A Weekend in Abilene

A few days after Christmas, my parents took Aidan and Avery on a short road trip to Abilene to see my grandparents (Great-Pa and Gamma). Daniel and I got to stay home with no kids for the first time in I don't know how long! It was incredibly nice to sleep late and get out and do what we wanted without worrying about nap schedules, sippy cups, and loading/unloading little ones. Anyway, they got back today and here are some pics from my mom's camera. There was some snow in Abilene, which may be the most my kids have ever seen at once! We leave tomorrow for one last round of Christmas with Daniel's mom's side, and then we're done!

Christmas Part 1

Merry Christmas!!! We are spending a nice day at home with my parents and brother. A few days ago Grandpa, Nanna, Kathleen, and Jacob were here so we exchanged gifts with them...a horse and stable toy for Avery, and a neat tool bench for Aidan (oh, and a Snuggie for me!!!!). Did I mention we had a bit of a white Christmas in Texas? Last night the kids helped Grammy make some Christmas cookies, some of which we left for Santa to enjoy. They each unwrapped a new pair of pajamas and read some stories (one of which was A Pirate's Night Before Christmas, which my parents brought for Aidan!). Santa paid us a visit and left Aidan Buzz Lightyear and Woody, just like he had asked for. Avery got a talking toy phone, as well as a neat spring rocking horse from my parents! They got tons more, these are just the highlights :) We still have Daniel's mom's side of the family to go so there are still some presents that the kids haven't gotten yet. In a couple of days the kids are taking a brief road trip with my parents to see my grandparents in Abilene. Which means a kid-free "stay-cation" for me and Daniel! Merry Christmas, we are blessed to have you as family and friends :)

Christmas Program

Today was the kids' last day of MDO for the year (boooo, always a sad day for me!!) and they had their Christmas program this morning. It was Avery's first year to participate and she spent some of her time on stage trying to wander off...typical Avery. Although Aidan knew his songs and loves to sing them at home, he's not much of a performer when he's on stage (similar to his church choir recital). But they sure looked cute! Aidan was one of the three wise men in the pageant at the end. My brother was in town just for the day so he got to come watch too.

Sing, sing a song

Aidan just joined the preschool choir at our church and made his debut in the Childrens' Choir Christmas production last night. The preschoolers sang two songs with the big kids and although Aidan ended up getting a little distracted with all that was going on behind him, he had practiced hard and knew the songs. Daddy, Avery, and I were very proud that he was such a good boy on stage :) His friend Kaelyn and her mommy came to watch and Aidan was so happy to see them! Here are a picture and a couple of videos...Aidan is in the front on the right, wearing a blue sweater.

The Tradition Continues

Avery was a trooper all day during our annual "Day at Northpark". We had a lot of time to kill before it was our turn to see Santa (see post below) and she was in good spirits the whole time. However, when it was time to see Santa she was NOT filled with joy and wonder. Aidan had a great little chat with Santa once his screaming sister was removed from the scene :) He told Santa he wanted a Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story. Behold our "cherished memory" as well as the ones from years past!

2009:

2008:

2007:

2006:

The Classic...me and my brother Jason, 1980:

A Day at Northpark

Today I took the kids for our annual trip to Northpark Mall to see the Real Santa! He is so wonderful and we've gone every year since Aidan's first Christmas. This outing is SUCH an ordeal but I can't help myself because Northpark is such a great place to be around the holidays. Usually I make Daniel come but since he was in D.C. all week on business, I decided to take his sister Lindsay who came to stay with us for a few days (she'll be living with us for a month or two while she looks for a job in DFW). I think if I'd gone without her, I'd have had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the mall. Here's how seeing Santa works at Northpark: they start passing out numbered tickets at 9am. The number you get is the order you see Santa after storytime. We didn't get there until 9:30 so we were #98. Storytime is at 10:30 (but you have to get there really early to find a spot to sit). When it was over at 11, we had an early lunch with our friends from Mom's Club. Since this mall doesn't have a big play area for kids (grr!), we went to a puppet show at 12 and another one at 12:30, then we played at the fountain and then a pond area with turtles and ducks. We then stopped to look at some SPCA pets to kill some more time, then we FINALLY got to see Santa at 2:00...just minutes before his half-hour break, thank goodness! After that we had to order our picture, so all in all we spent a good five hours at the mall. I'll post the Santa picture in a separate post ;) Aidan and Avery were troopers the whole day although Avery is everywhere and not good at sitting still. Lindsay was a lifesaver along with my friend Jennifer and her daughter Erika who are so good with Avery! I am so glad to get this tradition over with...until next year!

Santa at storytime:

Looking at the fountain:

Erika and Aidan throwing in some money:

The crowd at the second puppet show:

Watching the ducks:

Playing on a brick flowerpot thing that has been around since I was a kid!

Me with my hero, Aunt Lindsay!

Snowball Fight!

We had a good old-fashioned snowball fight with our Mom's Club this week! Since we live in Texas where real snowballs don't exist, we bought them from Bahama Bucks. Avery wasn't sure what to do but Aidan got the hang of it pretty quickly! I had to explain that his friends did NOT appreciate having snowballs thrown in their faces. It was FREEZING out so we headed home as soon as the last snowball was tossed.

A Very Kaelyn Weekend

This past Saturday Aidan and I went to see his friend Kaelyn's first dance recital. It was outdoors (part of a local Christmas festival) so we bundled up! Aidan brought Kaelyn a rose to congratulate her, and to also wish her happy birthday since she turned 4 that day :) Aidan's friend Ryan was also there to see his main squeeze Taylor. Two cute couples! The next day we went to Kaelyn's birthday party.