Still Catching Up: Christmas Eve

It feels strange to not have some sort of big family plans on Christmas Eve and just sort of do our thing. Guess we're still adjusting. We tried to get Paw-Paw to come, but he wanted to wait until Christmas morning, so we just had a quiet Christmas Eve day.

Spence and I finished some pretty sparkly ornaments and decorated cookies for Santa.

Then we spent the afternoon playing and hanging around the house until time to go to a party down the street hosted by Charlie's parents, Anne and Alex. We stayed there a few hours, then came home to get everything in place for Santa. It was late, so posed photos just weren't happening. This is all I have! Spencer didn't want to write a letter to Santa this year. Not sure what that was all about...so we left cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and called it a night.

Spencer went to sleep fairly quickly, then Dave and I finished wrapping a couple of presents and I had my usual quiet moments gazing at our pretty tree, wanting Christmas to last a little longer.

More December Catch-Up: Dave's Birthday & Christmas with Geep and Pop

We had fun celebrating Daddy's birthday. Spencer picked out a cool phone cover and made sure he opened it the first thing that morning.

Then the boys went outside and cracked open the geodes Spencer got from Aunt Bobbie. Fun!

Geep and Pop were spending Christmas with the Loves in New York this year, so they came to Austin on the 22nd to celebrate Dave's birthday, have our Christmas, then fly out from Austin on the 23rd. First, we went to Top Golf for lunch and some golfing fun. It's hard to get good pictures there with an iPhone - you really need a big flash b/c of the shade from the overhangs. We took one of Pop, Dave and Spencer, but you can't see their faces...

Then we came back to the house to open Christmas gifts!

 

Spencer got a cool remote control car, books, a new Sorry game and a Lego set from Pop and Geep. He picked out a pretty iron wind chime for Geep and a Red Raiders golf towel for Pop.

Sidebar: For some reason we just didn't take that many pictures this year at the various Christmas festivities. I don't even have one of Dave, Spencer and me. :( 

After presents and playing, we had some yummy cheesecake for Daddy's birthday.

The next morning, Geep and Pop headed out to New York then Spencer and I took the remote control car for a spin. Fun celebration!

December Catch-Up: Columbus Christmas

We went to Aunt Bobbie's the weekend before Christmas for the annual Elliott-Rives-Trahan-Ruston-Stancik-Horridge gathering. Aunt Fay and Renee both couldn't make it this year - Fay was sick and Renee was moving into her new house. There was lots of food, presents, silly pictures, a magic show and a rousing game of Apples to Apples (but for some reason not too many pictures). Good times!

I'm a Little Lamb Who's Lost in a Wood...

Last Sunday, Spencer went over to his friend Charlie's house to play for a few hours. Dave and I used that time to go Christmas shopping. I think that was the first time we've ever been able to go shopping for Spencer together - it was fun!

After we picked up Spencer, he and I decided to go for a quick hike in the Greenbelt before dinner. We set out from a spot we don't typically enter. We made a lot of twists and turns and came upon this beautiful spot.

But when we started heading out, we quickly realized we didn't know the way back. It was already 5:00 and I knew it would get dark soon, so I called Dave. I didn't want to alarm him, but the fact of the matter was we were lost. Using a "find a friend" app on our phones, he tried to figure out where we were as he ran through the Greenbelt with a flashlight. I know he was so nervous.

After 20-30 minutes I started hearing voices in the distance. I decided to just aim for those voices and luckily we ended up behind a row of houses. There was a party going on at one of them, with people standing along a balcony. I trudged through some thick brush and yelled up to them. Someone told us how to get up to their backyard then they led us through their million dollar home, full of fancy people, with me covered in leaves! Dave picked us up out front a few minutes later.

Needless to say, I learned my lesson and won't venture out in the Greenbelt without knowing exactly where I am. I think I did a pretty good job of remaining calm and not alarming Spencer *too* much. He just kept saying in a slightly worried voice, "We're lost." I'm glad we didn't have to get rescued by a helicopter search party! It won't keep us from hiking - we'll just be smarter from now on!

Ella's Christmas Party

Earlier this month, Ella invited us over for a sweet little Christmas party. We decorated gingerbread houses...

 And you'll never guess who showed up...

He read The Night Before Christmas to the kids...

Spencer approached the man in red with his usual caution of course...

I thought that if I sat on Santa's lap, Spencer might want to, but he didn't, and that's just fine. Santa still gave him a neat book about gingerbread pirates.

It was a fun party! Steffani, Chad and Ella are such awesome (and generous!) party hosts. You can hop over to Steffani's blog for more pictures.

Piper and Beckett's 5th Birthday

We have a tradition of going to the Trail of Lights with Piper, Beckett and their parents. It worked out this year that we went on their actual birthday. We met at Chuy's first for dinner and a cookie cake, then walked to the park. It was cold but we had fun! Beckett charmed a guy at the entrance so he gave us all VIP passes to go in early instead of waiting until the gates opened for the general public. VIP baby!

A few days later was the twins' birthday party. There was cake decorating, face painting, giant lollipops and a pinata. Big fun!

Hard to believe these three little sugars are 5 years old. Check out this picture of our first Trail of Lights visit in 2009. I love that Spencer has friends he met on the day they were born!

Little Helping Hands: Caritas

This week Spencer and I were signed up for an activity at the Caritas of Austin Kitchen, but because work was so crazy for me I asked Daddy if he would take Spencer. I hated to miss a volunteer opportunity, but the boys had a really good experience making big batches of lasagna. Caritas provides lunches for 350 people in need every Monday - Saturday!

Spencer is very helpful in these situations - always working hard and asking what he can do next. And he was really rockin' that hair net!