Christmas Reunion

Eric and his high school friends hanging out watching the Michigan game.  They are so funny.  Always make me laugh!

Merry Christmas 2013

 Christmas Eve 2013

 It is a Christmas we will always remember as William and Catherine are sick.

 Waiting for Santa Claus.

 Christmas morning excitement!

 Thankful for Tylenol and Ibuprofen to help make happy smiles.

 Santa got it right!

 Spent the afternoon with Nana and Papa Green.

 Catherine super excited about her Princess Sophia "iPad."

 Teenagers love cash!

 Not every kid can say they got a goat for Christmas!

 We spent the evening having dessert with Great Papa Green.

Catherine kept her distance.  William is feeling better but it will be another long night with this sweet girl.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the Gammons.  Elizabeth and Sarah got a shopping trip with Nana.

William got lots of army stuff.

Catherine sleeping on me.  She did not feel like opening gifts.  Elizabeth excited about her cookies but can't wait to get her Amazon order!

Advent Candle

Our family made a special memory this morning at church.  We lit candles for Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.  William and Catherine are hidden in the picture but each of our kids got to light a candle.  Eric read the Advent scripture.  He did a great job in front of a packed congregation.

Happy 4th Birthday

 Catherine woke up all smiles today.  It's her fourth birthday!

 We are so thankful God blessed us with this beautiful little girl.  She brings us joy and laughter everyday.

 She wanted to celebrate her big day with Chuck E. Cheese.

 Her strawberry Paw Patrol cake.

 She got lots of wonderful gifts.

 Very spoiled by her Nanas and Papas!

We ended the day with a TexMex dinner.  Happy Birthday to our beautiful Christmas blessing!

Cross Country

 Today was Elizabeth's last district cross country meet.

 She is center of this picture in red.

 Crossing the finish line.

She got 12th place.

Ho Ho Ho

Icemaggedeon 2013

 After 73 hours below freezing and 60 hours without electricity, the temperature inside our house was 49 degrees!

 We are very thankful Nana and Papa put up with us for 3 days!

 The kids had so much fun sledding on cardboard boxes.

We played lots of pool and watched movies.  They enjoyed their mini vacation but have to head back to school tomorrow.

Ice Friday

 Last night we had an ice storm in Texas.  We woke up to no electricity.  A couple of days ago when it was 79 degrees, Catherine and I put Christmas lights on this beautiful crepe myrtle.

 It was freezing in our house and the power is not expected to come back till tomorrow at the earliest. Eric was able to get enough ice off the car for us to load up and head to Nana and Papa's house.  Fortunately, the sand trucks were out in full force so we made it safely.  There were so many trees down along the way.

 Nana had everything ready to make Christmas cookies!

 They are so yummy.

Thankful for a warm house, hot shower, charged devices and awesome in-laws!

First Dance Performance

 This morning we turned Catherine into a princess for her first dance performance.  As we were driving to the downtown square she asked, "Why are we not at my class?"  She thought everyone was going to watch her at the dance studio in her classroom.  The stage set up in the downtown square with lots of people was not what she had in mind!

 Catherine with her dance teachers before the show.  They tried to get her to smile but she was not a happy princess.

 It was time to go back stage and get ready.  She did not want a red Rudolph nose and was not interested in going on that stage in front of all those people. 

 I was able to calm her down and took this picture as I walked away.  She was giving me the "how can you do this to me" look!

 Then Cousin Drew came back stage and told Catherine she was excited to see her dance.  Look....a smile!!  Cousin Drew saved the day!

 Catherine showed Cousin Drew ALL her dance moves!  She did awesome!  At the end as the girls were exiting the stage, Catherine stayed to enjoy all of us cheering for her.

 She got beautiful flowers from daddy after the show.  Eric told her that dancers get flowers after a good performance.  She said, "Daddy I don't want flowers.  I want a tree".

 We enjoyed the downtown square Christmas Festival after the show.  Uncle Andrew celebrated with her on the merry-go-round.

Papa celebrated by taking them on the Christmas train.  He wished he had known she wanted a tree!

Thanksgiving 2013

 Happy Thanksgiving from the beautiful kid table.  Nana decided to use all her good china this year and fortunately nothing got broken!  Whew.

 Nana had everything written down for the big feast and she was so organized.

 Elizabeth and Sarah were great little helpers.  The kids spent the night with Nana and Papa to help prepare all the food.  They love to cook and had so much fun.

 Turkey turkey and more turkey!  The main turkey was 24.5 pounds!  Uncle Andrew and Uncle Dan also fried a 13.8 pound turkey.

 Papa also had little helpers cleaning the silver.

 We went to visit Great Papa and brought all the desserts.

 The kids received pictures of their animals that Papa sponsored for each of them at the Heard Museum.

Happy Thanksgiving 2013.