Oh Christmas Tree

The kids enjoyed helping us decorate the tree this year...Admiring the very first ornament hung- a plastic HEBuddy ornament. Alli told me "Daddy says this is a piece of junk." She also mentioned something about "made in Chinese." Things Dwaine had said to me days before, but she obviously picked up on. She still hung it proudly though.

TJ adding his touch. He kept trying to hang fish ornaments and other more rustic ones that we decided not to use this year. He was adamant about it.

Alli adding her touch as well.


And Daddy adding the final touch...



Definitely our best tree yet!

We've come a long way...

Our Christmas Tree in 1999 in our tiny little one bedroom apartment. Just getting our lives started. As pathetic as that little tree looks, these were some very happy, exciting times.

First Christmas Program

Alli and TJ had their first Christmas program at Mother's Day Out last week. I was so excited when I found out at the beginning of the year that they would be doing a Christmas program and I just couldn't wait to see it not knowing exactly what to expect. It was so precious and Dwaine and I were so proud and surprised at how well it went. To check out a video clip of it, click here.

TJ with his delayed "hey" hand motion at the end of Jingle Bells cracks us up every time- better late than never!

Alli spotting me taking pics.

Then, TJ spots me.

Could only get cheesy grin pics of the two of them together after their performance.

TJ with his best bud in class, Ashton. They're so cute- they get excited when they see each other.

Alli has 3 little friends in her class that she talks about all the time and this is one of them that I finally got to meet after the program. It's so strange to me that they are old enough to make their own friends now. Up to this point all of their friends have been the kids of mommy's friends, but now they're choosing and making new friends all by themselves. It's so funny the things that catch me by surprise as a parent- I can only imagine what the future holds.

TJ enjoying the "refreshments" served at the little reception.

In no particular order...

Some pics from the past month or two...The Kenmore 500- a favorite activity of TJ's.


Nap time for Alli has become "rest time" where she can play quietly in her room while TJ naps.

While maybe she no longer needs her afternoon nap, apparently her animals and dolls do.

Alli figured out how to tie knots not too long ago and I would often find what I like to call booby traps around the house. This is one of them.

Alli's second trip to the dentist (I didn't take pics at the first). She loves it. When she was finished she said "That was super cool!" and then when it was my turn, she told me in an excited tone "This is gonna be fun!" So funny- not most kids reaction to the dentist, but she hasn't had to have anything painful done yet and I think it makes her feel like a big girl.

Mommy and Alli before going to her first professional ballet. I think I may have been more excited than her...
We went to a Cinderella ballet. She says she liked it, but she was pretty antsy and kept asking when it was over. She lasted to the end though!



Alli's Night Out...

Well, it was supposed to be parent's night out, but Alli got sick. So, not wanting to lose the money we had to pay in advance to reserve our spots, we dropped TJ off and took Alli out for a special night with mom and dad. We took her for ice cream and then to play a few games at Dave and Buster's. She really got a kick out of playing all those games.

She had a sample of ice cream at the ice cream shop, but then turned down getting her own bowl. "I already had some" she said referring to the tiny sample spoonful. We knew then that maybe she was feeling a little worse than we thought. She still had a great night though.

Shamu Dreams

The kids after a long, fun-filled day at Sea World last month...Lollipops, popcorn, stuffed animals won at the midway, and memories of Shamu and his friends make for some sweet dreams!

Lake Tahoe- Yosemite 10th Anniversary Trip

Back in October, Dwaine and I took a week long trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park to celebrate our 10th anniversary. The kids stayed at home and spent some quality time with Grandma and Pop, Nana Pam, and Grandma and Pawpaw who all took "shifts" while we were gone.

It was awesome to find out that we still really enjoy each other's company, still make each other laugh and are still deeply in love. It was a great opportunity to reconnect and strengthen our marriage. Oh yes, and to have conversations without being interrupted by kids.

Aboard the MS Dixie II for a sunset dinner cruise on beautiful Lake Tahoe.

We enjoyed some nice views of the lake while we were waiting to board the paddle wheeler.

The next day we did lots of hiking and enjoyed lots of beautiful scenery.

Putting my new camera tri-pod to good use!

The Emerald Bay area was gorgeous!! We were told it was a must by many people and they were right.

Overlooking Emerald Bay. The pictures of course just don't do it justice.

We discovered while we were there that the Kokanee salmon were running the streams and spawning. You could stand right next to the creek and watch. They are so close that you could reach down and grab one if you wanted and they were everywhere. It was like a discovery channel special about salmon spawning right in front of you. Very cool.

A male and female pair doing their thing. This is the grand finale ending to their life. The bright coloring is actually a result of old age and decay. This creek is probably full of dead salmon right about now which actually provides nutrients for the eggs and babies that will hatch in the coming months.

After driving over to Fallen Leaf lake to hike, we discovered a little marina and decided to rent a small aluminum boat for a picnic lunch on the lake instead. This place was breath-taking. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

A view of Fallen Leaf lake and the mountain next to it.

One of many scenic overlooks around Lake Tahoe.

After staying in a very nice cabin at Lake Tahoe for a couple of nights, we spent a day driving down to Yosemite National Park. There were some very hairy windy curvy mountain passes on that drive.

The classic tourist pic. You gotta do that.

The views of Yosemite. These mountains are massive.


El Capitan

We took a horseback ride through the Yosemite valley on our first day there. Another fun and memorable adventure.

Okay, so I took a muleback ride on Flipper who was just a little bit ornery. I had to brush up on my riding skills. It's been a while.

We stayed in the historic Wawona Hotel which was built in the late 1800's. They have kept everything as original as possible. It was very neat- like stepping back in time. Some former guests of the hotel include Teddy Roosevelt and William H Taft. Maybe we stayed in their room!

The giant sequoias were pretty amazing.
It's really hard to wrap your mind around just how big these things are and how long they have been around.

This was on our actual anniversary. A very strong cold front blew in and put a halt on our plans to check out some more hiking trails. Fittingly, this pic was taken on Glacier Point overlooking the valley. That's Half Dome behind us and there were itty bitty tiny little people on top of it that you could see through a telescope. I bet they weren't expecting this cold front when they hiked up there the day before. They had a day long hike ahead of them in this icy weather to get down. The view from Glacier Point was awesome but we were FREEZING! The guy who took our picture however was in short sleeves and shorts and didn't seem to be bothered by the cold- not sure where he was from.

So we were scheduled to drive out of the park through another mountain pass the next day but the roads were closed due to icy/snowy conditions, so we had to change our plans. Thinking that we don't get the oppurtunity to travel without kids very often, we thought we might ought to make the most of it. So we decided to drive all the way accross California to the west coast to see the Golden Gate bridge before turning around driving back accross California to Reno.

The famous drive on Hwy 1 along the Pacific coast line. Would love to have had some more time to spend here.

And the Golden Gate Bridge. Pretty cool to get to see in person.

Glad we made this unexpected little excursion to see the Golden Gate and the San Francisco Bay, but we made a mistake thinking that we could head down to the Wharf for a quick dinner before heading back out. The traffic, madness, and noise of the city was a bit of a rude ending to our beautiful, peaceful trip enjoying nature. Over an hour later, we were finally back on the Interstate headed out of SF- dinner did not happen. We just wanted to get out of there. It was ridiculous. The city is just not our thing!

We both agreed after our trip- we're good on San Francisco and we're good on pine trees!

Our Thanksgiving

We drove to Pearland to stay with Grandma and Pawpaw over Thanksgiving and celebrated with with lots of family and friends...After our yummy Thanksgiving meal with my whole family, the kids exchanged Christmas gifts early since we won't be seeing each other again at Christmas. Make silly faces for the camera! Maybe next year we'll try to get some better posed pics with the adults and kids.

TJ showing off his new super cool helicopter watch from Grandma and Pawpaw.

Then we headed down to Alvin to celebrate with our dear friends, the Westinghouse family. The kids had a great time and we all enjoyed watching them play together.
TJ, Travis, Audrey and Shelby above.

Alli posing with Shelby. Somehow I missed posting a pic of Alli's friend Autumn (I think Steph took the cute pics of them).

Mommy with Alli (taken by Autumn- not a bad little photographer).

Lots of fun was had with the "TJ" wig. What's really funny is Daddy's hair actually looked like that when he was TJ's age. As sad as I'm sure his mom was to see it go- I'm pretty glad it doesn't still look like that- not quite as cute on a 30 something yr old.

Alli having fun with the wig too!


The day after Thanksgiving, we headed down to Bayou Wildlife Park with my mom, my sister April, and all the kids...

My favorite animal at the park- a Zonkey! How cool is that!

Cade (7), Maddy (almost 6), Gavin (4), Grandma (she would kill me), Alli (3), TJ (2) and Lainey (4).

Aunt April and TJ. When the buffalo came along and stuck his head in the tram, TJ jumped from that platform and into April's lap burying his head in her chest in one very swift motion. It was pretty funny.

Lainey, Maddy and Alli checking out the animals and waiting to feed something.

This was a very hands-on experience!

Cade wanting to feed the ostrich but not wanting to get too close.

This guy never moved from this spot and he would make a hilarious grunting sound when you rubbed him. Not sure if he was pleased or if he just wanted to be left alone. I left him alone just in case.

We really enjoyed our Thanksgiving trip. The extended stay at Grandma and Pawpaw's was really nice and we loved getting to see so many people that we love but live so far away from.