Saturday, December 27, 2014

Merry Christmas!


We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  My parents drove down from Michigan and we had a couple days to explore before the kids came to my house.  We did an Urban AdventureQuest downtown, which was a cool way to explore the city.  I got to navigate the "scavenger hunt" app on my phone:


Our starting point was the state capitol, which was cool because I hadn't been there before myself!  Of course the parents had fun taking pictures:


We got to explore some cool sculptures around the city...


...and I teamed up with Angelina Eberly (watch out!):


We had to stop at Starbucks (the first of what would be many!), and we just had to get cake pops!


(The cake pops didn't last long enough to make it into the picture.)

I introduced Mom and Dad to Texas BBQ at Salt Lick, which was a huge hit:


The kids got to my house on Christmas Eve and though they always bring a flurry of energy, we did manage to have some chill time:


(Chase is following Santa on the Santa Tracker!)

Of course we had to watch Polar Express:


And it seemed Boomerang was wherever my dad was (whether he liked it or not!):


Christmas Eve the kids sprinkled reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter) around the yard:

 

...and then we all went to church for the candlelight service:


(My poor parents!  Lol!)

Christmas morning the kids were slightly excited.


Santa brought them just what they wanted:


(Both of which required some assembly...)


And awesome homemade gifts took over the living room:

 
 

The rest of the visit was filled with movies, Cabela's...


...piano "concerts..."


...playing around...


...and cooking:


(Chloe got to use her brand new kitchen set to help make pizza one night!)

We even managed to find time to meet up with my aunt (Mom's sister) and some cousins!


It was a wonderful time and I loved having so much family together.  Hope everyone's Christmas was as merry as ours!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Pre-Christmas Fun


'Tis the season! We had fun this year preparing for the holidays!  Of course we put up our tree (awwwww... look at my sweet babies!):


We (I) did a lot of baking for some reason:

 

And we found a cool little festival that had a snow maker!  Yes, we actually bundled up in the 70-degree weather...


...and stood in line...


...to play in a pile of snow!


Ahhhhhhh, Texas...!

 

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Happy 8th Birthday, Chase!

Wow. Chase is EIGHT. How did this happen??

Chase is slightly obsessed with the video game Minecraft.  He doesn't play it as much as he reads about it, but he wanted a Minecraft themed birthday party this year.  I made the invitations...


...and the goodie bags...


...and then, of course, I had to make THE CAKE (as has become tradition)!  I have to say I am incredibly proud of this one, because I pretty much came up with the idea on my own, not seeing anything on Pinterest I liked (that was within my ability level)!  I only had to steal the idea of how to make the digital effect using a printable stencil and spray food coloring.  The rest was all my design.  The inside of this cake has 6 layers, each one a different shade of green (so when you cut it it still had that "blocky" look).  Ready?  Here you go!


Chase loved it, and that made the 13 hours it took me all worth it:


Blowing out the candles:


He had his party at Gattiland this year and they did a great job setting everything up in the colors we wanted.  Chase was slightly excited when we got there:


And I have to say he definitely gets his animation from me.  Here are a few shots of him opening presents:


He did pose for a couple normal ones for me:


In keeping with my new tradition of giving the kids an "experience" for their birthdays (vs. "stuff"), I wrapped a running outfit in a box for Chase because we will be doing the Color Fun Fest 5K in Austin January 11th!  We will be busy "training" when we can until then.  Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday, little man!

 

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