Last post today...promise

I would post pics but our camera is broken. I need to take it to get fixed this week. Promise more pics later.

The day after Christmas was Jarrett's 30th! His 4 younger cousins all came over to babysit the kids and cousin Nolan while we ate dinner at the club with Aunt Alli, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Matt, the Hill's and the Welch's. Thanks so much for celebrating with us the day after Christmas! Thanks cousins for taking care of the kiddos. Hope ya'll had fun. Come spend the night any time you want! Jarrett...happy bday! Can't wait to really celebrate with ya at the Cotton Bowl later this week! I love you and am proud of what you have accomplished at such a young age. Remember our sermon today at church about HOPE! Have a plan, Open eyes and heart to new ideas, Plan for the future and Empower other people!

More about Christmas

After a morning of being kindof emotional because we didn't have plans on Christmas Eve, our friends Jennifer and Chris Hill invited us over for dinner after we all went to church. The kids had a great time playing with Price and Walker, and Jarrett and I had a great time having some adult conversation with great friends and their family. They were so sweet to include us during the the holiday season. We are thankful for their friendship.

We opened presents the next morning and Davis was definitely in the Christmas spirit. He loves his new big boy bike and Spiderman helmet Santa got him. Reese is enjoying playing with her new kitchen and having tea parties with us. So cute to see each of them explore, play pretend and get so excited about the little things.

We went over to Matt and Carrie's house for the afternoon and evening with ALL of Jarrett's family. The kids had a ball opening more and more presents from Jarrett's aunts, Omie/Opie, Aunt Alli and Aunt Carrie and Aunt Cheryl. When we were finally ready to head back to Boerne, we filled the car to the top with all the new gifts. I am forever greatful for the generous family who loves our kids so very much.

Christmas was a memorable one! It is always hard to let go of some old traditions that we grew up having, but starting new one's with our own family is so neat. Here are a few traditions we are starting with our family. I always like new ideas too, so feel free to send some to me.

Christmas Traditions:

• make a bday cake for Jesus and sing happy bday


• make cookies for Santa


• put out reindeer food for the reindeer


• ring Santa's sleigh bells by the kids window while the other parent is reading them books


• kids get 3 gifts from mom and dad...because the Wise Men brought 3 gifts to baby Jesus...gives us a chance to talk about why we celebrate Christmas and saves us money!


• clean out the play room with old toys and make a box to give to a boy/girl that won't get presents this year--Davis asked me this morning if the boy we gave presents to liked his toys. I thought that was cute,,,he actually remembered we did that for someone.

Christmas Chaos is over! Until next year...

Wow! We made it through the holidays. I always look forward to the Christmas season but by the time we are at the end of the month, I am glad it is over and we will be back to a normal routine...starting tomorrow!

We made a fast trip to Katy to visit Belle, Gee and Daddoo and celebrate Christmas with them the weekend before actual Christmas. We also made it to the annual Dickey/Duffy Christmas party to see our Sugarland (and a few Katy) friends. It was so nice to catch up with everyone there. I think there were 8 girls pregnant!!! I am excited that this group is finally getting on the bandwagon and having some kiddos. Now they may understand why we have to get home before midnight, figure out a meal place by 6 pm instead of 9, and make it somewhere to nap in the middle of the afternoon.

Christmas at Belle's the week before was fun. Davis got a scooter and he thinks it is his only means of transportation inside the house now. "PLEASE don't break anything." That is all I keep saying to him. Reese got a pink grocery cart. Sooo cute. We had fun seeing Belle's house all decorated for Christmas time. It was so pretty.

Jarrett's 1st buck

Jarrett spent this week on a friends' ranch in Freer, TX. I am proud to report that after many visits to this ranch and many early mornings sitting waiting for just the right deer to arrive, Jarrett shot a nice 8 point! He is so thrilled about it...and I am just trying to figure out where the heck I am going to hang this thing in our home? Not sure if I am a fan of dead animals everywhere, but I will always be proud of Jarrett's kill! He has always wanted to shoot one. Thanks John and Blake for your hospitality on the ranch and for helping Jarrett clean the thing. We have plenty of deer meat if anyone is interested in joining us for a meal!

Visiting San Fransisco to see cousins and Aunt Joy/Uncle Craig

Nothing is better than making a HUGE deal out of going on a plane ride! This was Davis' first plane experience that he actually could understand and he was stoked. We took all kinds of activities to play on the 5 hour trip to make sure the kids would behave. Fortunately, they did great!

We arrived in San Fran last Thurs and played at the park with cousins and had dinner with my brother, Joy and their 3 kids. We stayed in a hotel with the kiddos and that was a BLAST! Running through the halls, jumping on beds, slumber party at night, movie and cuddling time. I would consider getting a hotel for a special occasion even right here in Boerne to change the scenery. It really was fun. Davis learned how to ride Bryan and Dawson's scooter and Reese mastered how to play "baby" with all of Megan's girl toys. It was so nice to celebrate an early Christmas with our family and get to be in their enviroment and spend good time with them for a few days.

The plane ride home...that is a different story! We took off at 1:30 and didn't get home until 12:45 am!!! The pilot tried to land in San Diego 2 times, but was unsuccessful due to bad weather. Rather scary when you are in landing gear at 400 feet from the ground and all of a sudden the pilot guns it to get us back in the air as fast as he can! He did this twice before announcing that we were running low on gas and would have to fly to LA to refuel and then try to land again in San Diego. Needless to say...everything ended up ok, but staying on the same plane for 9 hours with 2 kids under the age of 3 is NOT what I call fun! Not sure if Jarrett will be in for another family vacation by plane anytime in the near future.

We made it home safely and are thankful for the new memories we made with our family in San Fran. Still keeping my fingers crossed that ONE DAY they will move back to Texas!!!

Already?

I was washing dishes yesterday and Reese walked over to me and said, "poo poo." I asked her if she needed to potty and she nodded her head no. I looked inside her pants and she had just pooped!!!! Do you really think she is already showing early signs of potty training? She is only 16 months! Crazy or lucky, not sure which. But, the sad thing is that I thought I would be so excited to be done with diapers but it kindof makes me sad. Maybe that means we will have to have 3...one day...a long time from now!

Christmas in the Hill Country

Our family has a busy December planned and this weekend was the start of really celebrating the Christmas season. Saturday morning Aunt Robin came over and brought a pre-lit Christmas tree for us to borrow. Then we took the kids up to the Cordillera club to decorate gingerbread houses and drink hot chocloate. We met some of our best friends up there for the party. Davis licked more of the icing off of the house and ate more of the candy instead of decorating. He reminded me so much of his daddy and how much Jarrett enjoyed (and still does) sweets. Reese walked around with cookies in both hands happy as could be. By the time they finished decorating the house with help of Aunt Robin and Braden and Jaxon, it looked like they just threw up candy all over gingerbread house. I am guessing in the years to come their artistic ability will dramatically be better than it was this year. All that matters was that they had a ball.

After church on Sunday we went to our park in the neighborhood and saw Santa Claus and some beautiful horses that live here on the ranch. Davis wasn't so sure about Santa or the horse but he sat on both of them without crying. Reese was NOT liking Santa at all, but he sure did like her. Every time he would wave or make eye contact with her she would start screaming. Quite hilarious. Once she figures out that he is the one to bring her presents maybe her attitude will change. They also got to sit on a horse for the first time. Once again...both apprehensive but brave enough to do it. Reese is our little animal lover. If she is anything like her Aunt Alli, we will probably be a family with a bunny, hamster, dog, horse, etc in the years to come.

We managed to put our tree up on Sunday as well. Davis enjoyed decorating the tree with all the ornaments that weren't breakable. Reese has taken a liking to Pooh bear and keeps taking him off of the tree and carrying him around. Now I know why I don't spend a lot of money on beautiful ornaments yet!

Last work day for a while

Today I drove to Houston to visit one of my accounts for work before the holiday. I always love going because I get to take my mom to lunch and usually a little bit of shopping happens. This time it was even more special because I even had enough time to suprise my Gee and Daddoo and visit with them for a little bit (without kids climbing on me and needing me). This Thursday Belle took a half day so we got to spend the afternoon getting Christmas shopping done. I love the Christmas music...most of the time! We were in Marshall's and this one singer was singing about Santa coming to town and you would have thought he was about to fall over and die. It was sooooo slow and deep that we couldn't help but start laughing hysterically. Might not sound funny to you, but I think mom and I made a new funny memory. Only uplifting Christmas music please!!

On another note...I have the next 3 weeks off from work. Stay at home mommy to the max! YEA

Freaky Friday

This morning I was awoke by Davis at 7 instead of 6:30! I was so excited and thought for sure it was going to be a good day. Well...then Reese decided to wake up on the wrong side of the bed! She has been screaming crying all day long. Totally not like her. I hope she isn't getting sick! At least Davis is being a good boy. We were driving to they gym and Reese was screaming bloody murder. Davis couldn't hear the Christmas music so he yelled, "stop pitching a fit Reese. It doesn't make mommy happy." At least he gets it. Just wish he practiced what he preached sometimes!!!