Four Christmases (Plus 3 more!!)

Well, as I mentioned before, we have quite large families!  This year, we attended 7 Christmases.    For once, I actually did a really good job of taking pictures...we have so many! To save space and a lengthy download, I put most of them into a collage.  We started out Christmas Eve Eve with the Voelker Christmas.  

Friday, Christmas Eve, we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house for afternoon snacks and family time.  We did things a little differently this year.  We played a White Elephant game, but the gifts all included at least $25 cash.  The gift part was the packaging.  The total amount spent was to equal $35, so if your packaging cost $5, you gave $30 cash, and so on.  It worked out well.  Ruston didn't participate in the game....he got actual gifts. He did so much better at actually opening his gifts and got so excited about each one! He got lots of books (which he loves) and some really cute clothes. :)

After leaving the Tumlinson Christmas, we headed out to Rockdale to Nana's house.  It was great seeing all of Danny's family, but it was a little bittersweet.  We didn't have Christmas last year because Bop was in the hospital.  So this year was the first without him.  He was definitely missed.  Ruston racked up in the present department....he even tried to put his new pajamas on himself.  He got a CUTE camo scarf from Ricky and Tammy.  Precious.  He also spent some time in the old school chair, coloring a picture for Nana. :)

Ruston had a fantastic time with all the kiddos and Nana.  She got him a really cute tent that is in the shape of a dog.  He had so much fun crawling in and laughing at everyone on the outside.

How cute is this little guy watching his Christmas movies? :)

We headed home and got in bed so we'd be ready for Christmas the next morning! Ruston woke up at normal time, about 6.  Luckily, we were able to put him back in bed with us and get a little more sleep.  We got up about 9 and went to see what Santa brought us!  Ruston was really into opening the presents this time and LOVED all his gifts. :)  He got the Cars movie and some books from the movie.  Diesel got him a little rug with roads on it for him to drive his cars on.  His favorite was by far the tractor. haha

Diesel was a fan of his present too....treats and a rope toy!

Danny surprised me with an iPhone 4! It is so much faster than my old iPhone, it's just giving me some trouble as far as hooking it up to my computer. :/  Danny's big ticket item was tickets to George Strait and Reba in January!  Woohoo, can't wait!!

At noon, we headed over to my Dad's house.  We did Christmas with Dad, Benda, Andrew, Adam and Saoirse.  Ruston did well opening presents again.  He got the cutest books from my Dad and Benda! One of them is about puppies and has big googly eyes, one is about cars and has actual wheels, another is about all kinds of transportation and it has a little boy that moves from page to page to drive each thing, and then one is a recordable book about the 1st Christmas.  Adam and Saoirse got him the cutest Calvin Klein outfit.  Danny and I got some much needed money and giftcards to go towards some big items we've been wanting.

Around 2, the rest of the family showed up.  It's so different not having my Grandma there.  Just feels like something is different.  But I'm glad that we still all get together to celebrate.  I think Ruston enjoyed playing with his "daycare friends" on his turf.  He showed them the ropes. :)

Right before everyone headed out, Tyler pulled out his guitar.  He's been taking lessons for a while now and I'm amazed at how much better he is each time I hear him play.

We weren't finished yet! We packed up and headed home for a bit to recoup. (And cook some more! haha)  We got Ruston down for a nap and started working on the potatoes we were taking to Danny's parents house.  Ruston was so tired that we ended up having to wake him up to leave! He was in a good mood once we got there though.  He got some big ticket items at his Gigi and Pawpaw's house! They got him a rocking horse and an A&M recliner.  They gave Danny and I an external hard-drive to store all of our pictures and a Flip video camera.

We all 3 went home warn out from the past 2 days' events.  We had planned on going to church the next day, but we didn't make it up. :/  That's definitely one of our New Year's Resolutions....we need to get into a church more regularly.  We had one more Christmas left, but lucky for us, we didn't have to leave! My mom and clan came over for Christmas at our place around 12.  We grilled chicken, baked potatoes, made some green beans, salad, garlic bread, and cheesecake.  It was so laid back and calm! haha.  Saoirse brought her little sister, Zarah, over too.  Ruston liked having a new play friend.  When they both started getting a little cranky, we turned on Alvin & the Chipmunks and they were set. :)

It was a Christmas for the books! I LOVED all the family time we got, but man, am I glad it's over! ha.  It was really nice to just relax and not worry about anything this week.  I hope you all had a fantastic holiday with family and are looking forward to the New Year!!

Traditional Christmas Food...

...is so boring to me! haha.  After eating turkey, ham, and cranberry sauce for multiple Thanksgiving meals, I'm always still tired of it when Christmas rolls around!  Luckily for me, all of our Christmas meals were yummy and untraditional. :)  Some of our meals included fajitas, enchiladas, grilled chicken, and burgers. 

Danny and I hit up HEB last Tuesday to get all the ingredients for what we were making and taking along. Here's what we ended up with... ;)

First up...Reindeer Poop!! "Ruston" made a bag of poop to give to all of his Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  We tied a cute little poem to the bags so they would know exactly what it was they were eating!  Oh, and don't let the name fool you...it is delicious! 

Next on the list....Cheesecake Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting. O.M.G....scrumptious!! I'm normally a cupcake from the box kinda girl, but homemade makes a world of difference! They were so moist and I just couldn't stop eating them. :)

We took Green Chili Mac and Cheese to 2 of the Christmas dinners this year.  It went perfectly with the Enchilada menu, so I offered to bring it there, but then my brother requested we have it Christmas day, as well.  It definitely takes lots of preparation, but it's so yummy!

And the last thing I have a picture of is the Parmesan Baked Potatoes.  I forgot to take one when they were fresh out of the oven, so this one after everyone dug in will have to do. :)  They are super tasty too.

We made a few other dishes, but nothing picture worthy.  What are your favorite foods at Christmas time??

Whirlwind Christmas!

Another Christmas season has come and gone!

Danny and I have such big families, we have tons of Christmas' to attend!  We did do a better job of managing our time this year.  We decided to start going to either Thanksgiving OR Christmas at each house.  It was just too hard to try and make both holidays at all the houses.  While we did miss seeing some of our family on Christmas Eve/Day,  we feel like the time we spent with each family on Thanksgiving or Christmas was much more quality time.  Does that make sense? I feel like I'm rambling. ha!

Anyway, our first Christmas this year was with the Voelker Family.  I am so blessed to have grown up being close to this family.  They are truly people that I know I could count on, whatever the situation.  It seems like each year the amount of people at the exchange gets bigger and bigger, but the feeling is still the same.  It's great to be able to call them all friends. :)

Ruston wasn't too sure about the present opening, yet.  So I did it for him. ;)

Thanks so much to the Voelker Fam for all you do for us... love you guys and cherish your friendship.

Christmas Spirit

As I've mentioned before, I LOVE Christmas.  I feel like I have a pretty good amount of Christmas spirit.  But when it comes to showing that spirit through lights, I just don't have the energy. lol.  Danny and I did buy quite a few outside lights this year.  There are 2 strands of icicle lights hanging that reach halfway across our garage.  We never got past those 2 strands. ha! So obviously, we can't turn them on for fear of being mocked by our neighbors. ;)  We have a tree out front that the lights are in, but we never got around to hanging the ornaments I bought for it. Next year...... maybe..... :)

I am amazed at how much time, effort, and money some people put into the Christmas lights on their homes! I wanted to take Ruston to see some lights, but I wanted to make sure they were worth the drive.  I remember once when we were younger, our family rented a limo with the Voelker family.  The limo picked us up in Manor and drove us to 37th street to see the Christmas lights.  Back then, nearly every house was decked out.  But when I started searching online, apparently a lot of those folks have moved off and the new home owners aren't as extravagant with their displays.  So I did some more searching.  I found 2 addresses in Cedar Park that were getting awesome reviews, multiple times.  It took some convincing, but Danny finally agreed to drive all the way out there. I'm so glad we did! 

We stopped first at IHOP for some breakfast for dinner. So yummy!  Then we headed to our first destination.  It was a house on Sharon Drive and you would not believe the amount of lights this guy had in his yard.  It was over 1 million! But oh, it was so beautiful.  There was even a "flowing river" made of lights.  They had their own radio station playing Christmas songs and the trees in their yard would all light up in beat with the music.  It was amazing.  I loved it and didn't want to leave, but it was cold.  So we got into the truck and joined the 10-15 other cars that were just parked and watching. (Pardon the pics - I forgot my camera, so all we had was Danny's iphone! :( )

Ruston was so cute watching the lights, leaning out the window.  He really enjoyed it.

We went a few blocks over in the subdivision to a cul de sac called Chinati Ct.  EVERY house in the cul de sac participated in a "Night Before Christmas" theme.  Each yard had a big "scroll" with part of the story written on it.  It was so neat to see that all of the neighbors participated. What fun! There were also big lights strung across the middle of the street.  Right in the middle was a little seating area.  We didn't get out, but it looked like they had hot chocolate that you could buy and then sit and enjoy looking at the lights.

I am so glad we made the trek out to Cedar Park for the lights.  Yes, it was a bit of a drive, but we really enjoyed it.  Ruston loved the lights.  I can't wait to head back next year....he'll really like it then! 

It's Christmas time!

I LOVE Christmas decorations! Our house has been decorated for a while, but I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures.  We put up 3 trees this year.

This is our big tree in the living room.  Notice that there are no ornaments on the bottom of the tree. ha!

We've had a little tree in the beach room for the last 3 years. I love the sand castle ornament.

This year we put a little tree in Ruston's room too.  I was hoping to find more actual John Deere ornaments, but we only found 1 tractor and then the little hat up top.  We bought a red barn, and then the rest is just green and gold balls.  Hopefully we'll find some more next year! :)

We got new stockings this year.  I'm weird and like our stockings to coordinate.  Ruston had a "Baby's 1st Christmas" stocking last year, so this year he had to have a new one...therefore, we all had to have a new one. :)

I got our names put on them and I think they look so cute!

Here's a few of my favorite Christmas decorations we have around the house.

These blocks were actually a gift, but I ended up liking them so much, I decided to keep them. :)

I've had these little guys for a while.  This year we put them in the entryway, so they greet you as soon as you come in the door.

This guy was my POKENO gift this month! He's so cool. He's got a little peppermint tea light inside of him, so he looks really pretty at night.

This was my attempt at getting creative.  I needed something on top of the fridge that was big, but didn't have much money. This worked out great! Please excuse the phone book it's sitting on top of....you can't see that from the floor. :)

And no, not all the gifts under the tree are surviving the wild child.  He keeps coming back to this one.... I swear, the child could pick out a tractor blindfolded. :)

~15~

I have a 15 month old son?! How can this be?? It's hard to believe (as it is every month that passes), but my silly boy is another month older.  Mr. Personality is all about the attention.  He will do anything to get Danny and I to laugh and/or chase him around the house.  Have you seen the V8 commercials where they boink each other on the head and say "Doh! Should have had a V8?"  He loves for us to say Doh! and he boinks himself on the head.  Such a fun little stinker.

We started out our morning with Mickey Mouse and a pop-tart in Mom and Dad's bed.

We went to the doctor this morning and all checked out well.  He's getting to the age now that he understands fun things don't happen at the doctors office.  The child that used to smile and flirt with the nurses and laugh at the doctor, has turned into the child that shakes his head furiously as the nurse tries to measure the circumference, and tries to crawl behind my back when the doctor reaches for his belly. haha.  He was a handful!  His suspicions turned out correct though, poor guy had to get 3 shots.

Eating:  Ruston is still a super eater.  He eats pretty much everything we eat.  If I feel like he needs more veggies than what we're having, I'll still give him some of the baby food.  But he'd definitely prefer the real thing.  He is still all about the fruit and loves pizza.  He still uses his hands a lot, but he usually at least tries to use his fork.

He LOVES juice.  We only give him one sippy cup a day and he usually slurps it down in about 20 seconds.

Talking:  Still a lot of pointing and babbling going on.  No real words yet.  The doctor wasn't concerned yet, because he still "talks,  just not in our language. :)  And he understands what we're saying, he just doesn't say it back.  If we ask him where someone is or to go and get something, he will point them right out or come running around the corner with it.  He's still got only 5 teeth, but I'm sure more will be coming soon. :)

Sleeping:  It's still a work in progress.  Still not making it through the night, but he is not coming into our room any more.  If he's calm and "trying" to go back to sleep, we stand there and pat his back until he falls asleep. If he keeps standing up and trying to get us to pick him up, we leave him to scream it out.  Unfortunately, both options leave us awake until he decides to fall back to sleep.

Playing:  Ruston plays all day long! :) His planes and tractors are still a favorite.  He's really into his cars now too.  He's got several "Chuck" cars that are spread all over the house.

We moved his chair into the living room for him to sit and watch TV or eat his snack.  He loves it! He'll climb up in it and get comfy!

He still loves "reading." He has an insane amount of books (I love it!), and he reads them throughout the day.  He's still not ready for paper books though...the few that he has have been ripped to shreds!

Diesel is still putting up with the crawling, climbing, pulling, and bouncing.  That dog must really love him because he puts him through the ringer everyday!! :)

Ruston still likes to "help" me out in the kitchen. Except now, instead of pulling everything out, he'd much rather get inside and look around. :)

Moving:  Ruston is a runner.  He doesn't walk anywhere.  He sprints. haha. It's getting hard to beat him places! He thinks it's funny when he walks backwards. :)  He loves music and is starting to dance more.  Amy said that he was actually keeping a beat through different songs at her house the other day. 

Happy 15 months, little stinker! Can't wait to see what you learn next!