The Holidays, pt. 1

It makes me a little sad to see everyone putting their Christmas decorations away on Facebook. I am one of those hold outs that actually keeps it up as long as I can (usually until my birthday in early January). It does feel good to actually get it put away and have a (somewhat) orderly house. But....I still plan to wait! We actually are still in the midst of Christmas celebrations. We plan to head out to Pecos for Dominguez Christmas this weekend.

We've had a fun few weeks. And we are really enjoying the time David and Benjamin have off of school. Actually, Benjamin stretched his vacay out a little longer by missing the last two days of school (including his Winter Party Day, boo!) because of strep throat. It seems like every time David goes out of town, I end up with a puker. I can't tell you how relieved I was that it was strep instead of a tummy bug (is it weird that I am relieved by that?). But, hey, a shot of antibiotics and he was better in 12 hours. My kids are so rarely on antibiotics (I can't even remember the last time I had to refrigerate a nasty bottle of pink medicine) that I don't worry too much about the whole antibiotics affecting their immune system too much. We escaped the whole ordeal with only Benjamin & I getting sick (knockin' on wood, people).

We kicked off the holiday season one of the first weekends in December with Benjamin inviting some of his classmates over for breakfast (in your jammies) and a movie. It was a fun time. We even got to know a couple of the parents from his class better.

Kindergarteners' feast!

These were a couple of the friends that came over for the fun! Kaden & Abbigail. We spread out quilts and pillows to watch the Polar Express. Although, most of the kiddos ended up playing with the train table in Benjamin's room! Oh well. They still had fun!

Every year, a local church puts on a live walk-through Bethlehem/Nativity. It was AMAZING! Not only are there dozens of interactive characters and buildings to explore, they also cook for you as you walk through and let you sample food of the period. They make you pay your taxes (a donation of canned food) but then offer you cocoa & cookies afterward! The boys really enjoyed it and so did we. David's been wanting to go for a couple of years and I am so glad we made it this year. It truly was a special night. The photo above is the boys in the synagogue they have set up...listening to the rabbi read from the scroll.

We had Pawlik Christmas on the 19th. My dad is still recovering from surgery, but I think he really enjoyed everyone being around for the day!

These are my parents' grandkids. Quite the age range, huh?

It's so rare that everyone's all together that it was a definite photo op.

Aaron, Andrea, Kayla, Amber, Keaton, Amanda, Jonathan & Benjamin

My brother Dale & his bunch

Amanda took a cookie decorating class and brought us the results. She has convinced me to take one with her in the next month or so. I need to learn to do this. Need.

Alyssa & Trevor....waiting to open presents. These two cuties belong to Aaron.

We're a bit silly when we get together.



Aaron and his youngest, Annika. This baby has the most beautiful eyes. Ever.

Peanut gallery. Amber, Connally & Isaac

Iron Man even made his appearance. And continues to make a daily appearance at our house. This is probably Jonathan's favorite gift of the year.


It was the year of Legos for Benjamin. He and David have been busy building like crazy all through the break.



Hard to believe we only have two teenagers in the bunch right now!

Kayla & Keaton

And being a teenager comes with fun stuff like a new car! Kayla drove her new wheels out here to show everyone! Can you say adorable? She's one cute kid. And now has a cute Jetta to scoot around in.

During our time at home, Jonathan and I did some baking. Benjamin was so involved in building the new Lego city that baking wasn't so much a priority to him this year (sniff, sniff). But, Jonathan was a firecracker in the kitchen. We made red Rice Krispy treats (covered in Christmas sprinkles), Ice Box Cinnamon Chippers, our traditional Red & Green Pinwheels and some crazy banana bread.

We actually baked later than usual and missed all of our neighbors that we usually give cookie plates to. So, we gave them to neighbors we had never met before...a new family that just moved in from El Paso and a contractor who has been working in Iraq for the last three years. We did manage to track our next door neighbor down Christmas eve and give him & his Holiday guests his yearly plate. I actually loved the idea of giving to people we don't know. Always easy to meet someone over a plate of goodies.

David and I also had a treat on the 22nd. We went to Austin to see the Ellison Emeralds open for the Rockettes at Bass Concert Hall. We got a hotel for the night, ordered room service and slept in until ten the next morning. Lazy! And fun!

It was such a fun evening to get dressed up and go see a wonderful show at Bass Concert Hall. It brought back so many memories of going to Bass Concert Hall when I was a little girl, all dressed up to see the Nutcracker with my mom. I only wished I hadn't still been recovering from strep when we were there...we originally had plans to go to Fogo de Chao with some special friends. Wasn't quite sure my tummy could handle Fogo yet. Bummer.

We opened our family presents Christmas Eve. Yes, we are one of those families.

Sweet Kid

Santa came Christmas morning and brought all kinds of goodies...Jonathan got his requested "froggies" and Buzz Lightyear. Benjamin got a Wii and more....Legos.

Santa found a red Wii...how cool is that? ; )

My oldest brother takes my entire family to lunch in Austin on Christmas day. It's great...no body has to cook (or clean up) and we get to sit down and visit over some wonderful food.

Isaac & Amanda

My neice, Amber and my sister-in-law, Lisa

My sister-in-law, Cherie and my brother, Mike

My neice, Andrea and my great-nephew, Austin. Austin was pretty smart this year with his Santa snacks. He left the Man with the Bag a Nutrigrain bar instead of cookies this year! Ha!


He ate the whole thing.

After lunch, we came home and got back in our jammies to have a wonderfully lazy day. Actually, the boys got new Buzz & Woodie jammies in their stockings....it was a great excuse to try them on!

This is pretty much what we've done every day since Christmas. Wii love it!

We did take a break yesterday to go and see Tangled at the theater...and head to Target to buy a new Wii game! (Benjamin's Target gift card from Uncle Mike & Aunt Cherie was burning a hole in his little pocket...he had to have the new Car's Mater's Tall Tales Wii Game!)

Jonathan boxing.

Whew. 31 photos. I'm sure I'll have many more after Dominguez Christmas.

Happy Holidays to all of you!

Must. Keep. Up. With. Blog.

This month has been a bit of a beating. The fact that my business is the busiest during the holidays seems to make the season a bit harder to fully enjoy. But, I love the business and wouldn't trade it for anything. And designing Christmas cards is absolutely my favorite. It is after all, where it all began!
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It's also been a hard few months for us. And this past week, we really had some heartache when David's sweet grandpa passed away. He had a stroke on Friday morning and passed away Saturday night. For the last couple of years, we've actually discussed what we would do if we lost grandpa and wondered, with David's schedule being what it is, if we would make it out to California. I feel so blessed to say that David was actually able to take a couple of days off of work and fly out there to join his family. He was very blessed by the entire trip.

This was one of David's favorite photo of his grandparents, taken on our trip out there in 2005.
(Excuse the quality...we had a hard drive crash several years ago and this was a difficult photo to track down and "recapture")

David messaged me with some photos from their family dinner after the funeral. This is David's sweet Grandma and his Aunt Mona.


Uncle Charles and his sweet wife, Anna and David


David's Uncle Larry, David, Aunt Charlotte, his cousin, Laura and Laura's boyfriend, Keith.

Although it was a quick trip, since David has been home, he's mentioned a hundred times how thankful he was to be there. He was also honored to lead a prayer at the graveside service.

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Earlier this month, Jonathan's preschool had their Christmas program, "Show & Tell the Story of Jesus". It was quite precious. And Jonathan was a shepherd...how adorable can you get? And he even knew all the words to the songs he sang!

Here he is in his little shepherd outfit with his class on stage.


Singing the songs!


Love him!

Both of the boys after the program. If I could get my act together and get our own Christmas cards done, a different version of this photo will be in your mailbox....hopefully by New Year's.

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We also were thrilled to get to see my nephew, Keaton, play in the state play-offs for the Bastrop Bears in Waco. (Although it was kind of weird wearing maroon instead of green...but since it was for the bears and not the Roos...we're okay).

Keaton is #54. (I actually took some football photos....impressive, eh? I still wasn't 100% sure what all was going on. But, I can fake it 'til I make it. And I sure could cheer for my nephew!)



My brother and sister-in-law bought the boys custom Bastrop Bears shirts! Benjamin couldn't wait to wear his to school the following week!
And...wow...we had GREAT seats!


Keaton, #54

Mike & Benjamin cheering the Bears on! (I was having some focusing issues and I was sad that Cherie was accidentally cropped out of this photo when I took it).

Thanksgiving by the Numbers

15 pumpkins down the middle of the table

12 cousins who haven't seen each other in a while.

10 pounds of potatoes...peeled, boiled, buttered and garlic-ed

1 sweet potato-casserole with blackened marshmallows (again)

3 turkeys...fried, smoked and roasted

2 people who could have done without the spiced tea

6 little ones surrounding the kids' table

26 specially selected songs on an iPod playlist that never got played

2 Floridians that came back to Texas...permanently

1 Texan who is thinking about moving to Florida....semi-permanently

706 miles (collectively) driven from several different cities

LOTS to be thankful for. . .

The grown-up table (with baby Annika)


Jonathan helping prep the rolls


Amanda making her pumpkin roll...so yummy


Kayla & Cherie putting the finishing touches on the trifle....yum!


Pumpkins!


Darn her!


Amber & Connally around the buffet table


My 29-year-old nephew, Aaron "helping" Grandpa.
This is an age-old tradition (or 29 year old one).


The pilgrims & indians...Annika, Alyssa, Jonathan, Benjamin, Trevor & Austin


My nephew, Keaton and Grandpa


I spent quite some time picking out all these lovely background songs to play during dinner....somehow that game was "accidentally" left on.
We were also super impressed with how well the kiddos actually ate! Not much chatting...


Dessert Table


Coffee Bar...so excited to use my antique cups & saucers that came from one of my great grandmas...we think.


Jonathan got a hold of Keaton's hat.


Friday after the eating, Bud, Mike, Cherie, Kayla & Keaton headed up to a little 'ol football stadium in Dallas that Jerry Jones recently built to watch Keaton play in the playoffs! Woohoo! And they won! We are all heading to Waco this weekend to watch him win again.


I just had to stick this in here, too. I love this photo! This was actually taken at Aunt Helen's services, the day before Thanksgiving. I just think it is a wonderful photo of my parents and my brother and his family.

Hope your turkey was as tasty as ours!! Happy Holidays!