Christmas 2010

It's hard to believe Christmas has come and gone! I think December is the fastest month out of the whole year! We have had a wonderful two days celebrating Christmas with the Austin family. We leave for Dallas in the morning to continue celebrating through New Year's with my family so I have to make this post fast so I can go pack!! I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas! Here are a "few" pics! :)

We always spend Christmas Eve day with the Austin side of the family. Usually it's at Grandmother Dottie's house but our family has gotten so big, we've moved it to Uncle Steve and Auntie Jane's house! There were 31 people there.

We started the day off with family pics...oh boy! Parker was not thrilled.

My boys!

Ann's mother, James's "Meemo", just celebrated her 91st birthday!

Me and the FIL, Jim!

Ruben with precious Juliet, this was her very first Christmas!

This tradition started when James was little...all the kids put on a "Christmas play". We read scripture, sing carols and the kids dress up and act out the manger scene. It's so cute and there always seems to be a baby to play baby Jesus!

Ruben reading the Christmas story from the Bible.

"Baby Jesus" with some shepherds and an angel in the background.

Here is Parker not wanting to be an angel.

Having fun after the pageant.

Then all of the sudden Parker's worst nightmare came true, Santa came through the front door to hand out presents. He was panicked and quickly ran away while screaming...poor baby will need therapy after this Christmas season! :)

Watching safely in daddy's arms from a very far distance!

Carter (James's cousin's son) who is four months older than Parker, got to eat together in the kitchen...the best place for two very messy toddlers!

Love this handsome boy!!

Parker trying to see what's happening on the pool table! The guys had a ping pong and pool tournament going the whole day! There was not ONE dull moment the entire, how could there be with 31 people in the house??

Olivia and sweet Juliet

Fun with Faith!

Parker LOVED watching everyone play the Nintendo Wii! After each meal all you had to do was play the Wii to work up a sweat so you'd be hungry for the next meal! :) The food was amazing!

We got home late Christmas Eve and then the night continued with the assembly of "Santa toys"! So fun!

Cinnamon rolls Christmas morning...still trying to wake up!

Nana made a wonderful brunch that we enjoyed once we got to her house!

Posing when no one else would, how rare is that?

All 5 grandkids Christmas morning at Nana's house!

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!! There will be lots of Dallas pics to post when we get back! :)

Wedding weekend

Last Wednesday, Parker and I flew to Dallas to spend a couple of days playing, shopping and having fun before the big wedding weekend. James drove down on Friday and then the festivities began. I'm sad I don't have any pics of this, but we even got to go to the Michael W. Smith concert at the Meyerson on Wed. night. What a great way to kick off the Christmas season!!

My cousin Kristen got married on Saturday night and Lindsey and I were both bridesmaids. The wedding was a the Marty Leonard chapel in Ft. Worth and the reception was in the McDavid building across from the Bass Performance hall. Both were such beautiful places! It was such a fun weekend getting to spend so much time with family! A wedding weekend wouldn't be complete without a ton of family pics, so here you go! :)

Again mom? Really? Do we HAVE to come to North Park Mall every single time we visit??

I think that's exactly what he was thinking in this picture!

We always eat lunch at La Madeleine. He didn't seem to mind it too much! :)

And here is Parker with the North Park Santa!

The picture says it all!

The next day Uncle Ryan came over with Leah to play! I think it took Parker a while to recover from the Santa experience!

What a beautiful couple!! ;) I love this pic of my parents! We had SO much fun at our table that night!

Me and my hubby

Me with Ryan and Lindsey

Carrie, Ryan, Lindsey and Dede having a good time!

Lindsey and her boyfriend Trey.

Dede, Mom and Parker in the "holding room" before the ceremony. What would we do without goldfish??

Carrie, Leah and Ryan

James and Parker waiting their turn to take pics on stage with the bride and groom!

The sibs

Our sweet family!

Cute cousins playing after the wedding.

Kristen and Leah

By this point at the reception it was late and both kiddos were ready for bed. Neesie was doing a great job keeping them fed and entertained! :)

Thanksgiving 2010

I am so thankful! So thankful for my husband, precious little boy and our families and friends. So thankful for God's provision and blessings in our lives. I love Thanksgiving because it's a time to stop and reflect on how truly thankful we should be!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving out at the ranch with small numbers when it comes to the Austin fam. It was so COLD but it was great to stay inside by the fire and play games, watch football and eat!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Watching the Cowboys in his little rocking chair.

Relaxing after the big meal!

Cutie pie! He was watching Sesame Street in the big chair!

We probably watched too much t.v. but what else do you do when it feels like 6 degrees outside when you wake up??

Exploring

It's a tradition to cut logs for firewood the day after Thanksgiving. Luckily the weather was nice on Friday! This is the log splitter, before this bad boy they would split it by hand!

Liesl and Jane watching the action.

Parker was "helping" with the logs!

My hot logging man! :)

Starting to look like winter. I love the color of the grass here, pretty in it's own way!