Climbing Trees

Tonight we were hanging out in the backyard and I thought Devan would get a kick out of it if I climbed up in the tree. Well, he did, and then of course he had to have a turn!

Driving Lessons

Watching for Santa

OK, they're actually waiting for their Dad to get home, but just as well anyhow!

The Best

I had the absolute best Christmas ever. It was so much fun this year because Devan somewhat understood what was going on, and we now have two kids to spoil! Last night we read the Nativity story and built a Nativity scene. And then we told Devan about Santa Claus and all of that fun stuff.

Devan and Tristan woke up at 5 this morning! So we got an early start on things. When they woke up we watched The Polar Express ( Devan's latest favorite ) for awhile. Dev is so cute when he watches this, he sings along with the songs. My favorite is when he sings When Christmas Comes to Town. It about makes me cry every time, he sings it so sweet. After that we went downstairs and Devan's eyes were so big when he saw all the gifts. We hadn't put any under the tree because I didn't want them opened early. He was just amazed and went from gift to gift, not opening them, but just looking in astonishment.

We took our time opening gifts and playing as we opened them. Both Devan and Tristan loved every minute of it. Thank you everyone who sent them such fun gifts! We recieved a very special gift this year from my Grandpa and Grandma Jones. When I was little my family had a special rocking horse that my Grandpa Jones had made. Well, this year for Christmas he spent hours and hours recreating this rocking horse so each of his grandkids could have one in their house. It was such a neat gift to recieve and it will be so special to pass on to my grand kids!

After opening presents we had brunch around 11:00. I decided I would like to follow my families tradition by having brunch on Christmas day. Unfortunetly it wasn't near as good as the brunch my Grandma and Grandpa prepare, but it was still good :) After that we played with our new toys and then Devan and I settled down for a long winter's nap! We napped for like 2 hours!! We then had a Christmas dinner and pie and that's about it.

It was such a fun day. I've always loved Christmas, but it is a million times better now that we have our boys to share it with!

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"Where'd hair go?"

"All gone!"

--Devan

Devan's prayer

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for icecream cone. Amen.

Our first Christmas tree!

Well, we are spending our first Christmas in Texas by ourselves. It's sad not to be with more family on Christmas day, but we are also excited to have Christmas in our own home. So without further ado, I present to you our first Christmas tree!

The cat is out of the bag...

I admitted it to Chad today so I guess I'll admit it to the rest of you. I was driving in the car the other day and I found myself jamming out to the Christian Rock station. Now that I have that off my chest, here's the latest with us.

We had an awesome weekend!!! Jake and Lauren decided it was about time to come and visit San Antonio. So they packed up and flew in on Friday night. Saturday we went...

Shopping

(OK, not fair, Lauren is over her half way mark of being pregnant and look how good she looks!)

To the Riverwalk

and to the Alamo.

A couple of interesting things happened on this expedition

#1~ A pigeon pooped on Devan

#2~ I accidently ordered a song from a Mariachi band. So here's the story with this. A man came up to us while we were chowing down on our Mexican food and said, "Would you like a song?" Well, me, being new to this kind of thing said, "Why sure." He proceded to ask me what kind...Romantic, fun, etc... I was feeling rather chirpy so I said let's do a fun one. Somewhere in there I missed him saying it will be $10. As my comrades later told me he asked me if that was ok and I told him yes. After I told him yes, Chad looked at me and said, do you have cash, I was like uuuuuh. no. Oops! So Yeh, I was bright red and embarrassed through the whole song and Jake being the great brother he is made sure to snap a picture so we could remember this story forever.

That evening was Chad's work party and Jake and Lauren were kind enough to babysit for us while we attended it. It was a ton of fun. Lonestar and STYX were both there providing the entertainment for the night. We were able to get right up front to listen to them and only had a few people in front of us. Last year Chicago provided the entertainment, I was pregnant with Tristan, but I managed to squeeze my belly up front!

The Alamo Dome where the party was held. I could only get about 1/3 of it in the picture.

Lonestar

Chad and I

Sunday, Chad and I were pretty tuckered out, so we let Jake and Lauren do their thing. Later that day when they came back, Jake had bought a bullwhip. He was practicing outside with it, and Devan decided he wanted to give it a try. He did pretty dang good and actually cracked it a few times!

Monday we visited Chad's work and then headed out to a town called New Braunfels. That was kind of a dud, so we went a little further to Gruene. Gruene was better, but it was so cold out, we couldn't stand to be out. We ended up going back home.

On the way home this place caught our eye...

OK, we didn't go in, it was kind of scary! But we did notice some chickens with some unusually large talons frolicking around outside. Jake was certain they were fighting roosters. hmmmm.... the more I look at this, the more I envision a sequel to Napolean Dynomite, only Texas style.

Monday night we had fun playing games and drinking hot chocolate. It was great having some family down. We'd love to have more company, so here's your invite right now! Just find your way down here and we'll take care of the rest ;-)

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

I'm a little late on this post, but better late than never right? We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Washington. It was so nice to be able to spend the holiday with family.

Wednesday night we drove down to see Chad's dad and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with him and his family. I was impressed that Ed cooked the Turkey himself. It was fantastic. He also made homemade eggnog. It was nice to visit with him and Lanel and especially to have Devan and Tristan spend time with Papa Cox, or as Devan would say, "Papa Trucks".

We were pretty spoiled and yet again had another wonderful meal on Thanksgiving day prepared by Chad's mom. It was great spending the holiday with Iwalani and Bruce, and Chad's sister, Kristin's family. I loved that Devan and Tristan were able to play with their cousins so much and get to know them better. Iwalani has this Christmas tree that plays fun music and has flashy lights. The kids had a blast dancing to the music. The absolutely loved it. It was so much fun to watch them. I loved that both the boys had so much quality time with their grandparents.

Saturday, we drove to the peninsula to see Bruce's family. It was a fun trip for Devan because we got to ride the ferry boat there. When we first got on the boat we went outside to the top deck, and right as we got up there the ferry tooted it's horn really loud. Devan thought that was pretty neat. Bruce has a great family. They are always so much fun to be around. It was great seeing Grandma Paquette.

Our week in Washington went by way to fast, but it was awesome while it lasted. It was so nice to have a relaxing and laid back vacation and spend time with family.

Chad relaxing and having some "game" time.

Devan enjoying being outside.

Ferry Boat trip.

Time with Grandma Nancy at the Peninsula.

The best restaurant in Washington.

Others