Christmas with Cousins

Amanda and Makenzie






Aunt Wendy, Uncle Brett, Amanda and Emily came to visit. We had so much fun visiting with them. We can hardly believe that Amanda is in Kindergarten and Emily is already 9 months old.

Emily
Rose

Birthday Babes

Makenzie turned 4! I can't believe that our baby girl is already 4. She was so excited to have her birthday that she could hardly wait. She was very specific on what kind of cake she wanted....a pink (strawberry) rainbow cake with flowers on it. And as you can see...she got one. We went to McDonalds for dinner, went to the movies to see Princess and the Frog and came home for cake and presents. She got her first barbie of many I'm sure. She had a great time!





Dinner out with the Grandparents. More cake and more presents.

Marley turned 13! Say What? We're the parents of a teenager? How time flies when you're having fun. This year we got off easy. She wanted an iPod touch and negotiated that for no birthday party. She got a little nervous when she got down to the last gift and it was a big heavy box. Mom tricked her by adding workout weights to the box! We did end up spending the evening at the mall eating at Chick-Fil-A and shopping...two of her favorite things!

Christmas Traditions

Our annual family Christmas picture after the tree is decorated. It was fun watching the kids decorate the tree this year. When Marley and Garrett were little they would decorate the tree and after they went to bed that night I would move all the ornaments up because they would only decorate the bottom half of the tree where they could reach. This year I didn't have to move an ornament! Marley is now tall enough to decorate the top, Garrett the middle and Makenzie the bottom. We've got it made! I unwrap all the ornaments, they put them on and dad supervises from the couch.

We had it all planned out...Santa was in town early this year, we'd go before the mall even opened, we'd be the first in line. We didn't plan on Makenzie doing this! I couldn't resist taking at least one picture. Priceless!

Road Trip

We took a road trip for our nephew Dylan's 1st birthday. He was so adorable opening his presents and eating that yummy cake! Can't believe that he is one already.



Since we were already on the road, we made a weekend trip out of it. We stayed in Buda (outside of Austin) for the night and went to the San Marcos outlet mall. On our way home we went to the San Antonio Zoo. This was Kenzie's first time at the zoo and was amazed at all the animals. We were pleasantly surprised as well as they have done a lot of renovations since we were there last. Well worth the money if you're up that way.


Kenzie monkeying around! Marley the beautiful butterfly! Garrett riding the giant lizzard!

My favorite part of the zoo is the waxed animals. I still remember getting these at the zoo when I was little. Makenzie got a giraffe, Garrett got a crocodile and Marley got a koala bear.

Fall Fun

Halloween was a ton of fun this year for Makenzie. At first she was shy and didn't want to say trick or treat but then soon realized that if she did, she would get candy! There was no stopping her after that. She would practically run from house to house with Marley and Garrett in tow. The girls were Minnie Mouse and Garrett was a hot dog. Garrett's costume was a hit this year. Everyone commented on how cool he was!











Dad scoured the pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin this year. Everyone takes turns at cleaning and carving and here is our finished product! Great job guys!

Marley and friends participated in the 2nd Annual Thrill the World event which is a tribute to Michael Jackson to set a world record and raise money for charity. Click on the link below to see the video. Let us know if you can find Marley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QpJj_YYPms

Our visit to the pumpkin patch. Makenzie and Garrett could care less about picking out a pumpkin! All they wanted to do was play in the hay.

Frio Fun

We made our 7th annual Friends & Frio trip last week. The Bralys, the LaBaumes and LaBaumes all made it and together we spent a week in Concan, Texas. House for 15 please!

This year the river was the lowest we have ever seen it and for the first time since we started going we were actually unable to tube due to lack of water. Regardless, I think it was one of the best years. Last year Mike couldn’t go so it was nice to have him there this year. Makenzie was old enough to really have a good time down on the river so we didn’t have to worry about baby watching duties. Every day we’d head to the swimming hole (which had plenty of water) and sit in the water most of the day and watch the kids swim and jump off the giant rock.

This year we ventured up to Garner State Park for the nightly dance. It was our first time and what a blast it was. For those that haven’t attended, they have an outdoor patio that everyone dances on starting about dark and lasting until 11pm. It’s very hot and everyone has been on the river all day so dress consists of a combination of bathing suits, cowboy boots, summer dresses, and t-shirts. Participants range in age from 6 to 60. We figured the two 12 year old girls and two 14 year old boys would go crazy. However, it was our 8 year old Garrett that turned out to be the ladies man. As he sat in a chair, a young lady asked him to dance but he politely said no. When she asked again later he was up and dancing. She made a monster out of him. After that he was stalking the dance looking for young ladies in his age range. He was so nervous at first. He kept wiping his palms! It was very funny. I’d say he danced with a half dozen young ladies.

The week sadly ended and we headed home a little tanner and very tired. Darren loaded every spare ice chest with softball sized rocks for his flower beds! I happened to find one 80 pounder for mine! As we checked out at Neal’s, Garrett watched 2 little girls cross the parking lot and said, “I danced with her.”!!!! We’ll definitely be back for our 8th Annual!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Garrett and I took a long awaited camping trip to McKinney Falls State Park in Austin. We stayed Friday through Sunday and the weather was beautiful. Mid 90's during the day, low 70's at night with a great full moon. We took our bicycles and by lunch time Saturday had ridden every bike trial they had. We would ride some trails and then head to the Upper Falls and cool off swimming in Onion Creek. Then we'd hit more trails and cool off in the swimming hole at the Lower Falls. Garrett's favorite trail was called the Homestead Trail and it was a winding 2.8 mile loop that started as a packed dirt trail and ended up with about a half mile downhill run over tree roots, rocks, ruts, etc. He did a great job and never munched it (for the curious, no, I didn't wipe out either). Animals sighted were deer, a raccoon (that we fed marshmallows), water turtles (one of which Garrett caught), lizards, and a snake. We saw one of the oldest Cypress trees in Travis County called Old Baldy, estimated to be over 500 years old. We hiked to a rock shelter (overhang) frequented by indians. We cooked some great meals over a fire and slept good to the sounds of frogs, crickets, and other things going bump in the night.

As far as who wore who out, I would say it was a draw between the 8 year old and 42 year old.

Family Pics Sneak Peak

We had a blast today taking our family pics at the beach! We used a fabulous photographer named Amber Bright. She has put a sneak peak of the photos on her website. Go to www.AmberBrightPhotography.com & then click on 'blog'. Can't wait to share more when we get them. Hope you enjoy!

It's about time for an update...

May proves to be a CRAZY month for us! I think that the schools try to cram in every last thing that they can in this month.

Makenzie is wrapping up her Mother's Day Out with a "Party in the Park" complete with McDonald's happy meals! Her last day is next Thursday so that means our family schedule will be changing yet again...no more days off together for Henry and I. Each class has an animal name. Hers is the Skunks...also nicknamed little stinkers! Here is her class...notice she's holding hands with her boyfriend...Dalton! Too cute!

Garrett is SOOOOOOOO ready for summer! He's been counting down the days...11 school days left! He's all about staying up late and sleeping in! We just had Muffins with Mom at school and he's preparing for his performance at the VIPS (Volunteers In Public School) Appreciation Breakfast...should be cute! He will be celebrating his all A's this year at an awards ceremony June 2nd and a Family Picnic on the last day of school. He has been a reading machine this year. He has started reading huge chapter books...great job Garrett!!

Marley just had her Jazz Recital last weekend and was the cutest cowgirl! They performed a routine to an old 80's song...Wild, Wild West. They put on a great show! She also just received an invitation to the Kaffie Middle School Hot 50. 50 kids out of the whole school are nominated each 6 weeks to go to a party in their honor. Should be fun! She's done a great job this year in her first year of middle school. She even received a 100 on her report card last semester from her toughest teacher!! She's gearing up for VBS this summer as she will be a volunteer and not a student this year. She is really looking forward to her last year at Camp Zephyr this summer. We are so proud of her!

Mother's Day was a great relaxing day! I got a bike (and Kenzie carrier) from Henry and the kids so we've been out riding in the evenings. It's been fun and good exercise. Henry is running Beach to Bay today with a group of friends. I am so proud of him for taking on that challenge! He's been busy working some OT at the PD so we can have a fun summer. Thanks Babe! We've got our annual Frio River trip coming up in July and looking forward to a ton of beach time with the kids. I'm sure that Henry will get some golfing done as well. We are also taking family pictures soon so be on the look out for those. We haven't taken a family pic since Garrett was one!