Christmas in Texas Y'all

Ava had a mini dance recital at her studio Saturday night.  As you can see in the photos, it was a country-western themed performance with costumes and music.  It was precious!  Since she is in a ballet/tap combo class this year she performs two dances now.  We love how much fun she has with dance.  It was so fun to watch!

Before the show with best friend from class Juliette

So Proud of our little dancer :-)



A Wedding & A Letter to Santa

Last weekend we headed back to San Antonio for my cousin Eric's wedding at Tapatio Springs. It was such a beautiful wedding and the weather could not have been more perfect.  We enjoyed our time with family so much.  Here are some pics from Eric & Savanna's special day....

The beautiful bride & groom

Eric is a state trooper and Savanna is a deputy and they have the cutest story about how they met during a dispatcher's call.  They were called to the same location and had a hard time finding the place.  Depending on which one of them tells the story, one of them was lost and the other had it figured out.  They are absolutely adorable together!

Mom & Groom Dance





Me & My Girl

My Boys

I feel like I post this all the time but I have to say again that the four of us grew up seeing each other once or twice a week until we went to college.  We were closer than just 'cousins.'  And although we haven't lived close for years it's always so special to see them and celebrate life's important moments with them.

 A favorite pic from '88 :-)

Ava decided last year after her third unpleasant year in Santa's lap that she should write him a letter this year!  She stuck with her plan and together we wrote her letter on Monday so that we could give it to him Thursday night at our neighborhood's annual tree lighting festivities.  Ava addressed the envelope and I wrote the letter as she spoke it to me.

And brother's list on the back.....I love that she said 'He is a good boy a little bit.'

This was the first year she didn't cry! 

She handed him the letter and shook her head yes or no to his questions.  She smiled but refused to look at him. Ha!  And little man just continued eating his pretzel like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.  Food is his love language.

So excited to celebrate another Christmas season with these sweet babies!

Thanksgiving Week 2012

It was so nice to have an entire week without our usual running around schedule.  Ava didn't have preschool or dance last week so we were able to spend some great time with friends and family and a lot of time in our pjs.  We had so much fun decorating for Christmas, not only here but at Nana's and Grammy's house too!

Ava helped me make cookies and brownies for Thanksgiving on Wednesday.  And she really was a 'help' this year.  She seems so grown up and I was so thankful for our time together.

We headed for East Texas Thursday morning and spent the day with our ever-growing extended family!
There are 27 of us and there will be 28 in our family on Saturday!  My cousin Eric will marry his sweet fiance Savannah and we are excited to head back to San Antonio for their wedding this weekend. 
 We finally had all great-grandkids together for a third cousins photo.  These kids played hard ALL DAY LONG!

I don't think I've ever seen Ava so excited about leaves before...

Grandmama played a few Christmas tunes for us that evening then we headed back home, so thankful to be able to spend time with family that we wish we could see more.  It was such a fun day!

So far Keegan hasn't messed with the Christmas tree too much.  We'll see how long it lasts.  He does get upset when the lights aren't on in the morning and he tells Ava to light it up. 

He has really taken to his little cars lately-especially his Lighting McQueen.  He has a car in each hand everywhere we go and he loves to drive them around on my arms and legs at home.  But I think I may love it even more than he does.  If I could freeze time I would do it now. And he would drive his cars up and down my legs forever.  Words can't describe how thankful I am for this little man in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Our Family to Yours!

Keegan Dancing

Keegan loves music and no matter where we are throughout the day he will start dancing if he hears a good song!  Aunt Kara caught a great video of his dance moves this weekend and I wanted to share.  He cracks us up! 

Thanksgiving at Ava's Preschool

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving early with Ava's preschool class.  They sang a few songs and prayed and we had a fun "feast" with her classmates and other parents & grandparents.  It was such a fun lunch.  She LOVES her preschool and we love it too!  It's always fun to get to be a part of her school activities and she gets so excited to see us there.  Here are a few pics of our lunch... 

Little Pilgrims & Indians

Ava's Placemat

With her turkey recipe on the back :-)

Keegan stuffing his face :-)

Ava & sweet friend Wyatt

Ava & her favorite guy :-)

Cousins

On Mondays and Fridays Ava doesn't have to wonder what it would be like to have a sister to play with.  Weather they are playing dress up, coloring or playing dolls.....She loves the company of her sweet cousin Presley and Presley loves her Ava. 

Keegan went down early for an afternoon nap last week so I took the girls to the park for a while and since they were semi-matching by coincidence I thought I would take a few pics while they played. 

 (I always feel I should add the disclaimer that Jeff works from home after a statement like that!) 

On Friday night Aunt Kara and I took them to see a Cinderella musical at the middle school where she teaches.  Here they are dressed up and ready to go!

Ava absolutely loves to see plays and this one was fun because although it was a little different of a storyline she knew who all the characters were.  She mostly talked about the props and costumes when it was over. 

We had a great time!