The Big Day!!!

Before:



After:



In-between:






Some favorite presents...

A set of gloves, a scarf and hat from Mimi:


A roller-coaster from Grammie:



A Wii for me (Mimi is playing the bowling game):


And Gary got the XL Big Green Egg he's been dreaming of, complete with an amazing custom table Khanh made for him. Can you tell he loves it?

We hope you got everything you wanted, too!

Christmas Spirit

Emmylou was really getting into the Christmas spirit before the Big Day. After watching me wrap lots of presents, she decided to wrap something for me. Remember that scene in Christmas Vacation where Clark's crazy Aunt Bethany wraps up her cat and the Jell-O mold? Emmylou decided the perfect present to wrap for me was a bag of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish:




Those did not last until Christmas Day, in case you're wondering.

Emmylou also got into the Christmas spirit by making gingerbread houses for her third (!) year.





If any of you keep up with me on Facebook, this is not the house that Lola ate while we were out. I had made a bigger one that she ate. Naughty girl!

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I don't think I blogged before about our new Christmas tradition: Birdie, our Elf on the Shelf. He showed up a few weeks before Christmas and as Santa's special helper, he sat in a different spot in our house each day, keeping tabs on Emmylou and Miller. He flew back to the North Pole each night to give Santa a full report on whether the kiddos were naughty or nice. Emmylou named him Birdie because he "flies like a bird."




She had to tell Birdie good-bye on Christmas Eve, so she gave him a hug and kiss. Since one of the rules is that you can't touch your elf or he'll lose his magic, we made a little exception, just this once.



Up next, the Big Day!

Ornament Par-tay

Emmylou was lucky enough to get to go to Tripp and Tate's Ornament Party a few days before Christmas. Here she is with her BFF's holding up their ornaments:



Before the exchange, they all listened carefully while the grown-ups took turns reading "The Night Before Christmas." Here's what 2 and 3 year olds look like when they're listening:



As a favor, Emmylou got to take home some magic reindeer food. Here she is on Christmas Eve sprinkling it around for Rudolph and his friends:

Howdy, strangers

In case anyone out there is still checking this blog, I just wanted to let you know that updates are coming soon! I have lots to share but have had some technical problems tonight, the first time in a couple of weeks I've had any spare time to post. But I'm hoping I can upload holiday photos tomorrow and I promise that there are some really good ones coming...

In the meantime, I should share some exciting news: Lizzie and Khanh are now engaged! Khanh proposed at the Trail of Lights a couple of days before Christmas. Congratulations- we're happy for y'all!

I'd like mine smothered in queso

Whenever Miller goes to sleep, he still likes to be swaddled just like this:

So guess what we call him...

Today's Special Value*

Our friends Chris and April have really outdone themselves on their Christmas card this year.

First, a little background information. Chris and April have only gotten better each year. Last year's card was a photo of April, donning a Santa hat, pulling a tray of gingerbread man cookies out of her oven and about to take a bite of one that had Chris' screaming head superimposed on it. The year before that, they both, dressed in all white, wrapped strands of white lights around themselves and got on all fours in their front yard to pose as lawn reindeer. Yes, genius, I know.

But this year... Chris and April dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus? Way too easy. Hideous Christmas sweaters? Amateur!

If you are a fan of QVC, you might recognize Chris from his segments selling computers for that big computer company he and Gary work for. To incorporate this and the fact that he and April had their first baby (a total cutie!) in July, here's this year's card:



Hilarious, if you ask me.

And to get back to our own kiddos (Gary gets mad if I don't mention them on their own blog for a few posts), we got the Bumbo out after being reminded of it from Chris and April's card.

Merry Christmas, y'all!


*This post is dedicated to my Aunt Jane and any other avid QVC-watchers out there!

Speaking of American Apparel...

I meant to include this on my last post.

One of the funniest Halloween costumes I've ever seen was this guy (?) dressed as an American Apparel model he called "Olivia from Bolivia." I think it was mentioned on both Perez Hilton and Pop Candy a couple of years ago. Love the pose.

Thank goodness for Google Image search.

Like mother like daughter

Emmylou and I both were thoroughly confused last week by what they're selling at American Apparel. Aside from the t-shirts and another (maybe) 5% of their inventory, who wears this stuff?

"Look, Mommy, here are those canary yellow bike shorts you've been looking for!"

"Acid washed short-shorts? Awesome, I'll take two pairs!"

"Hmmm... neon brights, gold and silver lamé or the unitard. I want 'em all!"

And, "Everyone's getting a purple fanny pack for Christmas!"

Seriously...

How do we say this delicately???

Someone's a little upset that the family has grown.

(Finally) Thanksgiving Weekend Photos

We had Thanksgiving Day dinner at our house with Grammie, Lizzie, Emily, Carol, Erin and her boyfriend, Josh. Somehow this is the only photo I got that day... :(


We ate turkey and not Babo, in case you're wondering.

On Friday we went and picked out our Christmas tree:




On Saturday we went to New Braunfels and spent the night with PawPaw and Nana. We were the first people to stay in their new "Casa Dulce"-- the "Sugar Shack" guest house! Their new house next door is almost finished and it is quite beautiful.

Where Emmylou and I slept:


Where Miller slept:


And E eating breakfast in the Sugar Shack's kitchen:


Thanks for the hospitality, PawPaw and Nana, it was great!

Emmylou was also excited to meet their new chickens- all 16 of them!



We went home with a dozen and a half fresh, delicious eggs!

On Sunday we headed to the Am Rhein's house for Gary's family's Thanksgiving get-together. Lou was in heaven because they not only had a moonwalk/bouncy thing, but a trampoline as well.

With Megan...


Sara teaching Emmylou how to do a somersault...


All the girls jumping...


And Miller with his first turkey leg- an Am Rhein tradition!



If you want to take a stroll down memory lane, here's Emmylou's photo from her first Thanksgiving with the Am Rheins.

Need a Cute Calendar?

Em just forwarded this to me from her friend Mark who is the graphic designer at KLRU:



Isn't it so cute?

Mark and his wife have been in the process for some time of adopting a baby girl named Wei-Ting from Taiwan. You can read about their experience on their blog, Waiting for Wei-Ting (isn't that adorable?). Recently they were finally given a date to pick up their daughter, which will be in approximately two weeks. As you can imagine, it's an expensive process so Mark made these calendars to help raise a little money to help with the costs.

Want one? You can buy it here for $25.

Outtakes

Is there anything harder than photographing a 2 and 1/2 year old and 3 month old for a Christmas card? I think not.

Miller is 3 Months Old!

Dear Miller,

We made it! For me three months was a milestone: if we could make it to three months, we could make it for good. I'm happy to report that things have really gotten much better; not what I'd call easy by any means, but we're at least getting into a rhythm and for the most part now you're a sweet, quick to laugh, curious, sleep-loving baby.

While I'm amazed by how fast these past three months have flown by, I have to admit that I'm a little glad you're out of that newborn stage and can now really control your head, sit when I have you propped up, and smile, laugh and coo right back at us when we talk to you. You really light up when you see your sister's face. You crack up when I blow raspberries on your tummy. You hiccup like crazy and gnaw on your hands.

We recently gave you your sister's favorite toy, the Whoozit, and you love it just as much as she did. You are really studying it and grabbing at it these days and this morning you fell asleep with it in your hand.

I'm not sure if you realize this, but you and I have slumber parties almost every night! When you wake up at 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning to eat, we wander out to the living room where I feed you and then fight the urge to talk to you and try to make you laugh because I know it'll make it harder for both you and I to go back to sleep. Since I worry about putting you on your back in the bassinet after I feed you (I don't want you to choke from your reflux), I swaddle you back up like a burrito, prop you up in your bouncy seat on the ottoman and then I take my spot on the couch and sleep right next to you until morning.

Miller, it's already hard to remember what our family was like before you came along! You really complete our family and I can't wait to watch you grow even more this next month.

I'll see you in the living room for our standing date in about three hours.

All my love,
Mommy