Christmas Eve Fun!

Every year the kids beg to open a present on Christmas eve. A few years ago, we let them open one which was Christmas pajamas that they can wear that night. The tradition has continued and now even mom and dad get new pajamas. I wrap all of the pajamas in the same size box and same wrap so they can easily spot them. As they were waiting to open their presents they started wrestling. Too cute! Garrett is usually the first to have his on as he strips down right there on top of all the wrap. This year Makenzie got pajamas that match her bitty baby. She was thrilled! And here they are in their pajamas...


They each got to make their own reindeer food. Makenzie added EXTRA glitter to her oats to make sure they wouldn't miss it!

Christmas eve wouldn't be complete without leaving cookies and milk for Santa. We made homemade sugar cookies and had fun decorating them. Everyone got to pick out one cookie that they made for Santa.

Christmas Stuff

We had a blast making miniature salt dough ornaments this year. Everyone painted their own creations. We tied some to Christmas presents for family and hung some on the tree.

This is our newest tradition! Meet Jack B. Nimble (aka Jack). This little elf watches children's behavior during the day and reports to Santa at night. Each night when he returns from the North Pole he is in a new spot. They (including Henry) race each other out of bed to see where he is. Jack has gone back to the North Pole but will return next year after Thanksgiving. We highly recommend this little guy. We had a blast! http://www.elfontheshelf.com/

We even made a Gingerbread House. I think that they ate more candy then they put on the house!

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.