After an incredibly busy (and fun) October and November, December was thankfully a little more mellow. December gave us a few more days of Hanukkah including these superhero backpacks from Auntie Rachel and Uncle Warren.
Who doesn't want to hang out in footie pajamas especially when its cold out!
We had a little family photo shoot at the beginning of the month. Not my favorite set of pictures but a few good ones to share.
Every year we deal with the inevitable question of we had help over the unbelievably long winter break the kids had. Thanks to Bubba, most of my office being on vacation, and Alex having a flexible schedule we made it through...barely.
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| Allie loved coming to my office and doing "work" |
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| She loved it so much she took some "work" home with her. |
Sadly, it is the end of football season. Jake tried so hard to stay up with daddy to watch the Falcons game but just couldn't make it!
Jake and Alex love setting up epic battles, this one between the superheroes. It's so cute to watch them play together.
Not to be outdone by big brother, Allie wanted to set up her "guys" too. I give you Peppa World!
With Bubba, Jake, Allie's best friend Hailey and her mom, Mollie, we went to check out the new Austin Aquarium. It wasn't great but it was pretty amazing what one can do with an old furniture store in a strip mall.
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| Allie & Hailey with the Turtles. Allie felt right at home. |
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| Learning about Jellyfish |
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| You could put your hand in the water and let the fish touch you. No thanks! |
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| Checking out the alligator |
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| Jake was brave enough to let the little sharks take a nibble! |
On Christmas Eve we went to run off some energy at the park with Bubba before a happy hour.
On Christmas we had friends over for a dinner play date. 6 adults, 7 children and lots of wine makes for a Merry Christmas indeed.
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| Crazy crew! |
We headed up to Plano for New Years with the Viviers. My Oregon Ducks were playing the Texas Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl just South of us in San Antonio. We thought about going to the game but decided to spend time with some of our favorite longhorns. Once we got to Plano we went to Jodi's (Philip's niece and our honorary cousin) to watch the game.
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| God-mommy and God-daughters/Talia & Juliet and Brenna & Allie |
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| One more with Talia's godmom (and Juliet's mom), Jodi. |
The Ducks were dominant and it was a great game! We were a family of happy Ducks!
The Dawgs didn't do quite as well in their game but we had a great watching with our friends Jason & Leigh Anne and Christian, former Austin Dawgs who have moved to Dallas.
Happy New Year and very happy, healthy and fun 2014!