Christmas

What a Christmas!  Kirby LOVED Christmas this year - from the songs to the decorations, from the trees to the lights, from Santa to sweet baby Jesus - she was in Heaven.  She gets excited about watching paint dry, so this season was almost more than she could take!  When "Mary" brought "Baby Jesus" down the aisle at church on Christmas Eve, I thought Kirby might actually pass out she was so excited - I pray she keeps that excitement forever and ever :) We celebrated with family and friends are were reminded this year more than ever of the blessings God has given us - most importantly - His Son!

Kirby and Py went on their annual shopping trip complete with a train ride and visit to the Rainforest Cafe.  He takes her shopping to buy us all a present - whatever she decides she wants to give us, they find.  Last year I got a humming bird, Annie got a train, Jim got a fish, and Maggie and William got cats.  We're celebrating Christmas with my family this weekend, and I can't wait to see what she picked out for us this year!  What a fun tradition for Kirby and her godfather!

On Wednesday night we headed to SA for Christmas with Nana and Papa.  We played and visited with old friends and ate some of the yummiest food!  I'm not sure Nana and Papa's house will ever be the same after the tornado that is the Grays and the Hills blew through, but we sure had fun!  The kids were so good and played and played together.  The big kids did, too - we learned how to play 99.  We also learned that Pam uses her fingers and toes to add :)  Here's the weekend in pics!

Tea parties with Jack and Katie...

Porch time with the girls...

Breakfast at the big kid table...

Cute cousins!  Kirby and Hadley get along great because Hadley wants to be a mom and Kirby wants to be a baby.  Ha!

Yet another unsuccessful family picture attempt :)  

Precious little Tails...

Happy little Moo...

  

Yummy yummy cookies for Santa...

Stockings hung with care...

 Crazy Christmas morning...

Fun, fun Christmas toys!!

The Hills

The Hills came to visit this weekend - it was so good to have them back in Houston even if for just a weekend!  The kids were thrilled to see each other, and the adults were thrilled to have a night out without kiddos!  The girls got along so well, and when we came in last night, Kirby and Hadley were asleep together in Kirby's bed - soooo sweet.  Kirby can't wait until Christmas to have another sleepover with Hadley!!

Opening weekend 2010

The babies loved the deer camp!  

One of the families there brought glow necklaces for the kids to wear when it got dark, and my dad gave Kirby his "head light" and hat - she had a ball running around with her big girl "friends" exploring forts and trails! 

 

 Is Maggie a clone of her daddy or what? 

William is totally asking why he's dressed like such a goober, and Jim is no doubt blaming me! Better than freezing, right?

Halloween 2010

 They say a picture is worth a 1000 words...I sure hope not.  I promise, we really did have a great time this Halloween - not that you can tell from these pictures!!  It really was so fun to trick or treat with Nana in San Antonio!

 

Here are some more pics to prove that I'm not lying!  

Halloween Partying...

 Playing outside in the amazing weather...

 

Pumpkin Patching...(never wait until the day before Halloween to go to the pumpkin patch - there were only 15 pumkins left!)  Mags found a great one despite the limited selection.  William, of course, was only interested in the wheels on the wagon!

 

Trick or Treating...Jessie was literally giddy running from house to house yelling YEE HAW!  It was precious!  She turned around after getting candy at each house and said Happy Halloween, and at lots of houses struck up conversations with the people.  Maybe next year she can go as Chatty Kathy!

Lost Pines

We had a fantastic weekend at Lost Pines.  The weather could not have been more perfect!  The weekend was so relaxing and so fun.  Kirby is already asking when we're going on vacation again.

The pool was a little chilly, but the kids loved it.  We did discover that the babies HATE sand, though!

We brought the cars for Maggie and William to ride around in - they were a hit!  They were totally content riding everywhere we went.  

William is our chilled kid - he and DonDon relaxed in mornings while Maggie ate and Kirby talked. :)

Kirby was SOOOO excited to ride the ponies, but when it came down to it, she realized she prefers the fake ones - she was way more comfortable on the horse statue in the lobby...I wish we'd known that before we paid $40 to ride a real one!

 

Kirby's favorite spot was the Butterfly Meadow - we saw lots of insects as we sat "very still and quietly."  She was so cute trying her hardest to be quiet

The combination of the off the charts ragweed and sunscreen in her eyes left Mags miserable for a good part of the trip.  She was such a trooper, though!

I had visions of getting a great pic for our Christmas card this year - as you can see it didn't go very well.  I think I will have to settle for individual pictures for the time being!!