Christmas Memories

Do you still remember Christmas? I'm terribly behind on blog updates, so five months later I'm trying to remember what we did. I'm glad we got a few pictures to help us remember!

Christmas always begins shortly after we return home from Thanksgiving when we pick out our tree. This year was no different. Although, it was raining this time. Of course, that didn't slow us down! We still had fun hiking through the farm to find just the right tree.

Nana was the first visitor to arrive for the holidays. Needless to say, they were excited to see her and loved their gifts!

Grandmother and the Rodriguez family, minus Uncle Philip, were the next to arrive. Jackson and Audrey were so excited to spend some time with their cousins!

I love the next set of pictures from a visit to the park down the street because they show a little of everyone's personality. Audrey is our little monkey and loves to swing around whenever she gets the chance. Jackson is our little sweetheart and was picking flowers for his mom. Mitchell was determined to do things his way in his own time, and when he did, he conquered all!

The San Jose Tech Museum was on our list of adventures during their visit. They enjoyed building roller coasters, flying an astronaut jet pack, and experiencing earthquakes. They also got to enjoy the Christmas festival in the park, which included lots of fun rides! Audrey also squeezed in a little dress-up time while they were here.

Of course, we also enjoyed some down time around the house and exchanged a few gifts. There was a lot of imaginary play as well as board games. It was a lot of fun to watch Jackson and Mitchell playing chess.

Before we knew it, our first round of visitors were gone and Christmas was here! Our family had the privilege of lighting the advent candle at our church on Christmas Eve. We've been so blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful community of believers in the middle of a very diverse area, so it was an honor to light the candle that evening.

Santa brought us all a few gifts that evening, and of course, we all got way more than we needed. The kids were fun to watch in their excitement!

Pop was our next visitor to arrive, and of course he came bearing more gifts.

The best gift we received from everyone was the time we got to spend with them. It's always a magical time, not because of the stuff, but because of the reminder of God's love...through His son and our family.

4th of July in Texas

We spent the week of the 4th of July in Texas again this year. Our first few days were spent in Leakey with the Rodriguez family. We shot fireworks on the 4th. Jackson and Mitchell helped with the display. They both had a blast and only got minor injuries. Really they both just got sparked enough to learn to be careful. We also floated the Frio river, played on the ranch, and celebrated Taylor's first birthday! Everyone was excited. I enjoyed watching Audrey drink in the smell of the cake, Mitchell help his little brother blow out his candles, and Jackson grin from ear to ear watching his baby cousin investigate cake for the first time.

It didn't take long for Taylor to dig into the cake and enjoy driving Mickey around on the icing while singing the hot dog song.

Taylor loved his presents and playing with family. There were lots of giggles and laughter, especially when Mickey did his songs and dances.

If that wasn't enough fun, both kids became go-kart drivers while we were there. Not something that was easy for me to watch! Mitchell taught them to drive...he can't reach the brake, which means they only know one speed, fast. Audrey almost crashed once, and when we had her stop so we could talk to her about how to be safe, we pointed out that she almost crashed. Her response was, "But I didn't!" We all couldn't keep ourselves from laughing since she said it with a huge grin on her face. Watch out world when this one gets her license!

We spent the remainder of the week in Fredericksburg with my Dad and the Money family. We went swimming and checked out the local farmers market and their vineyard. The kids loved playing together, and we had a wonderful time visiting and helping out however we could.

We wrapped up our visit to Texas with a visit to one of our all-time favorite restaurants in Austin, Trudy's. It was even better than we remembered! Great way to end a great week!

There are more pictures in the album.

Christmas with the Taylor/Rodriguez Family

We had the most wonderful Christmas season this year! We had family at our house for 3 weeks straight with a maximum of 10 people sleeping at our house at one point, which might sound overwhelming to some, but it was SO much fun and such a blessing in so many ways. Living in California with most of our family in Louisiana and Texas, but also spread from Connecticut to California, means it's harder to get together. Having so many people willing to travel to spend time with us was amazing!

The same day my mom left town, Susan, Leslie, Philip, Mitchell, and Taylor arrived! Baby Taylor was often the center of attention, providing lots of entertainment and smiles. He has the most infectious laugh, which the kids enjoyed getting him to do by playing peek-a-boo. They also discovered how much Taylor loves to listen to singing. Any time he would fuss, they would start singing him Christmas songs and lullabies, which quickly calmed him down. The kids were also entertained by playing with fun Star Wars apps on Uncle Philip's phone!

Their first full day here was mostly spent hanging out. However, Audrey had a gymnastics camp to attend, so Leslie and Philip took Mitchell and Jackson to see the new Star Wars movie. This was Jackson's second viewing of the movie...we went as a family for Ross' b-day while my mom was in town.

We spent most of Christmas Eve visiting, preparing food, decorating cookies, and playing. We got a few pics of the kids before we left for church. They did amazingly well in the service and loved lighting candles and singing "Silent Night." When we got home the kids all put on their matching Moosletoe pajamas, and Jackson led everyone in singing a few more Christmas carols.

After a few more group photos under the tree, the kids laid out their cookies for Santa. Jackson read everyone a book, and they snuggled into bed, anxiously waiting to see what Santa might bring!

Christmas morning came early and was over quick! Jackson and Audrey were both beyond excited to find their most wished for presents under the tree. They both asked for Bitty Babies because they both LOVE taking care of babies! Then the chaos of gift unwrapping began. Before we knew it, we were done and had piles of paper and presents everywhere! We took a short break for cinnamon rolls and our traditional egg casserole somewhere in the midst of the gift exchange.

It rained most days during their visit, so we were grateful for a break on Christmas day. We took advantage of it by driving to Woodside, CA for a hike. It felt great to be in the beautiful outdoors! Even Taylor wore himself out, and fell asleep in my arms by the end of the trek. After our hike, I drove Leslie, Philip, Mitchell, and Audrey along the "skyline" where we enjoyed some picturesque views of the Bay Area.

The next day we made our way to the Dell'Osso Family Farm for a little winter delight. We started the adventure with some snow tubing. It was a blast! We had tickets that let us go down the slides as many times as we wanted for 90 minutes. Mitchell wasn't much of a fan, but Jackson and Audrey didn't want to stop! They rode with us on double tubes, as well as by themselves in single tubes where they could spin in circles. Every ride ended with a huge grin and often some belly laughs.

While we were busy tubing, Mitchell and Leslie did some ice skating, which Mitchell loved! We all did a little snowball throwing, and the kids did some pillow jumping and roller coaster riding. I'd say it was a successful day!

My dad joined us that evening, and the Taylor/Rodriguez family headed home the next day. We were sad to see them go, but we enjoyed every moment they were here! There are several more pictures in the album!

Thanksgiving in Leakey

We traveled to Texas for the week of Thanksgiving this year. The trip started off with an exciting ride around the ranch...until the Polaris died. Then we had fun attempting to push it back to the house. We eventually gave up, but both kids did their best to help! We ended up walking back and towing it later.

Tuesday was our nephew's birthday. Mitchell turned 6 while we were there, so we got to join him at school for a little celebration with his friends!

We also got to meet our newest nephew, Taylor! He is 4 months old now, and he is so sweet and wonderful! We all loved getting to hold him, play with him, and make him laugh and smile. Both Jackson and Audrey were amazing with him. They really love both of their cousins!

Despite a little chill in the air, the kids decided to play in the river. They got a little wet and had a ton of fun!

It was a wonderful way to spend our Thanksgiving week!

There are more pictures in the album.