NYE

Our NYE was a little sad this year - no Volcanseks to celebrate with!! We went to dinner at Cane Rosso, which was super yum (ohhhh, that dessert pizza, how I love thee) and looked at lights. We attempted to go to a friend's house, which was a kid-friendly party, but there actually weren't any other kiddos there. I think if Finley had been there, the boys might have followed her lead a little more, instead of thinking they could take over her toys and have a blast! When they started crying over sharing a Thomas train, we decided it was too far past bedtime and left early - like, really early. We put the boys to bed somewhere around 9 and managed to stay up to watch the ball drop. Happy new year! The next day we went to Carol & Larry's for a family new year's celebration. J&B loved baby Tyce's new toys, too!

Christmas

Christmas fell on a Wednesday this year, and since J had to work on Monday & Friday, it felt like a quick trip to Tyler and not quite as relaxing as usual. But it was still a great holiday!

We looked at lights several times over the past couple of weeks, and J&B love looking at lights! Next year we will book the carriage ride well in advance, we just weren't quick enough this year for that or for the DSO Christmas concert. When we see lights, they say "Twinkly lights, twinkly lights, Ho, ho, ho!" It was pretty fun :)

We did La's bday dinner at Shoguns on Christmas Eve since we couldn't get there in time for our usual 12/23 dinner. It was different this year - first of all, it's not very crowded Christmas Eve (duh) and not as festive. Second, Erin & Travis, Ryan & Katie & fam couldn't join this year, so that was a little sad. And we were missing Grandma this year, which was also sad. To top it off, no one drank! The best part of the Shoguns tradition was that all the ladies would drink, and almost everyone in the family is a lightweight, so it made for fun & laughs :)

The boys had fun playing at Gigi & Poppy's when we arrived.

Christmas Eve the boys sprinkled their reindeer food outside for Santa's reindeer (thanks Kubastas!), which was cute.

Christmas morning was great, too :) Santa brought the boys some cool stuff and they loved discovering their new toys. This year was so much fun to watch their amazement over each new toy and excitement to open every one - they take so long to open everything because they play with every one as they open. Sweet little boys! Ryan, Cooper, & Connor joined us for Christmas lunch, and we were sad to miss Katie & the babies, but they can't travel yet. It's fun to watch the cousins together and they had a fun day playing with all sorts of new toys :)

Everyone had fun with J's mustache stocking stuffer! The boys did NOT like wearing them :) 

First Christmas

We did an early Christmas with J's parents and after Hanukkah for 2 nights, early Christmas, Christmas morning, and Christmas with my family, the boys had days and days of presents! They didn't mind :)

They got a couple of dress-up costumes, which they have loved!

 

And this was not from early Christmas, but I got the boys some rain boots & coats at the NDMOTC consignment sale for super cheap, and they have enjoyed going on walks during light sprinkles and after it rains. Their favorite thing to do is stomp in rain puddles :) We also like looking for worms, using sticks to play in the water & mud, and being out in our cool rain gear.

December fun

We've had a few of birthday parties this month and the boys have had a blast at all of them :)

 

And this is how we roll in the bathtub, now:

I love when these precious angels disappear into their room to read books, and the following picture just shows what little boys they are :)

And to end the post, a little wink from Ben:

Santa! I know him!

Ben & Jack did great visiting with Santa this year! They told him they wanted "choo choo trains" for Christmas, and were super impressed with the Shoemaker's Elves book that Santa gave them :) Their pic was cute - they smiled this year! And they talked about him for several days afterwards. When we would see another Santa, they would say "That not Santa," and when we would read their little book, they would say, "Santa gave me this!"

Winter in Texas

Just to highlight the crazy texas weather, I have the two extremes documented below.  J&B love the Rory Meyers Children Garden, and here's a little pic I got one beautiful winter day when we met Maddie & Chloe there:

 

Barefoot and playing in water! I didn't bring a change of clothes (I know, that's my MO) so I took their pants off and they walked back to the car with no pants - that's how nice the weather was that day!

And then, two days later, we had a massive ice storm that closed schools/roads for 3-4 days and caused a lot of damage. We had a few downed limbs, but were okay for the most part and kept our power, thankfully! But here are a couple of pics from the neighborhood that J took:

 

Little boys get a little bit stir-crazy in the house over several days, but they did enjoy the extra tv time! 

 

Although I don't have a good picture, we took the boys to see Frozen over the big ice storm weekend! It was their first theatre experience and they did awesome! They ate popcorn THE. WHOLE. MOVIE. And it kept their interest, although Jack did get scared at some of the dramatic parts, so he and I left for the bathroom at one point, and then he and J left for the last 10 minutes or so of the movie. Ben moved our hands out of the way when we tried to cover eyes during the scary parts! Ever since the movie, they have been obsessed with the soundtrack and love to sing the songs! :)

Pre-Christmas festivities

Christmas is here! It's my favorite time of year and I love all of the traditions and festivities and fun leading up to Christmas. Here are a few of the activities we did this year: 

We had dinner at the Shops @ Legacy then walked around and walked down to the giant Christmas tree. The boys looked all the way up and kept saying "Woah!"

Ice! at the Gaylord, Texan. We were supposed to go with the Maybens, as is our tradition, but they all got strep throat that weekend! So we took the boys solo, and while it was much better than last year, it was still a little disappointing for the price. The Gaylord is beautiful, though, and we had a great time walking around. Oh! And since we had originally planned on going to a nice steakhouse with the Maybens, we decided to keep that on the agenda and went to III Forks for dinner, where I discovered their chocolate cake. OMG, was it good. I told J he will have to take me back sometime soon so that I can have more - although it was huge, the boys ate most of it, so there were no leftovers!!

We have a fake tree (and Jonathan complains about it every year - but if we had a real one, I would complain about cleaning up after it every year, so I guess we're even) but I have such fond memories of going to the tree farm growing up and want that to be a part of our tradition with the kids too. This year we went to the Yesterland tree farm in Canton, which was really kid-friendly! We went on a "hayride" (no, more like a giant toy train pulled by a tractor) and the boys went on a little train ride, and they have pony rides and airplane/fair rides, corn shooting (!), etc. It was really fun! Gigi & Poppy, & Aunt La & Uncle Kris came with us, which was great.

 

We made a gingerbread house this year! The boys loved this activity, from start to finish, and although I helped them assemble the house, they did all the decorating themselves. When daddy got home they were eager to show off their handiwork :)

Luke & Sami were in town and we got a nice visit with them, when we found out they are expecting a baby in May!! They are having a little girl and we are excited our girls will be so close in age :) We couldn't be happier for some of our very most favorite friends. We went to the Perot one morning and J got this pic of Ben, then Ben & Jack, relaxing with Sami while we watched a video in the expanding universe exhibit hall. So cute!