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.