The Four Christmases

We had a great Christmas. It's so fun when kids are involved. I was nervous however, about this time of year because I don't want the true meaning to be lost. The reason why we celebrate, and that's Jesus' birth. I want my kids to know this. To truly get it. What a joy it was to go to KidZone (Wednesday nights at our church) the first Wednesday of December and the message was generosity-making someone's day by giving something away. The kids were given Christmas wrap at the end of the production to make a Christmas list. However, there was a twist. It was not for them to make a list of the things they wanted; rather a list of what they were going to give/do for someone else. We did this a couple of nights later. Joshua was slow to start, but once he got started, he had a hard time stopping. A couple of things on his list were feeding Gigi's dog for her and getting a Bible for a little girl at church. Tabitha also agreed to let Joshua play with the Grinch (her latest toy she carries with her) and Curious George.

Tabitha got a chance the next morning to check Joshua off her Christmas list. He had Curious George, and she was so upset. She was fussing quite loudly when I reminded her of "generosity" and her Christmas list. Yes, she's young (18 months) but after repeating those phrases a couple of times, she got it. She handed George back to Joshua without any tears. I was so proud of her.

Back to our Christmases. On December 20 we went to my grandmother's house. Here's Tabby and Mommy. She was so sleepy by then.

There were plenty of cousins to play with. Here's Big Brother's sister, Tess, and Tabby.

Joshua and Tabby had fun opening presents.

On December 22, we went to the Bradley house (Keith, Chelsea, and Dustin). Homemade salsa and chips were on the table. Check out Tabitha.

Tabby and Aunt Chelsea.

Joshua, Gigi, and Mommy.

On December 23 we celebrated as a family since we would be having family in town and a Christmas Eve service. We woke up and opened presents.

Tabby got a Dora chair that she sat in all day. She also got a Sesame Street toothbrush in her stocking. She was so excited to brush her teeth.

Joshua ignored the bike waiting for him and went straight for the stocking. I knew he would really like those little gifts more than the bike even though it was my idea. The kids really are easy to please right now.

After presents, we tried taking a nap (mom and dad). Both Tabitha and Joshua had a rough night sleep the previous night. No one was sick, just sleep deprivation from all the partying. For lunch we had baked ham, green beans, and mashed potatoes. Yummy!

In the evening, the Villas from Mesquite arrived. More cousins to play with!

The moms took the kids to the park.

Christmas Eve we opened gifts with the family. Tabby and her cousins.

Daddy and Tabby.

Buela and grandkids.

Thus Christmas was over for us. A lot went on in a few days, so we (parents only) were glad to say good-bye to Christmas 2008. Now to ring in the new year!

Christmas Fun

We sent out Christmas cards last week. Now it's a tradition, but it's not so fun taking the shot. We seriously took 45 pictures to get three semi-decent ones. (I wasn't that impressed with the photo, but I didn't have the energy to dress everyone again and sit through 50 shots.) I am going to save my money throughout this year and have JC Penney take the shot next year. That way we also have Joshua's 4 year pictures and an updated family photo. Here are some of the shots I didn't use.

I love Tabitha dearly, but this girl won't smile for anything when being photographed.

Okay, so there's a smile, but she's squirming out of Dad's lap.

The trick to get her to smile...Tickle her like crazy!

We have been making lots of cookies. They decorated some gingerbread men.

They were sent a gift from Grandpa Steve and Jayne and opened it.

Those lollipops are huge. I didn't want them to eat the entire thing, so I let them lick for 2 minutes. As you probably know, they were super upset with me for taking them away. I haven't given them back for fear of the crying.

We also went to the LadyBird Wildflower center where we ran into Frosty. Neither of them were afraid. In fact, Joshua fed him popcorn.

This afternoon we're taking them to Playhouse Disney. We went last year, and Joshua still has memories, so I know they'll both have a great time. Hopefully I'll have pictures.

Happy Birthday!

It's a busy month as I previously stated. Josue's birthday is December 1. My mom's is December 2. Our anniversary is December 16. Christmas of course, and then Joshua's brithday is December 28.

For Josue's birthday, we had Chicken Fried Steak dinner at home (Thanks, Gigi!). I asked Joshua numerous times what he wanted to get Josue, and he told me numerous times a pinata. (He hit one for the first time at our neighbor's, Ava, birthday party. He hasn't forgotten.) Here's the pinata.

Birthday presents are fun to open.

Daddy and the kiddos.

We invited Ava over to hit the pinata.

Daddy's teaching Tabby.

Joshua broke it (or it broke on it's own.)


Ummm. Candy!

Cake time!


Happy birthday, Daddy!

The following day was Gigi's brithday. We went to Chuy's with Keith, Chelsea, and Dustin.

Joshua was entertaining us. He was trying to dance like Uncle Keith.

Ummm. More dessert...

Happy birthday, Gigi!

Thanksgiving and Chuy's Parade

Thanksgiving was at our house this year since the Horns were playing the Aggies that same evening. Four families coming to our house were also going to the game so it worked out to be at our house.

Here's our family.

Tabitha is with Buela wearing her jewelry as usual.

Joshua is posing with his "Big Brother". This is my cousin (Joshua's second cousin) Drew. Joshua had so much fun with him, and he just started calling him his "Big Brother". Joshua would come in from outside asking, "Where's Big Brother?" It was so funny. His head isn't wet with water in this picture. It's sweat. He played harder than ever. I think he really liked Thanksgiving.

Then on Saturday, Josue and I took the kids to the Chuy's Parade in downtown Austin. You were to take a toy that would later be given to needy children at Christmas. I was glad my kids could participate. They also had fun watching all the costumes and a couple of floats.

Tabitha sees Elmo.

Taking a break to kiss Daddy.

Sweet kiddos.

More to come because we now have birthdays this month.