Christmas

We spent a wonderful Christmas in Dallas with my family this year. My sister was able to fly in and we were in town for five days. It was just perfect...the kids were well behaved and there were no major meltdowns:) They were both angels on the drive there. I give it an A! The way home gets a B-. We took Avery to Indoor Safari Park to play one morning and she had a blast. I wish we had one here in Houston. After opening presents and relaxing on Christmas day, Mom, Avery and I went to see The Muppets in the afternoon. Other than that, we just relaxed and enjoyed each other. Cate did better than I expected and was very enjoyable. It was just perfect!

Christmas Eve
The girls got to open one present on Christmas Eve
Santa brought LOTS of gifts to two sweet little girls! The girls received many, many, too many cute things and have enjoyed them all. It was fun to watch Cate because she was actually interested in the paper and bows and all the flashy lights from her new toys. Six months is a fun age! Santa brought Avery this beautiful castle and she loves it...now. At first she wouldn't even look at it. I think she was overwhelmed by all that was going on. It's a lot to take in for a three year old. She warmed up to it and really enjoys using her characters from the movie Tangled in the castle.
Grammie and Grandpa got the girls a two seater wagon and we can't wait to use it. Cate is still too little for it though. We padded the bottom of it and she took a little ride around the house in it. Avery loves it and is looking forward to taking a walk in it. While we were in Dallas, Cate perfected her sitting and started showing signs of pulling up into the crawling position on her knees. She also started putting her paci in herself while in her crib...PRAISE the Lord! Seriously.We got home from Dallas the day after Christmas and then had round two the next day with the Shelfers. We went over to Nana and Pops' house in the morning to open presents with them, Brian, Catherine and Brooks, and GiGi. The babies were hilarious together. Brooks just started crawling recently and he and Cate were so funny as them studied each other and tried to figure out the other. Avery loves, loves, loves her chef set. She asks no less than a dozen times a day to be a chef and cook for me. Go for it little girl! You can take over the cooking anytime:)Later that afternoon, we went over to GiGi's house to celebrate Christmas with the rest of the family. It's always fun to get together with Mark's family because there are so many people. It was always just my parents and my sister and I growing up. We never did big family celebrations, so it's fun spending time with the extended family too. Avery loves all her big, grown up cousins. Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas with all of our family and I loved every minute of it. It was so special seeing Christmas through my children's eyes. That is truly what makes it magical.2011 was a great year for us...it brought us our sweet little peanut Cate! And while it's been a big shift in what our lives were before, it's been the absolute best shift. I love my sweet family and pray that 2012 brings great things as well. May God bless you all in the new year!