Christmas Eve, Italian Style

 We are beyond thankful for the Grissom family. Both our boys are swim soul mates and the girls are kindred spirits. Since neither of us have family close by we made plans to celebrate Christmas Eve together. And since Allison is very Italian, she shared with us the Italian tradition. 

The Italian's cook "The Feast of 7 Fishes" which is a massive dish that includes a variety of 7 seafood items all mixed together in a delicious sauce.  It's supposed to bring you good luck in the new year, equivalent to our "black eye peas". 

 A party is never complete without a dance party!!

Mason, Ainsley, Aiden, Katelyn, Drew

Holiday Joy

When Drew's class scheduled their class party, I made sure to take the day off. I love my job, but I want to make sure that I spend enough time at my kids school functions.

Drew and Katelyn are in the same class which is a perk to me. 

I often will check in with her to see how Drew is in class. 

She's always keeping an eye out on him!

We had several "movie" parties which entailed a picnic popcorn and hot chocolate. 

It all was topped with several spills.

Merry Christmas

Thanksgiving

Andy and I packed up the kids and made the drive to Rogers, Arkansas to visit his sister and her family.

It had been about a year since the last time we visited so it was definitely time to fix that.  

The weather was very chilly and a good change to the temperature down here.   

The kids are really into their electronics and we did have to regulate the time spent on them. 

They really wanted to check out what other games everyone else had. 

Ashlyn recently learned in her science class how to make butter so all the kids took turns shaking up the whipped cream until it turned to butter. 

For Thanksgiving dinner we drove over a few blocks to Jason's parents.

The kids enjoyed having sword fights, jumping in leaves & swinging on trees.

The kids LOVED playing with each other and they got along so well. 

We miss them already and can't wait to see them again. 

One seasoned swimmer

Drew is half way through is competitive swim team and is doing really well.

He's has competed in 2 meets thus far and has placed 1st in all but 1 race.

He is also the only 5 year old in his division making him the youngest.

A Belated Happy Halloween

This Halloween Andy and I were lucky to have Luke Skywalker and a clown princess join us. 

We kept our tradition and dressed Ainsley and her bff Ellison the same.

Here are the girls at school. 

Like always, Drew & Jewell ran ahead of everyone and the little ones opted to catch a ride via wagon. 

Smart little ones. 

Fall Festivities

It's been brought to my attention that I have slacked on the blogging and it's true. So here is a a post from October.

Our friend & neighbor, Brandon Ryder, put together a MusicFest in Georgetown to support a local foundation along with Larry Joe Taylor, Josh Abbott and a few others. 

We had a great time sitting back, listening to music, watching the kids run around and visited with friends. 

We also spent some time "finishing" up the fire pit area and when our first cold front came through we were able to put it to use!

Finally, Drew finished up another season of flag football with his team winning the championship. 

Andy coached again this year and did a great job!

This was the year that Drew was able to make all the connections on running plays and truly enjoyed playing this year. 

Michael Buble

Bucket List #23- Michael Buble Concert

Check.

I was beyond excited to go see Michael Buble in concert. 

Another perk was that the concert was in San Antonio so we had time to spend with Laura & Aaron.

We adore them and love having uninterrupted conversation with them. 

We met up at the Pearl Brewery which has grown 10 times since we left San Antonio. 

Andy & I had GREAT seats for the concert and what a show Michael Buble puts on!!!!

Hands down the best performer I have ever seen.

This is how close we got. 

No complaints here. 

Last day in AZ

I'm 100% sure that if I wasn't a "Texas girl" I would definitely be an "AZ girl".

I loved the cool mornings and the hot afternoons without any humidity. 

We spent every morning out on the patio watching the sunrise and snuggled up with blankets and robes. The views were perfect and so was the company. 

Before we flew out we had to spend one last moment at the pool. Or as most parents traveling with small kids would say, we had to tire our kids out before the flight.

Ainsley really warmed up to the camera this weekend. She usually tells me "no" and to "stop" however she wholeheartedly embraced the camera and even posed for me!!!!

Upon our arrival, Andy had purchased this massive rice crispy treat for the kids. 

I'll be honest, I let them eat 2 pieces, Andy had about 6 and I ate the rest. 

I also ate the rest in 4 days :) 

The flight back was a piece of cake. Drew started playing one of his favorite games "Old Maid" and it caught the eye of the flight attendant. She immediately came over to Drew and hung out to play 2 rounds of the game with him. 

Ohhhh Ains!

She loved the flight. She had a hard time staying buckled on the way too Phoenix so I was a little nervous about the flight back. 

However, since we were "robbed" on the train she had it in her mind that if she didn't stay in her seat and buckled then the "bad guys" would come.