Our trip to San Antonio was fabulous! It was crazy, busy trying to get in all the fun: 3 Christmases, a birthday party, football game, New Years Eve party, a baby shower, my annual Merry Mexican party with my girlfriends, and of course visiting with our Brady Bunch sized (actually bigger!) family and friends. Louie managed to get sick (as usual - he does this every time we travel for Christmas), the girls picked up colds, Leigh Ann and her mother got the flu, Andrew caught some sinus/respiratory thing, the Flournoys had the stomach flu, and the rest of us single-handedly kept Purell, Wetwipes, and Emergen-C in business! Despite all the illnesses, we truly had a good time and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our family and friends, and of course Tejas! :) Can't wait to see everyone again very, very soon!
Grommie-we missed you tons and we hope you feel better very, very soon! We love you and are working on scheduling our trip to see you in Lubbock soon!
On our trip down, I managed to get Miss A to fall asleep. I stood with her in the baby carrier for about 30 min and she finally conked out. Thank goodness Louie was there to entertain Kinsley!
Or rather cuddle her... they conked out too! :)
Great Papa's first meeting with Aubrey! She was a little dazed after our day of travel but so special to see the two of them meet!
Kinsley got a little Great-Papa time too!
The night we arrived, we had Christmas at my dad's because Andrew was leaving the very next morning for a ski trip (sorry we didn't snap any pics of you Uncle Andrew!). Aubrey was already in bed. She was exhausted.
Sarah Caroline, John and sweet Elijah. You can also see Leigh Ann in the back ground there... How did I managed to not get any real pictures of Leigh Ann, my dad, Andrew, Luke or Emily?!? Sigh. I need to work on my picture taking skills. My camera is always almost aimed at my girls!
Aubrey opened her gifts the next morning in her pjs. Great Papa got in a little more one-on-one time. :)
The tradition evolves!! Now we have Marcus helping Sarah, helping, Kinsley put the angel on the tree. Will we add Aubrey in the mix next year??
Again, Aubrey missed Christmas, but this time at my mom's it was off to bed for her again. (She was still on east coast time.)
Kinsley got a princess outfit from Marcus' mom and sister. She was thrilled - she also got a matching tiara and 4 pairs of high heels to complete the outfit!!
Opening gifts with Mimi!
So fun!
We also managed to sneak in a family birthday party for Aubrey. She turned 1 on Jan 8 so it was close enough. It was so special to be surrounded by family and see how many people love this precious peanut.
Sweet Mimi and Sweet Aubrey. {LOVE}
The Strykers AND the Flournoys made the trip over from Houston!! It meant so much to have them there too!
Aunt Victoria doing one of the things she is so amazing at... helping me!! She can just about read my mind in this category! Thank you Victoria!
Decorations - Thank you Pinterest for your free decor!
So smiley!
Love this one!
Proud parents of a 1 year old!!
First taste of chocolate!
She liked playing with it more than eating it!
She thought Kinsley's cupcake looked better. They did taste fabulous! Thanks Aunt Victoria!
Precious Cousin Logan came to the party too! He was checking out the cupcake damage.
Not too bad... but what you can't see in this picture is there is actually chocolate, icing and sprinkles down the entire backside of Aubrey's right arm... all the way to her armpit!
Present time! All the kids helped Aubrey open her presents. Little Aubrey received so many gifts in conjunction with Christmas that we had to ship a full 2x2ft box back to Charlotte! Thank you family!!! :) (And Dad and Victoria for shipping it to us!!)
The anticipation is overwhelming.
Cousin Joanna decided her outfit needed a little sprucing up. Kinsley had so much fun playing with Joanna. They spent all day playing together on Saturday and Sunday morning!
A new xylophone from the Flournoys!
Carol and Garvin were so sweet to think of Kinsley on Aubrey's birthday. They brought Kinsley a Noah's Ark puzzle book, which we have taken apart and put back together about umpteen times now!
Shorty's picking up grandkids. :) Ha!
I think Aubrey likes her new xylophone and G too, of course!
Aubrey's banner - another Pinterest find. I used her Watch Me Grow pics.
I was pleased with how they turned out.
That night, the Strykers took us to the Alamo Bowl! That's them front and center. :) We had so much fun and had a delicious dinner at Chris Madrid's afterwards. Best bean burger in the world!!
I just love going to the game and their seats are fabulous! Thank you so much Garvin and Carol! The next morning we celebrated Christmas with the Strykers and the Flournoys before we ate lunch and they all headed back to Houston. I somehow managed to not get any pictures of Christmas with the Stryker/Flournoys! Again... I need to work on picture taking! Ugh! Sarah and Stephen, Carol and Garvin - did y'all snap any?? If so, send them my way!
Bert and Ernie were at the football game too! Ha!
Aubrey found a new hobby while we were in SA. She was obsessed with the stairs!
New Years Eve - around 9:30 it was time to call it a night for Kinsley so my dad made the announcement that it was time for everyone to countdown for his grand-daughter. She loved it! We got to 1 and then shouted Happy New Year! She then asked where are the balloons with the candy inside and why didn't we pop them. Huh? She said that Pat did this on Handy Manny so we should too... maybe too much TV. Oops!
Back at Mimi's house for Aubrey's Christmas - since she slept through it last time. :)
We ended our trip with a meal at Rudy's. Elijah and Kinsley kept themselves busy with trucks and cars. Kinsley has a bit yet still to learn about personal space.
Louie flew back to start a four day call on the 2nd. The girls and I flew back on the 7th. It was a little crazy traveling by myself but we made it. Louie met us at the airport. We were very happy to see Daddy and the 3 pups! Happy 2013!!
The month of December was crazy, but oh so fun! I'll let the pictures tell our holiday story!
Kinsley was excited about our Christmas tree. Louie was excited that it wasn't 10 below while he was putting it in the stand. It also did NOT have to thaw overnight in the garage before bringing it in the house. Just another perk to living in the south.
Aubrey was off to dreamland but the three of us stayed up to decorate and enjoy some hot chocolate and Christmas music. Kinsley really had fun this year decorating the tree. 3 is such a fun age!
Hope made herself at home quickly under the tree. Louie was thinking about joining her.
He decided instead to enjoy the view with his old man.
Putting the angel on the tree. She didn't pop the angel's head off like she did last year. :)
Ta-da!! The dogs have on their Christmas apparel too!
Yes, we still have boxes all over the place and no pictures hung but this is what happens when you know you're only going to be somewhere a year. Christmas still came to the Stryker house! Santa didn't mind.
I tried to get out quite a bit with the girls to see all that Charlotte had to offer this time of year. We went to see the Berenstein bears Christmas orchestra. The girls loved it!
A bunch of motorized bears playing Christmas music. Fun and free (which makes it even more fun!!).
We made yummy Christmas cookies. I think this will be a new tradition.
My sous sprinkler.
You think she likes them? I thought mine tasted better with a glass of wine.
We took a 45 min drive to Spencer, NC to the Train Museum. We rode the Santa train. Here are Kinsley and Louie waiting for the train to arrive.
It's here!
Daddy and his adorable little reindeer.
Mommy and her elf!
Turns out Aubrey doesn't like Santa so much!
He is a little creepy...
Absolutely love this one. Kinsley in her glasses and antlers and Aubrey losing it... Perfect Christmas pic of the kids. :) Ha!
She recovered well.
Kinsley wanted a picture in front of the train.
And one of the conductor.
Kinsley and Louie got to ride the biggest working turn table in the nation.
There were some crafts after the train ride. Not sure who is having more fun in this picture.
Then we walked around and checked out all the old steam engines and cabooses. They were pretty impressive. It was a good day.
A couple of the moms from Kinsley's class decided to have a Christmas party for the kids. It was a lot of fun! They decorated "gingerbread" houses and made reindeer food. They had a blast!
She loves the kiddos in her class!
We made it out to the Billy Graham Library. They have a live nativity at night with thousands of lights and carriage rides. It gets crazy busy at night so we went during the day and got to pet the animals. Much better plan I think!
The estate was beautiful. I bet it's gorgeous at night all lit up.
One of my favorite from the season. Snagged this pic in front of the giant tree inside the Library. Both smiling!!
Our advent calendar this year. We added a cotton ball every morning. His beard kept growing and growing.
Christmas eve before church.
Best two pics I could get... It's a little challenging to catch them both smiling at the same time.
Our family pic with the camera on a timer... :)
I loved the back of Miss A's dress. :)
The girls got to open one gift on Christmas eve.
Christmas PJs!! Then it was time to leave food out for the reindeer, write a letter to Santa and leave out some cookies. We also read the Christmas story from the children's Bible and attempted to read the Polar Express. I say attempted, because Kinsley basically told us the whole story (from the movie) as we looked at the pictures. Louie kept trying to read and she kept interrupting to tell us about what was going on in the picture, so we gave in and let her tell us the story. :)
It was a Toy Story 3 Christmas! Santa told me he found a great deal on Craigslist and at the resale shop! Kinsley was thrilled!!
Aubrey got a new Wheely Bug from Santa (also a Craigslist buy, I hear).
I started a new tradition this year. I got the idea from a lady in my Bible study. As soon as the nativity came out in early December, Baby Jesus went into hiding. The girls had to find him first thing Christmas morning. It helped us to bring the focus back onto Jesus that morning.
Kinsley showing me the Baby Jesus she found hiding in the kitchen.
Reading the letter from Santa on "official Santa Claus" letterhead. :)
The girls opening eachother's gifts.
Daddy opening his gift from the girls. He got a cake container and a small lantern because "Daddy likes to make cakes and go camping."
Aubrey trying out her new ladybug. Kinsley told Aubrey "You have to share, Aubrey." Hmmmm....
We were off to Texas on Dec 26th, so there are a lot more pictures coming from our trip. Plus, Miss Aubrey turned 1 yesterday!! I can hardly believe my little peanut is one! I'm off to bed though. I'll try not to let two more months pass before my next post. Sigh. Goodnight!
