Christmas Break

We kicked off the break with grand plans of having exciting things to do everyday....new outings, getting together with friends, learning new things......that did not last too long. But it did start off that way:) The weather was so cold most of the break, it really limited what we could do!

On our first Friday we met some friends for lunch at Phil's and then we were off the check out the new library downtown. It was pretty darn amazing.

 After that, we did a few things here and there- hung out at Ethan's house one day, went to my parents and met Rachel and the girls to hang out, had neighbors come play in the yard, and a trip to the bowling alley. It was the first time Cash got to choose a friend to come out with us on a real "playdate" without his mom:)

We also took a trip to The Austin Zoo on the one warmer day before New Years.

We have a tradition to have lunch at my Aunt Carols house on Christmas day. Usually we do an Italian meal, as a homage to how my mom, her siblings and my grandmother grew up. But this year, we decided we would do a total Tunisian meal made up of foods we all grew up on thanks to my grandmother. On Christmas Eve, my family from Dallas came to town and we all hung out with them all day at my parents house, ordered Chinese for dinner, and made deblas-a favorite dessert of mine that my grandmother used to make me for my birthday! 

Christmas Eve is such a busy day for Chinese restaurants, that when my dad went to Chinatown to pick up our food, he ended up staying and working the front table-answering phones, greeting people, seating them....if you know my dads history with Ron (the owner) and our history with Chinatown, this totally makes sense that he had a blast doing it and ended up staying for over 2 hours!! I just wish I could have seen him in action! And by the way, the sweater he is wearing is what has been named his "grandfather sweater."

.

We were lucky enough to have Blaine home with us Christmas morning this year before he had to head to work that morning!  Eli and Owen anxiously waited for Cash to wake up so we could open up stockings and presents! They tore through everything so fast, that pictures were hard to come by and I was so in the moment that I didn't want to just be taking pictures, but I got a couple...

We got ourselves together and headed over to Carols house. The boys took their new laser tag game, football gloves, football and a few other things over there and were able to play in the backyard the whole time with their new loot.
Mom got all dressed up for the occasion, she had all her children together, a wonderful meal, and was surrounded by her family. It was a beautiful time. And OH so delicious! I was dreaming of this meal for days ahead of time and basically starved myself so I could eat as much as humanly possible!

Just look at my beautiful 92 year old grandmother!!!

New Years really just isn't my holiday. It doesn't do much for me and I would be perfectly content staying at home, asleep by 10! But we went over to my parents for chili, corn bread and some black eyed peas, toasted the new year with my family, and then we headed over to the Ladd's house for a little New Years party. We (meaning me!) was toast by 11pm and we headed home just after watching the ball drop in NY.
I don't make resolutions, but I am extremely excited for the year to come. With this unexpected surprise coming our way, I am anxious but so darn excited to see who this little boy is that is going to complete our family!!! May cant get here fast enough!

December Blur

It has been quite the month! I can not believe the year is almost over! I have finally turned a very small, and slow corner in feeling a little bit better. Thank goodness. I have started feeling the baby kick a little, which is always to amazing, and we had our 20 week appointment/sonogram where everything looked great. MEK. It all still feels very surreal to me! I had the "genius" idea of bringing the boys with us to our appointment to see the baby. In my mind I thought they would think it was so neat to see inside my body, to see the baby--his heart, brain, fingers and toes......Oh-i was so wrong. "Mom, why did you make us come to this? It just looks like a blob, I cant see what I am looking at, it looks more like a lizard than a baby, is this almost over, what is that? Mom, this is not that cool, I cant even tell what I am looking at...." 

We also had SNOW in AUSTIN! What?!?!?  I had no idea it was even a possibility this day! But lo and behold, is started and kept coming, totally covering the ground--a big deal for us Austinites! The boys declared it the best day ever!!!!  And to make it even better, school was cancelled the next day! They couldn't get enough of it. They were out until they were freezing, would come in to warm up and put on another layer and then out again....repeat. 

 The next morning was no different. They were out there until the snow started to melt.

 Our darn elf returned. He was a little lazy this year, but the boys did not seem to mind, or notice!

 Before school got let out, I got to chaperone Owen's 1st grade field trip to Zach Scott Theatre. And attend his class party.

And I got to attend Eli's holiday party in his class as well!

We had sworn off The Trail of Lights. But somehow we ended up there again this year. Our friends, the Barrons asked us to go on Hero's Night. Mike and Blaine work at Station 1 together so we were able to go early with their AFD ID. It was a super fun night! We really slacked on the holiday outings and events this year, so we were really happy we ended up going!

Christmas/Hanukah cookies are a MUST in December! We only made a little mess.....but totally worth it.

Maggie turned ONE! We celebrated with a Pup Pie and some new bones.

Hanukah this year started on December 12. We decided this year we would light the candles but wait until Christmas to open presents at home since we also do stocking Christmas morning and it would give the boys something to look forward to over the break. But we did get some fun Hanukah celebrations in! Before Rachel and Hobo left for Minnesota, we celebrated at my parents house. Then we had our annual Latkepaoolza at my cousins house and another Hanukah party with some friends in the neighborhood. We also lit the candles every night at home. It was really great this year!