Our first Christmas celebration was at Mom's house. We came over around 8 am Sunday morning (the 24th). Here is Andrew eagerly anticipating the opening of his presents!

This is one interesting Barbie set. Barbie is normal, but her kitty cat actually poops. Yes, that's right, it poops! You feed it these little plastic pellets and then squeeze it so it poops them right out. It comes complete with a litter box!

Andrew opened his very own Hotwheels laptop. A week or so ago he spied it in Aunt Amy's room, but come Christmas he had completely forgotten.

The kids were good enough to take turns. Avery & Andy are watching Sadie open a tea set that we gave her.

As I am posting these pictures, Avery is going down the street with Wade. She is fully attired in her new Disney Princess skates (she is pictured opening them above), kneepads and elbow pads. To say the least, she will need A LOT of practice to get the hang of it!

Andrew received a set of Magnastix from Uncle Robbie and Aunt Jen. They are like Magnetix, only bigger and easier for little people like Andy.

Look what Santa left at our house! Avery and Andrew had their work cut out for them on Christmas morning.

Andrew loves his new Video Now disc. Can't ya tell??!!

Avery loves her new Barbie!

Andrew is excited to open the #2 gift on his list - a Doodle Dinosaur. #1 was the huge T-Rex and he got that from Angie the night before.

Top on Avery's list was a Baby Alive and wouldn't you know, Santa brought it for her! This is a pretty amazing toy. She talks, drinks a bottle and eats "baby food." But, it doesn't stop there - she pees and poops! This in turn requires a diaper change...... uh, yeah. SO, we only allow a bottle with water and "baby food" every now and again. Avery and Andrew are both potty trained and I don't want to have to start paying for diapers for a doll! Did I mention that I have already babysat my new granddaughter on many occasions? Seems Avery is comfortable with just turning the doll OFF when she's done with her - SO NOT realistic!

Darlene and Eddie came over on Christmas day, as well as Eddie's parents. Eddie parents gave each of the kids a $10 bill. You would have thought they had gotten a cool million the way it excited them. You can just see the greed in Andrew's eyes in this picture :)

Of course Avery had to "help" - she opened everyone's presents for them. She is SOOOOO helpful :)

Forget all the other presents. When Uncle Adam and Uncle Alan opened the garage door to reveal new cars for the kids, everything else was shoved aside. Nothing could be better than your own new car, right? Since getting them a day ago, there have been 4-5 outdoor excursions for driving. They are outside with Wade right now driving. As you can tell, Andrew has a Mustang GT that is blue with white racing stripes.

Avery received a purple Disney Princess Pontiac Solstice. It plays Princess tunes and has a real AM radio to boot.

Avery is pictured above driving this afternoon.

"Hey, how are you?"

To be honest, Wade and I are jealous. I am just a smidge (ok, a lot) over the max weight limit, so we will never get to ride. One cool thing on Andy's Mustang is that you pop the hood to reveal the battery.

The riding is over, so it's time to bake. Avery got an Easy Bake oven from Aunt Lori and made sugar cookies and a cake today. Wade's dad was over and it sure is hard to split a tiny frosted cake amongst 5 people!! Ronnie bought the kids a swingset for Christmas and he and Wade cemented it in the ground today and will finish tomorrow.

To finish, here is Andy - yucky snotty nosed Andy. He is patiently waiting at the bar for his sister's Easy Bake creations!

Christmas is Coming!

This past weekend we went out to Magnolia to visit Wade's grandparents grave. We met Darlene & Eddie, Wadine & Tim, Aunt Beverly, Vicky & Terri. Afterwards we went to Mel's in Tomball for lunch. Then Tim, Wadine, Darlene & Eddie came out to see the house. Darlene & Eddie spent the night and were officially the first overnight guests at the new house!

Eddie's parents sent some firefighter hats for the kids and here they are modeling them!

Tim and Wadine brought Christmas presents for the kids and said it was ok for them to open them early! Just what a kid likes to hear - "It's OK to open them EARLY!!" They were thrilled to say the least. Here is a picture of Andrew hugging his new pillow. The reverse side is full of construction vehicles. Wadine makes the kids pillows and all sorts of stuff every year.

This is Avery with her new Disney Princess pillow. Aunt Wadine hit it right on the mark with this one! Avery LOVES anything Disney Princess. For Christmas 2003 Wadine made her a little huggy pillow with a christmas print on it. Here it is, 3 years later, and that is the pillow she sleeps on every night! But, with the new princess pillow, I'm afraid the old one has met it's match!

Wadine also made door hangers for each of the kids!

In addition to all of the wonderful stuff made by Wadine, she and Tim also gave the kids some books. We have yet to start reading the one Andrew is holding because he is too busy listening to the book Wadine and Tim gave him. The book actually reads the story to him!

They gave Avery a Cinderella book, as well as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms. Avery and I have been reading a few chapters every evening!

We finally got our new dining room set! Pioneer Homes gave us a gift certificate to Gallery Furniture and this is what we used it for! There is nothing on the wall yet, but I do have it set and ready for Christmas dinner!

The plates I have on the table are an exact match to plates that Wade's granny had. Wadine has the original set and I liked them so much (and they have sentimental value to Wade) that I went and found almost a complete set on Ebay!

That's it for now :) I'm sure I will have lots to post after Christmas is done.

Merry Christmas to ALL and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Miscellaneous...

A few weeks ago we went to Ronnie's for dinner. Andrew was being ornery as Andrew often is and was forced to sit still with his daddy. The result was Andy being passed out in his daddy's lap from sheer exhaustion!

Just a cute picture of Avery!

Our first fire in our new house!

Here is Andrew at his preschool Christmas party. He had just opened a gift of toy helicopters and airplanes.

This is Andrew and his girlfriend Jillian. It should be noted that Jillian has an identical twin sister Jamie. According to Jillian's mom, Jillian is as fond of Andrew as he is of her :) Andrew bought a small gift for each of the kids at his table, but he bought two for Jillian. He made sure to buy her jewelry (from the dollar store!) and to his delight she put it on right away! Sorry the picture looks weird, I don't know why it won't show up right!

Andrew sat on Santa's lap and told him that he wanted a big dinosaur for Christmas!

Just a cute picture of Andrew getting ready to open another present at preschool.

Avery and Andrew spent some time decorating Christmas cookies.

The first row of cookies were decorated by Andrew. The second row belongs to Avery and the third row belongs to me, mommy!

Avery and Andrew did a great job helping me decorate the tree and here they are showing off their accomplishment!

2 Cute Little Elves!

Just 2 pics to post here. On Thursday night we went to the Lighting of the Doves in The Woodlands. Avery and Andy got to see some ballet and dance performances, Will Makar from American Idol and most importantly - SANTA! Here are 2 pics taken in Market Street before we walked over to the event.

Weekend Trip to Lufkin

This weekend we went to Lufkin to visit Mimi (Darlene) and Grandpa Eddie. All in all the weather was beautiful! Most of the pictures below are from a place called Millard's Crossing. Here is a link to their website: http://www.millardscrossing.com/. Millard's Crossing is a reconstructed historic village that is set in the 19th century. To the kids, it's as close as they can come to Little House on the Prairie!

Avery and Andy on the red caboose - ALL ABOARD!!

Mimi, Grandpa Eddie and the kids on the front porch of one of the historic homes.

This pic is a bit fuzzy, but it's still a cute picture of our little family.

Sometimes they pretend to love each other :)

We came to Millard's Crossing about this time last year. Andy could not ring the bell by himself then, but he sure can now!

They had a school house in the village and here is one of their model students!

Avery and Andy again. Trust me, they don't show this much love on a regular basis.

Another model student!

Avery's turn to ring the bell!

This picture was taken in the log cabin. The kids got to see the loft where kids would have slept in the old days.

Another picture of the kids in front of one of the houses.

Here is Avery coloring at Mimi's house. She spent a great deal of her time making art for everyone :)

Bedtime! Avery and Andrew each have their own bed and share a room at Mimi's house! Mom and Dad get the sleeper sofa in the living room - how did the kids get so lucky?

Avery is all cozy in bed and ready to sleep!