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Holiday Decorating

Decorating the tree, Christmas music, & homemade hot chocolate with marshmallows.  It's the hap happiest season of all!

Jolly Old Saint Nick

We made a day of visiting Santa with our favorite Wilzbachers:  church, Santa photos, lunch at Maggiano's, playing outside at the Domain, and dessert at Yogurt Planet.

Stella asked for princess rings, like the ones she got last year from Santa, but lost.
Sam asked for cars that turn in to dinosaurs.  A LOT of cars that turn in to dinosaurs.
And with a very loud, sad cry, Oliver asked to be handed back to his mommy.

Thanksgiving

This year Nate and I made our very first Thanksgiving meal all by ourselves.  High five!!!  The Scotts came over for the day, and we had a blast spending time with our friends!!

On Friday, we went down to the farm for round two.  Susie outdid herself in the kitchen(as usual), the kids played with their animals, collected lizards, caterpillars, and butterflies, climbed trees, helped Grandpa with the fish, and loved every minute of it.  Stella cried as we were leaving, she is a little farm girl at heart :)

Halloween 2012

We went to a Halloween festival with Courtney and Diane, a trip to the St. John's pumpkin patch, Allandale party at the McKinley's, and we had a little block party to celebrate the day of sugar overload!!!  Stella was a candy fairy, Sam was Wolverine, and Oliver was the little old man from Up.

Christmas in Houston

Our Houston Christmas was a holly jolly good time!! Beautiful weather, swimming (yes, only in a Texas winter!!), feeding ducks at the pond, playdate with the Boles and Dimiceli kids, playing at the park, dinner at Giuseppe's, breakfast casserole, homemade marshmallows, toffee, and a sea of presents (Maka always outdoes herself :) The kids loved every minute, and we did too!! HO HO HO

The Coldest Shoot EVER.

Oh, what we will do for a Christmas card!!! It was FREEZING and the winds were brutal, but even that couldn't bring us down! The amazing Janica Boles captured our families perfectly.

I love having photos with Maka, Pop, and Team Barnes. It makes my heart sing...

Jolly One

Dear Santa,

This year Stella wanted a "Dora ring" and sam wanted a "skateboard". Oliver wants you to just surprise him.

Merry Christmas big guy!

Love,

The Littles

Oh Christmas Tree

Christmas tree decorating, holiday music, & homemade hot cocoa. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Stella & Oliver

Stella loves being in photos...when Oliver is in the picture!

Stella-3 years, 5 months

Oliver-5 months

Flower Girl

Stella was a flower girl in my friend, Amy's, wedding. It was her first gig and she was adorable...Stella walked down the isle at Green Pastures and threw all of the flower petals in the air when she reached the alter. It was like a petal party with her accomplice, Mikayla. Towards the end of the ceremony, Stella was really eager for the kiss. She was kissing my bouquet, kissing her hand...just waiting for the big finale. Later at the reception, Stella ate a ring pop and her tongue turned blue. She made it to almost every table in the place, showing off her electric blue tongue. She was a hoot!

Now if anybody needs a seasoned flower girl, Stella will be pre-booking for 2012.

Little Bugs, Halloween 2011

On Saturday we invaded the St John's Pumpkin Patch to snap some Halloween photos, ride in a wagon, play on the playscape, eat m&ms, and grab a few pumpkins.

This year Stella wanted to be a purple butterfly and Sam wanted to be a bumble bee. So Oliver had to be a spider to fit in with his older brother and sister's bug theme. I love my Little buggies!

San Antonio

We went to San Antonio this weekend with our awesome (but only partially present) family. Grandma and Grandpa rented a big house with five bedrooms and plenty of beds on 7 acres. It had a giant backyard with a path to a creek, ping pong, and a volleyball net. Scout even got to join us.

On Friday we went to dinner at Dough, a pizzeria featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. The pizza was delicious, and apparently two for one!

Saturday we woke up early and took our Little zoo to the zoo. We saw elephants, monkeys, birds, okapi, rhinos, hippos, fish, snakes, lizards, frogs, and rode the train. Aunt Kathy and Luz made enchiladas for dinner and we had cupcakes to celebrate Haley's 5th birthday (I can't believe she is FIVE!!!) After the little ones went to sleep, the grown-ups ventured to the Riverwalk for drinks and desert.

On our last day, we went to Mi Tierra. Such a cool restaurant with a Mexican style market surrounding it. Great food and scene there.

It was such a fun trip, we all want to make it an annual thing. Same time next year...