Merry Christmas 2010!

This year was a first for us...we stayed at home for Christmas and didn't perform the annual Tour of Texas (Dallas to Beaumont to Georgetown to Dallas) that we've done in years prior. Needless to say, this
is the most relaxing, lazy Christmas we've ever had...but we did miss going to our respective homes for the holidays.

On the 23rd, Mike and Carmella came to San Antonio to celebrate Christmas with us.

Cheesy uncle and niece after opening gifts...

Another first....on Christmas Eve we went to the River Walk to look at the gorgeous lights and have a nice dinner. It was cold but so much fun! (Yes, Caroline picked out her outfit.)

Christmas Eve night, Caroline put out cookies and milk for Santa

Then she threw reindeer food (aka deer corn) in the front yard for Santa's reindeer.

Christmas morning...Is there anything more special as a parent than watching your child on Christmas morning?  It was truly magical!

Santa brought Caroline her first bike - a Disney Princess bike that she fell in love with at Target. He also brought her new Cinderella high heels - her previous pair broke due to her constantly wearing them.

While I had this image of Caroline opening all of her presents in her red Christmas nightgown (thank you Rhonda!), Caroline had multiple wardrobe changes through out Christmas morning. First she just had to change into her Cinderella dress so she could wear her new Cinderella high heels with it.

Ella had a lucrative Christmas as well. She received new clothes, matching pjs with Caroline, a baby doll carrier, and a baby bjorn-style carrier that Caroline is wearing here. Oh, and there is a doll seat on Caroline's new bike so Ella can ride with her.

New donut pjs. Caroline and Papa have a ritual of going to the donut shop together. They always ride in Papa's truck and Caroline always gets to wear her pjs. So he bought her special donut pjs to wear on their donut runs.

Posing with the log cabin she built from the Lincoln Logs she received from Paw Paw Kenneth.

Another wardrobe change - this time into her big sis shirt, purple headband and the purple tutu she received from my parent's friend, Susan, for Christmas.

Reading a Spanish book she received for Christmas.

Assembling the floating princess castle for her bathtub.

Reading "Pinkalicious" with Nana.

Ready to ride her bike...doesn't she look like a pro cyclist in her outfit? :)

First she took it for a spin in the house...

Another wardrobe change for both Caroline and Ella - now they are both wearing their new matching pjs...and they wore them until the next day (Thank you Perry, Nan, Taylor, and Haley!).
Nana, Caroline, and Ella...

Riding the new bike in the neighborhood for the first time. I couldn't resist this picture...Kevin is wearing slippers and a camo jacket - classic!

Christmas night and we are still outside so Caroline and Ella can ride around the neighborhood in their matching pjs.

Caroline says...

Today in the car, Caroline informed me she has three wishes...
1) She wishes she didn't have parents, only grandparents. (She tells us this A LOT right now.)
2) She wishes she had a dog and a cat. (She's about to have a baby brother or sister so that will have to suffice.)
3) She wishes her stuffed animals were real animals.

On the way home from the gym she informed me of the following:
"Mom, my school closed down because a big, giant pancake with syrup fell on the school. That's why it won't be open ever again." I don't why but I couldn't stop laughing when she told me this.

Santa, Santa, and more Santa

On Sunday evening, we took Caroline to see Santa at the Shops at La Cantera. Before talking to Santa she rode the rides in the food court.

I know there are quite a few pictures of Caroline with Santa but I love them and couldn't narrow them down.

On Monday, Santa visited Kevin's office. Santa had a gift for each child and called them by name to come up and sit with him and get their present. When they called Caroline up, she was too timid to walk up to Santa so Kevin helped ease her up.

Once her turn was done, she didn't want to sit down.

Caroline's gift from Santa - twin mouse babies for her Calico Critters dollhouse.

Kevin and Caroline in front on the tree in the atrium of his building.



Kevin's Birthday weekend!

Kevin's birthday was on Friday but we started celebrating on Thursday for good measure. :) On Thursday night, I took Kevin to Fleming's Steakhouse to start the birthday celebration. We haven't been on a super nice date in a while since the last 12 months have been rather chaotic with him in Quantico and us moving. It was so much fun!  Caroline was dressed up for her babysitter that kept her while we went out. Its nice she's at a stage where she loves babysitters!

At Flemings...

Friday morning...as soon as Kevin left for work, Caroline and I hit the kitchen and started making his birthday cake. It was a lemon cake with raspberry filling and lemon cream cheese icing.

Caroline made him a birthday poster to welcome him home from work on Friday. It says "Dad Happy Birthday" and she drew a "big, humongous chocolate chip" on the bottom right of the poster.

When Kevin came home from work on Friday, we were so excited that we made him open his presents before we took him to dinner.  Earlier in the day, Caroline picked out two pistachios, a bunny shaped cookie, and one of her stamps to give him for his birthday. She put them in a Ziploc bag and then wrapped it in foil so he would be surprised. She was so excited to give it to him.

The card Caroline picked out for him had a badge sticker that said "#1 Dad".

Then we celebrated his birthday as a family at Chuy's

I had Kevin's cousin, Richie drive in from Austin to surprise him for his birthday. Richie brought salsa to the table and there was a really funny exchange before Kevin realized it was Richie.

All of us at Chuy's.

After we had dinner we came back to the house for cake.  This picture makes me laugh so hard.

The next day we took Richie to the mercado and ate at Mi Tierra for lunch. It was fun to celebrate Kevin for an entire weekend! Happy birthday, Kev!