Thanksgiving Weekend

We went to Austin for Thanksgiving and spent it with Steve's cousin Bobby, his sweet wife Vanessa, and their adorable little girl Alessandra. It was a great trip - wonderful catch-up time with cousins that we don't see often enough, and great weekend to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for. 

Dottie and Alessandra playing together

Sister snuggles on Thanksgiving morning 

Thanksgiving Day 

Ready to eat and having a fun chat 

Vanessa's parents were there as well, and they also invited a friend from church over for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a wonderful meal and great conversation - and it was such a treat not to host!

Steve and Bobby went to the UT game that night and had this great view of Matthew McConeghey 

Cutie! 

We went to the Children's Museum in Austin the Friday after Thanksgiving 

And a trip to the playground 

Topped off by a trip to a Jump House - big fun! 

Sweet girls on Saturday morning

 

We came home Saturday afternoon, and had fun decorating for Christmas on Sunday 

New Years Eve

We had the Callaways over for New Year's Eve, and had so much fun ringing in the new year together.  I tried to get Ella to take a nap during the day so she'd be able to make it until midnight, but she just couldn't fall asleep. I finally gave up, and here is the explanation she gave me: "Mommy, I just can't sleep in the daylight. It's like bats. You can't ask a bat to sleep at night, and you can't ask Ella to sleep during the daylight." Alright then, no nap for this little one on New Year's Eve!

 

Her New Years poster

All dressed up for the big occasion

The kids got tired a few hours after dinner, so we put them in their jammies so they could rest a bit before it was time for the big countdown.

 

 The ball drop on TV here is still the NY ball, so you can watch it live at 11pm instead of midnight. We decided the kids were going to celebrate East Coast New Year!

 

Getting close!

 

Ella and James were just so excited, it was awesome. Here's a video of our final countdown!

We put the kids down a few minutes after their New Years toast of shirley temples, and then the adults stayed up a few more hours playing Taboo. We slept in a little bit the next day and had a play date with friends in the afternoon. Such a perfect start to 2014!

Thanksgiving

 Donna and Dad had invited Mom, Glenn, Erin, Josh and Cameron so we were all together for Thanksgiving. Everyone had a wonderful time and it was such a great Thanksgiving. 

Ella wanted to keep the day organized so she worked hard on this Thanksgiving checklist with all of the different dishes that Grandma was cooking and all the different 'to-dos' for dinner.

Helping Grandma set the table

So excited for the fun to begin!

Adorable cousins

It was a beautiful day so we enjoyed some time outside. There was lots of playing...

wrestling...

...and swinging

Beautiful table before dinner

Dinner was delicious, it was the perfect Thanksgiving feast. After dinner we headed back outside for a ton of fun sliding down the hill in cardboard boxes (the closest thing to sledding that these two will enjoy!). They had such a blast going down the hill and it was so much fun to watch them. 

A bunch of videos from the hill sliding fun

Great pic of Ella with Grandma and Grandad at the end of the night