Welcome 2013!

January 2013

You know, I don't even remember what we did this year to ring in the new year. I think we stayed up late enough to see the ball drop in Times Square and and maybe even until midnight in Dallas - we might have even had a little Champagne.  Crazy, I know.  I'm incredibly lucky to be beginning my 13th year with my husband, 4th year with my baby boy, and 2nd year with my sweet girl - beyond blessed.  Happy New Year 2013!

On New Year's Day, little Miss Olivia celebrated 8 months in this world.  At 8 months old, her personality has started to show - this little girl has a mind of her own and isn't going to let anyone tell her how to do anything - I have a feeling I'm in big trouble when she hits her teenage years.  She's now crawling and pulling up on furniture.  She's started to say a few words.  Since "Mama" was definitely her first word, I can now admit that Jack just might have said "Dada" first.  Olivia's "Mama" was followed closely by "Dada" and "Baba" (bottle) and anything else that begins with the letter B.  Here's my cutie in pants that are too small and a jacket that doesn't realy match her pants - I promise I do pretty well dressing my little girl most of the time.:)

We celebrated a late Christmas with Nana, Papa, Aunt Brandi, Uncle Ryan and Lincoln in January at our house.  It was a casual day, for everyone but Livi, who finally had the chance to wear her fancy dress from Uncle Greg and Esther.  Papa took lots of pictures of the cuteness:

 

Lincoln loved playing with Livi, cuddling her, and giving her bottles.  He's so ready to be a superstar big brother:

I love this picture of Jack playing with his cars.  It doesn't look like much to most people, but when I look at this, I see a mini me.  When I would play growing up, one of my favorite things to do was to organize.  I'd sort marbles by color, dress up all of my barbies and line them up in front of the Barbie house to take a picture, sort coins by date, and just about anything else you could picture a young accountant-to-be doing. He may look like Tommy, but when he sits down to play and lines up all of his cars in a row, I know he's defnitely my son too!

 

Before we opened presents, the boys took it upon themselves to make nametags for each of the presents under the tree:

Our happy tree!

Of course, I like to take pictures of everyone opening presents.  Here's most of the group:

Nana enjoyed opening presents too!

Dad helped Jack read his new book from Nana and Papa:

Finally, one of my favorite pictures of the night - sweet cousins playing with Jack's new Bat Cave.  So happy these 2 boys get to grow up together!

Welcome to 2013 - it's going to be a great year!

A Boerne Christmas!

December 2012

 

Last post of 2012!  After celebrating in Louisiana, we moved to Boerne to celebrate Christmas day with the Bitler side of the family.  We arrived on Christmas Eve and Grandma and Grandpa had all kinds of fun activities planned.  Aunt Katy, Uncle Ian, Evan and Ben had arrived a few days earlier and were there to greet us and the boys started playing together immediately.  I love how they can be apart for almost 6 months, but when they get together it is as if no time had passed!

 

Instead of gingerbread houses, Grandma and Grandpa had the great idea that rice krispie treat houses might be a little easier for our 2-4 year olds to decorate.  Of course they got a little help from the moms and Grandma, but the rice krispie treats were perfect!

And delicious!!

Great Grandma Dot travelled down to Texas to celebrate with us and snuck in lots of Livi snuggles while she was there:

Grandpa managed to sneak in a few cuddles with our little "Santa Baby" too:

The boys had many a fun meal around this table.  Thye may not have always eaten much, but they were always entertaining!

Of course, on the night before Christmas, we dressed up all the kiddos in their Christmas pajamas.  The best picture we got is pretty good of everyone.  Miss Olivia was ready for bed!

After Livi headed off to bed, the boys and Grandma sat down for Grandma's favorit part of the night, the reading of "The Night Before Christmas":

Santa was extremely good to our family this year.  We all woke up to this happy tree:

The group on Christmas morning (minus Dad, the photographer):

I love to capture everyone as they unwrap their presents.  Whatever this one was, Grandma was excited:

Katy got a bike.  While it was too big for Santa to bring all the way to Texas, he provded her a miniature version so she knew what was waiting for her back in North Carolina:



Dad is ready for his trip to Australia with his new hat and vest:

Jack is always so careful to study and examine everything:

Olivia enjoyed her first Christmas, and even managed to keep the bow from Great Grandma Dot on her head for more than a few seconds:

Grandma helped Livi open some of her goodies:

Here's one of the group concentrating on their new presents:

Smiley Grandma, Katy and Ben:

After we opened presents, it was time for breakfast.  The boys got to help decorate the cinnamon roles with festive sprinkles:

After breakfast, everyone checked out their Christmas presents.  Olivia put on her adorable dress from Great Grandma:

Jack practiced riding his scooter from Grandma and Grandpa:

Ben loved playing with his cars:

 

My parents prepared the delicious traditional Christmas feast, complete with prime rib, Christmas pudding, and of course, Christmas crackers.  Here's the silly photo of everyone in Christmas cracker crowns:

We spent quite a bit of time outside trying out our outdoor gifts.  Great Grandma got each of the boys a remote control car:

Evan tried out his Spiderman web shooter:

And climbed some trees:

Jack got to try out his scooter:

And Ben borrowed it for a little while, too:

We got Jack to wear his Mike Wazowski sweatshirt for a while:

Grandpa helped the boys study the Central Texas plant life:

The day we left, we made sure to get a photo of Great Grandma with all of her Great Grandkids:

Grandma Rose sent her annual boy and girl "funny" presents to Boerne and we opened them before we drove home.  Here I am with my goodies:

Tommy got a cookbook and some "Moose Poop" (aka: chocolate covered peanuts)

I love this sweet hug between cousins.

What a great first Christmas for Miss Olivia, and a wonderful Christmas for all!