Monday, November 26, 2012

Thanksmas Part 2

My precious gifts from Shana and Ella
Woven paper place mats...soooo cute!
What a treasure!
I can't wait until these are lining my wall!
Movie and Game Night

On Friday night, we cuddled up in the living room to watch an all time favorite Houston Christmas movie. It's called "All I Want for Christmas."  About 20 years ago, we saw it in the theater as a family and we've been watching it every year since. I'm not sure why we got so attached, but we love it.  All of us can quote almost the entire thing. It's a silly little movie that most consider horribly cheesy, but we hold it very dear.
We then played Dixit, which is a picture/story-telling version of apples to apples.  Above is a non-posed, candid shot of Joe and I playing the game.
Farmer's Market
Showing off my new wallet (bought during out walk down Congress) in the parking lot of the farmer's market.
Saturday morning, we went down to the farmer's market.  There is something so delightful about farmer's markets, no matter where you go. 



They had big foam legos for the kids to play with.
Uncle Jer Bear (as she calls him) helped Ella build a fort.


Jer and I went in on some kettle-corn.  It is my new favorite snack, ESPECIALLY when it comes from farmer's markets!
Ella is enjoying a protein shake.


Here is a close up of just how much she enjoyed it!
We drove by the capitol after leaving the farmer's market. Beautiful!
Toy Store
Shana brought us to an awesome toy store which, as you can see, provided fun for the WHOLE family!


This even freaked me out a little when I saw the picture.


So. Gross.

Alamo Draft House 

After the toy store, we saw "Sky Fall" at the Alamo Draft House.  The Draft House is a movie theater where they take your order and serve you dinner while you watch.  My favorite part of the movie was whenever the James Bond theme music came on.  Who can help but get excited?


An Evening of Tu-tus, Art, and Barbeque

Granna babysat during the movie and told Ella she could choose a pretty outfit after nap time!  This is what she picked.

Eventually, the tu-tu ended up on Louston (Joseph.....).
And of course Roxy couldn't be left out.

Anna thought Dad might get lonely while he was sleeping.
Shana and I thought it would be fun to do a puzzle.  We got out a 3D stacking puzzle she got from a neighbor and realized it was stupidly hard to do. It was going to take days to figure out.
So we did what any intelligent person in our situation would have done. We got the answer key and cheated our way to the top of the puzzle in 20 minutes.  Each piece was numbered and there was a sheet that gave the random number order.

Seeing as how that was only partially satisfying, Shana determined the puzzle needed a makeover.  She suggested painting it, which Anna eagerly began.
I made some jewelry.

We had a lot of fun.  More fun than one might expect from painting a 3D king tut puzzle.
Shana said this will end up on the porch of an unsuspecting friend of hers.
My parents went out and got us some authentic BBQ while we worked on our various projects. Yum!
Isn't my Daddy cute?!
A Lovely Sunday
On our last day in Austin, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit one of my very best friends, Dana, in her beautiful home.  It was much too short, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything!
Look how big Arlo has gotten! And he is so conversational. I loved chatting with him!
Beautiful Anna came with me. She wanted to see the boys. She has such a way with kids. They gravitate towards her!
Be still my heart! This is baby Miles.  He is so handsome and so happy!



We got to go to church with them.  It was so fun to get to hold the baby and read the Friend with Arlo and see Josiah's intently coloring his picture.  I am so grateful Dana lives in Austin so I could spend some time with her this trip!
Back at the house, everyone had to get in a lot of QT with this little Q-T before our flights left!



Ella gives lots of hugs and kisses. Her favorite things to have me do were "This is the way the lady rides" while bouncing her on my lap and sing "Apples and Bananas."  She would watch intently as I changed the vowels on each new verse.  She is so clever.  I adore this child so, much.  I can't wait to see her more and more!

What a wonderful, wonderful trip. I love my family so much.