Cousin Fun

Here are a few pictures of the cousins playing Colorado, I think I managed to get pictures of them all except Maddox who is 9 and into doing his own thing. I know for me this has been one of the highlights of our trips, having Connor spend quality time with his five cousins.

Grayson shopping in town dressed to the nines and perfectly accessorized.

Grayson and Allie, these two became good buddies. Grayson informed me that they were best friends.

Best friends.

Kennedy and Crew taking a break from the Wii.

Grayson posing for me.

Connor and his idol Crew, hugging; Connor had accidentally split water on Crew so he was giving him a hug to apologize.

Playing with Toy Story toys.

Hard at work with their imaginations.

Sleigh Ride

Nana and G.G. treated our crew to a sleigh ride right outside of Breckenridge. Allie was a little under the weather and with the cold we decided to keep her home so she and dad stayed behind. The kids really enjoyed the sleigh ride, especially the two big horses who were pulling us. Connor thought we were in Santa's sleigh since it was red, it was just missing the reindeer. After the sleigh ride we got to visit the sleigh dogs and then go inside for some hot chocolate. It turns out Connor is not a fan of hot chocolate, not even warm chocolate, he likes cold chocolate! Thanks for a fun memory Nana and G.G..

Bundled up for the sleigh ride.

G.G. and Connor headed to see the sleigh dogs.

Visiting the pooches.

I think the dog encounter was Connor's favorite part of the day.

Nana and Connor headed home.

Nana, Maddox, Connor and Kennedy. I don't know if you can tell but Nana bought all of the grand kids matching outfits. The boys had red and black and the girls had pink. They all looked so cute together.

Sledding

Our first full day in Colorado the kids, both big and little went sledding in the sled run outside our house. They all had a blast, I think Connor went down more times than anyone and each time he had the biggest grin on his face. Allie wasn't so sure about the cold and the snow, of course it might have had something to do with the fact that she looked like a rainbow marshmallow man who couldn't move her arms.

Christmas

We had an amazing and blessed Christmas this year. Allie was a little under the weather which was our only hiccup. My parents and brother came down on the 23rd. We spent Christmas Eve at the doctors office with Allie, turned out she had a bad cold. Uncle Wade took Connor to see the Muppets movie, Connor and Grammy made a gingerbread house together, we did a little baking, went to church and concluded our night with Chili (a Sims tradition) and Christmas movies.

We woke up Christmas morning with our stockings filled and presents from Santa for Connor and Allie! Santa brought Connor the Cars bike he has been wanting and Toy Story toys as well as a few other goodies. Allie got a pink baby grand piano as her big gift. We had a blast watching Connor and Allie open their presents. Every present Connor received was his "favorite", luckily we had Uncle Wade there to assemble and open everything.

We had lunch right at noon, then we finished preparing for our trip to Colorado and headed to Austin to spend Christmas night with Michael's mom and step dad and his brothers and their families. Once we were in Austin we did some more eating and present opening and called it a night - we had an early morning ahead of us.

Connor and Grammy making their gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.

Carefully decorating.

The finished product.

Connor's presents from Santa.

Allie's presents from Santa.

Christmas morning in their matching Santa PJ's with Grumpa and Uncle Wade.

Ready to test out his Cars bike.

The first test drive.

Digging through the stocking.

Grammy helping Allie open her Cabbage Patch doll from Santa.

The first performance on the piano.

Hard at work.

Sliding down her new present from Grammy and Grumpa.

First we had Mad Elf, now we have Mad Santa.

Best friends.

Posing.

Someone was a little tired.

Opening presents at Nana and G.G.'s.

Cousin Crew and Connor got matching hats for Colorado from Nana and G.G.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas this year.

Merry Christmas

Eight Months

Allie is eight months old! Poor Allie is sick for the first time right now, it's pretty amazing that she went eight months without being sick once. Hopefully our sweet girl will be feeling better by Christmas. Allie is such a great eater, she is eating solid food at least three times a day and of course is a big fan of fruit and puffs. She is crawling on her knees now (when she feels like it) and is sometimes standing on her legs with support from her hands. She is babbling all the time, she has even said "da da" a few times. She loves making funny noises and laughs at herself when she makes them. She is obsessed with her brother, thinks he is the funniest thing ever. She is still tiny even though she is growing and putting on weight. She is wearing six month clothes, size 1 and 2 shoes and size 2 diapers. We love you Missy P, thanks for all the joy you bring us.

Christmas Updates

I have several Christmas updates so get ready, I promise to keep them short and sweet.

Here is Allie's ornament made with her foot, Connor made one his very first Christmas. I love that we have these ornaments for them on our tree, they are my two favorites.

Connor wrote a letter to Santa at school, here it is.

We had our "first" Christmas yesterday with Michael's dad and step mom and step sister Hillary at the ranch. No surprise Connor and Allie loaded up on the gifts. We got to see Michael's aunt and uncle and cousins who were in from California. Michael's grandmother was also down visiting, she recently broke her hip so it was great to spend some time with her as well.

Connor taking present opening very seriously.

His favorite present, his Mickey Mouse camping play set.

Grandmother and Allie.

And Connor got some love from grandmother too.

We left the kids with Mamaw and Papaw for the night, Michael and I headed up to San Antonio for a date night. We stayed at the Westin on the Riverwalk, had dinner at The Palm and then went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra - what a great night and first Christmas!