Brunch with the Hilliards

Our friends, the Hilliards, are in San Antonio for the holidays, so we met them halfway in San Marcos for brunch. Not only did we discover a yummy cafe, but we got to spend time and catch up with some of our favorite people. Dax and Ava are only a couple weeks apart, so they had fun making eyes at each other across the table and, later, chasing each other on the lawn of the courthouse. We were sad to see them go, but hope to see them again soon.

Future lovebirds?


Oh, the joy!

Merry Christmas!

Dax had a wonderful Christmas this year. For Christmas Eve, Grandma, Uncle Travis, Aunt Hollie, & Payton, plus Aunt Kay, Dane, and Chance all got together for gumbo. All the ladies helped with the cooking and the gumbo came out pretty darn good. Hollie made some very fancy cupcakes, that were very yummy, too.

Chance came with me, Duane, and Dax to Grandma's church. Chance took Dax up for children's time. It was very cute. And, Chance had the good sense to know when it was time to bail (we were silently thinking "abort!" right as Chance got up to bring him back).

On Christmas morning, Grandma joined us and the Grays to open presents. Dax was very helpful and enjoyed playing "santa" and handing out the gifts. He apparently thought Grandma needed more gifts because he kept taking gifts from Dane and giving them to her. We all (except Dane) thought it was sweet. ;-) When Dax started opening his gifts, he somehow knew just what to do. He tore right through the paper and got to the good stuff.

That afternoon we enjoyed a family favorite meal of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (a hot bread dish that is awesome with gravy). The pudding turned out great and we realized that bacon fat really does make things better.

With full bellys and armloads of gifts, we truely appreciated the wonderful time with family counting our blessings and celebrating Jesus' birth.

The community cooking effort

Our traditional Christmas Eve gumbo

My wonderful hubby

Enjoying the food and family

Aunt Hollie's yummy cupcakes

Playing with Payton

At children's time with Chance

Enjoying his train

He LOVES his wagon

3 of our favorite people - we're so glad they spent Christmas with us!

Aunt Kay's Birthday

Today is Aunt Kay's birthday. We are so happy she's here with us to celebrate. We took her (and everyone else) to Dax's Gymboree class. The teachers were a little surprised to see 3 adults and 2 teenagers coming in to the class! As usual, Dax had a great time and we enjoyed watching Aunt Kay play with Dax. Dane and Chance both took Gymboree classes when they were little, so they had fun reminiscing (they still knew some of the songs -- but, then again, it's really hard to get them out of your head sometimes).

After a tour of Concordia University's new campus (Dane has been accepted there), we drove out to the Salt Lick for bar-b-que. Oh, just the smell when you're driving up is enough to make you happy! Dax was in rare, amped-up form. Good thing we outnumbered him 5-to-1.

To cap off the day, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights (a tradition for Aunt Kay's birthday -- it's also a tradition for her to play peek-a-boo with Dax so that he laughs, and then suddenly starts crying, but there was no crying this year). We were happy to see that 35th Street has kept up the crazy light displays. Since we figured we'd done enough walking at the Trail of Lights the day before, we just drove 35th Street. But, it was still fun (and much warmer).

At Gymboree

Bubbles!

Waiting patiently for his stamp (on his belly, obviously)

Fired up at the Salt Lick BBQ

Checking out the pit at Salt Lick

One of the houses on 35th Street

Trail of Lights with the Grays

The Grays came in to town today. To celebrate, we loaded everyone up and headed down to the Zilker Park Christmas Tree (the world's largest man-made Christmas tree) and the Trail of Lights. It was in the 30s, so we had Dax bundled up like the kid in A Christmas Story. He LOVED it when Chance held him and spun in circles under the tree. He kept asking for more, but we eventually had to call it off before Chance threw-up. Dax enjoyed the Trail of Lights, too. We really enjoyed walking in the brisk air, drinking hot chocolate, laughing and sharing with family. What a great start to the Christmas week.

Under the tree

All bundled up

The whole crew

New Babysitter

Last night, Duane's company had their Christmas party. Grandma wan't available to babysit, so we had the 6th grade girl from around the corner come over. Dax has been waving to Taylor as she walked to/from the bus stop all school year. A couple months ago he really got to know her at our neighborhood block party. At that party, he kept grabbing her hand and walking away with her, sitting in her lap, etc. He definitely has a crush on her. Well, when she showed up at the house last night, Dax was still eating his dinner. And when he saw her, he lit up like a pinball machine. He then looked at us with wonder and joy as if to say, "You brought her here? For me? This is the best Christmas ever!" Needless to say, he wouldn't eat another bite. As soon as we got him clean and down, he ran right over to her and just stared up at her, with a goofy smile on his face. Finally, Duane suggested he show Taylor some of his toys. He jumped into action and started rifling thru his toy box. He found a book, patted the couch for Taylor to come sit down, and then he crawled into her lap so she could read to him. We barely got a wave goodbye. He is IN LOVE.

Dax's new crush, Taylor

Hangin' out with Payton and Aunt Hollie

Today Aunt Hollie and Payton came over for lunch. It was cold and overcast outside, so the homemade turkey soup and hot, fresh bread were perfect to warm our insides. Dax and Payton enjoyed playing together and jostling for position on the trike. While the kiddos napped, the mommies had a cup of cocoa and worked on putting pictures in frames. A most relaxing and rewarding day.

Some quality time with Aunt Hollie and Payton

Grandmas' Christmas Cantata & Elisabeth's 1st Birthday

Dax spent the night with Grandma last night so Mommy could have her annual Cookie Exchange party. It was great to catch up with friends and relax. And, to not worry about waking up the kiddo.

This morning, Dax went to church with Grandma. She is in the choir and they had their Christmas cantata. They did a lovely job and it was fun to see Grandma up at the front of the church. When I went to pick Dax up from the nursery, he RAN to me with his arms outstreched and a big smile. It was GREAT to feel so loved!

We had some quality time this afternoon playing in the backyard. Then we went downtown for Elisabeth's first birthday party. Her mommy is in my MOMs group at church. The party was at the Austin Children's Museum. Dax had a ton of fun. Mostly with the trains, the dump trucks, and driving the kid-sized version of the Metro-Rail train. He was so wired, I thought for sure he'd crash in the car on the way home, but nope. I dropped him off with Duane (who had just gotten back in town from a Texans game - they won!), and then I took off for a friend's holiday party. Duane eventually got him to sleep and I managed to snag a Tiffany pen from the white elephant game a the party. So, a really good night! :)

Playing IN the sandbox


Trains!

Driving the Metro-Rail

Fish are fun