Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in The Woodlands. We had a fantastic time hanging out with my (Erin) family. On Christmas Eve we had appetizers at the Randolph's then we headed to church followed by dinner at the Allen's. What a sweet time hanging out with family. As the kids were going crazy it brought back so many memories and made me think that this had to be similar to when we were all young and running around........wow, how different holidays are when you have little ones running around. I have to say, that all the kids did an OUTSTANDING job! Hudson had so much fun playing with his cousins and keeps asking about when he gets to play with them again. Hopefully, it won't be too long before he sees them again. What a fantastic way to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Days off before Christmas

The week of Christmas it was absolutely beautiful in Dallas. The kids and I spent a good amount of time outside - this time of year you have to take advantage of the good weather whenever you can. We, along with the Westers, went on a train ride in a guy's backyard in Richardson. The boys had a blast, Parker was not a big fan. This guy has built a train track in his backyard with TONS of lights and during the Christmas season he gives free rides every night. What an incredible way to minister to the community. I'm hoping this will become a yearly thing that our family will do.

Gaylord Texan and ICE!!

A little over a week ago I surprised Christian with a night away at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. I arranged for Christian's parents to watch the kids friday night and then we would all meet up saturday afternoon to go see the ICE! exhibit. We had a fantastic time. Christian and I walked through downtown Grapevine - which if you have never been through there around Christmas time, you must go next year. It was awesome and very kid friendly (although it wasn't a concern for us this night!!!!) The hotel was absolutely beautiful, the Christmas decorations were absolutely amazing. Thank you to Christian's parents - we really enjoyed our night out, we even got to sleep in a bit.

Saturday afternoon we met the rest of the gang and headed to ICE! This year's theme was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This is another "must do" activity for the holiday season. They fly people in from Harbin, China to carve the ice sculptures.....AMAZING doesn't even describe how neat this is. They even have a slide made out of ice for you go down, so fun! Here are a few of the pics from our weekend. The nativity scene at the end of ICE! was beautiful; my picture doesn't do it justice.

Merry Christmas

Hudson

in between turns while bowling at his friend Andrew's birthday party

Parker's 1st pigtails

Yard work and Christmas Tree

Last weekend we did some yard work (it had to be done before we were able to put up the Christmas lights) and we decided to make it a family affair. So here is what the kids did:

Actually, when Hudson wasn't playing with Parker he wanted to help out. He helped pull ivy and stuffed the trash bags and he even wanted to use the hedge trimmers (don't worry, we didn't let him....yet)

After naps we got down the Christmas decorations and began with the tree. Hudson was so excited to start putting up "Christmas". Parker on the other hand had no clue what was going on. This is as far as we got (the tree put together) before Parker threw up everywhere. So we decided the ornament part would just have to wait. Here is a picture that I took right before Parker got sick - I will spare you the after, and yes I do have a picture (how could you not, when the camera is already out)

Thanksgiving Week

I love them!!!!

Hudson's 3rd birthday party!!!

On Saturday we had Hudson's 3rd birthday party. We could not have asked for better weather. What a fantastic time celebrating with friends and family. The kids painted, decorated some train cakes and just played outside. Hudson was so excited and is still talking about his party. Thank you everyone that celebrated with us, we love you and we feel blessed to have you in our lives (those that couldn't make it...we love you too:)

Friday night

High Heels?!?!?

Today I went to baby shower....for some reason I felt like wearing some shoes with heels. This was my conversation with Hudson:

Hudson: "Mommy, what are those?" (pointing to my shoes)
Me: "My shoes"
Hudson: "You walking on tip toes?" (then he proceeds to demonstrate how to walk on tip toes)

I guess you can tell how often I wear high heels;)

Fall at the Dallas Arboretum

We absolutely LOVE the Arboretum! There are so many reasons why we love to hang out there, but one of our favorites is the pumpkin patch that they have each Oct. Here are a few of the pics took this year.

9 month stats

Weight = 18lbs 9 oz (50%)
Length = 28 in (65%)
Head = 16 3/4 cm (15%)


Hudson's stats at 9 months
weight = 20lbs 6 oz
length = 29 in

Plano International Festival

On Saturday we went to Plano's International Festival. It was a little chilly, but we had a great time. We desire to teach our kid's about other cultures and pray that they will have a heart for the nations....so we were super excited to be able to go on Saturday. We got there early enough to watch them march in all the different flags, it was so neat to see all the countries that were represented and the people take pride in their countries. There were tons of different booths set up, a food court (with many types of foods) and a fantastic childrens section with all sorts of crafts representing different nations. Hudson was not super excited about all the crafts, he just wanted to watch other people.....Maybe next year, but I was finally able to get him to go inside the fire truck:)