Christmas 2014 | Part Two

As I mentioned in the last post, I came down with some sort of lovely stomach bug on Christmas night and was feeling like a complete mess the next morning, but we had places to go and people to see...namely all my family in Austin.

So, we loaded up the car to head down 35. However, when we were literally minutes from my Mom's house, some jerk ran a red light, slammed into my car, and then proceeded to leave the scene. Uggggggh. Luckily everyone was fine, but needless to say it was not a good day.

All was better the next day when we celebrated at Grampsie and Nana's house. We chowed down on Mexican food, opened all sorts of fun presents, and spent lots of quality time with the fam. 

The next day, we celebrated at Bunny and Nello's house and soaked up the last moments of the Christmas season.

Mimi joined us for a bit, and this series of photos is everything...

We had such a wonderful weekend, and all the Christmas fun finally caught up with Little Miss No Naps :).

Josh had to fly back to Dallas on Sunday night, but since the kids' school was closed the following week, I worked from my firm's Austin office for a couple days so they could hang out with my family.

This also gave me the chance to see some of my favorite friends. I spent one night visiting Lauren and Jacob at their beautiful new house and another at a fabulous dinner with Lolly. We tried a relatively new place called Parkside, which was amazing!

After all that fun, it was time to head back to Dallas to celebrate New Year's Eve by sipping champagne on the couch in our pajamas. My how times have changed…but I wouldn't have it any other way :).

Christmas 2014 | Part One

I realize that it is mid-January, but Christmas pictures aren't going to magically add themselves into our yearly blog book for posterity, so here we go...

After a wonderful, event-filled December, we spent the first part of our Christmas break celebrating at home in Dallas with Josh's family. 

We loved having Grammie and Papa stay with us. 

Ava was beyond excited for "Christmas time" and all things Santa, including making cookies for the jolly old man.

On Christmas Eve, the kids opened their Christmas Eve pajamas...

Put out the cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer…

And read Twas the Night Before Christmas…

Then it was time to go to bed so Santa could work his magic.

I didn't want to overdo it on their presents, and Santa really didn't need to bring much because the kids were quite spoiled by all their grandparents and other family. We also had a plethora of fun gifts for/from family under our tree.

Including a gift from Ava to me (thanks to Josh). I can't get over how well she wrote her name...even though it is in the "to" field :).

The adults also enjoyed a nice, quiet (albeit interrupted by a crying baby) Christmas Eve dinner. [PW's beef tenderloin and burgundy mushrooms, Barefoot Contessa's Brussels sprouts (plus toasted walnuts), and cheesy polenta]

We also busted out our last bottle of wine from our Napa trip. Sigh.

Ava didn't wake up as early as I thought she would, but she was certainly excited to see what Santa had brought. The play makeup set, ladybug flashlight, coffee maker (she likes to pretend to make us coffee...which is a testament to how much of the stuff we consume), and Candyland game were all hits.

But her favorite items were definitely contained in the stocking...

And as we suspected, her favorite gift of all was the Disney princess lip smackers set. Santa could have just brought that and she would have been completely happy.

Rylan clearly had no idea what was going on, but could sense the excitement.

He loved his books, cars, and remote.

But his favorite gift by far was the baby banana toothbrush.

On Christmas Day, we headed over to Tori and Todd's house, and the kids had a blast with their cousins. 

How many cousins can you fit in a hugglepod?!

After a long day of fun, I came down with some sort of stomach bug on Christmas night. Blech. But it didn't stop us from heading down to Austin for more Christmas celebrations.