Christmas in CA!

Both my mom and Ross' mom came for a visit to celebrate Christmas. They were able to join us Friday for Jackson's school assembly where he was named "Citizen of the Month."

Then on Saturday we made our way to Martin Ranch Winery for a picnic and some wine tasting. It was a little overcast and wet due to all the rain we've had recently, but it was still a lot of fun! The wine was wonderful too!

After the picnic, we exchanged gifts with my mom and enjoyed a delicious, pre-Christmas meal of gumbo! The kids were SO excited about their gifts. Jackson is blurry in the picture below because he was jumping up and down with excitement over his message bear, which he'd been wanting so everyone can leave him messages...we're still working out the bugs, but let us know if you want to send him a message. He'd love it!

We all went to church and brunch on Sunday morning. Then we split up to enjoy some different activities. Ross and Susan went to a bowling alley to watch the Cowboys game, which they won, and my mom, the kids, and I made our way to San Francisco to visit the zoo and Union Square.

My mom left early Monday morning. I took the week off with the kids and Susan while Ross worked most of the week getting ready for the Consumer Electronics show in January! We spent the early part of the week wrapping presents, finishing shopping, baking cookies, and playing around.

On Christmas Eve, we spent the morning decorating cookies for Santa. They were good!

We had a delicious meal cooked by Chef Ross before heading to the Christmas Eve service. Jackson said our prayer before supper that evening, which included thanking God for making Santa so we could celebrate Jesus' birthday in such a fun way...so cute! The kids loved both the music and the message at church, and they went to bed faster than I've ever seen when we got home! They are at such a fun age to enjoy the Christmas season right now!

Jackson was the first one awake, and he waited patiently in our room for Audrey to wake up. Once she was up, it was a mad dash to their stockings!

We were all pretty spoiled this year. It was so fun to see the pure joy on the kids faces as they opened their gifts, screamed in excitement, and jumped up and down in celebration over things as simple as a new bath scrubber!

The picture above where it looks like Jackson is choking Audrey is actually him hugging her for the gift she chose for him...a flying Iron Man! After the chaos settled out, Jackson and Ross both got to play with their new remote controlled toys (Ross got a car that drives and flies). We were impressed with how well Jackson did with it!

Audrey was most excited about her makeup set, which she quickly started using. I love that her first application included blue blush...after all, blue is her favorite color right now!

As the day progressed, some of the more complicated toys were opened. Jackson LOVES Snap Circuits, and he got two new sets for Christmas (lights and a rover). He put the rover together and had lots of fun recording and delivering messages on it, as well as shooting discs at Audrey!

Audrey put together one of her Goldie Blox sets, which was really cool to see! It teaches engineering principles in a way that engages young girls really well. She was so proud of her work!

At the end of the day, the kids were wearing their head-lamps from Grandmother and measuring things with Jackson's new measuring tape, which broke fairly quickly and provided entertainment for the adults and kids as we took it apart and fixed it. The adults ended the day playing games and laughing at ourselves. It was a wonderful Christmas!

If you didn't get enough, there are more pictures in the album!

Christmas Fun

Christmas Eve started with cookie decorating. Jackson was more interested in making each cookie look like what it is supposed to be this year, and Audrey was interested in making sure every spot of icing was completely covered in sprinkles. They each picked out a couple they wanted to eat, as well as a couple for Santa. They also wanted to make sure they gave one to Mrs. Claus in case she was in the sleigh too. They each wrote a note so Santa would know which ones were for Mrs. Claus. (I didn't manage to get a pic of the cookies they made, so this one is courtesy of my dad.)

We went to the early church service at 2 PM where we enjoyed worshiping and hearing a great Christmas message. The kids did really well throughout the service. The church handed out little coloring packets, which were perfect to keep them entertained during the message (they are normally in a kids service on Sundays). They loved the candlelight and singing of Silent Night at the end of the service. The hot chocolate and cookies after church were a hit as well.

My Dad and the Newman family joined us for dinner that evening. We had Ross' delicious chicken and sausage gumbo with a variety of desserts. The kids had fun running off the sugar while the adults chatted, and I got in a little snuggle time with baby Caleb. When the Newmans left, Jackson and Audrey were excited to put on their pajamas and get to bed so Santa could come and they could exchange gifts!

Santa brought each of them just what they wanted...a marble run and an American Girl doll. He also ate all of his cookies and delivered Mrs. Claus' cookies as requested. However, he did leave the eyes of one of the cookies for them to have one last taste.

Everyone was excited the next morning. We awoke to hear the kids discovering their toys from Santa in the living room. We quickly jumped out of bed so we could enjoy seeing the excitement on their faces. Unfortunately, I wasn't awake enough to operate the camera well at 5:30 AM, so the initial pics of Jackson didn't come out. The one below is from his first run of the marbles though! The kids enjoyed helping all of us go through our stockings too.

We spent the next several hours opening gifts and eating breakfast. Unfortunately, not long before we finished, I realized I had a stomach bug. After the last gift was opened and the real playing began, I crawled back into bed and didn't emerge again until late in the evening. I still enjoyed hearing the sounds of laughter and fun throughout the house though. Ross and my Dad played with them all day! My heart was filled with joy just knowing how much fun they were all having (a little disappointed not to be able to join in, but mostly joyful).

I managed to squeeze in a game with Ross and my dad while I watched a movie on the couch that night, which helped me feel like I was part of the fun. Fortunately, I woke up feeling almost normal the next day. Unfortunately, my dad caught the bug and spent the entire day after Christmas in bed...not the best gift I've ever given! He recovered by the next morning as well though, and so far...no one else has gotten it!

Christmas isn't quite over for our family yet. We're gearing up for the final round of gift exchanges with Ross' family in Leakey. However, my favorite moments from Christmas this year have been hearing Jackson and Audrey describe the true meaning of Christmas and seeing the delight they get from giving gifts to those they love. They are such sweet, amazing kids (most of the time)!

Christmas Eve

We spent most of the morning cooking and playing with Grandmother and Pop on Christmas Eve. Then our friends, the Fulliloves, joined us in the afternoon for some snacks before heading to the 4 o'clock service at our church, Gateway Community Church.

Our church has photographers set up in the life center where you can have family pictures taken and enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies before or after the service, which we did!

The service was really nice, but also a little tough for us since it was a strong reminder of how much we all miss John, Ross' dad. The music and message helped keep our focus on the real reason for the season though! Here's a picture of the stickers the kids got to play with courtesy of the church during the message. I think it's pretty amazing to see the difference between the two since they are right at 21 months apart in age.

When we got home, the kids exchanged presents, did a craft, and played while we finished cooking dinner. New matching Christmas PJs from the Fulliloves were huge hit for all the kids!

Before dinner started Emma shared one of her family traditions with us, which was opening Christmas crackers, which contained a paper crown to wear through dinner and a small toy. Not everyone wore their crowns the whole time, but a few of us did!

Dinner was delicious, but the kids were more interested in playing. Then Ross showed them how close Santa was to our houses thanks to the Norad tracker, and they were all eager to go to bed! We took a few last pictures and saw our guests out the door before the kiddos crashed hard.

The adults then had a little fun prepping for Christmas day! There are more pictures in the album

ET's Birthday

I had a GREAT birthday weekend! It started with dinner at Lupe Tortilla with some wonderful friends on Friday after work. While we were there, I realized we've been having my birthday celebration here with the same group of friends for the last five years! Jackson and Audrey loved it because our favorite waiter gathered his friends, put the big, red hat on my head, and stuck a spoonful of whipped cream on my nose while singing happy birthday to me!

Saturday, we managed to dodge the rain and spent the morning at the beach in Galveston with Emma and Clara. The kiddos played hard and took a great, long nap that afternoon, which caused us to change our plans for the evening. We ended up having a nice quiet evening at home with a home-cooked meal and a more traditional birthday cake.

Then on my actual birthday on Sunday, I got to sleep in a little later than usual, but was eventually woken by the kids who were too excited to wait. They'd made special cards for me and wanted to show them to me and tell me all about them! They'd both drawn their own versions of me and either stamped or written their birthday wishes and names. There were also a pair of googly eyes on both cards. Neither pair were part of any particular drawing, so I'm still not sure what that meant...nevertheless, they were precious to me!

The rest of the morning was a whirlwind of birthday pancakes and getting ready for church. We enjoyed a family-oriented church service with Jackson done "Gateway Style" while Audrey enjoyed her regular Sunday school class. It was a lot of fun to watch Jackson sing and dance and worship in his own way and to show him how we worship too.

From there we headed to lunch with the Fulliloves before making our way to the Houston Hobby Center to watch The Lion King! The kiddos powered through with no nap and behaved amazingly well. They were totally awed by the performance, as were the adults! The costumes and performance were truly amazing!

We rounded out the weekend with a delicious meal and dessert at Cullen's, which made for no less than three different birthday desserts! Then I was greeted by yet another b-day dessert at work today...I love celebrating birthdays!

Oh Yes, It's True! Audrey is Two!

Yesterday was Audrey's 2nd birthday, and we celebrated in Minnie Mouse style! There were a lot of pink, black, and zebra print decorations to set the mood, and Audrey absolutely loved it!

Audrey's friends were warmly greeted by the birthday girl and taken to "Audrey's Bowtique" to get dressed up for the day.

Then it was time to color and play! There were Mickey and Minnie coloring pages for everyone.

Next the kiddos pinned the flower on Minnie. At this age it was less of a competition and more of a collaborative decorating game.

"Picnic Time" included some of Audrey's favorite foods, which are fruit, goldfish, teddy grahams, pizza, and cake, of course! Audrey has been singing "Happy Birthday to Audrey" for almost a month now, so I shouldn't have been surprised when she was able to blow out her candles all by herself! I was though, which is why you see me ready to help. She didn't need it though. Little miss independent was able to do it just fine!

Audrey was overwhelmed with amazing gifts from her friends and family, and her friends were ready and willing to help her open them and figure them out!

I had a lot of fun doing all of the decorations and details for Audrey's party this year, but more than anything, I loved getting to celebrate another year with our baby girl with family and friends. We somehow managed not to get any pictures with Ross' folks, and the picture below is one of the only ones of Ross with Audrey (can you tell he's wrapped around her little finger?). I'm truly grateful for the pictures Ross' dad, my dad, and my friend, Whitney, took so I could focus on the big moments throughout the day! Audrey had a VERY happy birthday!

And yes, there are even more pictures in the album.

A Little Miracle Safari Baby Shower

Yesterday we hosted a baby shower along with our friends, Jenny and Brandon (even though we missed Brandon for the actual party), for our wonderful friends, Katie and Jason. These precious couples were part of the first life group we ever lead at Gateway Community Church. We were the core group for a little while, but our "family" quickly grew to include several other couples that will all be life long friends. Yesterday was the first time we've all been together in a couple of years, and what better reason to get old friends together than to celebrate a new life!

Katie and Jason will soon be welcoming Amy Grace into this world, and we couldn't be more happy for them! We based the theme of this shower on the bedding they picked out for Amy, which is a little safari. I have to admit I went a little crazy with the animal print...ask anyone that won a prize (they were all leopard print). Jenny did an amazing job on the cake especially for her first time to ever work with fondant!

And what's a baby shower without a couple of games? (Sorry friends, but yes, I am posting these pics!) The first game we played involved putting a plate on top of your head and attempting to draw a baby on the plate. Katie got to be the judge and decide on the cutest baby. Everyone was a good sport and participated, and we all got some good laughs. Jason was the winner of this game, and therefore, his picture was framed for the lucky couple to take home.

The next game was baby block scrabble where the goal was to come up with the most baby words in scrabble style. We divided into two teams, split up the blocks, and let the game begin! The winning team came up with five words...some of them created some laughs as well.

Eventually, we got down to business and let the excited couple open their gifts...

I didn't get any pictures of the kiddos, but we had several running around playing in the backyard and upstairs. You can see Audrey decided to join the adults for the games. She looked at us a little funny when we put the plates on our heads, but fortunately, she hasn't decided to imitate that action yet.

We all had such a great time being together again that no one wanted to leave, and we didn't want them to go! We ended up pulling out some frozen corn dogs to feed the kiddos and continued snacking for our dinner. It was so wonderful to have everyone together again!

As always, there are more pictures in the album.

Stone Family Reunion

The annual Stone Family Reunion was held over Memorial Day weekend this year, and just about everyone was able to make it this year. It was great!

Before the actual family reunion festivities kicked off, Ross and I made our way to Mudbug Madness with Leslie and all of the kiddos. I used to work at Mudbug Madness with my Dad when I was growing up, so it was fun to be in town while it was going on. We enjoyed some great food and music and look forward to future years when JD is able to participate in more of the kid activities. Having a broken leg kept him from being able to do some fun stuff. He did get to make some sand art and get his hand painted though, so he did have fun! The festival plaza was packed, so we ended up finding a shady spot on the ground by one of the bands to eat our food. The kiddos enjoyed some fried fish while the adults had some crawfish. Then we introduced them to gator-on-a-stick, which was a hit! Audrey especially loved it. Here they are just before we left. I think they were all tired and full!

Saturday evening the family reunion fun began. The schedule of events was the same as previous years. We had dinner at Aunt Dottie and Uncle Jim's on Saturday. Then we had brunch at Susan and John's on Sunday morning, and we headed out to Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Laura's for an evening of swimming, soccer, food, and karaoke! There were a little over 40 family members in attendance this year with almost half that number being kids.

Jackson's favorite part of the weekend was the puppet show Aunt Carol and his cousins put on. Jackson got to be a cow and a pig, and Aunt Carol was sweet enough to let Jackson take his nap with the pig that day. Audrey's favorite part seemed to be swimming. This was her second time in the pool this year. Her first trip was a little cold, but she LOVED it this time! Here are a few pictures from Saturday including one of Ross' Grandfather, Jim Stone, who is the head of this incredible family. There are more pictures of the puppet show and other fun activities in the album.

Baby Zenter's Shower

Yesterday my friend, Pam, and I hosted a shower for Sara. She and her husband, Stephen, are expecting a baby boy in 5 short weeks!

They are decorating with blue, green, and brown, and have a space theme, which means our shower was space themed too. We had lots of fun decorating for this shower. Pam found a perfect invitation, and everything "took off" from there.

Jackson got pretty excited about all of the rockets. He helped me bake the cookies, and he colored rockets while I cut them out. He was excited for Christopher to be getting so much fun stuff, but he wanted to "share" all of it.

Here are some pictures of our decorations.

Pam did an awesome job on the diaper cake. It turned out SO cute!

Somehow, I managed to forget to take a picture of the cookies, but they turned out pretty cute too! They were rockets with Christopher's monogram on them.

We played a couple of unusual baby games at this shower, which turned out to be a lot of fun. We played a pictionary style game with playdough where all the words were some type of baby related object, and we played a scrabble type game using baby blocks. Here was the winning team's final set of words.

After games, the guest of honor opened her gifts while we all said "Oooh" and "Ahhh" about how cute everything was.

It was a fun baby shower. At the end we said thank you to all of her guests with a little something sweet.

Now, we'll just continue the count down and look forward to meeting little Christopher soon!

There are a few more pictures in the album.

Christmas Cookies!

Jackson and I had a cookie date the last two afternoons. Yesterday I picked him up from school early, and we went home to bake cookies. He helped spread the flour and sugar on the counter, roll out the dough, and cut out the shapes.

Then today I picked him up right after nap time, and we spent the afternoon decorating! It was a messy process, but it was lots of fun! We made red, green, and white icing together. Jackson poured in the milk, added the food coloring, and helped stir. When it was time to decorate, he preferred drizzling the icing as opposed to spreading it. He also preferred dumping the sprinkles over gently shaking them, so I quickly learned to pour a little in his hand and let him dump from there. He was very proud of his work, and I was too!

Jackson loves singing Christmas carols. Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa Clause is Coming to Town are sung regularly, which means every snowman cookie was Frosty. He loved making a smiley face and buttons for him. Jackson even tried to make a Rudolph out of a candy cane cookie by giving it a red nose! Here is a picture of the finished cookies. Jackson contributed to each and everyone!

Party Weekend!

Last weekend was a little bit of a blur, but we enjoyed every minute of it. So much so that I actually didn't take many pictures!

Friday afternoon Jackson and Audrey's day care hosted Santa Claus and had their class holiday parties. Audrey's teachers had some delicious cookies and drinks for the parents since the babies were really too young to do much. Jackson's class was ready to party though. They had lots of goodies and even did a little gift exchange. They were adorable!

One of the other moms came in early and did face painting and balloon animals with the kids. Jackson got a snowman!

Jackson was super excited about his gifts, and his Uncle Bud would be too. He got a truck and trailer with a horse in it! He spent most of the afternoon at home driving the horse around and taking him in and out of the trailer. He also got some great books from his teachers!

Finally, the big moment came...the kids got the opportunity to sit in Santa's lap! Jackson did pretty well, but Audrey wanted nothing to do with that nice, bearded man.

We quickly rescued Audrey and made our way back to the class rooms before heading home. There are more pictures of the adorable kiddos in JD and Audrey's classes in the album.

The rest of the evening Friday was spent at our house with our Life Group from church and their families. We had a jolly old time eating, talking, and playing.

Saturday was my office Christmas party. We hosted the ODIN flight control group and their families. We had chili and all the fixin's, and everyone brought an appetizer or a dessert...we definitely weren't short on food! Jackson and Audrey actually made it to bed before anyone showed up, and they slept through the entire party!

Sunday was Ross' birthday! We went to church as usual, and then came home to a special lunch. Jackson helped me bake a cake for Ross, and after naps we all enjoyed a piece!

Sunday evening we celebrated Ross' birthday with a small group of friends at one of Ross' favorite restaurants, The Grille at Cullens. One of Jackson's teachers baby sat for us, so we got to relax and enjoy the evening!