Christmastime is here!

Our annual Christmas trip to Froggy's was the weekend before last. The boys were overwhelmed and didn't know where to look first when we walked in.

We let them buy one toy each, and usually buy at least one more family Christmas gift.

Joel fell in love with this bouncy horse, but it was just too expensive. Gabriel couldn't make up his mind. After spending over an hour in the store, we ended up with a car for Joel and a school bus for Gabriel. Sigh. It doesn't really matter what you end up with, though, it's more about getting to play with and look at every toy you could possibly think of.

The four of us outside of Harry's Hot Dog. We didn't eat there, but a nice woman offered to take our picture. Why she didn't get the whole hot dog in the picture is beyond me. But oh well.

We went to Chuy's for dinner after Froggy's. Yum!

After driving back to FW we drove all around our neighborhood looking at lights. It was a super fun day!

Then last week we took a trip to downtown Fort Worth to see the big Christmas tree. The wind had picked up just before we left the house, and those streets downtown were like standing in wind tunnels! Too cold.

We decided to eat downtown too. We picked out a burger joint called Jake's. It ended up being more like a Hooter's but the food was really good. No really, it was! I just felt sorry for the scantily clad girl working the front door every time that cold air gusted in!

The picture really doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful! Fun times.

Another birthday party

For JoJo! Yeah!

My brother and his two cute and wonderful kids.

We put up the ping pong table even though it was a bit chilly. Tita took advantage of some sunny moments.

Getting some soccer tips from Tia.

I decided to invite my cousin, Kristen and her husband, Vinnie, and their two girls (Rianna, 16 and Kalyn, 12). Even though they live in Lake Worth, we had not seen them in several years and they had never met Joel. We reconnected through Facebook and have been keeping up with each other again. It was SO good to have them. Their girls have grown so much, and both look like models. I forgot to get a picture of them, dang it. We will not let so much time go by without seeing them next time.

Gabriel and his sweet Tito.

Our dear neighbor and friend, Helen.

My uncle Dennis. He is married to my aunt Anita (my Dad's sister), who is in a nursing home. It had been awhile since we had him at any family events, and were so glad he decided to come.

The birthday boy, with his poor little runny nose.

Nothing a fistful of cake can't cure!

Cade spent the night before the party with us, and helped me more than I can say with all kinds of things. Macy stayed the night with us after everyone else went home. She was so proud to get to help Joel open his gifts.

Piggy back!

The handsome big brother.

Joel is changing by leaps and bounds. His sentences are getting easier to understand. He loves to count things, and sat at the piano today for 20 minutes playing. Not banging, playing. What two-year-old does that? The one who sees his big brother do it all the time, that's who. His favorite things to shout out are, "happy, happy, happy, happy", "ready to eat Mama!", "I did it Mama!" and "There's a monster truck" which he says about any truck of any size. We hope you had a happy, happy, happy, happy birthday, JoJo!

Annie Lennox - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

I absolutely love this. It's Pagan tradition meets Christian belief. The music, that drum, the mystery, and her voice make this something I want to hear again and again at Christmas time.

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Halloween

It's hard to tell what this is, but it's the house in our neighborhood that goes even crazier than us when decorating for Halloween. They had three Frankensteins, mummies, gravestones and all sorts of scary.

We decided that Gabriel should have two costumes this year. His school frowns upon scary costumes because of the smaller kids, and I just wasn't sure about his Frankenstein. So we dug into the dress up box, borrowed from Mommy's closet and bought a couple of things for this clown outfit. Oh, and used lots of hair gel!

In the parking lot after Boo at the (FW) Zoo with our neighborhood Moms group. Which we will never be going to again. What a gigantic rip off. Lines to get in, even for members, and then paying an extra $3 apiece to get into the Boo area. Only to stand in more lines to do ANYTHING. All games, candy handouts, crafts, etc... Line after line after line. We stood in one for Gabriel to play a game and Mommy made an Executive Decision to head out of there and back to the animals. And started having much more fun!

I did Gabriel's, oops I mean Frankenstein's, face. I'm pretty proud of it since I have no face-painting experience other than Halloweens of yore. Joel tolerated his costume only because it was Elmo. It was really too warm to keep that thing on for very long.

This picture cracks me up since you can't see Joel and it really looks like Elmo is glancing into Frankie's candy sack.

Can you tell my mother-in-law never really grew up?

Gabriel loves Halloweens so much that even after it's over he tries to tell us stories about haunted houses or pretend visits to the Scary Guy store for weeks afterwards.

Joel is 2!

Loves to give hugs from behind. Plays with my hair constantly. Dances and sings ALL THE TIME. Reads books like a mad man. Asks for his brother as soon as he wakes up in the morning. Jumps, with both feet off the ground, for an entire song on Barney. Has more energy than a nuclear power plant. Smiles as big as Dallas when his Daddy comes home from work. Is fearless and wreckless which is making me age faster than I should be. Climbs anything. Has a full, deep voice that is lower than his brother's. Squeals at an ear-splitting level just to make me mad. In the grocery store. Talks in full sentences, some of which we understand. Knows how to work the cuteness when he wants something - already. Will knock me over with a full body shot when playing tickle on the floor. Has a temper that scares us more than his brother's, but we don't see it as often. Would rather be outside. All the time. Totally rocked my world two years ago today, and I've loved every second I've spent with him.

Time to start our Christmas music this year with a little rendition of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland". Happy Birthday Jo Jo.