Christmas 2009 [Howe]

Sunday after church, we headed out and drove up to my hometown of Howe to spend a few days with my family. My sister, Dustin, and Jerah were all able to be up there as well, and it was really nice to be able to relax and have fun as a family.

This is the kids playing in some of the snow leftover from Christmas Eve. Little did we know that it would snow even more later on!






Abby has learned the art of the "cheese" over the past couple months. A minute ago as I was getting ready to post this, she said, "Awww... I'm so CUTE!"


Tuesday, we all bundled up and headed out to Durant, Oklahoma to do some ice skating (which I haven't done since 8th grade). I love this picture of my dad and Jerah.






I hate posting pictures of myself, especially when I'm embarassing myself, but oh well... I just had to laugh at me falling on my rear!




Abby wasn't so sure about ice skating at first, but she started getting the hang of it after a few minutes!


As we were driving back to my mom and dad's from Durant, HUGE snowflakes started to fall! It was so beautiful!!


Carson out riding his new scooter while it was snowing. He insisted it wasn't cold. :)


We've had an absolutely wonderful Christmas season this year. It's just made me feel so lucky... so blessed to have such great parent, in-laws, siblings, grandparents, and on and on.

Happy New Year!

2009 in Status Updates

I thought it was fun looking back on some of my Facebook status updates from 2009. :) It was a great year!

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas Day was wonderful this year. I love Christmas Day because the whole world pauses, and everything seems quiet, if only for a day. We woke up Christmas morning (BEFORE our kids), made coffee and got the camera ready, etc. Then the kids got up and discovered that Santa had brought them each a brand new bike. They immediately hopped on and drove the bikes around the living room and Carson was singing, "I love it! I love it! I really, really do!" It was adorable. A few minutes later, Ammie and Poppy (Aaron's mom and dad) arrived and the present opening commenced. It was really fun this year with the kids being old enough to really get into it all. Abby was thrilled about her Hannah Montana wig. Other highlights were Operation, a Lite Brite, and beads to make necklaces with. Carson actually squealed when he opened up Mater (from Cars), and he also loved his game, Legos, and his "rock star" (i.e. guitar).





After opening presents, we enjoyed breakfast and a leisurely morning before heading over to Ammie and Poppy's for the afternoon. In keeping with tradition, Aaron made his delicious prime rib (covered in proscuitto, I might add). Amazing. Jason, Natalie, Jackson, and Reagan were (of course) there as well and we had an awesome time. Lots of good food, laughter, and great memories, as always. I have to say that I am just so thankful for wonderful in-laws. From day one, they have loved me as one of their own, and I couldn't feel more blessed to be part of such a wonderful, amazing family.



This picture of Abby cracks me up. She looks a little rough. :)







I love this picture of Poppy opening their record player --> mp3 converter. :)


Carson loved his monogrammed Cars pillow that Aunt Natalie and Uncle Jason gave him!




And this just goes to prove that no matter how much money you spend, it's always the boxes that they love the most!

Christmas Eve

Today was a fun day. It's been slightly different from Christmas Eves past, but fun nonetheless. Aaron had to work all day, so the kids and I woke up and went to Shipley's for doughnuts and chocolate milk. Then it was off to the grocery store. I should've done this last week, but over the past number of months, I have developed an aversion to the grocery store. Ugh. Well, today was the worst possible day to go and the kids were wired (probably due to the aforementioned sugar high). However... we survived and got home with everything we needed. Just as we were walking in the door, our neighbor Shannon called and invited the kids over to play and bake cookies, so we walked up the street to hang out for a bit. As I was getting ready to leave for lunch with Aaron, she offered to let the kids stay and play while he and I enjoyed a quiet lunch together. How could I resist such an offer? So Aaron and I had a quiet and delicious lunch at Pizza Italia. Yum! I got home, put the kids down for a nap and had every intention of cleaning, but all I really managed to do was sit on the couch and watch a movie. After some down time, the kids and I got up and got ready for the Christmas Eve service at church. It was a beautiful and uplifting service, as always! Now we're just relaxing and cleaning a bit and in a while we'll go over to Aaron's parents' house for popcorn and to hang out for a little while.

Abby and Carson are very excited about Christmas and all the festivities. I'm sure there are more stories and pictures to come! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Fall in December

Well, this week it officially turned winter... and of course in Texas, that means the leaves are finally starting to change (I use the term "change" loosely, and by it I mean green to brown) and fall. We spent the morning with the Portzline family shooting Rachel's senior portraits and a few family portraits. They were kind enough to let Abby and Carson come along to play, and much fun was had. :) The weather was cool, but not cold, and much time was spent playing in piles of leaves (this was Rachel's one request as far as location goes). Afterwards we went and enjoyed a burger over at Five Guys and it was wonderful.

I can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I'm kinda sad that I won't be spending it at Nanny & Pawpaw's this year, but we'll go next year. There are four Christmas Eve services at church this year: one tonight and three tomorrow afternoon/evening. Aaron has to be at all of them, and the kids and I will go to one of the services tomorrow. Tonight I have one meeting and then I'm off of "work" for the rest of the year! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to the break.

Aaron is home for a short bit, so I'm gonna go hang out for a while before he has to leave again.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

From Across the Pond

Aaron's best friend since forever is here from England for a few days. We went for a juicy, cheesy burger at Chris Madrid's and enjoyed a nice, cool evening filled with laughter, memories, and good conversation. It was good seeing you, Chris!

Little Entrepreneur

Since last night, Abby has been BEGGING to set up her own "art stand" in the front yard where she can sell her art to the masses and make some extra money. She's been sitting out there for an hour or so and is loving it (although she can't understand why in the world anyone would pass her by)!

**UPDATE** Abby closed the night with $29 profit! I am blown away. Maybe I should set up shop in the front yard. :)

Recharge

I was really challenged this morning by a blog that my friend Amanda posted: What Do You Do to Recharge? It was very challenging and eye opening to me. How often do I look to my favorite TV show or the internet instead of looking to God for a recharge?

"God is your greatest fan. As your heavenly Father, He is constantly coaxing you forward into the heights of spiritual victory. When you neglect the secret place, He’s not disappointed in you, He’s disappointed for you. He sees the spiritual riches available to you, and His heart breaks when He watches you getting by-passed. He wants you to share in heaven’s best, and He looks with wistful longing when you short-change yourself spiritually.” – Bob Sorge

Saturday Breakfasts

Never a huge deal, but I look forward to them. Simple. Quiet. Laid back. I love Saturdays.

Being Inspired

[This was also posted on my Powerhouse Studios blog, so for those of you who read both, I apologize for the repeat!] It's a cold and cloudy day, and I absolutely love it. Days like this were made for Christmas shopping, reading, snuggling, and watching movies. This morning I was out and about running errands and whatnot, when the bookstore just drew me in. Now, there are two things in a bookstore that I find almost completely irresistible -- magazines and journals. Not sure what it is about periodicals that has a hold on me but I just LOVE magazines. Fashion, cooking, home decor, wedding, photography, outdoors... it matters little what the subject matter is, I could read them all day. Journals have always been a weakness of mine. There's something about the blank canvas, a clean slate... the possibilities. It gets me excited.

Needless to say, I left with a pile of magazines and a new journal. I'm feeling inspired.

What inspires you?

Favorite Restaurants

I love eating out. When I was growing up, eating out was always a big deal, and even now, I still get excited about going to restaurants. So today, I thought I'd pay tribute to some of my favorites. :) I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but...

Casual Dining

• Panera Bread [Favorite Dish: Asiago Roast Beef Sandwich with French Onion soup]
• Einstein Bros. Bagels [Favorite Dish: Five Cheese Bagel]
• Longhorn Cafe [Favorite Dish: Cheeseburger]
• Five Guys Burgers & Fries [Favorite Dish: Cheeseburger]
• Chili's [Favorite Dish: Used to be the Turkey Combo with Broccoli Cheese soup, but they no longer serve the soup and I'm all messed up. :)]
• Pei Wei [Favorite Dish: Honey Seared Chicken]
• Florio's Pizza [Favorite Dish: a slice or two of good ol' Cheese pizza]
• Pizza Italia [Favorite Dish: Canadian Bacon pizza]
• Rudy's BBQ [Favorite Dish: Smoked Turkey + Cream Corn]

Fine Dining

• Paesano's [Favorite Dish: Shrimp Paesano]
• Texas Land & Cattle [Favorite Dish: Smoked Sirloin]
• PF Chang's [Favorite Dish: Wok Seared Lamb]
• Maggiano's [Favorite Dish: Braised Beef Cannelloni]

Fast Food

• Chick-fil-A [Favorite Dish: #5 - Chicken Nuggets]
• Bill Miller's [Favorite Dish: Turkey Po Boy]
• Taco Cabana [Favorite Dish: Chicken Fajita Tacos]
• Subway [Favorite Dish: Oven Roasted Chicken Breast Sub]

Cookie Party

Carson and I were invited to a cookie decorating (umm... I mean, eating) party this morning at my friend Jenn's house. She is so creative and kind and BRAVE to invite all of us ladies over and to let our kids go absolutely wild with icing and sprinkles in her house. :) It was so much fun hanging out with the girls and watching the kids decorate cookies and play. Carson enjoyed the decorating, but the whole time he either had a gun in his hands or a warrior helmet. I think he was trying to prove his manliness because every time I would tell him how good his cookies looked, he'd say, "... and look, Mom, I have a gun." Ha ha. :)

PF Chang's

We had a great time tonight hanging out with our friends Josh and Kelly at PF Chang's. Amazing food, amazing conversation -- and the kids actually sat through dinner without incident! I was so pleased. I'm loving that our kids are getting to the age where going out to eat is not a huge ordeal.

Boerne

I love small towns and the great outdoors. It does my soul good to get away from it all now and again. Yesterday Carson and I went out to Boerne for a photo shoot at a ranch (totally fun, BTW). Even though I was "working", it was relaxing... being outdoors, taking pictures, doing a different kind of work than what I normally do. It was refreshing.







When we were done, I took Carson to lunch (he was such a good "helper") in downtown Boerne. It was cold and a little bit rainy and it made for the perfect day. We sat inside a little cafe and ate tomato basil soup, talked, watched the rain. When we were done, we held hands as we walked around town looking at Christmas decorations, walking through antique stores, having a good time. It was a lot of fun. I love that town! [While we were there, I also discovered what I think could be one of my favorite stores ever, Ella Blue. I walked in and it's like they had everything I would ever want to wear. I love it!]

Breakfast

Walked into the kitchen this morning to find Carson helping himself to breakfast... :)

Flowers

My husband brought me flowers today... what a sweet guy.

The Christmas Season is Here

I always enjoy Christmas, but this year I've been even more excited. Maybe it's the cold weather, but I'm loving the Christmas music, the decorations, the shopping... all of it.

Monday we got out our Christmas decorations and got our house all decorated.






This photo isn't particularly Christmas-y but Aaron never lets me take his picture, so I thought it was noteworthy. :)




Last night I was hired to do pictures for the Christmas party Sandy's company was having. Santa was there and the kids had a blast! Carson was constantly at the side of the face-painting, balloon making clown asking her questions and making jokes... that is, until Santa walked in... I've got a ton of pictures of Carson in Santa's face, excitedly asking him, "How did you get here? Where is your sleigh?" And on and on...







There was also a clown there doing face painting and making balloon animals, so my kids left with a TON of balloons! As we were leaving, Carson looked back and said, "Merry Christmas, Clown." It was hilarious. Or maybe you just had to be there. :) lol


Tonight Abby has her first Christmas Program, so I'm sure we'll have pictures of that later on...

Jerah

Jerah is my niece. Isn't she cute? I just had to post these photos since I don't get to blog about her very often. I've loved the past couple times we've gotten to see her. She's starting to recognize us and TALK (this still surprises me. I mean wasn't she just BORN?!). When we were at my mom and dad's for Thanksgiving, Val and Jerah were able to come up for the night, and it was so fun watching her play with Abby and Carson. They all got along so well and had such a great time! I can't believe she's two!

Oh, and she's got a little brother on the way (coming in March)! I'm so excited!!

I have been very behind on blogging lately and I have lots of pictures and stories to tell so stay tuned. :)