Texas Trip Fun

After the New Year we had a great time just spending time with family. I was feeling pretty poorly so it was nice to have the extra help and the kids loved the attention. 

My Mom read countless books to the girls and Elise is always up for a good snuggle

They were big fans of the large bathtub and would turn on the jets to get it extra bubbly!

 My mom also has an awesome drawer of sprinkles that Hadley kept asking to use!

It is clear why Uncle Spencer is a family favorite!!

And my sister is so much fun to play with, she had them making airplanes and cars and zooming them around. They loved all the time with their cousin. 

One day it was too cold to do much so my Mom came up with the idea to go to the local Petsmart to check out the animals.

It was a hit!

Hadley fell in love with a sweet kitty that was up for adoption. She was so starry eyed it was hard to tell her no! Although there is no way we are getting a cat (right now we can blame it on the rental agreement) but I can finally see why parents give in to owning pets!

Elise liked the turtles and gerbils

We went another time to the museum

And to the rescue zoo. My dad loves carrying around the grandkids in the backpack and Elise liked it a lot more than her expression shows!!

It also wouldn't be a complete trip without a stop at Amy's and of course we went to Torchy's for queso!!

This isn't a great shot, but I got to snuggle my little niece!! Nothing like a squishy baby! She is seriously a doll and full of personality! The girls were in love with "baby claire"!

My mom bought matching outfits for all the grandkids and we tried for a group shot....this was the best we came up with!! Four kids under 4 is a little tricky!! We are so grateful for such loving Aunts and Uncles and wonderful cousins!!

Blowing Up the Gingerbread House - A Family Tradition

I wasn't home for the first time my family blew up a Gingerbread house, but for the last few years it has been a family tradition. My mother makes a beautiful house at the beginning of December and then before the New Year my Dad comes up with new ways to blow it up. I should mention my dad is one of those brilliant engineer types that is also super safety conscious so I would not recommend this to anyone at home. This year he went with the dry ice bomb method. Their house backs up into a greenbelt so there was plenty of room to set it off away from the house. 

Hadley was fascinated by the dry ice and spent a good thirty minutes just watching and playing with it - a girl after my own heart.

Elise was a bit more timid and Jamie had fun pouring the "smoke" on her head

We all lined up at the window to watch while dad set it off. The boom kind of shocked the girls and for the adults it was hysterical to see pieces of house fly. When we went to clean up though there were hardly any pieces to find, my Dad obliterated it pretty well!!

Later the next day we set off fireworks for the new year. They are legal in Texas but not sanctioned by my parents sub division so they stayed inside and told us the only rule was not to get them in trouble. 

Jamie had a ton of fun, it had been awhile since he had played with fireworks!!

Our Favorite Place

Austin opened up a new Children's Museum called the Thinkery and it was AMAZING! We went at least twice while we were there and I wish we could have gone more. The girls loved it and it was so fun to watch them!

I was shocked how enamored they were with the little shopping area, you got little baskets and the kids could pretend they were shopping and prepping their produce.

Hadley pretty much wore this smile the entire time we were there

They also had a chicken area, a little coop with plush chickens and eggs to collect. Ryan loved running up and down.

Elise liked hanging out at the top with the chickens

And Hadley liked carrying the chickens around

We went to the magnet room next. This was one of my favorites since I am not always comfortable having small pieces at home (the girls are old enough now I am pretty sure they won't swallow anything but there is another tiny one coming) and I loved watching them explore how polarity works.

Next up was the water feature. 

Ryan's face says how they all felt

This is the perfect shot of Elise's "proud" face. She is pretty pleased with herself

Hadley liked testing out all the water pulleys and weights

They even had a room with a full sized light bright, I was honestly trying to figure out how to get one of these at home! It was so cool!!

They had an area to test out shadows as well that Hadley found fascinating

It was also so nice to have helpers so they could do whatever activity they wanted!!

They also had a great playground outside. Elise was tired by the end and willing to sit with me in the hammock for a bit.

We had so much fun and can't wait to go back, we also hope to check out the Children's Museum in San Jose.

Christmas in Texas

Christmas arrived!

We thought for sure that Hadley would be the first one up, she is our early riser even on normal days...but instead she slept even longer than she typically does (which is about 6:30) so around 7am  we finally went in to wake her up!

Went downstairs to see that Santa came!!

In our family we start out with the stockings, which is always one of my favorite parts, and then breakfast and then finally we can open presents. The girls were pretty excited to see all the fun things and treats in their stockings. My mom had stayed up late the week before finishing Hadley's hand sewn stocking. It was darling and she carried it around with her all week, putting it in a special place by her bed at night.

Elise dived right in and got a few of her favorite Mickey plush toys

Hadley opened her princess nightgown

And Elise jumped right into her dress up clothes and loved her etch a sketch

Hadley made sure to change right away and spent the day playing with her stamps. Her largest gift isn't shown since all I have is a video - about a week before Christmas she started telling me that she wanted a "really big gift" from Santa. She had no more specifics but it was to be large and amazing. It also had to fit in our suitcases back to CA. Santa found a princess castle tent that was very large and folded down perfectly to fit in our suitcases.  Thankfully she loved it!! Hadley, Elise and Ryan spent hours playing in it for the rest of the vacation.

We spent the rest of the day playing with our new toys, eating my Mom's delicious food and relaxing, it was a wonderful Christmas!!

It's Almost Christmas!

After we opened presents in CA we headed up to my Aunt's to decorate cookies, since we have moved back to the area we have made it a tradition and it is so great to see family!

They girls loved putting as many sprinkles on as possible

Hadley likes the eating part

We had a few snuggles and finished up the last minute packing before boarding the plane the next morning to head to see my parents!!

Once we arrived in Austin we got to work making a batch of cookies just for Santa. We arrived on the 23rd so we didn't have much time! I love my mom's sugar cookies, they just taste right when you are at home. We were also so excited to see Auntie Amber, Uncle Spencer and cousin Ryan when we arrived!

Getting the plate ready.

Making sure it was right in the center so he could find it

We finished the night reading a few of Grandma and Grandpa's christmas books. A few of them were the same ones I read as a kid, I loved the scratch and sniff one that smelled like Christmas and it was so fun to see the girls love it.

Before bed we took one last peek to see where Santa was traveling. Jamie has an app that shows what country Santa is all night and the kids loved seeing him get closer to their house. Then it was off to bed so Santa could come!!

Presents - Round 1

We flew to Texas a few days before Christmas so we opened presents for Mom and Dad before we left. I really wanted to get them scooters and was hoping they would like them!!

Elise was pretty excited to just unwrap something!!

She knew exactly what she got!

Hadley was excited to open hers

The week before I had them pick their favorite color. Hadley wanted the "sparkly" silver and Elise wanted the teal color (I kind of steered them toward the more gender neutral colors, the brand is know for being really durable). 

Hadley was tall enough for the big kid scooter that is adjustable and Elise fit perfectly on the little one. When we got back we bought them helmets - Elise picked a pink Minnie and Hadley picked a pink Princess.

We spent the morning testing them out. We have a covered patio so they can scooter a bit outside and have started to get the hang of it. Hopefully as the weather keeps getting better we will be able to take them to a larger space to play.