Cornelius Chronicles

We must have been very good this year. Santa left us lots of fun gifts. We thought we would share a little of our holiday in pictures. Bekah received a castle and some Sleeping Beauty figures. She hasn't stopped playing with them since. We have had many daring rescues, perilous adventures, and dancing princess in the last two days. Dad has been working around the house a lot and he has been using some pretty cool looking tools in the process. Poor Loyd has been frustrated at the nearly continuous refrain of "No Loyd, Daddy's tools," as he tries to join in the fun. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa C he can play with his own tools. He was so excited to have his very own hammer, screw driver and pliers. He keeps bringing his tool box, loaded with treasures, to each of us in the house and telling us with great pride, "Loyd's Tools!" Even my garden got into the act. These beautiful roses came off my small rosebush in the front yard on Tuesday! I love b

We've had a lot of fun receiving special packages from our family and friends for Christmas. Last week we received the packages from Grandma C. She said we could open up the PJs early. The kids have LOVED wearing their new pajamas and we couldn't resist getting some pictures by the tree. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa C! I love the little smile on Xavier's face in this shot. He is such a smiley baby. I think he has been my happiest baby yet. Trying to get three kids ages three and under to all look at the camera and smile at the same time is a hopeless endeavor. It's like wishing for lightning to strike in the same spot thrice. I love this shot of the two brothers. Loyd loves his little brother, Xavier. I know they will have a lot of fun together as they get bigger. Check out the authentic pointy elf ear on this kid! We can thank those handy Phillips genes for our real life Spock. :>) Ah, my Bekah is getting prettier and prettier as she grows up. Of course,

Santa made his big appearance at the Helen Hall Library in League City on Thursday. It was pretty exciting to meet him. Nobody even cried. :>) After we saw Santa Clause the library had cookies and a penguin craft for the kids to do. Here is Bekah concentrating very hard on removing the paper back of her scarf sticker. This is Loyd working on his winter penguin and trying to not eat his cookie. I couldn't resist this shot of Xavier. With his finger on his chin in such a thoughtful way, even in his sleep, clearly we can tell this boy is a thinker. Santa must have brought more than just the Christmas spirit with him on Thursday. On Friday we had snow! You can't see it very well in the first picture below, but you can see it falling in the next picture. The kids and I had fun running outside and getting sopping wet. None of it stuck, but it was nice to see the big, petty flakes fall. The whole city shut down for the afternoon and nobody was suppose to drive on the road

It was a fun Thanksgiving week for us. Dustin had the entire week off work so I took full advantage of his time off and ran the family ragged. On Monday we went to Space Center. They had a new "National Geographic Maps" exhibit. There were a lot of interactive play ares for the kids to explore that taught them about maps and explorers. They were able to play in a tent, in an airplane cockpit, in a boat, and put together a pyramid, among many other activities. It was awesome! We also did the usual space touristy stuff too. I couldn't resist getting their pictures in this funny cut out. We love playing at Space Center Houston. We are definitely getting out money's worth out of our season passes. On Tuesday we began potty training Loyd. We don't have any pictures to illustrate for obvious reasons. (I would start to doubt my sanity if I did have pictures to post.) He is doing great. We need to invest more focused time with him, but he is catching on. Wish

Vampire fever hit our house this week. :>D I got to go out with some of my friends for a girls' night out to see New Moon on opening day and Loyd figured out how to wear the vampire teeth from Halloween. I think Loyd looks pretty snazzy with those pearly whites. You may also notice the drool dripping from his chin. Well, this week he decided to get all four of his canines. He has been a trooper through this teething process. I guess he has both the werewolves and the vampires represented. We don't like to pick favorites. ;-) Go Team Loyd! Here are some more pictures of our cute baby Xavier. He is such a good baby. He is starting to sleep for 6 hour stretches at night. Dustin and I couldn't be happier about it. We are so glad we have our little Mr. X. He has such a sweet round face. :) I weighed him this week to see how hefty our little man is getting. Our little chunk is 11 and a half pounds! I suppose it's time to pull out the next sized clothe

So, I must brag about myself. Let it be known, I have gone on three (yes, three!) excursions outside of the house with all three children by myself this week. Yes, I know, I am amazing. ;>D We were quite the production to behold as I got everyone out of the car. I wore Xavier in the front pack, Loyd was securely buckled in his monkey leash, and Rebekah, the good little girl that she is, obediently held my hand. Maybe I can handle life with three kids, maybe. For now, I'm just glad to be able to leave the house every once in a while. Here is our story time group. They have lots of fun together every week learning about the alphabet. This week they made ice cream (we learned about the letter "I"). As you can see, they enjoyed the fruits of their labors immensely. We also do finger plays, sing songs and read some books. Great Grandma Young would be very proud of me. She would also be proud of Bekah. She has been practicing her finger play, "Houses.&qu