Christmas Tree Farm {2014}

We went back to the Ivanhoe Christmas Tree Farm with Chris and Bethany in search of this year’s Christmas tree and had a great time!

If you are local and haven’t been, GO! They have a great selection of beautiful trees at great prices! We walked out of there with an 11+ foot tall tree for $63! Here’s Kylee pointing out the one she wanted to take home!

 Baxlyn & Kylee. They’ve grown to love each other more and more over the last few weeks. Their room is filled with giggles and they’re full of “sister pride” lately. Just this afternoon they were trying to out-do each other with kindness. “I want Baxlyn  to pick the movie, Mom!” Kylee would say and then Baxlyn would be sure that Kylee saw she drew EXTRA hearts around Kylee’s name as they colored on the white board. If only it were this way 24/7 ;)

Brody & Baxlyn with a “tree” she carried around for a while before realizing we were serious when we said it was not coming home with us… This picture. Melt Me. Seriously, it is so so hard to get them to cooperate these days. A few certain ones who we won’t name (ahem, K & K) sport some pretty feisty attitudes from time to time. I was so thankful when they all put on smiles for this picture that turned out to be one I’ll cherish forever!

Korbin collecting pinecones. Does he not look like a young man in this picture? So handsome and so big!

Chris & Bethany find their 2014 Christmas Tree and seal the agreement with a kiss ;)

While the other three collect as many pinecones as their wee arms could hold, Brody helped Uncle Chris cut down their tree. Blade had been doing his best to keep up with everybody, falling every 10 feet or so due to the uneven ground. He noticed Chris and Brody laying down so came over and plopped right down next to them. So cute!

 Our family picture in front of the tree we chose!    Each year, Bret lets the kids help cut down our tree. This was Blade’s first year to get to help. His little face says it all…

Precious Baby <3

     My little Quadlings: Brody, Korbin, Baxlyn & Kylee

Our final product!

 

Now to get the rest of the house decorated before our BIG week ahead of us :/ Stay Tuned!

 

Our Christmas Tree Adventure {2013}

This was our second year to hunt down our Christmas tree at a tree farm. We went to a different place this year, Ivanhoe Christmas Tree Farm, and found the best tree yet! Like last year, Chris and Bethany joined us to help keep track of all of our peeps! Here are the quads on the trailer as we were taken out to the fields…

They enjoyed running the fields, in and out of trees, giving us adults a run for our money as we tried to keep track!

Blade was awake this year and enjoyed his wagon ride as he ate leaves, hay and anything else he could grasp as we wandered.

I’m sure we are not the only ones who find “the tree” several times each year. We would come across one that was perfect and then Daddy would spot a bigger/better one. Here are the quads with a tree that was sooo close to making the cut for the Cox Household this year…

 You’d think it was snowing the way we were dressed. Heavy coats, hats and gloves. We left early in the morning and here in Texas you just NEVER know about the weather. By afternoon it was a nice somewhat warm day. Speaking of weather, here in north Texas we had a high of 81 yesterday and today’s high was 37. I’m telling you, it’s unpredictable!

The family who owned the farm had a sweet puppy that rode out with us and followed us along. Kylee, of course, couldn’t care less about the trees as long as that dog was there. Of course, she had to smooch it, that girl!

Bret finally spotted the perfect tree for this year. It was beautiful and stood 11 1/2 feet tall (so they said!). We knew standing next to it that it was big, but we didn’t realize how big until we got it home! Bret told us that he always wanted a tree that touched the ceiling growing up, but his mom and dad didn’t ever go for it - his dad says otherwise ;). Bret said that now that he was grown, he’ll get that tree that touched the ceiling! Below is our family picture with our tree… check out the choo choo in it’s tiniest form!

The quads’ each took turns helping Daddy cut down the tree… timmmberrrr!

Brody & Mommy

While the crew was hauling and prepping our tree for the transport home we were all on the hunt for Chris & Bethie’s tree. Like our search, we found “the one” for them a good 6 times before they officially chose this beauty!

Brody…or was it Korbin (?!) helping Chris chop it down!

 If you know our Brody, you know he is a tool man. There is nothing he loves more than being next to his Daddy or Papaw helping with all sorts of tools. He begged me to let him hold the saw and cut down his own tree, sweet boy.

After explaining he was still a little too little to cut down a tree I let him get after this little stump we found :)

           Once home we put all the babies down for a nap allowing the guys to set up the trees while Bethany and I went to the store for more lights. Our ceiling in the living room is 11 feet tall so the tree didn’t quite fit. Bret and Chris did a great job trimming until it fit beautifully. Being there would have stressed me out for sure! Luckily they had it up and stable by the time we returned. It took up more room than I anticipated and looked GINORMOUS at first but after putting on the lights (all 1650 of them!) and ornaments, I think it’s perfect!

Love love this time of year! Stay tuned, one CRAZY adventure to come ;)

“The Christmas Farm”

We loaded up and headed to a local Christmas Tree Farm…or “The Christmas Farm” as Brody called it. This was our first year to get a real tree and we went all out by picking it out and cutting it down ourselves! It was so much fun and I’m hoping it will be a new annual tradition. Chris & Bethany went along with us for the fun and to help with quad control. The weather was perfect and luckily everyone else in Texas was Black Friday shopping leaving the farm pretty empty and giving us plenty of selection for our tree!

We parked and took a hayride out to the back field where all the trees were. Mr. Korbin enjoying the ride!

Brody , Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin ran and played while Daddy & Uncle Chris were on the search for the perfect tree. Below, Korbin & Baxlyn. These two are INSEPARABLE lately…an ever growing bond these two have I tell ya!

Bethany & Brody. The boys are a bit hard to tell apart when they’re all bundled up and just their little faces are showing…

Sweet “Stisters” as Kylee would call them. Ugh, love love love these lil’ skinny girls so much!

Kylee on a mission. There were hundreds of trees to choose from, Daddy insisted on finding the tallest they had…

We finally found the one to take home! It was a 9 foot tall beauty calling our names. L-R Korbin, B, Kylee & Broman

Let the fun begin!! Daddy let each of them get down and help cut down the tree, they LOVED it! Korbin was bummed he forgot his own saw…next year little Buddy, next year.

I love this picture. All of them, so serious at work!

Little Blade (who has made nearly a 100% recovery!) was able to come along as well. Not sure he knew we left the house, but he was there

After finding our tree we stayed a while and played, enjoyed hot cocoa and browsed through the gift shop. The babies…ahem….big kids could have stayed all day! If you haven’t ever taken your kiddos to cut a tree, I highly recommend finding a tree farm near you and doing it. It totally beats the boring trip to Home Depot to buy a tree and I was surprised at how non-expensive it was for the whole “experience”!

Kylee Mae a bit lost in the maze that was set up for the kids…

…and driving her car!

This little car was hilarious. A small tree tied to the front not allowing the kid driving to see where he was going….Brody pushing from the back…lol!

Once home we set up our tree and decorated it as well as the rest of the house. At this age everything is so exciting to them and everything is new. The decorations, their Christmas stuffed animals and things they’ve had each year they don’t remember so their little eyes light up like it’s the first time they’ve seen it all! I love love this time of year and am super excited to have our first Christmas in our new house with our new lil’ Baby Blade as a family of 7!

Last but not least I had to share this picture I took before we left the house. It could possibly by the most forced picture taken thus far… just look at each of their faces BAAHAA! People always ask how I get the great pictures I do. Truth is, I have HUNDREDS of these types of pictures for every “good” one I have. Someone’s eyes are closed, someone is picking their nose, one is pouting, one fell down, one is looking in the opposite direction…etc.

Thanks for trying guys, thanks