End of the Year

What a whirlwind end of the year we had.  Wrapping up school, gearing up for Christmas, the uncertainty of a possible new job, a trip out of town, and dog sitting!  Gee, it doesn't sound like quite as much as it seemed while we were living it!

Both the kids finished up their school days with some fun. Aidan's class had a party and Rick & I were able to attend. It was really cute to see the kids play games and eat lots of junk. I think Aidan was really happy that we could be there. He was especially proud to see that Mommy was in charge of the SNOWMAN game. This game involved toilet paper, children, and crepe paper.  The kids wrapped one of their friends like a snowman - Aidan's team won! I promise there was no cheating from the parent!

Olivia brought her friends some small but sweet little gifts to let them know that she cares about them a lot.  I made a bunch of Bloom barrettes in their school colors. Very cute!

The week of Christmas, we were delivered two golden retrievers - Baxter & Hunter.  They stayed with us for a few days so their owners could go to Austin to spend Christmas with their grown up children.  We had a really good time with those two! The kids absolutely adored them. They played, and walked, and snuggled. There were lots of tears when we had to say goodbye.

Our Christmas Eve & Day was so nice.  Even though we couldn't be with family it was great to be able to talk over the phone and Skype.  We all got spoiled with wonderful gifts and the time together was priceless. 

A couple of days after Christmas, we headed to Dallas.  It was so nice to see Matt, Kate & Abbie! We had a relaxing time with them. They are always so good to us and make us feel like we are on a real vacation.  I got some fun video of the kids together and hope to figure out how to post it here, or at least give you a link to get to it and more video.

San Antonio was our next stop! We were so excited to get to see Saint and Shirley AND San Anton! The drive down was fun. We got to see Austin and parts of Texas we had never seen.  As we pulled into San Antonio, it got very urban looking again.  Goodbye sweet Texas countryside!

Our hotel was very close to the Riverwalk and downtown area.  This was great because we could walk instead of paying to park everywhere.  As soon as we connected with Saint and Shirley - we headed to the Riverwalk. We were so excited!! We found out that we were close to one end of the entrance to the walk, so we started there. It was so cool how the walk was developed. The landscaping was beautiful and walking under the streets and bridges was really neat too. The kids were just stunned with the whole thing! 

We went to the Alamo and it was amazing.  I really didn't know what to expect and that was a good thing because then I wasn't disappointed!  The place was absolutely packed. Shoulder to shoulder people. But, we managed to see the main building just fine. The long barracks were really interesting and, again, the landscaping was stunning. I didn't expect to see palm trees in South Texas!

We continued to walk around until we were feeling really pooped and then we headed back to the hotel for a rest. 

That evening we went to this really fun Mexican restaurant down in the MarketPlace area. It was festive and the Mariachi musicians were incredible. Surprisingly, the food wasn't the most amazing Mexican food we have ever had. But it was still good. That place was really more about the atmosphere. Hopefully, I can get that video up and running too.

We did a lot of other things to while in San Antonio.  All the tourist traps! But, my favorite places were the Missions. They were beautiful and peaceful and such an great snapshot of another time and place.  We even made brass rubbings of the buildings! We plan to frame them and display them in our place. A sweet reminder of our trip.

As we headed back to reality - school, new job, new semester, etc.  I think we were glad to have had such a lovely vacation. Thank you Saint and Shirley for such an incredible Christmas gift!

And that's the quick version of the last chunk of 2010 and the beginning of 2011!

Cookie Swap Night!

I thought it would be fun to have a holiday party for the families and friends that were staying in town rather than going away. It was especially for the folks that are new to Lubbock and couldn't afford to go home for Christmas. Well, most of the people I invited went home for Christmas! So, we had our favorite friends over - the Families Only Clique!!

What a good time! Everyone brought two types of delicious goodies. We had everything from Hot Chocolate Cookies, to Fudge, to Oreo Cookie Balls, to Christmas Tree Cookies, and MORE!  It was fun to try everyone's concoctions.  And, it was fun to get to keep some for ourselves.

The kids played together, watched Christmas movies together, ran around, wore themselves OUT! Of course when it was time to say goodbye and time to go to bed, there were tears. But, we will survive until the next get together!

Abbie's Apron

I am making an apron for Abbie. It's never to early to start promoting that girls belong in the kitchen, right!? Haha! I am JUST kidding. I know you know me better than that!!

Anyway.  I have had so much fun with this project.  I loved finding just the right fabric, figuring out how to make it without a pattern, and - most importantly, trying it on Aidan to see how it fit along the way!

He hated this part of course.  I LOVE the picture that came out of the modeling session. It's a hoot!

I trust Abbie will like her Christmas gift much more than Aidan likes it!!

Family Portrait Attempt

This was pretty hilarious! This outing, I mean.  We - okay, I - wanted us to get our family portrait done. Something that had a Texas theme. What better place then the Ranching Heritage Center near our house?  They have these really cool bronze steers placed out on the front lawn. It looks very Texas!

We enlisted some friends to take our picture. We would take theirs if they took ours.  So, we prayed for good light and warm temps and headed out. 

We didn't really get either - good light or warm temps! The time of day was kinda a bust but we just couldn't get out there any earlier than 3pm.  Add in the clouds that were rolling in, and the light was weird. But - we took the shots anyway.

Pretty funny, huh!?

Charlie Brown Tree?!

We got our Christmas tree the other night.  It was kinda weird because we purchased it from Lowes.  We have ALWAYS gotten our tree from a lot. Welcome to Lubbock yet again! The one good thing was, I have never bought a tree for only $20 before.  So, we are grateful for that. Livi and I had fun (the boys stayed home) picking out a tree and, okay, arguing a little bit over which one to pick!!  Then we drove home extra slow so the tree wouldn't blow off the car or get there transformed into just a big branch on top of the car.  I'm sure the other drivers thought we were nuts for going so slow!

The tree is small, but so are the ceilings in our house. It is still about a foot too short, but we love it anyway.  We have put it in the window and decorated it. I have A LOT of ornaments left over! We will just have to use them another time.

A small pile of presents is growing under the tree too. Thank you so much for those of you that have sent them!  And for those of you that have given us the gift of survival this past year - we give you a resounding THANK YOU too!

Olivia's Choir Concert

Livi's concert last night was AMAZING!! We are so impressed with the choral program at O.L. Slaton. The choir director is quite a talent. He motivates the students and pulls the most beautiful sound from them. Rick and I could see commitment in every singers face as they performed. It is clear they love to sing, but it also appears that they would follow the choir director anywhere! The choral program is obviously the strongest of the Fine Arts at O.L. Slaton. 

Olivia was so lovely on stage! She was dressed beautifully (thanks, Grandy!) and sang like an angel.  No, I couldn't hear just her but - I KNOW she did anyway!  And of course she had fun with her best friends too.  It means so much to her to have close friends in the program.  They love being a part of this choir but they love that they have each other even more.  We are so glad that she has this to fill her soul!

Rick is 40!!

We had a nice time wishing Rick a happy 40th birthday.  We made him a cake, gave him some cards, and surprised him with a few friendly visitors from school.  I am so glad that he is now 40.  Mostly because he will stop harrassing me for being 40 before HIM! 

The cake was delicious. The company was fun.  And we didn't burn the house down with all those candles!