the kids decorate the tree this year. When Marley and Garrett were little they would decorate the tree and after they went to bed that night I would move all the ornaments up because they would only decorate the bottom half of the tree where they could reach. This year I didn't have to move an ornament! Marley is now tall enough to decorate the top, Garrett the middle and Makenzie the bottom. We've got it made! I unwrap all the ornaments, they put them on and dad supervises from the couch.

We had it all planned out...Santa was in town early this year, we'd go before the mall even opened, we'd be the first in line. We didn't plan on Makenzie doing this! I couldn't resist taking at least one picture. Priceless!

Road Trip

We took a road trip for our nephew Dylan's 1st birthday. He was so adorable opening his presents and eating that yummy cake! Can't believe that he is one already.



Since we were already on the road, we made a weekend trip out of it. We stayed in Buda (outside of Austin) for the night and went to the San Marcos outlet mall. On our way home we went to the San Antonio Zoo. This was Kenzie's first time at the zoo and was amazed at all the animals. We were pleasantly surprised as well as they have done a lot of renovations since we were there last. Well worth the money if you're up that way.


Kenzie monkeying around! Marley the beautiful butterfly! Garrett riding the giant lizzard!

My favorite part of the zoo is the waxed animals. I still remember getting these at the zoo when I was little. Makenzie got a giraffe, Garrett got a crocodile and Marley got a koala bear.