Christmas Festivities

This year Lauren was a shepherd in her Mother's Day Out Christmas pageant.  She was so cute! 

She sang sweetly and did all the hand movements along with the songs.

We had fun at her Christmas party too.

The next day we had Ethan and Austin's school parties.

It was fun to celebrate with the kids at school.

Later in the week, my parents and Grandma stopped by to exchange Christmas presents.  It was so good to see my Grandma!

 

We had a good time and we're looking forward to celebrating New Year's Eve together!

Buddie

Buddy came back this year!

He is a mischievous little elf!

The boys loved when Buddy decorated the tree with underwear, but Lauren immediately started undecorating it!

We love Buddy and can't wait for him to come visit us next year!

decking our halls

The kids were eager to help put up the Christmas tree.  The boys were great at sorting through all the branches and put most of them themselves.

My dad built me the creche for my nativity scene last year.  I love it in the art niche next to our advent calendar.

One of my favorite Christmas decorations is this Santa.

Our first fireplace to hang our stockings on! 

The kids left cookies, milk and a note letting Santa know we would be celebrating Christas at Gege and Grandaddy's house this year.

 

Kirby and Sadie

Merry Christmas!

Introducing Sadie!

Look what we brought home Saturday!

Lauren would have preferred bringing home a cat, but we settled on a tiny lab puppy.

Her name is Sadie.  We are all in love.  She is so sweet, laid back and sleepy.

Best early Christmas present ever!  

Welcome home Sadie! 

December Market Days 2012

Saturday was the last Market Days of the year.  Gege and Granddaddy came to take care of the kids while we popped kettle corn.  The kids had a blast walking around Wimberley and playing games for prizes with Gege.

Ethan and Austin helped stir the corn for the first time.  They were pretty excited.  After setting a new record of popping over 8.75 fifty pound bags of corn, we sure were ready for them to help out! 

It was a great Market Days! 

Thank you Taylor!

Taylor stayed with us the week after Thanksgiving to help out with the kids. We loved spending time with her!  She was a huge help around the house and we sure miss her this week!

Thanksgiving week in Instagram

The boys had a Turkey Trot at their school complete with racing bibs and water stations.  It was awesome!  Ethan ran two miles with the other second graders.

After a mile and an uphill sprint to the end, this was Austin's finish. 

Great job boys!

Friday we went to our Thanksgiving block party.  We had a great time and love our new neighborhood!

Friday night we headed to see a Stars game.  Ethan, Taylor and Trent all got on the jumbotron and were so excited. 

It was a great game up until the last minute when they lost in overtime.  We still loved cheering on our favorite home town team. Go Stars! 

Boys' rooms tour

When we saw the house and walked in to the boys' rooms, we were surprised there were french doors that adjoin the rooms.  The boys loved it and decided they wanted to share a room and have the other room be their playroom. 



They love their playroom.  The floor is usually covered with Legos, so I had to snap a picture when it was actually clean.  :)  We still need to paint someday, but that's not very high on our house to-do list.

 

The boys still love their bunkbeds and the rooms are working out great.  Someday we may have to separate them, but it's perfect for us right now.

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at our new house.  I was excited to break in the double oven and have everyone over to celebrate.  The boys helped me peel potatoes for about two minutes.

Our turkey carver

With 8 adults and 9 kids, we had a full house!

If anyone ever wants to come visit us, we have a super cozy bed for our guests.  The stay even comes with a fabulous wake up service that includes being covered with stuffed animals and sung to by a sweet little girl.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We all have so much to be thankful for!

J O B

After four days as a working momma, I'm happy to say that I love working again!  I'm so thankful Erica saw her friend Bill's post about his company's open position on Facebook.  I owe you one Erica! 

 

The view from our office building 

 I'm really enjoying working again and so thankful it all worked out! 

Bon Voyage!

Last night we had a Bon Voyage party for our dear friends Ellen and Tony who are moving back to Minnesota after a three year stint in Texas. 

We had a great time eating barbecue and chatting while the kids played. It was a fun night a nd I'm so thankful to have such great friends in my life.

I'm going to miss you Ellen, but I KNOW we will stay in touch!

Visit to Houston

 Saturday morning we headed to Houston to see Sherry and her family. 

The Webbs and my parents came in town too so we could all watch Tatum in her very first play!

She was a candy girl in Willy Wonka Jr. and did a great job! 

 

We are so proud of you Tatum!