Happy New Year!!! a bit late...

We stayed in for New Year's Eve. That is after our day at Hamilton Pool. We had planned to see New Moon and then New Year's at home. However, it was not at our theatre any longer:( We were quite upset. So, plan B was to go on New Year's Day. We did and it was great to see it again. Eva absolutely loves the wolf fighting scene. She laughs so hard it makes the rest of us roll.

Painting Pottery

A favorite of all is to paint pottery. We went to Art Attack and had a fun time. El painted a bowl, Eva a unicorn for ME:), Katie an Autumn leaf, and Lolo a Jackie O mug. They all turned out beautifully!

Good Times... Good Times...

The girls liked to play hard and sleep often...

Hamilton Pool

We live off of a road named Hamilton Pool Road. My father-in-law made the mistake of asking how the street received that name. It is from a stream/waterfall/mineral pool that is about five miles away. I had not been there at the time. We decided to check it out. It was about an hour before lunch and Eva, DeDe, PaPa, and I ended up on a half mile hike down and then back up a stoney hillside in street shoes and Eva was not that great at walking at the time. It was beautiful, but we were hot, tired, and hungry by the end!

Now I know to be prepared for the trip... walking shoes and plenty of time to enjoy the sights. On New Year's Eve we took our reluctant visitors to enjoy the outdoors. When I first mentioned going on a hike I got some not so enthusiastic faces. Later that tune changed as we all loved it and had a wonderful time!

The Best Christmas Ever!

And finally Christmas arrived! It was wonderful. Santa was good to everyone. We woke up bright and early and opened gifts... taking a break for breakfast... and opening more gifts. Katie and Lolo were quite amazed at the taking a break. They said wild horses couldn't have made them stop opening when they were younger! (To be truthful it was hard to pull them away at 19)

They the playing began! And the cooking. We had a nice slow relaxing day. Sadly, Aunt Kathy had to return to Ohio the next day:( Hopefully her next visit will be longer.

What happens when I am not in the car...

I step out of the car to run an errand and somehow it turns into a rock concert. I think the cousins are enjoying their time together!

Traditions con't...

Aunt Kathy finally arrives and it is time to get down to serious Christmasing. (Yes, I made that word up) Gramma Pat (AKA Mom) always bought us new pj's that we opened up on Christmas Eve. Kathy and I have continued that with our children. These are some pictures of the girls opening their new pajamas. Eva had to put them on right away!

...so did Lolo:)

Santa

The first attempt to get Eva to talk to SAnta was unsuccessful. But the second time she was all about it! I really did not think she would talk to him this year. But, as you can see, they had a nice long chat. She asked for a camera!

More Traditions

Elf Annie is one of Santa's helpers who visits Katie and Lolo. She will take and information you need to relay to Santa and she leaves yummy candy canes! We are lucky enough that Elf Annie found us as well. This video is of a morning that Elf Annie left Eva a Disney Princess candy cane.

The Ten Days of Christmas

Traditions.

When I was a young girl, my grandparents used to spend the winter in Florida. They sent my sisters and I a package in December with several small trinket gifts. We were allowed to pick one each day and open it. I remembered this fondly! When Kathy had Katie and Lauren I decided to continue on that tradition... adding a little something to it. I wrap 10 gifts for each. They begin opening on December 15th (AKA my birthday) and open one each day. When the last gift is opened... the next day is CHRISTMAS! We call it the Ten Days. When El came along Kathy did the same for her and now for Eva. The video is of Eva's first gift of the ten days.

Wake Up little Kelly, Wake Up

I have two girls with sore throats:( I took them to the doctor and we are waiting on strep results. While at the office I asked the doctor to take a look at Eva's ankles. She has been complaining that her ankles hurt often when she lays down to go to bed. The doctor did an exam and then wanted her to get an x-ray and some blood work. I was going to wait until she was feeling better... but Eva wanted to do it that day! So, off we go to get her blood drawn. I sit in the chair and she sits on my lap. Eva is amazing! Just a little whimper and the blood is flowing. Then the needle comes out of the vein and the lady has to dig around, a little whimper, and blood is flowing again. Unfortunately, the needle pops again and Eva is starting to get upset. I look down and see the lady wants to dig again and I end the test telling her we will come again on another day (we will not got there again). I also need to stop the test because of the poor needle work I have seen a needle digging around in my baby's arm and I am feeling a bit green. I say to El that I need her to take Eva. I am at this point sweating though a shirt and jacket. I lay my head down and ... good night Irene! Yep... Momma just passed out. El found this quite amusing as she has no problem giving blood and watching it flow. El will be holding Eva for the next test.

Houston was a little uglier on December 22nd.

And Austin was four times more beautiful! My girls, my peeps, my posse came to visit!!! Yea!

These lovely young chicks are my team from Poe. Paola, Anna, Laura, and Tanya drove from Houston to Austin and then back again all in one day! It was wonderful to see them and to get to catch up on some of the gossip. I wish I could have been in the car as well... I am sure I missed out on a lot of great girl talk.

I really miss you girls and can't thank you enough for making the trip out here to see us!

The Holiday Fun Continues

Next in our festivities was the arrival of Katie and Lolo. Lolo arrived on my birthday and Katie flew in a few days later. I now have all my babies under one roof! It doesn't get better than that!

We finally were able to decorate the tree. It is a 12 footer and managed to fall on me three times! But it looked magnificent when finally lighted and adorned.

There's Something About Mary

While in Houston we managed to get a quick visit in with Mary, Chloe, and Alex. This is an older photo of Mary and Chloe... I realized Mary and I do not make it into very many pictures! It is always nice when we can fit in a visit. Mary is the reason El has no idea what five minutes is. We would tell El and Chloe that it is time to go in five minutes and about an hour later we would leave. Mary and I have been able to converse without awkward silences since we first met. When I would tell El, "five more minutes" she would reply, "Is that a long five or a short five?"!

Time to catch up!

After a lovely evening at Rex and Jim's we all met for brunch and tree decorating at Fabene's. More great food and holiday fun! Eva was the tree trimmer extraordinaire. She finds one spot on the tree and puts all the ornaments there! We also played El's new word game. (I won!) After our weekend of Christmas fun it was back to Austin for one more week of school.