Nativity

On Christmas Day we got together with a group of our friends to act out the Nativity together. The kids all got dressed up and acted out their parts and sang songs. Carson was nervous on his part and didn't read his lines but he did go up there with his friends and went where he was supposed to. :) Carson was a wise man and Camilla was a sheep/ Sheppard. It was a fun thing for us to do on Christmas Day to remind us of the birth of our Savior. 

Afterwards we all made french toast sandwiches and hung out until bedtime. 

Christmas Morning

Aaron and I stayed up way too late on Christmas Eve putting this doll house together but then of course, we loved how excited they were when they woke up on Christmas morning. As soon as Camilla woke up (she was our first arise) she yelled out, "that my house!" Carson instantly wanted something to play with inside of it, like a doll, but he didn't want to say the word doll. :) 

The only thing in the whole world that Carson asked for was subtraction cards. Any time anyone asked him what he wanted for Christmas or what he had asked Santa for he said, "just subtraction cards." So those made an appearance in his stocking. He was very excited. 

Camilla has been asking us for a toot toot for weeks. She goes to this small, free dance class at the Y and she LOVES it. She always tells us she needs a toot toot to wear. 

After opening the presents we had a big breakfast and just stayed in our pajamas playing with toys all morning. I just love Christmas morning at home. There is something so magical about it. 

Christmas Eve

Just a normal Christmas Eve but special for us. We LOVE Christmas.

Pajamas opened.

Special dinner made.

Nativity read.

Lots of pictures taken.

Dessert eaten, hot chocolate made.

Hugs, laughing, wrestling, reading books.

Kids all sleeping together in one room.

Loving our little family.

Blessing Baby Brooke

The Sunday before Christmas we blessed our sweet baby girl. We planned it so that a lot of my family and Aaron's family could be there and we blessed her in Arlington - in the same building I was blessed in. It was a sweet experience and we were so happy to have so many people we loved there. Brooke looked beautiful in her white dress and was perfect and we have every word of her blessing thanks to a sweet sister who short hand recorded it for us. But... we don't have any pictures, that's right, not one. Its horrible, absolutely horrible. I feel just awful about it. But the memory is stored in my head, does that count? My poor third child, not even a picture on her blessing day. It just ended up being a crazier day than we had anticipated. 

We spent the weekend in Dallas with both our families to see everyone before Christmas. It made for a very busy weekend for us splitting time between Arlington and Lewisville (Aaron's brother's house) but it was nice to see so many people and for everyone to meet our Brooke. The kids loved playing with all their cousins and were worn out by the end of the trip. We played and played, opened and exchanged presents, went on walks, went out to eat, strolled Ikea and just stayed up late talking. 

One of our favorite things that we did was go to the Perot Science Museum in Dallas. It was so, so cool. I was very impressed with it and we stayed for hours. The kids really liked it. Here were some of our favorite parts. 

We also had two Christmas miracles on this trip. 

1. My lost black running tights miraculously found in a random parking lot in downtown.

2. Camilla sleeping the entire drive home even though we transitioned her into my parents' house for awhile and then home. This was amazing. 

Then we headed home to get ready for Christmas! 

Friends

We have been blessed with great friends here in Austin that we love. This was at a birthday party for one of our friends and we got this great picture of all the kids. I love it. I am so happy that our kids have made good friends too that they love to play with so much. This has made our transition to Austin so much better. Grateful to these good people who took us in! 

Thanksgiving

We made a last minute decision to drive to Arlington for Thanksgiving. My whole family was there and I wanted for everyone to meet Brooke. I felt like it was early to take her on a trip but I was happy that she got to meet so many people. She was perfect, of course and we didn't even have to make one stop on the drives for her. It was a quick trip but the kids loved spending time with their cousins. 

We left on Thanksgiving morning and went straight to our church to have Thanksgiving dinner again with all of our friends. We had a great time with everyone there and the food was good all over again. (We have Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night in my family so everyone can go to the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day.) 

I am grateful for so many things in my happy life. Grateful for my beautiful family, the arrival of another healthy baby, living in our amazing country, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and all the comforts we enjoy. 

Football Game

Aaron took Carson to his very first UT football game on Thanksgiving Day. Carson was so, so, so excited to go to the game and Aaron was so, so, so excited to take him. A few friends in Aaron's classes were going to be out of town so they gave him the tickets. It was a night game and they only stayed for the first half but they had a lot of fun. Carson spent a lot of the game keeping track of the score and counting up and down the steps - that's our numbers boy. It was a cold night but Carson loves the cold so he was fine. The girls and I stayed warm and snug at home. 

After the game they rode home with a friend who was also only going for the first half. Carson kept Aaron very entertained while they waited for their ride. 

More Brooke

My sweet friend Jeana did a small photo shoot for Brooke when she was about 3 weeks old. It was kind of a hard one as Brooke didn't sleep for it but we still got some cute shots. Jeana did a great job and I am so happy that we were able to capture some sweet moments when Brooke was still so tiny. 

One Republic and Sara Bareilles

Aaron surprised me with tickets to see One Republic and Sara Bareilles when they came to Austin. This was our very first concert to go to in Austin, the live music capital, and we had a great time. The bands were both really great and we enjoyed the show. Our seats were really good too and I'm pretty sure its the latest we have stayed out in a long, long time. 

Sara sounded exactly like she sounds on the radio. 

One Republic had a lot more "show" with their set and it was very entertaining. 

We Moved

Our summer has been a good one. I would love to say that it has been a great one but in all honesty I just can't. I'm pregnant, I'm sick, I'm pretty much unhappy a lot of the time, Aaron has been traveling, its hot... I could go on but I won't. Yet in spite of me, my kids are happy, healthy and we are making it through a summer of travel. I have actually impressed myself if you want to know the truth. I have found a groove with him being gone and we stick to our routine. I have to plan one activity every day to get me out of bed in the morning but then we are good and breakfast is my one meal that almost always stays down. We are also doing all our normal daily swimming activities, switching between the pool at the gym, the city pools, and our neighborhood pools. I do love summer time and the laid back fun that come with it. 

We decided not to renew our contract in our beloved home on 55 1/2 street. It has been a great one, great location, fabulous neighbors, a bike ride to school but I fear we have outgrown 750 sq. feet and I'm pretty tired of doing my laundry outside. (I know some people have to go to laundry mats, cry me a river, etc. etc.) We found a home northeast of where we live that we like and will be closer to our friends but further away from everything else. We only have one car so we are using a scooter that our dear friends, the Merrises, kindly donated to our cause for this last year of school. I will miss our home. I love it, it holds fond memories but the temptation for cheaper rent and more sq. feet is just too big to pass up. I know my kids will never remember all the fun times we had in our small house but I hope that Aaron and I will. Thanks for the memories. 

The Bats

Stephen and Casey were in Dallas visiting my parents for a week so they drove down to Austin to visit Kimberly and me. It was fun to have visitors because we did some things that we really want to do but just haven't. We ate delicious BBQ and finally saw the bats. Carson thought they were great, Camilla was a little scared of them but overall it was a gorgeous night and a fun must do while you are in Austin.

 

Happy Birthday Camilla

 I love Camilla. I mean this when I say it. I love her so much my heart could burst. She makes me smile and makes my heart melt so quickly its unreal. But she can also make me want to pull my hair out. She has so much stubbornness and determination that it doesn't always go well for this impatient Mamma. But somehow within 30 seconds of thinking I'm going to have to call her father to come and take her to school with him, I am back to snuggling up close to her and smothering her in kisses. Camilla has had a wonderful second year of life and grown so much. She still isn't talking very much but makes her demands known with grunts, pointing, and the occasional words. She loves her brother more than anything in the whole world but also loves to make him scream second most. 

She had a fabulous birthday, filled with homemade (from scratch) pink cupcakes, swimming, and eating french fries. She seemed to understand that it was a special day just for her and that is right up Millie's ally. She is the sunshine that lights up our little home and we are very grateful to have such a spitfire in our family.

 

Happy Birthday Aaron and Haley

Aaron and I both have birthdays in July. They were nothing fancy this year (I'm pregnant I scrap by on the bare minimum) but we did go on a small trip for Aaron's internship in Dallas at a fancy hotel. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the small break from the kiddos. Big thank you to my parents for keeping them for us. The weekend was spent eating fabulous food, laying out by the pool, and getting to know the interns from all over the country. We have been grateful that Aaron was able to get such a great internship and know that his experience will Deloitte will be a good one.

Fourth of July Fun

If there is one thing Aaron and I know how to do right, its time off work. :) We were so excited that Aaron had Thursday and Friday off work that we planned fun stuff for for us to do all day long. I personally love the fourth of July, it just might be my favorite holiday. I am proud of the country I live in and grateful for the freedoms my family enjoys. I think often that my sweet children will have every opportunity because of the country we live in. I am grateful to live in the safety that we enjoy and proud to be in a country where we often reach out to help others. 

We decided to go to the parade up in Round Rock, which is a big parade. We were pretty underwhelmed. Whatever happened to floats? It was just decorated cars and trucks throwing out candy. And lots of crazy kids going crazy over this candy. After about 15 minutes and our kids hands both full of gum and tootsie rolls we were ready to move on.

One thing Carson really, really wanted to see was a marching band. That was the highlight for us. He was so excited for it. 

Camilla was not giving up her candy for anything! 

We decided to walk a few blocks over to a shaved ice place and get snow cones instead of stick around. They were delicious and refreshing, just what we needed. 

After we got home we went swimming for about an hour at the gym. It wasn't great weather for swimming outside so we went to the kids favorite pool at the gym and let them have fun swimming there. Then after naps we headed out to Round Rock again to see the festival and get ready for fireworks. It was SO crowded but we just walked around and hung out for 3 hours until the show started. They had some fun stuff there as well. I was already so worn out by this point, Aaron had to do most of the playing with the kids. 

We waited a LONG time for the fireworks to start. The kids ran around and played and were making fireworks of their own with grass. 

Finally the show began. It was worth the wait. I LOVE fireworks and so did the kids. 

Then on Friday we went with a group of our friends to Blue Hole. We had such a great time, despite the cold temps in the water. We love Blue Hole and have so much fun just hanging out with friends, eating food, and occasionally climbing in the water. 

Aaron had to show everybody up on the rope swing again this year. Here he is warming up. 

Making the jump. 

Success!

I opted to make my jumps from the tree. 

The water was freezing but felt good. 

We did a lot of running around and throwing the ball with the kids.

Camilla thought the water was a little too cold for her liking.

 

We were all so worn out by the end of the day and our late night the night before. Carson and Camilla crashed in the car and slept until after 6, which of course made for a fun late night. :) I crashed on the couch while Aaron was putting the kids to bed. It was such a fun couple of days but I made Aaron promise me that on Saturday we could spend some time at home.