We went down to visit our parents in Austin for Christmas this year...it always takes me all day to pack and get ready to leave b/c I feel like I might die whenever I travel and I don't want to make some lucky relative have to clean my house in addition to preparing for my funeral. ANYWAY, after spending a whole day preparing to leave, I was ready to leave, but Jon said it was getting late and then soon after we set out, J.R. did a huge throw-up in the car (probably b/c of his antibiotic he's on for an infected ingrown toenail...poor guy) and so I decided to leave Jon and the kids behind and they could come in the morning if that's what they wanted to do, b/c I was ready to go and it was "now or never" for me. But then after driving past downtown in the car all by myself, I realized that the car sure was quiet, and I felt too guilty to travel by myself in all that peace and leave Jon to fend for himself when he's such a patient helpful husband to me all the time. So I turned around and got a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake to reward myself for doing the right thing and honoring my husband's wishes and for all the money we'd save on gas and tolls by just taking 1 car :)
AT MY PARENT'S HOUSE...
with my family. On Christmas day we spent Christmas morning reading the Christmas story from a children's book that Anna Kate helped read in a very animated fashion (why did we forget our video camera?? and why was no one down for wearing their cute Christmas pjs in the 70 degree weather except for me?)
and opening presents (the kids got a kitchen from my parents that was at our house so we wouldn't have to haul it home...and so my dad wouldn't have to put it together I think...so they just unwrapped a bag with the receipt, but were totally good sports about it) and then I cooked turnips and greens to contribute to our Christmas lunch. Then we visited my sister's COOL loft-style apartment while the kids took naps and then we played at my parent's park. Miss Caroline sure has been packing on those holiday lbs. Sunday we celebrated Christmas with Jon's dad's sweet side of the family and I got to cook a fun Christmas meal: Blackberry Pork Loin, Swiss Green Beans, Carrot Souffle, Slow-Cooked Brussel Sprouts, Sister Schubert Rolls, Pumpkin cake, Red Hot Apple Cider and 2 special requests...Sigrid requested her mother's Strawberry Ribbon Salad and Grandpa requested his very favorite dessert in the world - Blue Bell Vanilla Bean Ice Cream...he says that if he ever needs a blood transfusion, just use this ice cream instead please :)
Anna Kate liked the ice-skating (she can't wait to be big enough to do it herself) and J.R. liked the remote control cars and planes at this booth...he just couldn't get enough. Can you see the plane in the air in the picture?
I saw it at Steinmart this morning and when I told Jon about it we both had a good laugh b/c it PERFECTLY describes what Jon goes through on a regular basis being married to me...
"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." That quote also describes the situation before our neighborhood party last night. It turned out to be SO fun and lots of people came (12 out of the 24 houses on our street were represented) and every one said they loved it (and there were even cookies for dessert thanks to Libby), but the kids didn't take naps and I had a hairy time the entire afternoon getting it all ready for a 6 pm start and at 5:55pm I was like, "It's not going to happen, our house and our family except for Jon are all still in disarray and the food is not ready, what do I do? Cry? Hide?" but it turned out ok...Jon says God helped us :).Anna Kate and I were making some Chocolate Cookie Bark while J.R. was trying to get a better look at an ornament on the tree and then...
We hear a crash and him yell, "OH NO!!!"
I'm thinking, "Oh no." The good news is that it didn't fall on him...the other good news is that if it had it's not very heavy b/c it's only a $30 tree...the bad news is that maybe that's why it fell over so easily.
J.R. handed this to me and said, "Star." I didn't know he knew that word...good to know. His hair is white not b/c he was trying to be festive and look like Santa, but b/c his sister thought it would be a good idea to dump a lot of baby powder on his head...she now knows that is NOT a good idea.
was great I'm sure...
I was busy chasing J.R. around and keeping him out of trouble...he had no intentions of sitting there and watching ballet this morning. He's in that "Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm a toddler man" phase. So I was the mom that was late and brought the distracting child and wore 2 dangly earrings that were completely different (realized that when I got home).
The "trainwreck" was last night when we got all dressed up to meet Jon at a Christmas party for his work that was downtown with Santa and music and lots of yummy food and pretty decorations and we were all super excited. It had started to sleet a little when we left, but we live only about 15 min. from downtown, so no problem, right? Wrong...the city closed all the exits and bridges on the highway to sand them for the freezing rain and there aren't a ton of sand trucks for snowy conditions since they are rare, so every one had to wait and I sat at a standstill with 2 upset hungry kids in their carseats behind me for about 3 hours!!!!! We didn't even make it to the party b/c it was bedtime when we were finally able to exit the highway (see pic above of when we got home).
This is our house this morning and we had some very decent snow flurries this morning! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas :)he loves to sit next to her and hang out with her...here they are watching PBS together...
Anna Kate is the 3-yr-old who gets hot-flashes. It's mid-winter and all she wants to wear are leotards and swimsuits around the house and I try to put warm clothes on her and she freaks out and says, "That makes me hot mommy!!!" The first thing she does when we get home from going somewhere (where I made her wear more clothes) is take off all those clothes and put on something like this...apparently her dad and Aunt Jen are the exact same way about clothes making them feel hot.
Both my kids love to do the "triangle"....it's like their cool performance stunt, but they both do it on a regular basis just to mix things up...
Here is Anna Kate doing it at her Christmas ballet class where all the parents were invited to watch...
Here is J.R. doing it...it's funniest from this angle probably :)
We went to a Christmas musical at the church where Anna Kate goes to preschool...as soon as it started she said, "I want to go on stage." But she had to wait until the end...and J.R. got to join her...Anna Kate and J.R. are over to the side, but you should have seen ALL the kids up there in the center and all the cameras flashing...it was chaos!!!
When they saw him for the first time at a "Breakfast with Santa" event a little local church, both kids clung to Jon's legs. So we came back to Santa a little later and...
J.R. had no intentions of sitting in any one's lap b/c he wanted to run around...
and Anna Kate told him what she wanted...probably a lollipop since that's what she always says she wants for Christmas if you ask her :) Maybe I'm a bad parent for not taking my kids to see "real Santa" aka "Santa at a mall" this year, but whatever.
Anna Kate found a spare Santa wig from a costume Jon wore as Santa for a fundraiser for the PTA...she thought it was for a clown and it was really funny that it was in daddy's office :) We got out our Christmas cards in the mail today, I've totally decorated the house for Christmas and I made all those invitations for a neighborhood party and we've got a full calendar until Christmas...I am planning to post pics after this weekend b/c we are doing lots of fun things like going to see Santa and going to a Christmas musical...
I was having super cold-feet about the name Caroline yesterday just because I'm certain it's going to be the #1 name for 2008-2009 based on how many friends-of-friends are naming their babies Caroline. So Jon and i had a long talk about names last night and he thinks all my other name ideas are *ridiculous* and he's really thankful that I married him so that my children would be spared my names like luciette, pearl, flora, emmaline, margaret, alisette, may, dottie, ruby, bertie jane and esther that I like b/c they are so girlie, sweet-sounding and original and i loved being the only april I knew growing up...but he said there's nothing good about being "original" when it comes to names and caroline is a GREAT name and there's nothing else out there he likes besides Audrey, but he like the name Caroline better.
didn't happen...we had RSVPed to go to a pre-school PTA Christmas party this afternoon and get pictures with Santa, but it just didn't pan-out. Maybe it should be called, "Post-Thanksgiving Stress Syndrome." Anna Kate hardly slept a wink last night and neither of the kids are back on schedule after a whole week. We are all feeling sick and exhausted. A box of granola bars (Anna Kate calls them "Olive bars") disappeared (or as Anna Kate would say, "Went-peered") and that didn't help the situation last night since she ate ALL of them and too much sugar (for Anna Kate that would be any amount of refined sugar greater than 2-3 chocolate chips or 2 gummy vites...NO exaggeration) equals lots of tears and no sleep. Anyway...as I said before...til Christmas.
This is as close as Houston and Ty get to each other, but their relationship has improved. Ty would still love to sneak a little sniff of Houston, but that won't be happening any time soon.
So I had the idea to invite all our neighbors over this Christmas because we live on a busy street and never see or even really get to meet most of our neighbors. So I went to the Dollar Tree and was so excited to get all the supplies to make these invites (26) for $7. Now for making them!!!! And then WHEN I get them made and delivered, I will decorate my house for Christmas b/c nothing motivates me to cook, clean and decorate like having a party and I LOVE to have parties! But even though I enjoy these things when there's a party at the end, I have little motivation for the afore mentioned things if we're not having people over.
Anna Kate spent the beginning of Thanksgiving week with Gabby and Papa (Jon's parents) and we brought her over to my parent's house Thanksgiving morning after Jon, J.R. and I drove down for Thanksgiving lunch.
Anna Kate with my sister, Anna, and her boyfriend, Jeff, she met at work.
Anna Kate with Mammaw (my mom) in the kitchen...where Mammaw spends most of her time because she cooks 3 homeade meals a day EVERY day...totally exhausts me to think of doing that every day and having it all ready at the exact same times every day like she does. Suffice to say, Thankgiving lunch for 12 people was no sweat for Mammaw.
J.R. with Bubba (my dad).
Now we're all at Gabby and Papa's house (Jon's parents) and this is Jon's grandmother, Sugar. She's 80 something, but you'd never know it...and she's modeling in a prescription drug shoot soon! She's really dear. She did TONS of cooking for Jon's family's Thanksgiving lunch which was over 20 people. Can you see Caroline in my tummy? She's about 6 months along and I already feel HUGE!
J.R. doing his favorite thing. VROOM...
Anna Kate with her cousin, Elaine. She and Elaine love to play together. Just this morning Anna Kate told me she loves her cousin Elaine and wants to see her again. Sorry no better picture. THE CAJUN FRIED TURKEY
WHOA!!! Don't try this at home :)
Not this picture....
This one!! Phew it's like climbing the Rock of Gibralter to get to toddlers to stay and smile at the same time and this is the best we got... 
