Crazy Christmas...

I have not been in the holiday spirit this year... not sure why... just in a funk I guess but this past week did the trick in lighting my holiday fire! My mom came in town on Wednesday and we celebrated Christmas with her on Thursday since we will be skiing on Christmas day this was our gift exchange. She cooked us dinner, we wrapped gifts, and watched Christmas movies on Lifetime Movie Network. It was so nice having her stay at our house and I hope she makes many more visits to stay with us!

Friday, we all went to my Aunt Cathie and Uncle Kevin's house to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We are a close knit bunch and always love getting together...this time was no exception.

Saturday morning Tate, Mimi and I went to try on our dresses for our cousin Ben and his fiancee Melissa's wedding in March. I was dreading this because I did my usual, I'll lose weight before March... sheesh I've got plenty of time HA... better luck next time! Luckily my dress fit so thats a plus even if I wasn't smaller like I had planned I was at least smart enough to order my dress in my actual size and not the size I was hoping to be ha. The dresses are wonderful and we are so excited for the soon to be bride and groom. Cannot wait for the wedding!

Anyhow back to family Christmas...

This year we decided the cousins would wear crazy Christmas get ups for the dinner and opening of gifts. Tate and I were VERY excited about this and couldn't wait to find the perfect crazy Christmas sweatshirt! We searched high and low and finally found "the perfect ones" online! When they came in they were a little different than we were expecting... Tate's sleeves are very unproportional to the rest of her sweatshirt and my sweatshirt that was labeled as a Large online is definitely NOT a large! What was going to be worn with black leggings turned out to be an almost mid-drift sweatshirt haha! The more insane the better I suppose! Once we all got dressed on Saturday it was such a hoot!

Here is a look at our selections...

Mom prepared a delicious meal as always, Jeff actually got to join us and the gift exchange went off without a hitch. We spent the evening eating, drinking, talking way too loud, reminiscing about old times and making new memories to recap in years to come!

 Landrie got the best gift of the night...a karaoke machine! She kept saying she got the best gift... a Carrie Underwood! You sing Karaoke.... Carrie Underwood sings haha... I can see the confusion. This gift ended up being everyones favorite and we all had a blast singing our hearts out. Jeff and I sang a duet to Kid Rock and Cheryl Crow's song Picture and rocked it if I do say so myself. Then me, my mom, Aunt Sharon and Aunt Cat sang Rose Garden and put on quite a show! We definitely needed the microphone because we are all so quiet and shy HAH! I'm sorry to all those in near by neighborhoods that night! I have a smile plastered on my face just thinking about it all!
Now it's back to work and on to the next party!
Christmas is coming ready or not!

 

Santa's Wonderland...

Friday Jeff had to work until Midnight and the little Listis were coming in town so I decided to take them to Santa's Wonderland. It is a light park on the outskirts of town and it is magnificent! I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to take all three kids and knew they would love it but Sid and Vicki were not so sure that I should take all three of them for fear it would be too much for me to handle. After going back and forth with them about it I finally convinced them to let me take all of the kids and I am so glad that they agreed!!! We had so much fun!
Once inside the park I let the girls get out of their carseats and come sit in the passenger seat to get a better view of the lights... Hayes was just fine where he was and watched in awe of all the passing lights! It would point and squeel and clap...He was just too much fun and too cute as he danced to the Christmas music that was playing! The girls talked about everything in such detail and it was such a joy listening to them talk about it and hearing their thoughts aloud.
Georgia informed us that she "LOOOVVVEESSS Reindogs but she does NOT like Mr Santa!"... their conversation then went as follows...
G: "I do not want Mr Santa to come to my house"
E: "I do I like Santa! Don't you want him to come and bring us presents Georgie?"
G: "No... Mommy can bring us presents Emmaline"
E: "Okay if you don't want him to come I can tell him."
G seemed content with this answer and they both went on looking at the lights haha.

At the end of the light park there is an entire little "town" set up, complete with a general store, a cabin for Mr and Mrs Clause, a country kitchen, and a stage where a live band was playing. We got candied pecans, hot chocolate, suckers, cheetos and kettle corn and then found a spot to sit and enjoy our goodies while we listened to the band. It was a really fun experience and the first time I have had all three of the kiddos since I have officially become their AUNT! haha
Santa's Wonderland also offers carriage rides and hay rides but I didn't know this in advance so we were not prepared for the colder weather and just went through the park in our car but if you are looking to go take some blankets and warm clothes so you can give the hay or carriage ride a try!

The kids and Erica will be back in town Sunday for a whole week!
Can't wait to have Erica over for drinks while we do crafts and plan our adventures for NYE and NOLA! More to come on that... 

Good Luck Cameron..

Everyone knows I love a good project or party so of course I jumped on the idea of having a going away dinner for our roommate Cameron. He is in med school with Jeff and decided to do his last two years in Dallas when the opportunity came about. He has been living with us since July so he did not have to get a short lease somewhere because he knew he would be moving to Dallas in December. The months flew by and here we are in December and it is time for him to start his journey in Dallas! I was so sad to find out that I would be out of town on his last weekend here with us so I decided to do a going away dinner. It took place last Wednesday and with the help of my sister and cousin making dinner and setting up went smoothly!

We made Jingle Juice, Crescent Chicken Squares, steamed green beans, salad, Texas caviar, and a candied jalapeno spread! A friend of ours, Kristen, brought over cookies and a dessert fruit pizza ...it was all DELICIOUS and we had so much fun!

 We ended the night playing Password which I thought was a great way to end his time here... I LOVE a good game night! 

We enjoyed having him here and will truly miss the big guy! 

Don't worry son we will come to visit you soon ha.

Good Luck in Dallas Cameron!!! 

Nutcracker...

Friday Landrie and I went to stay at the Houston Galleria. I picked her up around 3 and we went non stop until about 11 that night! We got to the Galleria Westin, got checked in, and then hit the shops! I had several things on my list for Christmas gifts but most things we purchased were for her and not much got crossed off the list... fine by me because we had so much fun! Once we passed Build-a-Bear there was no way we were getting out of going there... We made a polar bear and a ginger bread woman. We went ice skating there at the mall... we did surprisingly well! I was a little nervous at first and she almost backed out but with a little coaxing she was all about it and once those little feet hit the ice she was in love! We went around the rink several times and right before we were calling it quits she took a pretty hard fall and was more than ready to be done. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and it was every bit as magical as I remeber it being when I was a kid. Such a neat experience and the food was good too! We sipped on Shirley Temples and "solved the worlds problems"...I drank it all up... every last sweet, silly, story or topic of conversation! After that we went back to the room to watch Dolphin Tale but we never saw the end because we fell asleep... guess we'll have to wait for the DVD to come out.

thanks random girl for getting in our picture ha

Saturday morning we got up and actually did some shopping for other people and made my list a little smaller! That afternoon we went to see The Houston Ballet perform their version of The Nutcracker. This was our second year to go and it was so neat watching it with her! We got tshirts, an ornament, and a book to remember our time there!
Times like these are so dear to my heart and make me think back to when I was Landries age and getting to go places with her mom and dad, Cathie and Kevin. I went on their first date, watched Kev rope and even kill a rattlesnake... that doesn't include all of the memories I have from running around with Cat and her friends, Jennifer, Jennifer, Donna and Holly! I cherish the memories I have with Cat and Kev from when I was young and pray that one day Landrie will look back on our time together and say the same about me!
So blessed to have a close knit family!

pictures from my iphone were the best we could do bc no cameras allowed

Sunday Jeff and I watched the bowl selection show on ESPN and celebrated Baylor going to the Alamo Bowl and Bama going to the National Title game!!! Can't wait to watch both teams play!

Honeymoon in Vegas...

We decided on Vegas for our honeymoon because it is one of our favorite places to go! We stayed at Mandalay Bay (I know I know try something new already), stayed up way too late, drank and ate wayyy too much and had SO MUCH FUN! We spent our first married Thanksgiving at this delicious buffet, gambling, and watching football at this amazing bar!

Here is a picture of us on Thanksgiving...

The next day we went to scout a spot to watch the Bama game the following day... we decided on Emeril Lagasse's Stadium Sports Book inside of The Palazzo. TO DIE FOR! If you are are a sports fan you will love it because there is tons of TV's and the food is a must have for anyone so even if you're not a sports fan... GO!

I just had to go to The Cupcakery while we were there and Im not going to lie I will probably go again this weekend when we take a little trip to Dallas... It's that good and I love cupcakes that much!

That evening we went to a very nice dinner and then to the Wynn to see Le Reve, it was beautiful! We had VIP seating, truffles, and champagne at the show to make our night even more memorable.



I feel truly sorry for whoever made these huge floral balls after doing the smaller ones for our wedding I know how much time this must have taken.

Saturday was a big game for Bama as they played their rival... Auburn! We got reservations this time to Lagasse's Stadium and made sure to get there early. While in line to get in we met some other Bama fans! The girl offered me a "cheekie" (an Alabama A sticker for your cheek) and I could tell we would be fast friends! So I can't just leave it at that I have to ask our waiter if we could switch to a bigger couch area so I could invite them to sit with us... it worked out perfectly and they agreed to come watch the game with us (thank goodness after all the rearranging I did ha). After the game we even went downtown together to play some blackjack... It was such a great day and we look forward to seeing them in New Orleans for the National Title Game!!! ROLL TIDE!

With our new friends, Dominique, Crain, and Sara.

Sunday... well... Sunday was a LONG day and a rough trip home after a long night out in Vegas!

SO WORTH IT!