New Years Eve 2010

The kids went to spend the night with my parents on Thursday after we all went out to dinner. After a very long day with the kids (and 6 straight days of being home with them) I was happy to let them go! :) Yeah, we practically got kicked out of Hobby Lobby and I was on the verge of tears all the way home! Running errands with the two of them is a nightmare. After dinner Jason and I basked in the silence and went shopping together at the outlet mall and then came home and relaxed in front of the television. The kids of course had a blast at my parents house and were in grandkid heaven. They ate pancakes, swung on the swing set, rode their 3 wheelers about 1/2 a mile, harvested acorns (my children are hoarders!), chased bubbles, drew with sidewalk chalk, splashed in the bathtub, and Landon played with play dough the whole 2+ hours while Emerson napped. He was inspired by the snowmen on the kitchen table to make play dough snowmen and he even thought to use white play dough as snow on the ground and he wanted my mom to help him make happy and sad faces on various snowmen.

I slept in the next morning on New Years Eve (and enjoyed every second of silence!)and Jason went to work until about 11:30am. We then got some stuff done around the house and ran some errands and picked the kids up around 4:15 and headed to meet Jason's family for dinner at a Mexican restaurant....which is always interesting with a 5 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, and a 4 month old!! Never a dull moment! 2 margaritas made it more bearable! :) Uncle Marion and Keith joined us and I'm sure were glad to go home after dinner. Ha! After dinner we went back to Jason's parents house where the kids played (or I should say fought), snacked, the women socialized, and the men played poker in the garage. Jason's aunt, uncle, cousin, and her boyfriend came over too. We left around 11:35 and left the kids there to spend the night with Nana and Grandpa. At home we had an awesome fireworks show right outside our back windows/back patio at midnight that went on until almost 1am. It was literally like being at a fireworks show! Next year we are staying here and are setting up our chairs on the back patio for a front row seat. I'll add pictures from New Years Eve dinner as soon as I get them from my mother-in-law's camera.

Thanks Santa!

The final product

Santa Claus brought Landon and Emerson a swing set for Christmas, a very very tall one as requested by Landon (while stretching his body up tall and reaching for the sky to demonstrate). But, Grandpa and Daddy had to put it together since Santa didn't have time. 3 long days and 1041 screws later it was done. I think Jason is done with swing sets since this was his 2nd one to build as we left the other one at the old house. So far the kids love it and I know they will spend many hours playing on it. We are fortunate that Jason is so handy and great at anything and everything around the house. There is seriously nothing he can't do! Thanks Santa and thanks Grandpa for all of your help too!

Christmas Evening

On Christmas Day Jason's family came over to our house around 4pm to celebrate Christmas. Traditionally we go up to Chappell Hill on Christmas morning but Jason's grandma is now in a retirement center in Brenham and not at her house and Jason's Uncle Marion recently had hip replacement surgery and he couldn't travel to his place in Chappell Hill for his first Christmas without Aunt Alice. It's definitely been a tough year. We didn't want Uncle Marion and his boys to celebrate it alone so we wanted them to come over and celebrate with us. We could still deeply feel Aunt Alice's absence but still managed to have a good time with some laughter. She would of wanted us to have a good time. Uncle Marion even made Jason's favorite dessert that Aunt Alice made for Jason every year, Blueberry Banana Pie....they are/were both great cooks and are so very thoughtful; you couldn't find any better people.

Jason grilled the best fajitas ever and we had all the trimmings, dips, chips, sausage/cheese balls, stuffed jalapenos (delicious!!), homemade tamales, fruit salad, and a table absolutely full of about 10-12 different type of desserts. Oh my, we were all stuffed! The guys enjoying cutting up, drinking a little too much, and watching football. The kids had fun opening up presents. First we opened up presents that Uncle Marion and cousins Richard, Keith, and Bonnie so graciously gave the kids. Richard, who Landon absolutely adores and has taken a big liking to the past few months, gave Landon a basketball from Texas State (he lives in New Braunfels) autographed by all of the players. Landon and Barrett got toy shotguns and Emerson got a precious Barbie and horse set. Next the kids tore into their presents from Nana and Grandpa and Uncle Kenny, Aunt Julie, and cousins Barrett and Weston. Landon was seriously done in about 2 minutes while Emerson took over 30 min. as she tore off a piece of paper inch by inch and stopped each time to put each piece in the trash bag. She was so meticulous and patient where Landon just tore into his like a wild man. Everyone seemed to enjoy watching the kids' present opening skills, their excitement, and looking at all of the goodies. It was a lot of fun! I didn't get many pictures as I was busy hosting but Patsy did so I will add those when I get them.


Eating dinner with Uncle Marion


Showing off his basketball from Richard

Piece by piece!

Testing out their toy shotguns



Tearing into the presents!



Taking her sweet time!

Christmas Morning

We got home late from my parents house on Christmas Eve so we rushed to set out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer but totally forgot the milk....poor Santa must of been thirsty! :) Landon made sure we also opened the glass doors to the fire place so Santa could get in. We read The Night Before Christmas and tucked the eager and anxious kids into bed after a million questions. Landon was worried about Santa not having time to build the swing set and he quickly designated Jason to build it for him. He was also worried as to how he would get all the wood to our house and down the chimney. After they were tucked in my parents stopped by to help drop off some things for Santa as he needed help. :)

Landon surprisingly slept in until about 8:30am and came right into our room. with excitement he said he saw some presents and the slide in the dining room and that Santa came. We kept him in the kitchen while I cooked and we ate breakfast. We finally woke Emerson up around 9:20am to eat breakfast and then they got to tear into their presents....I was surprised with how patient they were with new toys just a few feet away! Patient is not typically a word to describe my kids! :) The kids had fun exploring each and every one of their new toys (although it always seems that they like the other kids' toys more...I think next year I'm just going to buy 2 of everything as they fight over EVERY toy!!) and then Jason had the brilliant idea to let the kids slide down the stairs on the slide. Leave it up to him!! Landon had a blast giggling with delight even though it seemed pretty scary as it was up high, it was very fast, and he came sliding down on the floor in his socks almost slipping each time due to the speed. Emerson went up there but was too scared to go down as it was high. Jason guided her down once but that was all she would partake in. After sliding we showed the kids the rest of the swing set boxes in the garage where Santa left them. Landon immediately noticed the reindeer hoof marks on one of the swing set boxes and was worried that they crushed the wood. :) He was so curious as to why they did that and wanted to make sure nothing was damaged. Landon and his questions keep us on our toes and out of our minds most of the time!!!! We spent the rest of the day getting the house ready for Jason's side of the family Christmas night while the kids played with all of their new stuff....and fought over it too! :)


I took this picture yesterday as I forgot to take one with the stockings full and Santa's plate of cookies on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

We started off our Christmas Eve with a wonderful church service at 4pm. Emerson went to her nursery class but apparently Landon's Sunday school class was meeting somewhere else so he ended up coming with us and my parents to church. He did fine, was just a little bit squirmy. At the end of the service we did a candle lighting while singing Silent Night. It was an amazing sight and it left me speechless. It was also a great moment for reflection. Landon was in awe as well. After church we went to my parents house to open presents, enjoy a delicious meal of beef tenderloin with all the sides and yummy pies, and let the kids play their little hearts out. Jason and I were also able to sneak in some watching of Christmas Vacation.....our favorite! It absolutely poured for several hours which made it fun to load the presents and kids into the truck. My parents also came to our house a little bit later after we left to drop off a special delivery from Santa....hoof prints and all from the reindeer on the box! :)


Opening up presents





Having a blast with his new toy. The kids love these! They are rather annoying but the kids think they are hysterical.


Attempting to take pictures of the kids. The kids and my camera were not cooperating!



Cute pictures of the kids with Grandpa and Grandma