Christmasy Things

We are so on top of things this year...the house is decorated, the Elf is moving around each morning, we've done the gingerbread house, we've made a visit to Santa, and we are enjoying chocolate from our advent calendar. Nothing like a newborn's arrival to kick it all into gear! 

Turkey, Pilgrims, and Indians!

We had a very relaxing and wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Although Emma didn't make her debut, we were prepared and decided not to leave town. It was a nice change of pace, no packing and no driving. 

The week started off with the Thanksgiving Feast at Davis' school. The kids performed a couple songs and we enjoyed some turkey from Bill Miller BBQ!

Can you spot Chief Davis?

Forrest smoked the turkey this year...yum yum!

Eating loads of turkey requires playtime at the park

Trick or Treat

Emma enjoyed her first Halloween. She indulged in plenty of chocolate,  via me. 

Davis also had a great day...starting out with Spooky Chapel at school and the Spooky Parade. In chapel, the kids learned that while they might see scary things that night (ghosts, witches, and monsters), there are people in their lives that love and support them. So sweet. They sang a couple Halloween songs, but my favorite was watching them sing and dance to "The Monster Mash!" 

I brought the kids lunch that afternoon and we played some Halloween games like pumpkin bowling and pin the nose on the pumpkin. Davis came home with me after lunch and was ready to trick or treat right then and there, it was 1pm! I distracted him with some Halloween crafts and we played some games, that helped get us to 3pm. Then it was time for Captain America to get ready!!

Spooky Chapel and Spooky Parade

Captain America to the rescue!

Super-hero shield! 

We met up with our neighbors and made it around the block. It didn't seem like that many houses and somehow Davis came home with an entire bucket full of candy. 

Every year, my favorite part is when we get home, sit on the porch and hand out candy. Davis loves it!

Davis used his glow-sticks to point other trick or treaters towards our house, "come to my house guys!" He looked like he was directing planes for take-off and landing! Then he would meticulously count out three pieces of candy per person. If ever there was a lull, he asked me, "do you think we'll get more customers?"When we ran out of candy around 8pm, I said, "well, Halloween is over." Davis said, "Great, so tomorrow is Christmas?" 

BOO! Happy Halloween!

Happy 4th of July!

4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love July, BBQ, fireworks, floating in the lake, the smell of sunscreen, and being with family and friends. 

This year we were in Austin on Lake Travis with my mom's side of the family for a little Independence Day celebrating. It started off with a fun surprise pinata (more on that later), making Grandma Baird's homemade vanilla ice cream, and ended with a lot of swimming (in a lake that is quickly disappearing - we need a monsoon). 

Keeping the ice cream going with cups of ice! 

Finished product, oh so delicious!

Heading down down down down to the lake, with a golf club!
Davis loves to hit golf balls into the lake.

The 4th was complete with views of fireworks from the back porch. Every direction we looked, fireworks were going off. We stayed up late, sitting in the dark, enjoying the bright lights. Happy birthday America!

Easter

Easter weekend was a very exciting one for us! We found out that week about baby #2, which was perfect timing because our families would be together for Easter. We wanted to share our news right away with our immediate families and tell them in person. The weather was so wonderful all weekend, the kids were able to swim and we enjoyed many of our meals on the patio.

Saturday we went to Nana and Pop's house to swim, dye eggs, and have dinner. Forrest and I decided to share our news before dinner by handing a rather large Easter egg to Sara (Forrest's sister). When she opened it, out popped a card that said "baby love." My mom immediately saw it and started screaming. It lasted a good 5 minutes. Thinking back, I'm surprised the neighbors didn't come over to check on us! 

One of the many many many photos to celebrate announcing our second baby!

This year we hosted Easter. Forrest decided to smoke a brisket. It turned out amazing! But the poor guy had to work so hard. He put the meat on the night before and woke up every 3 hours to check on it. We were both up every 3 hours and I could barely fall back asleep each time because Forrest smelled like smoke and meat, ick!

Easter morning! The bunny came!

After the egg hunt!

Davis with his cousins, Kate and Alex.

Hunting Eggs

This past weekend we went to an Easter egg hunt out in Blanco at a friend's ranch. Gorgeous weather, delicious food, a beautiful home, 300 eggs, candy galore, bouncy castles, trailer rides...need I say more?!?

Before letting the kids run wild for the eggs, we tried to fill them up. I don't know what Davis loves more, the taste of Pirate's Booty or just saying "Pirate's Booty!"

A couple of my high school friends were at the party too, Christina (with me in the picture below) has a little 2 year old boy, Wills.

The eggs were "hidden" in a fenced-in yard, so the kids all lined up outside the gate before the official hunt. Davis could NOT contain his excitement.

And...they're off! 

My parents came out for the Easter fun. Davis loved showing Papa Tom his eggs, he especially loved the cupcake egg!

An impressive picture of all the egg hunters

Time to wrap up the holidays...

It's time I wrap up the holiday posts because I am getting close to being about a month behind on all that's going on in our lives! 

After Kerrville, we made our way to Austin to spend Christmas day with the Francese side of the family. We started out with a tailgate, apparently, the perfect way to kick off Christmas with the fam! We drank hot chocolate and enjoyed our prime spot in the parking lot before heading to one of my most favorite places, the Zilker Christmas tree and the Trail of Lights. For years and years we've been spinning under the tree! This year, while still beautifully lit up, it was way too crowded to really enjoy. Lucky for us, we had all enjoyed the tailgate and that was good enough for me! 

Christmas Eve was relaxing and really enjoyable. We went to a friend's house for some traditional Italian afternoon treats and drinks, then headed to mass with Father Izzy, and afterwards enjoyed a delicious seafood meal at my aunt's house. 

Davis was a huge fan of the candy canes hanging from Aunt Dede's tree!

Davis serving everyone pizza

Cousins

The girls and Grandma

After Christmas this year, everyone asked Davis if Santa came? His response, "yes, Santa came to my Aunt Dede's house!" And that's right, on Christmas Eve Santa made a surprise visit, coming through the front door because there was a fire lit in the fireplace. Davis welcomed him, gave him a chair, and immediately climbed into his lap. He was ecstatic!

"I've been good Santa"

Santa couldn't stay very long because he had a very busy night ahead of him...and one of his to-dos was to blow up this gigantic bouncy castle in Annie and Papa Tom's living room!

Christmas morning

Kerrville Christmas

The weekend before Christmas was spent in Kerrville with Forrest's mom's side of the family. Seger Christmas is an annual weekend gathering, but in a different location each year. There are 7 siblings and each year a different sibling hosts. This was my first year to repeat one of the siblings, I can't believe I've spent 8 Christmases with Forrest! 

Forrest and Blain...check out the family stockings on the fence! 

No Seger event would be complete without riding horses!

My favorite spot all weekend, the fire!

About to get on the hayride!

Prayer before dinner...and that's not even the entire circle!

Davis looooving one of the toys he found in his stocking!