Monday, January 5, 2009

Christmas Festivities

Wow! What a Christmas it has been! We were on the go the whole time. We started out by staying the week of Christmas with my sister and her husband in their brand new house in Keller. My Mom, Stepdad, and two baby sisters even came out to spend a couple of nights with us all. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my Dad and my Stepmom's family. We had a wonderful Christmas Day experience with my Mom's side of the family, and were so blessed to share in Maddy's (and Lawson's) first Christmas together. We didn't get Hunter until the day after Christmas, so Ava had half of her Christmas in Keller, and the other half in Bastrop.
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The weekend after Christmas we went to College Station to spend the night with Jamie's parents and visit with his family. Jamie's oldest brother, his wife and three kids came back to Bastrop with us and stayed a couple of nights.
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We rang in the New Year at home after church. You just can't stay out/up late anymore with a toddler. ;)
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The weekend after Christmas Jamie and Hunter attended a youth retreat at a wonderful camp just outside of Leakey, Texas near San Antonio. They had an amazing time at a beautiful nature campsite (according to the boys), and Hunter really got to bond with some of the other youth at our church, and got a lot out of the lessons.
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Phew! Now that the holidays are over, we look forward to relaxing and getting back in to our old routine. We loved being able to visit with so many family and friends over the holidays and do look forward to next year!!

Christmas morning at Aunt Dee Dee and Uncle Eric's house. Santa made sure to find Ava here! He left her her own pink pram stroller!
Ava's stocking complete with some of her favorite characters Pooh and Piglet.
"WHaaaaat? I can't believe my eyes! Santa came!!"
She loved her stroller!!

She hadn't opened any other gifts yet, so Grandma Sherri put Tucker (her yorkie) in the stroller for Ava to push around. She thought it was too much fun!

Tucker stayed in there the whole and never tried to jump out, even with her wreckless driving! ;)



Ava after her Christmas breakfast. Apparently is was finger licking good and relaxing.
Ava opened a few gifts before all of the family arrived. She got a doll for her stroller. I don't think it is the exact doll she asked Santa for! HAHAHA! I love that face...for some reason it is a recurring face when opening gifts....

"Don't worry Mom, I love her!"

All pretty in her Christmas dress, ready for more gifts...

...or maybe not. There is that face again. Guess this time the gift wasn't big enough.

Ava and I opening gifts. I was the Santa who handed out all of the gifts, so I had to wear a hat.

Momma took time to open a gift for herself, guess Ava wasn't too happy about that.

Another disgruntled face. Hahaha. I had no idea there were so many until I started looking at all the pics. Just cracks me up! Guess she is just a little princess.
Getting ready for Christmas #2 with Bubby.
The damage after all of the gift opening!!
Ava's big gift...a motorized 4-Wheeler! She loves it...Daddy thought she just had to have it!
Hunter modelling one of two skii jackets he got, new skii pants, and a new skii hat. (If you can't tell, our fam is big on skiing.) ;)
Our Christmas tradition...going to eat breakfast on Christmas morning in our pajamas. (No makeup for the ladies). Since we didn't have Hunter on Christmas Day this year, we had to go the following morning after we got him. It was still just as much fun! You should see all of the looks and smiles we get when we walk in. Just spreading the Christmas cheer!! So much fun! I have been doing this with my family since I was in high school or earlier.
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Hunter and Jamie had matching pj's and Ava and I had matching. Hehe...


"Cheese!"
Visiting with Jamie's family. Our fam with Jamie's grandmother. The last time we saw her was last Christmas when Ava was just a few months old. I was so glad she got to see Ava so grown up! ;)
We hope everyone else had as wonderful a Christmas as we did!

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