Christmas Day

This year we celebrated Christmas day at home. Santa made his stop and the kids enjoyed playing with their new toys all morning long. We made a turkey lunch and Grandma S joined us. The kids had a wonderful day just playing and lounging in their Christmas pajamas.

Santa came! Checking out the loot.

Opening one of the gifts from Santa

One of Autumn's gifts ~ a monkey baby

Autumn willingly smiled for me ~ she is so cute!

Opening up another gift from Santa

Autumn got a baby swing from Grandma S

Swinging her baby :)

Merry Christmas!

Butterfly wings from our friend "L"

One of the only smiles Mason would give me all day! I still think he is handsome :)

Christmas Eve

Autumn pushed the chair to the door, climbed up, and was trying to open the closet door. Very clever :)

Mason in his Christmas pajamas and very excited!

Autumn in her Christmas pajamas and also excited!

Buda Trail of Lights 2011

We took the kids to the trail of lights last Saturday. We went last year and had fun so we went again. The kids enjoy the bus ride over to the park, and the trail is not bad at all. There are lots of places to stop and enjoy lights. They even have Santa so the kids can visit with him. This is usually where I get a Santa picture because there is hardly ever a line and its free. I think overall the kids loved all the lights and enjoyed being outside. (It was chilly, but not super bad) Mason spent most of his time running from place to place and I spent most of my time keeping Autumn from back-tracking.
This year we skipped going downtown as last year it was kinda boring. Plus, I noticed the buses were not doing dropoffs this year so I am not even sure downtown did anything.

This was actually really low to the ground so they could stand on their own.

Mason was telling Santa he wanted a big car.

Mason was really into Santa ~ Autumn not so much...

Cheese!

They both had gotten their candy canes and were focused on that :)

Santa on the Firetruck

Last Friday Santa came through our neighborhood on a firetruck! We got home about 7 and we were nervous that we missed him, seeing how they started at 6:30. After a few minutes, we heard the firetrucks. They were at the end of the main street. Robert and I decided to walk in that direction just in case we missed them on our street. As we got closer they turned down the other main street. We thought we would miss them! So we ran down a side street hoping to cut them off. We made it -whew! The kids got to see Santa and both firetrucks and ambulance. At that point we discovered they were heading back towards our house. We walked up another street and the kids got round 2. This time they got candy canes. At this point, we decided to head back to the house thinking they had not gone down our street. We did see Santa once more, but he was turning down the other part of our street. We actually did miss him on our street so we are glad we ran to the other part of the neighborhood.
Yes - we are those crazy parents that ran through the nieghborhood so our kids could see Santa on the firetruck!

You can kinda see the firetruck in the background.

Patiently waiting for Santa to come back...

Seton Christmas Extravaganza

On Tuesday, I saw a flyer a Mason's school about Santa visiting our local hospital via a firetruck. The flyer also said that there would be a nativity that included camels. Well, we decided to go. We got there 30 minutes after the start time and I guess we missed it. We did see the camels ~ which was cool ~ and we did see Santa and the firetrucks. They were all just leaving. To be honest, I can't blame them because it was cold!! Seriously - we all needed gloves and hats and the whole 9 yards.

On a side note ~ camels in central Texas ~ who knew?!?

It was a very short adventure.

Oh, before I forget. As Santa and the firetrucks were leaving, Autumn stood on the side and was waving away. It was so cute!! She had her hat on and her little mittens and was all bundled up. I could not get a Christmas Story out of my head. (You know, when she bundles up her son into the Michelin Man??)

Chuy's Parade

A few weekends ago, we ventured out to the Chuys children giving to children parade. It is held in downtown Austin every year on Congress Ave. The parade is meant to help Operation Blue Santa (about 30% of all donations come from this parade). Basically you watch the parade and at some point the entire parade stops. There are trucks along the parade, called "toy trucks," and when the parade stops all the kids run to the toy trucks to donate the toys they brought. Its reverse giving in the best form! It was really cool to see all the trucks pass us full of toys.

The parade itself was really cool. They had big floats and even bigger balloons (think Mini-Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade). I can't remember all the characters they had, but I do remember the coca-cola bear-go figure! It was huge! 

Other than the fact it was cold and wet, I am glad we went. Thanks Jenny and GFC for joining us! 

Crusing on the Lake

We spent the morning on the lake. We did a little boat riding and then stopped at a cute little cafe on the lake that was kid friendly and had a nice park. Its been around since the 50's and I have never heard of it. I think we found a new spot to frequent :)

Robert told Mason about the cool bridge and se we had to check it out. It was a great morning!

Japanese Dancers

Mason's school had some Japanese dancers come and perform, and us parents were invited to watch. It was a cute program and the kids really enjoyed it. Mason sat on my lap for the performance and afterwards the kids got to try. Very cute!

Trick or Treat 2011

We did the normal trick or treating this year. A few friends joined us this year ~ a total of 5 kiddos tagged along. Our nieghborhood gets pretty busy, so there was plenty of candy. Our friend "R" was the ringleader, and I mean that is a good way. He took charge and the other kiddos followed and before you knew it we had 3 kids going to each door without the parents. Very cute! The little ones ! Autumn and "M" were a little reserved. Autumn got her first candy and she was good! She wanted to hold it and didn't really care about going to more doors.

It was a great evening and we had fun with our friends!

My little pumpkin witch. No hat - oh well!

 

 

The Gang!

 

My firefighter!



Happy Halloween!





Founders Day Festivities

A few weekends ago our city had the founders day celebration and parade. Mason's school signed up to walk in the parade. It was about half a mile and mom did the majority of the walking - good exercise :)

The school had a nice turnout and I think all the kids had fun. After the parade and some rest we went to the carnival that afternoon. We got Mason a wristband and let him wear himself out for 2 hours. While we were waiting for a ride to start I heard a kid say "there's mason." Turns out one of Mason's classmates recognized him and we had no idea! Kids are too smart, I tell ya. So, for the last hour we were there Mason rode the rides with his buddies. It was very cute to watch.

My sweet babies!



Boys on a train



Boo at the Zoo - 2011

Robert discovered that the Zoo does a nighttime train ride during the Halloween season and the kids can wear their costumes. My son loves trains, so it seemed like something cool to check out. It was pretty cool. We rode the train (wasn't quite dark yet) but both kids loved the train ride. At the end they got candy from some pirates. After the train ride you are able to walk around the zoo in the dark. You can't see all the animals but its cool to see a lion and tiger at night. My kids love outside so they were happy campers.

It was also fun to see the kids in their costumes!

My firefighter!

 

My lil pumpkin witch :)



Seguin Rodeo

The same day we had our rain storm, we also visited the Seguin Rodeo. My dear friend came with me as Robert had to work. We went early so it was not crowded at all. We spent a few hours exploring the rides and checking out the livestock show. We missed the rain by a matter of minutes.



Autumn was not sitting on the sidelines this time!

 

This was pretty cool. The kids loved it-we rode it several times.



Mason sat still for some face painting. He loved his snake-he would not let me wash it off until the next day.

 

Autumn loved this turtle. She kept reaching for its face, thankfully it didn't bite her. Yes, there is a goat standing on the turtle.



Mason and Autumn really enjoyed this petting zoo.