A VERY Merry Christmas!!

We were so blessed this year to spend Christmas with our families! And even better, they came to us!

On Christmas Eve, we went to dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant, Celaya's, and then went to a wonderful church service, where they took the shoes off our feet to donate to charity. (We had to watch Joni to make sure she didn't steal any cute ones back out of the box) Our church was hoping to collect 4,000 pairs of shoes to donate to places across the globe to some families who had never owned a pair in their lives.

Eating Fajitas

Austin got to go on stage and sing Christmas carols with the children

When we got home from church we had to bake and decorate cookies for Santa Claus! Carson was very generous with the sprinkles, which I am sure Santa enjoyed. Brian & Pops played elves, while Meme & I helped Carson in the kitchen.

Decorating Santa's cookies

Setting out cookies & milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer

Santa must have really liked the cookies!!

Carson loved his tractor so much he wanted to show it to the neighborhood

Carson's video game bike from Aunt Claudia

...and his Harley Davison Skooter

Time to look in the stockings

New stuff for my sewing machine (I look rough w/ no makeup)

Brian got truffles

An oldie, but goodie

Opening presents

My mother is slightly (hah!) addicted to these STOK shots that you add to coffee for more caffeine

Probably the only picture I will ever take of my mom taking a shot (we didn't have any coffee)

The boys came over to open their presents

Granny came by too!

After we had our nap, Grandma & Papa came by to celebrate Christmas with us too! We ate, watched movies, and showed them all of our new toys.

Christmas Cookies

We had so much fun this past weekend decorating Christmas cookies! Although, we discovered that we lack ALL decorative culinary skills, we can make some pretty yummy pre-packaged cookie dough and homemade icing...

Joni & the boys w/ their prized cookies

Before things got messy

Carson had a little difficulty w/ the sprinkles

Our final product (can you guess which plate is Carsons??)

These 3 years have flown by...

Let it Snow!!

We were wearing shorts yesterday, and today we are having snowball fights in the yard. In Carson's 3 short years of life, he has already seen snow in Texas twice! We had such a great time playing in the snow, but are wimps and had to go inside every five minutes to warm up...

Carson standing by our yard decorations (it had just started snowing)

Our snowman was happy!

Shot from our porch

Carson playing with the neighbors, James & Caroline

Back windshield of my car

Pictures with Santa

Waiting in line for Santa!!

Waiting with Grandma

...and Papa!

After waiting in line for an hour and a half, Carson got to see Santa! He was so excited that when he got up to meet him he even did a little dance for Santa and was more than happy to sit on his lap! Carson told Santa that he wanted cars for Christmas (it changes every time you ask).

Carson's 3rd Birthday Carnival

Carson's 3rd birthday party turned out to be such a success! We decided to have a carnival theme with complete with corndogs, candy apples, cotton candy, carnival games, face painting, and fabulous prizes.

The weather was beautiful, so we were able to set up all of our booths outside. The favorite booth of the day was the Pie in the Face booth, where Brian graciously sat and let kid after kid pie him in the face. (Although, Carson was none too thrilled with this, and decided to go inside after trying to protect his Dada from his messy fate...) Other fun booths included the Ring Toss, Balloon Pop, Pluck a Duck, Knock Down the Cans, and a Kissing Booth.

The face painter/balloon animal maker that was at our wedding also arrived to entertain the kiddos. Carson had neighbors, cousins, and children from school come to celebrate with him; and received tons of toys, including a 27" remote control dinosaur!

Welcome to the Carnival!

Our Family Circus


Opening Presents

Brian was such a good sport at the "Pie in the Face" Booth!

Some of our other midway games

Prize Table

THE CAKE!

Birthday Boy

Halloween

We had a fabulous Halloween! We decided to spend Halloween in our neighborhood and our family came to us. Brian made yummy fajitas on the grill and set up our new projector to play Scooby-Doo on the garage. Carson went trick-or-treating with Grandma and me, while the boys stayed home and passed out candy. We have enough sugary treats to last us for the year!