A Houston Christmas

A little spoiled? Yes these are all Vivianna's.

Isaac performed magic tricks! He was hysterical. We all laughed through the whole thing as he announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I will now stuff a bunny in my hat!"

Vivi got a whole little board book set of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Mickey Mouse Yahtzee with the Aunts.

Shake, shake, shake your Mickeys!

Piano with Daddy.

Isaac enjoyed his very BOY gifts.

Vivi makes an adorable chef!

Passed out on Aunt Vicki. Billy's aunts love our kids as their very own. I didn't change a whole lot of diapers and Aunt Vicki chased Vivi around with butt cream at one point--Aunt Virginia dug out some nose boogers with a kleenex.

Now that is love!

This HUGE light display is becoming a favored tradition.

Nana and Padre thought of their girl when they found these adorable decorations at Home Depot. We will enjoy seeing these displayed every year!

We went to the children's museum. This robot made completly of phones reminded me of my Dad and the IBM, GTE, and Verizon salary that I was raised on!

Isaac milked a cow.

Vivi shopped at HEB.

And they "enjoyed" a Mexican dinner in a little Casa.

This is the really yummy tex mex place we eat at every time we go near Padre's work. It is becoming our tradition so I will try to take a pic of the kids in front of the sign once a year.

Other highlights of the trip were that we got to bring our dogs! (Thank you!!) And Isaac went with his grandmother and great aunt to see The Tale of Despareux (sp?) We shopped at Macy's and Vivi got a new winter coat and other items. We ate and ate and ate. We are huge fans of a Nothing Bundt cakes double chocolate cake that Billy's cousin sends us every year. I got to spend some quality time with Billy's sister who is on cloud 9 after having passed her Texas Bar Exam. And finally, our stockings were full of giftcards...my favorite!! ;) I was especially touched by a simple gift of a little keychain that says I heart my rescue dog by Billy's aunt that doesn't even like dogs! It was such a thoughtful gesture. Thank you all for a wonderful Christmas!!

More Family Pics

Christmas with the Scribner's

We visited the family I nannyed for since 2000 and exchanged gifts.

Once again, they spoiled us!

The Scribner's gave Isaac Diego toys and Vivi shouted "Day-go!!"

We didn't know she knew who he was!

Our gift to Paige- jewelry

Here she is with her new hair color.

They thought it was real cute to give Billy Folger's. Oh my!

And here is Jarrett with one of his gifts from us- A Santa Yoda. Is that cute or what?!

Tanya nd Jarrett baked cookies for us to munch on.

Merry Christmas, Paige and Jarrett!!

Ya'll are growing up too fast.

Our Niece's 4th Birthday PArty

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Here is a scrapbook of Samantha's party. You can view some more shots of the cupcakes I did HERE.

Decorations

The stockings were hung above the kitchen with care...

This was my husband's brilliant idea. We needed a high enough place where our adorable, yet mischievious daughter could not pull on them and crush her skull with a metal stocking holder.

Here is our patio, what you see when you pull up to our apartment. Who said you can't make a small space feel like home? Sorry for the dark pictures but the lighting looks better without the flash.

In our house, we had a large tree in our dining room and this tree in our living room. We lovingly referred to it as our "apartment tree" because it was the first tree we ever had. How fitting that it is making its debut this year.

Then and Now

2008- Vivi looks petrified. Isaac is dazed. The Santa's teeth are bunny-looking, and the snow globe in the background looks like a spooky full moon. Hmmm, I think I like last year's better...
2007- Baby's First Santa Picture

I think it went well.

Santa Pics

The Santa that we went to see had a whole Polar Express theme going with large snow globes and snow falling down. It was really cute. The big purple chair on blue carpet wasn't as festive as I would have liked and the photos we paid for are pretty bad, I'm not going to lie to you! But what can you do with a tradition? We talked about going to a different Santa for photos which we really should have. But the kids were dressed so cute we just went with it. Vivi wanted nothing to do with the big red guy as you can see in the one where she is high-tailing it out of there! When I get this year's pic framed, I will post it with last years- that was a funny one!

Gaylord Texan ICE

My parents treated us all to the Gaylord Texan Ice exhibit. It was 9 degrees in there and it was full of amazing ice sculptures. We had a great time, and the kids enjoyed the winter atmosphere! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!! It was a lot of fun! ***A little help on the slideshow- if the song annoys you as it quickly did me...just hit the speaker button at the top of the slideshow picture and it will mute it!***