Just the boys...

Wes and the boys headed to Mason on Tuesday for a last chance hunt. Wes had one more deer he could shoot and he was on the mission for a spike. You didn't have to ask boys twice if they were ready to go.

 Gourmet pizza at deer camp.  Wes didn't have his usual hunting partners to make a "big man's meal" so they settled for frozen pizza.

The big kill of the weekend.  Wes got his spike and now our freezers are over flowing.   

With the boys gone, Avery and I decided we didn't want to sit at home.  Tuesday night we went out for dinner with Mimi and Toppe and then Wednesday Avery went to The Woodlands to spend the night with Aunt Candice and Uncle Steve.  She was excited to go see the nursery and they got to go ice skating that night!  It was a bit weird for us to be all spread out over the week, but we are back together just in time for family Christmas gatherings. 

Santa requests...

A&A&C have made it difficult for Santa this year.  Besides Caleb wanting a Spiderman bicycle, their requests have been very inconsistent.  One request from Austin was a "Batman set".  Apparently he saw this set on a tv commercial.  I let him know that Santa has lots of Batman toys and he was probably going to need to be more specific.  After a quick glance on the Toys R Us website, we determined this Batman set is a bit babyish and we were able to talk him out of it.  His new request - Optimus Prime Transformer.  I guess we can do that one. 
Avery's original #1 request was maroon flip flops.  She is enjoying rebelling on our UT family.  Well, this Santa didn't go to any trouble to find maroon flip flops, but her Aunt Candice did.  Now she says she wants green flip flops.  I'm on the hunt for those this afternoon.  I was hoping to have her some ribbon ones made, but the lady can't find her size flip flop to make them. 
Besides that we haven't had too many Christmas wants, that can't be because we give our kids too much throughout the year, could it?

Daddy Day....

I admit that when it comes to vacation time at work, I am bitter.  I still only get two weeks (10 days) a year and I try to save that for summer vacations and special events.  That means no Christmas vaca for me outside of the two days that are observed.  So the fact that Wes had time he had to burn this week on top of his usual Friday's off makes me green with envy.  Originally, Wes was going to take the boys to the deer lease today and come back Wednesday, but it's been raining up in Mason so he decided to wait and go tomorrow (Tuesday).  Instead, he treated the kids to a day of fun.  I headed to work and they headed to Katy Mills for some Christmas shopping, something I don't think I'd attempt by myself.  He sent me pics of their excitement throughout the day which included pics with Santa, the fish aquarium, Avery getting her ears repierced and jumping on the bungee trampolines.  Yes, he is an awesome hands on dad!  Though I love my dad to pieces, I doubt he ever would have attempted to do something like this with us. 
So tomorrow the boys leave for the deer lease and Avery and I have a few things planned while they are gone.  We'll all be back together on Thursday when we begin our 5 days of Christmas celebrations!  Tis the season...

Gingerbread Houses 2011

 Wes and I are definitely learing to watch what we say.... kids remember!!!  Saturday morning before heading to Rockdale, Wes told Austin that they could do gingerbread houses when we got back home that evening.  That was with the thought that we'd be back in town around 6:00pm.  Well, we didn't leave Rockdale until right after 6:00pm and considering that the cousins played tag in the backyard for an hour, we figured everyone would konk out on the way home.  Half way home we stopped to get a Gatorade because Avery was thirsty.  I couldn't believe she wasn't sleeping.  When Wes went into the store to get the Gatorade I told Austin he should close his eyes and get some rest.  He told me, "Mom we have to stay awake so we can do gingerbread houses."  Austin and Avery managed to stay awake all the way home and Caleb only dozed off for about 20 minutes.  Sooo... guess who was building gingerbread houses at 8:30pm on a Saturday night?!?

Taking his time.

 He had to have a lick... or two.

Caleb's, Austin's, & Avery's

Keen Christmas

This is my 97 year old grandfather (my mom's dad) and his 7 great grandchildren.  He's got one more on the way!!!  We celebrated Christmas with him and my mom's side of the family on Saturday.  20 of us overtook his peaceful home for the day and enjoyed family time, something we do less and less of each year.  Even at 97 grandpa made sure that grandma's cheese/sausage dip was made and scratched his lottery tickets.  I know grandpa likes having us all together, but I also know that he is glad when we all go and his peace and quiet returns. 

Let the festivities begin....

LCRA hosts a kid's Christmas party for their employees every year and we decided to take advantage of the invite this year.  We headed out to the Ledbetter Lane of Lights last week and were treated to a hayride, hot dogs & hot chocolate and a visit with Santa. 

Gymnastics Christmas program